July 8, 1897] 



NA TURE 



239 



that had been many days or weeks in the water, the other from 

 one that had only been there a few hours. It may need weeks 

 or months of cultivation under constant conditions to establish 

 the identity of the two, 



Linnean Society, May 24. — Anniversary Meeting, Dr. A. 

 C.iinther, F.R.S., President, in the chair.— The report of the 

 Librarian having been read, the President opened the chief 

 business of the meeting, when the Fellows present proceeded to 

 ballot for the President, Officers, and Council for the ensuing 

 year. Scrutineers having been appointed, and the votes counted, 

 the result was declared to be as follows :— President, Dr. Albert 

 C.imther, F.R.S. ; Treasurer, Mr. Frank Crisp; Secretaries, 

 Mr. B. Daydon Jackson and Prof. G. B. Howes. The Presi- 

 dent then delivered the annual presidential address, which, on 

 the motion of Mr. C. B. Clarke, seconded by Prof. Stewart, it 

 was resolved should be printed and circulated. The gold 

 medal of the Society was formally awarded to Dr. J. G. Agardh, 

 Emeritus Professor of Botany in the University of Lund, and, 

 in consequence of his inability to receive it in person, was 

 delivered on his behalf to his Excellency the Minister for 

 Sweden and Norway, who made a suitable acknowledgment. 



June 3. — Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — 

 Prof. G. B. Howes exhibited specimens of the remarkable 

 Crustacean Anaspides tasmania, from the Hartz Lake, Huon 

 district, Tasmania, which he had received from Mr. G. M. 

 Thomson, its discoverer (see Traits. Linn. Soc, Zool. [2] vol. 

 vi. p. 287), together with a letter stating that the animal is now 

 known from three localities. He directed attention to a recent 

 monograph by Caiman ( Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. , vol. xxxviii. 

 p. 787), in which the conclusion was drawn that the " Pod 

 Shrimps " of the genera Acanthotehon, Gampsonyx, and Palao- 

 carts, in respect to characters in which they are anomalous, 

 agree with Anaspides, and that the four genera are probably to 

 be referred to an ancient group of primitive Malacostraca. He 

 remarked that he was disposed to agree with Caiman's deter- 

 mination of the morphological value of the ' ' first thoracic 

 segment" of Thomson, and that he could confirm his statement 

 that the peduncle of the flagellum of the antenna was but two- 

 jointed.— The Rev. T. R. Stebbing, F.R.S., threw doubts 

 upon the association claimed by Caiman for Acanihotelson, and 

 icmarked that some Amphipods are known to agree with 

 Inaspides in the possession of double epipodial lamellre. The 

 ■ ' ocellus " of Caiman did not appear to him to occupy the 

 position of an ocellus, and he thought it might possibly be a 

 luminous organ. — Dr. G. D. Haviland, F.L.S., gave the sub- 

 stance of a paper on Termites, illustrated by lantern-slides, 

 showing some of the more characteristic and remarkable forms 



f nests made by these insects, as well as figures of the insects 

 themselves. A discussion followed, in which Mr. Saville Kent, 

 the Rev. T. R. Stebbing, and the Rev. F. C. Smith took part ; 

 Mr. Kent exhibiting another series of lantern-slides illustrating 

 the nests of Australian species. — Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., 

 communicated a paper by himself and Mr. F. Chapman on the 

 genus Ramtilina, forming the second part of a paper of which 

 the former portion, on the tubulose and fistulose Polymorphinae, 

 has been already published {Linn. Soc. Journ., Zool. xxv. 

 p. 496). — The Secretary communicated a paper, by Mr. E. C. 

 I lorrell, on the number of sterigmata and spores in Agarictis 

 camt'cstris. 



June 17.— Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., President, in the 

 chair. — Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S., exhibited original pre- 

 parations by Prof. Ikeno and Dr. Hirase, of Tokio, Japan, 

 illustrating their discovery of spermatozoids in two Gymno- 

 spermous Phanerogams, namely. Ginkgo biloba and Cycas revoluta 

 {cf. Bot. Centralblatt, Bd. Ixix. Nos. 1-2, 1897, and Annals of 

 Botany, June, 1897). The slides showed the spermatozoids 

 while still in the pollen-tube, before the commencement of 

 active movement. In the case of Ginkgo one section .showed 

 the two male generative cells, closely contiguous and enclosed 

 in the pollen-tube. The general structure resembles that in 

 many other conifers at the same stage, e.g. Juniperus virginiana 

 and Pintts silvestris (Strasburger, Hist. Beitrage, iv. pi. 2). 

 In Ginkgo, however, each generative cell showed a distinct 

 spiral coil, situated in each cell, on the side remote from its 

 neighbour. Another preparation of Ginkgo showed a series of 

 sections across the micropyle, passing through a pollen-tube and 

 its generative cells, the plane of section being in this case ap- 

 proximately parallel to the surface of contact of these two cells, 

 through which four of the sections passed. In the two terminal 



sections of this series the spiral coil was clearly shown, consist- 

 ing of about three windings. The spiral is connected with the 

 nucleus of the cell, but whether it is itself of nuclear or cyto- 

 plasmic origin is not certain. In the preparation from Cycas 

 revoliita, several pairs of generative cells were shown ; in some 

 cases the pollen-tube enclosing them was intact. The spiral 

 coils in some of the generative cells were surprisingly clear, con- 

 sisting of about four windings. A distinct striation was visible 

 in connection with the coil, probably indicating the presence of 

 the numerous cilia described by the Japanese discoverers. The 

 facts admit of no other interpretation than that given by these 

 authors, namely that in both Ginkgo and Cycas each generative 

 cell gives rise to a spiral spermatozoid ; the latter by its own 

 movements (actually observed by Dr. Hirase in the case of 

 Ginkgo) no doubt travels from the end of the pollen-tube to the 

 female cell. In a discussion which followed on this highly im- 

 portant subject. Dr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., Mr. W. 

 Carruthers, F.R.S., Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., Prof. 

 Howes, F.R.S., and the President took part.— Mr. T. B, 

 Blow exhibited and described a curious case of protective 

 mimicry in Asparagus albtts, which drew forth criticism by 

 Mr. H. Groves and the President. — Mr. J. E. Harting ex- 

 hibited and made remarks upon specimens of Nestor productus 

 and Nestor norfolcensis, from the Derby Museum, Liverpool, 

 lent for exhibition by Dr. H. O. Forbes. The specimen of 

 Nestor norfolcensis was of especial interest, from the remark of 

 Count Salvadori (Brit. Mus. Cat. Parrots, xx. p. 10) that this 

 bird is now extinct and is only known from Latham's descrip- 

 tion (Gen. Hist. Birds, 1822, ii. p. 171), and from the descrip- 

 tion and figure of the head published by von Pelzeln (Sitzb. k. 

 Akad. Wiss., i860, xli. p. 322) from a drawing by Ferdinand 

 Bauer, who had visited Norfolk Island where the bird was found. 

 With regard to Nestor prodtictus , it appeared (i) that the species 

 underwent a change of plumage analogous to that of the Cross- 

 bills : (2) that the description given by Latham applied to a more 

 adult bird than that now shown ; (3) that the result of a com- 

 parison of the two skins exhibited and the dimensions of the wings, 

 tarsi, and feet, rendered it doubtful whether the two forms were 

 specifically distinct, the slight variations observable in the 

 colouration being such as might reasonably be attributed to age 

 or sex.— Mr. Miller Christy read a paper on /V/ww/a f/a/?<7r, 

 Jacq., in Britain. He remarked that this widely-distributed 

 continental plant, though figured accidentally in " English 

 Botany " in 1799, was not really detected in Britain till 1842, to 

 which time the totally distinct hybrid Oxlip {P. acaulis x veris) 

 was, by British botanists, confused with, and mistaken for it, 

 as is still frequently the case. In Britain, P. elatior occupies a 

 sharply defined area, divided by the valley of the Cam, with 

 only two outlying localities, so far as Mr. Christy could ascer- 

 tain. This area covers the two most elevated and unbroken 

 portions of the boulder clay district, the loams and gravels of 

 the river-valleys and the chalk being entirely avoided. The 

 boundary-lines (some 175 miles in length) which had been 

 traced by Mr. Christy with precision were,l.in consequence, very 

 sinuous. They enclosed together about 470 square miles, over 

 which area the Oxlip flourishes in immense abundance in all 

 old woods and some meadows; while the Primrose (which 

 grows all around) is entirely absent. Along the dividing line 

 between the two, which is very sharply defined, hybrids are pro- 

 duced in great abundance. On the other hand, the Cowslip 

 (which grows both around and throughout the Oxlip area) very 

 rarely hybridises with it. Mr. Christy believed that the Prim- 

 rose was, in this country, gradually hybridising the Oxlip out 

 of existence. He then noticed a rare single-flowered variety of 

 P. elatior, which he proposed to call var. acaulis, and several ab- 

 errations, showing upon' the screen photographic views of these 

 and of the hybrids, as well as a map of the distribution of the 

 Oxlip in Britain. In a discussion which followed, Mr. C. B. 

 Clarke, F.R.S., and Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., confirmed 

 the accuracy of Mr. Christy's observations.— On behalf of Mr. 

 A. D. Michael, the Zoological Secretary read a report on the 

 Acari collected by Mr. H. Fisher, naturalist of the Jackson- 

 Harmsworth Polar Expedition, at Cape Flora, Northbrooke 

 Island, Franz Josef Archipelago, in 1896. The collection had 

 been formed under great difficulties, and consisted of five species, 

 two of which [Erethraus Harmsworthi and Oribata Fishert) 

 were regarded as new to science.— Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 

 M.P., F.R.S., communicated the substance of a paper entitled 

 " Further observations on Stipules," in continuation of a former 

 paper communicated by him to the Society on March 18 last. 



NO. 1445. VOL. 56] 



