342 PROCEEDINaS OF THE 



made in Jiine, the following structures will be noted. The stem 

 being grooved, the section has a wavy outline ; there is a well- 

 marked cuticle, an epidermis consisting of a single layer of thick- 

 walled cells ; next a layer of cortical tisue, in which large resin 

 passages occur lined with resin- secreting epithelium. There is a 

 layer of cork and a cork cambium near the periphery of the cortex, 

 and the pith is surrounded by a ring of vascular tissue. The 

 structure was described in detail, and the development of the stem 

 illustrated by sections made at different periods of growth. There 

 are no vessels, water being conducted by means of the long 

 pointed tracheides, which communicate with each other by means 

 of bordered pits. The mechanism of the bordered pits was shown 

 by photographs and drawings. 



Mr. Addey then proceeded to describe the leaf, which is needle- 

 shaped and so constructed as to restrict the loss of water by 

 evaporation, the cuticle being thick and the guard cells of the 

 stomata being sunk below the surface, leaving a pit, which becomes 

 filled with air saturated with water vapour. On the long shoots, 

 and especially low down on the tree early in June, the small 

 yellow male cones are found. The female cones occur on the 

 upper part of the tree, and as they are wind-fertilised the pollen 

 must be carried up. In order that pollination may be readily 

 effected, the pollen grains are provided with wings, usually filled 

 with air, to make them more easily carried by the wind, and are 

 produced in great quantities. The female cones are first observed 

 as small green cones near the apices of the long shoots ; the scales 

 open to receive the pollen, and the next year the cone has grown 

 larger. It is not until the third year that the cone, which has 

 become brown and lignified, opens to permit the ripe seeds to 

 escape. The whole process of fertilisation, development, and 

 germination of the seeds was fully illustrated and described, 

 Mr. Addey said that he had found the working out of the structure 

 and life-history of one plant of great interest, and that he had 

 derived mu^^h more pleasure from it than from more diffuse efforts. 



Mr. Wycherley (Hon. Secretary) exhibited a series of drawings 

 in coloured inks of sections, etc.. of P. sylvestris showing the 

 histological structure by differential staining. 



The President said that in pines we first find obvious adaptation 

 to life on land, although there is a striking resemblance to the ferns 

 in the method of reproduction. In some older gymnosperms the 



