248 
March 8.—Dr. Carson, vice-president, in the chair. Prof, 
Leidy made the following remarks :- The reptilian remains from 
the cretaceous formation near Fort Wallace, Kansas, presented 
to the Academy by Dr. T. H. Turner, and described by Prof. 
Cope under the name of Z/asmosaurus platyurus, belong to 
an Enaliosaurian, as originally suggested by Prof. Cope. The 
anatomical characters of the different regions of the vertebral 
column, those of the shoulder and pelvic girdles, and of the pre- 
served portionsof the skull and teeth, are decidedly Plesiosaurian. 
March 15.—Dr. Ruschenberger, President, in the chair. The 
following paper was presented for publication : “Cross Fertili- 
sation and Law of Sex in Euphorbia.” By Thomas Meehan. 
Mr. Charles Darwin's interesting observations on cross fertilisa- 
tion have opened a new world for original discovery. The list 
of plants which seem to avoid self-fertilisation is already very 
large. I think Zuhorbia may be added to the number. Cer- 
tainly this is the case with 2. fudgens, Karw. (2. jacquina- 
flora, Hook) which I have watched very closely in my 
greenhouse this winter. Several days before the stamens burst 
through the involucre, which closely invests them, the pistil with 
its ovarium on the long pedicel has protruded itself beyond, ex- 
posed its stigmatic surfaces, and received the pollen from the 
neighbouring flowers. The way in which the pollen scatters 
itself is curious, In most flowers a slight jar or a breath of wind 
will waft the pollen to the stigmas, but I have not been able to 
notice any to leave the flowers in this way ; for as soon as the 
anther cells burst, the whole stamen falls from its filament-like 
pedicel and either drops at once on the pistils of other flowers or 
scatters its pollen grains by the force of the fall. This Zuphorbia 
also furnishes another contribution to the theory of sex which 
I have advanced. The plan on which the male and female 
organs are formed is evidently a common one; and the only 
reason why some flower-heads have a pistil in the centre, and 
others are wholly staminate, is, that there is greater axial vigour 
when the female flower is formed. Whenever the common 
eduncle (below the scarlet involucre) is weak, a pistil never 
appears in that head of flowers. A few which seem strong 
neither have them, but the great majority of the strong peduncles 
are those which bear the female blossoms. Another interesting 
fact is that the number of male flowers is less in those heads 
which also bear a female, than in those- which are wholly stami- 
nate. This seems to add to the point I made in my paper on 
Ambrosia, that after the flowers have been partially formed in 
embryo, and before the sex has been finally determined, the 
female flower, being primordially the stronger, has the power 
of absorbing the males or their partially formed elements into 
its system. It is certainly remarkable that in both these instances 
the number of male flowers should decrease in proportion” to 
the existence or vigour of the central female one, The male 
and female flowers of Zuphorbia fulgens are formed much alike. 
the female occupies the centre, and seems really but a prolonga- 
tion of the main stem, on the top of which is an articulation 
from which the ovarium springs. The capsula readily falls 
from this articulation when mature. From the base of the 
female central peduncle spring weaker peduncles, colourless, 
appearing indeed almost like filaments, articulated at about the 
same height as the female, only above the point bearing a short 
filament and anther—the caduceous part before referred to. No 
one can fail to see the correspondence of plan in these different 
parts, and I think that nothing but the favourable position in the 
direct line of axial vigour made the central flower a female one. 
Cases occasionally occur in which a tolerably strong head of 
wholly male flowers will develop the central axis into a pedicel 
almost as long and vigorous as those which bear female flowers. 
But the flow of vital force—if I am correct in using this term 
—not being quite sufficient, the final goal of natural perfection 
in the female form was not reached. These cases do not occur 
often, but are well worth looking for, as they show so clearly the 
dividing line between the forces which govern the male or female 
sex. 
March 22.—Dr. Carson, vice-president, in the chair. The 
following paper was presented for publication: ‘‘ Descriptions 
of Fossils collected during the U,S. Geological Survey under 
the charge of Clarence King.” By F. B. Meek. 
April 5.—Dr. Carson, vice-president, in the chair. Prof. 
Leidy made the following remarks on ‘‘ Discosaurus and its 
Allies.” The body of the last vertebra in the series of caudals 
belonging to the Kansas saurian, described by Prof. Cope under 
the name of Z/asmosaurus, has the length less than the depth or 
breadth, which latter is the greater diameter. It is moderately 
NATURE 
— [Fuly 21, 1870 
contracted towards the middle, the sides below the neural arch 
and the surface below the costal articulations being fore and aft 
concaye, and bounded in front and behind by an acute margin 
from the articular ends. A ridge extends fore and aft between 
the chevron articulations, and the included surface is concave, 
and exhibits a single lateral venous foramen, The costal 
articular processes project from the middle of the side of the 
body, reaching nearer the fore than the back end of the latter. 
They are transversely oval, about three-fourths the length of the 
body, and the height about half. They forma deep concavity, with 
acute margins extending peripherally. The articular ends of the 
body are transversely oval and defined from the intermediate por- 
tion of the latter by an acute everted margin. A short distance 
within the position of the latter the surface is marked by a nar- 
row groove, and within the circle of this groove the surface pro- 
jects in such a manner as to appear like a distinct disc or 
epiphysial plate applied to and coossified with the body. ‘The 
surface of the disc is convex at the periphery and moderately 
concave towards the centre, The articular surface beyond the 
groove defining the disc appears as an everted ledge, and the 
triangular articular facets for the chevrons appear as deflections 
of the ledge. The extension of the latter inferiorly is greater at 
the posterior extremity of the body than at the anterior extremity, 
thus producing a larger proyision of surface in that position for 
the articulation of the chevron. The neural arch in the specimen 
has apparently been so much laterally compressed, that its 
original condition cannot be ascertained, 
BOOKS RECEIVED 
Enciisu.—Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews: By T. H. Huxley. 
(Macmillan and Co.) 
Foreicn.—(Through Williams and Norgate)—Essai de Philosophie Posi- 
tive au xix™® siécle: A, d’Assier.—Ueber die Chimie des Weines: Dr. C. 
Neubauer.—L’ancienneté de homme: Le Marquis de Nadaillac.—Descrip- 
tion physique et naturelle de Vile de Créte, Vols. 1 and 2, with Atlas, Tome 
i. and ii, ; V. Raulin.—Cryptogames vasculaires duBrésil: A. L. A. Fée. 
Mémoires de I'Académie impériale des Sciences de St. Petersburg, viil™® série, 
Tome xv., No. 2, Flora Caucasi, part: F. J. Ruprecht. 
CONTENTS Pace 
WAR-s cuca shane 3 Ne. te > Marcel! ageleh Rotem cn 0 ha nes 
Heicut AND WEIGHT. By Dr, E. Lanxester, F.R.S. . . « + + 230 
Fosstt Mammats or Nortu America. II. By W. Boyp DAwktns, 
BRiShote sé eed he 255 St Pi 0 ae re te 
Our Boox SHELF ss. a 20 85 se 3 5 Fee ew 6 so 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR :— 
Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise—A. R. WALLACE . . - « « + 234 
Spontaneous Generation.—J. A. WANKLYN . «ss . oS ane 
Colour of the Sky.—E. Ray LANKESTER . . « + ene 25 
Poisonous Fishes.—Dr. P. L. Scuarer, F.R.S. . 2. . + + « « 235 
Fall of an Aerolite, 1628.—J. P, EARWAKER « 4 @ «© + «© «© © 235 
Are Jupiter's Cloud-belts due to Solar Heat?—R. A. Procron. 236 
The Rotundity of the Earth—PARraLLax . . . . ; 236 
Eclipse of the Moon.—G. C. THompsoN . - - ~ + + - = « 236 
Wave-lengths of Complementary Colours.—C. J. Monro . . . 236 
Tue AppLicaTION OF PHoToGRAPHY TO MILITARY Purposes S\ksm ee 
Tur Puysiotocy of Dicestion. I, Masrication. By H. Power, 
M.B. (With Illustrations.) «1 5 s+ we ee be ow 238 
NOTES bP jlTe) Bhs ce hoe) 6 8 Ach eel ee te hee ee ees 
THE HARVEIAN ORATION. By Dr. Gutt, F.R.S. 1. 1. we 242 
Pror. TyNDALL's LECTURES AT THE RoyAt InstrTUTION ON ExEc- 
TRICAL PHENOMENA AND THEORIES. . « 6 + © 4 + 6 6 8 243 
ZooLoGy : PLATEAU ON THE FLiGHT OF COLEOPTERA. . + « « = 244 
ScrENTIFIC SERIALS . s « 0c sib es © = = p «| @ ber (eq 
SociETIES AND ACADEMIES 2. 4 6 2 © © + #@ © + 8 © © 8 6 245 
BOOKS RECEIVED <, <= shih e) SAR Wee oes) % Lary tiene ey ee 
: 
