Mr. Wilson on the Textile Plants of Jamaica. 369 



the two lower scales shown to be the cotyledons, a second rootlet 

 is seen sprouting, tending first horizontall}' and then downwards. 

 This fact, the author states, proves beyond doubt, that the process 

 in question is the neorhiza ; for if it were the embryo imbedded in 

 albumen, as Ga?rtner affirms, it would not throw a descending shoot 

 from the neck of the phimuUir extension, as well as at the base; nor 

 would the same result follow if it were the radicle enclosed in con- 

 fluent cotyledons, according to the view of Dr. Graham. The fact 

 is altogether fatal to the conclusions of Chois)'', Cambessedes, and 

 most modern botanists, that tlie great mass of the nucleus consists 

 of two confluent cotyledons, and that the mammscform apex in the 

 Clusiece is its radicle, even if those opinions had not been disproved 

 by the evidence off^ered in the preceding jiortion of this memoir. 



This view of the constitution of the nucleus is further confirmed 

 by an examination of its structure under the microscope, which the 

 author minutely details. 



November 7th. — Thomas Bell, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Dr. Alexander, F.L.S., exhibited a sample of Dalmatian Figs, to- 

 gether with specimens of vegetable fibre prepared in the Jamaica 

 Botanic Garden from various species of Yucca, Bromelia, TiUandsia, 

 Miisa, and Sicla ; and the Secretary read extracts from two letters 

 addressed by Mr. A. Wilson, Curator of the Botanic Garden at 

 Bath, in the Island of Jamaica, to R. C. Alexander, M.D., F.L.S., 

 &c., on the textile plants of the Island, native and cultivated. 

 In the last of these letters, dated Bath, September 25, 1854, 

 Mr, Wilson says: — "You are aware that we abound in textile 

 plants : I have already prepared fibre from twenty diiferent spe- 

 cies, and perhaps I might discover twenty others. Those you 

 mentioned, such as the Urtica tribe, produce excellent fibre, but not 

 in quantity sufficient to warrant a profitable cultivation among a 

 lazy people. I have lately been agreeably surprised to find so large 

 a quantity of fibre from a species of Sida (S. mollis) growing in 

 this garden. It is most admirably adapted for cultivation in any 

 soil or situation. There is also another plant (a species of Trivm- 

 fetta), which is a wayside nuisance, but which produces a splendid 

 fibre. I should be obliged if you would exhibit these fibres to the 

 next meeting of the Linntean Society ; it might be the means of 

 attracting attention to a new and profitable cultivation in this unfor- 

 tunate island. It was in consequence of the transmission to London 

 of a very few species of flbre that attention has of late been so much 

 drawn to our textile resources, and I think it a fortunate circumstance 

 that we have those resources to fall back upon. It has occurred to 

 me that I might, with advantage to the island, send about twenty spe- 

 cies of fibre to the Great French Exhibition of next year, which would 

 be a means of extending their reputation, and perhaps of inducing 

 the investment of capital on a large scale in their cultivation." 



Read also a Memoir " On the Embryo of Nelumbium." By Benja- 

 min Clarke, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



Mr. Clarke's observations were made on seeds germinated in the 

 Ann. ^- Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xv. 24 



