774 



Mr. L. Reeve observed, that the lines of distribution of many of the 

 plants referred to by Prof. Dickie corresponded with the isothermal 

 lines of Humboldt. 



The Prince of Canino thought it of first importance to distinguish 

 between dry and wet alpine plants. In investigations on the distri- 

 bution of plants, care should be taken to take into consideration the 

 physical properties of the soil. 



Mr. Wy ville Thomson had found alpine plants at the mouth of the 

 river Dee, but not in its course. He thought this was due to the sea 

 supplying the warmth low down which the snow did higher up ; 

 neither snow nor sea protecting the plant in the middle parts of the 

 river's course. 



Dr. Lankester read the Report of the Committee on the Registra- 

 tion of the Periodic Phenomena of Animal and Vegetable Life, and 

 stated that two sets of tables only had been filled up of those which 

 had been sent out by the Association. Those sent in were from Miss 

 Llewellyn, of Penllegare, near Swansea, and from Mr. Matthew Mog- 

 gridge, of Swansea. 



* 



Morphological Analogy between the Disposition of the Branches of 

 Exogenous Plants and the Venation of their Leaves, hy Prof 

 M'Cosh. 



The author said that the view which he took of the morphology of 

 the plant might be regarded as an extension, in the same direction, of 

 the theory of Goethe. According to this theory, all the appendages 

 of the axis of the plant, including leaves, bracts, sepals, petals, sta- 

 mens, &c., are formed on a common plan, of which the leaf may be 

 taken as the type. It had occurred to him (Dr. M'Cosh) that we may 

 regard the branches of the plant and the whole plant as formed 

 on the same plan. We may thus regard the plant as constructed on 

 one model throughout. Speaking in this paper of reticulated leaved 

 plants, he showed that there is a correspondence between the dispo- 

 sition of the branches along the axis and the distribution of the vena- 

 tion of the leaf. 1. In some plants the lateral branches are disposed 

 pretty equably along the axis, whereas in others a number are gathered 

 together at one point, and the plant becomes in consequence verticil- 

 late or whorled. Now, he found that wherever the branches are 

 whorled, the leaves of the plant, as in the Rhododendron, or the veins 

 of the individual leaf, as in the common sycamore and lady's-mantlc, 

 are also whorled. 2. He showed, further, that when the leaf has a 



