QUBKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 197 



the year had been the removal of the Club from 20, Hanover Square, 

 to its present premises, and it was a matter of some regret that, 

 although the Library was available from 2 to 4 on the first Satur- 

 day of each month at the National History Museum, South 

 Kensington, the activities of the Club were somewhat curtailed 

 by the impossibility of housing the Library at the place of meeting, 

 and by the difficulty at present of using the Club Cabinet. The 

 slides were undergoing a careful revision by the Curator, and the 

 collection was now fairly representative, although there were 

 many gaps which could only be filled by the generosity of 

 members. The report of the Hon. Sec. of the excursions sub- 

 committee was very satisfactory, the average attendance being 

 21 "9, the second highest since the foundation of the Club. The 

 Treasurer regretted that he had to present the worst balance- 

 sheet during his term of oflB.ce. The chief item of expense was 

 the Journal. The President said that the Club had passed 

 through a very trying year, but that it might have been worse ofE. 

 It was a matter for regret that the Library was separated from the 

 meeting-room, and that the slides were not yet available. The 

 balance sheet was a matter of great concern to the committee, 

 who were anxious to find some means of reducing expenditure 

 without reducing the ef&ciency of the Club. The President then 

 asked Mr. D. J. Scourfield to take the chair, and delivered his 

 Annual Adress. 



Dr. Rendle took as his subject the Seed-leaves or Cotyledons, 

 making special reference to the seed-leaves of grasses. He said 

 that the importance of these structures in the system of classifica- 

 tion was recognised by John Ray, whose Historia Plantarum 

 (1686-1704) may be regarded as the beginning of the natural 

 system of classification. Ray retained the old division of plants 

 into Herbs and Trees. The former were subdivided into 

 Imperfectae (flowerless) and Perfectae (flowering), and the Per- 

 fectae and the second main group, Arbores, were each divided into 

 Dicotyledones (with two cotyledons) and Monocotyledones (with 

 one or no cotyledon). This division of seed-bearing plants 

 into groups with one or two cotyledons played a more or less 

 important part in subsequent attempts to portray a natural 

 system of classification. Dr. Rendle proposed to examine the 

 bearing of the structure and development of the seed-plant embryo 

 on the concept of the seed-leaves. The leaf-character of the 



