The Zoologist — April, 1874. 3957 



3. " Note on the Bracts of Crucifers." By M. T. Masters, M.D. The 

 subject was divided by the writer into two branches: — 1. The absence of 

 bracts in Crucifers. In the majority of cases this is so complete that even 

 in the earliest stages of development observed by Payer no trace of bracts is 

 seen. Different explanations of the phenomenon have been given by different 

 raorphologists. A. P. de CandoUe attributes it to congenital suppression of 

 the parts ; Godron to pressure acting within outwards, resulting from the 

 dense manner in which the young flowers are packed together ; Norman and 

 Eichler consider that the bracts are abortive, but potentially present, the 

 latter writer combating Godron's view by the consideration that on the one 

 hand the bracts are absent where the inflorescence is so loose that no pressure 

 can be exerted, and, ou the other hand, in some cases where the flowers are 

 densely crowded the bracts nevertheless exist. 2. The occasional presence 

 of bracts in Crucifers. About fifty illustrations of this were named. A few 

 species, as Sisymbrium supinum and hirsutum, have normally bracts to every 

 flower ; in others their occurrence is only occasional ; where the raceme 

 shows a tendency to branch into a panicle, they may often be found at the 

 base of the secondary divisions of the inflorescence ; in Arabis turrita the 

 lowermost peduncles have bracts at their base, the intermediate ones have 

 bracts springing from their outer surface above their base, while the upper- 

 most have none at all. The writer then discussed the various theories 

 which have been proposed to account for the variation in the position of the 

 bracts when present, viz. at the base or ou the side of the flower-stalk above 

 the base. The causes assigned for the latter apparently anomalous position 

 were stated by different botanists to be the following; — 1. Partition or sub- 

 division of the axis ; 2. Congenital union, or lack of separation between the 

 bract and the pedicel; 3. Upraising of the bud and its bract. Anatomy 

 gives no evidence of partition ; but it does afford in some cases the evidence 

 of fusion, or rather of inseparation, as in some of the Cruciferse examined by 

 Dr. Masters ; while in the case of Sedum, Solanum and Spirsea the peculiar 

 arrangement of the bract seems to be owing to the third cause above 

 mentioned. 



Special General Meeting, March 3, 1874. — Geoeoe Busk, Esq., F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. 

 [No scientific business.] 



Note. — In the report of the discussion which followed the reading of 

 Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys's paper on January loth, Dr. Allman is stated to have 

 said that all the Hydroids collected by Captain St. John belonged " to types 

 hitherto considered extinct;" it should have been "to forms hitherto 

 undescribed." 



SECOND SERIES— VOL. IX. 



