58 



NATURE 



\Nov. 19, 1874 



Beche, Fitton, Sedgwick, and Murchison, down to the present 

 day, there had always been perfect harmony in the Club. He 

 further congratulated the younger men not only on the zeal and 

 talent displayed among them, but on the progress of opinion 

 and freedom of expression gained by scientific thought in the 

 course of half a century. 



Icebergs are reported to have been met with in the Bay of 

 Biscay during very rough weather, by the Mongolia, which 

 arrived at Southampton on Monday last. Icebergs have been 

 met with as far south, but generally well out in the Atlantic 

 Ocean. 



We invite the attention of all interested in technical education 

 to the very excellent examination scheme of the Society of Arts, 

 intended to promote such education among the working men of 

 the country. No doubt a prospectus of the scheme will be 

 forwarded to anyone writing for it to the Society's offices in 

 London. 



In one of its last sittings the Municipal Council of Paris will 

 have to vote on a proposition, supported by forty of its members, 

 asking the National Assembly to establish a system of public 

 instruction, gratuitous, obligatoiy, and secular. The motion will 

 probably be agreed to by the Municipal Council, but rejected 

 altogether by the National Assembly. ' 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include eighteen Lancelets {Amphio.xns taiiceolatus) 

 from the Mediterranean Sea, presented by the Director of the 



oological Station at Naples ; a Pine Marten (Maries abidum), 

 British, presented by Mr. J. Francis; a Red-shouldered Starling 

 (Agelacus phoeniceiis) from N. America, presented by Mrs. Box- 

 well) ; two Aztec Conures (Conurus aztec) from S. America, 

 purchased. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Linnean Society, Nov. 5. — G. J. Allman, M.D., president, 

 in the chair.— W. H. Archer, R. A. Pryor, and W. W. Wilson 

 were elected Fellows. Mr. J. E. Howard read a paper on the 

 appearances of Lobelia dortmanna on the floating island in 

 Derwentwater. — Mr. J.'A. Jackson e.\hibited leaves of Liqui- 

 dambar and Perottia, exhibiting remarkably beautiful autumn 

 tints. — Mr. J. G. Baker read a paper on Asparagea;, a section 

 of Liliacea;. The author commenced by discussing ihe limits of 

 the natural order Liliacea-. He proposed to re^'ard it as con- 

 sisting of three great series, and in addition several abnormal 

 tribes, all of which have some claim to be regarded as distinct 

 orders. The three series are : — Liliacese proper, characteriseH 

 by capsular fruit with loculicidal dehiscence, united styles, and 

 introrse anthers (1200 to 1300 species) ; Colchicaceie, marked by 

 capsular Iruit with tepticidal dehiscence, free styles, and extrorse 

 anthers (130 specie>) ; and Asparagaceie, marked by baccate 

 fruit (260 species). The aberrant tribes are Liriopea; (Ophiopo- 

 gonea:), Gillesiea;, Conanthera:, Stemoneje (Roxburghiacete, 

 Lindley), and Scoliopea;. All these have anatropous ovules : 

 and he advocated the separating of Smilax from AsparageEC, 

 with which it has been commonly joined by recent writers, and 

 the retention of it as the type of a separate order marked by 

 orthoiropous ovules, and by iis habit of growth, woody often 

 prickly stems, minute polygamous umbellate flowers, stipular 

 tendrils, and decidedly stalked exogen-like leaves with venules 

 reticulated between the palmate main nerves. The tribes and 

 genera of Asparagea, which are as follows, to a considerable 

 extent represent the non-bulbous tribes of the two capsular 

 series : — (l) J>nu\cue<c: Shrubs with proper leaves, hermaphro- 

 dite flowers, and introrse anthers ; genera, Dracaena, Toetsea ( = 

 Cordyline, but used on ground of priority), and Colmia ; repre- 

 sents Yuccoidea; in Euliliacea>. (2) Saiistfitrea : Undershrubs with 

 coriaceo-carnose leaves, hermaphrodite flowers, and extrorse 

 anthers ; genera, Sanseviera, Lomatophyllum ; represents closely 

 Aloinex in Euliliacea;. (3) Comallarieu: : Herbs with proper 

 leaves, gamophyllous hermaphrodite flowers, and introrse 

 anthers ; genera, Reineckia, Convallaria, Polygonatum, Hylo- 

 nome ; represents Hemerocallidea: in Euliliacex. (4) 7cK\irieiT : 



Herbs with proper leaves, polyphvllous hermaphrodite flowers, 

 and introrse anthers, dehiscing longitudinallv ; genera. Theronogon, 

 Speirantha (new genus founded on Albrua s^ariieni. Hook.), 

 Maianthemum, Tovaria (an earlier name for Smilacina), Dry- 

 mopliila, Geitonoplesium, and Eustrephus. (5) Dian'Ve<T : 

 Herbs with proper leaves, hermaolirodite flowers, and anthers 

 dehiscing by terminal pores ; genera. Dianella, Luzuriaga. (fil 

 AspidistrcT : Acaulescent herbs, with fleshv. often eight-lobtd 

 perianths, hermaphrodite flowers, introrse anthers wi'h longitu- 

 dinal dehiscence, and large peltate comolicatedstigmis ; genera, 

 Aspidistra, Plectogyne. Tupistra, Campylandra (new genus 

 from East Himalvas), Gonioscypha (new genus from Bhotan), 

 Rohdea. (7) Slre/>tope,s : Herbs with proper leaves, herma- 

 phrodite flowers, and extrorse anthers, with longitudinal 

 dehiscence ; genera, Medeola, Clintonei, Prosartes, Streptopns, 

 Callixene. Kruhsea ; represents Colchicacere in the capsular 

 series. {?>) A .^parai^eir : Herbs or shrubs with leaves degra-^ed 

 down into spurred bract-like membranes, and their place filled f 

 by an abundant development of branches in their axils ; flowers I 

 often polygamous, with introrse anthers dehiscing longitudinally ; 

 genera. Asparagus (including Asparagopsis and MvrsiphylhimV, 

 Ruscus, Semele, and Danae ; the most specialised type of the 

 baccate series, not represented by anv tribe in the two capsular 

 sets. The most noticeable points of structure in the series are 

 that, in the first place, such a thing as a bulbous rootstock or a 

 narrow fle-hy lorate leaf of the hyacinth type does not occnr 

 in Asparagea at all. As regards distributitm, it is noticeable 

 that whilst the bulbous tribes nf Liliaceae possess a distinctly- 

 marked geographical individuality, this does not ho'd good of 

 the non-bulbous half of the natural order ; and that the 260 

 species are scattered all over the woHd, and not concentrated in 

 any particular geogi-aphical area. The most curious structural 

 peculiarity in the group is the degradation of the leaf-organ 

 which marks the tribe Asparagece. The leaves have 'an alter- 

 nate arrangement, and are invariably developed in the form of 

 a minute membranous scale. This has a spur at the base, which 

 in many of the .shrubby species of Asparagus is developed out 

 into a woody spine, as firm in texture as the indurated branchlet 

 of the sloe or hawthorn. The function of the leaf is fulfilled hy 

 branches, which are developed sin'^ly or in fascicles in the axils 

 of these bract-like proper leaves. Sometimes these branches are 

 needle-like (cladodia), without any flattening, as in the common 

 garden asparagus ; and sometimes, as in Myrsiphyllum and 

 Ruscus, they assume all the appearance of proper leaves (phyllo- 

 cladia\ The flowers in the 100 species of the genus Asparagus 

 are remarkably tiniform, and it is principally upon characters 

 furnished by the shape and arrangement of these barren branches 

 that the species are marked. The stigma of the Aspidistrese is a 

 very curious and complicated orean. It is a plate with eight 

 troughs radiating from a raised central umbilicus, separated from 

 one another by raised walls, and it closes in the tube of the 

 perianth, in which the anthers are placed so thoroughly that it is 

 difficult to tell how fertilisation is effected ; but upon turning it 

 upside down four minute holes mav be seen, through which it 

 would be possible for a very small insect to creep. The paper 

 was illnstr.ated by plates of the three new genera, and one to show 

 the structure of the stigma o*" these Aspidistrere ; and a large 

 numV)er of nf!w species, especially in the genus Asparagus, were 

 described. In the discussion which followed. Dr. Hooker, Dr. 

 Masters, and others expressed their sense of the great value of 

 Mr. Baker's labours. 



Geological Society, Nov. 4. — ^John Evan.s, F.R.S., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The following communication was read : — 

 Notes on the Comparative Microscopic Rock-structure of .some 

 Ancient and Modern Volcanic Rocks, by J. Clifton Ward. The 

 author stated at the outset that his object was to compare the 

 microscopic rock-structure of several groups of volcanic rocks, 

 and in so doing to gain light, if possible, upon the original 

 structure of some of the oldest members of that series. The 

 first part of the paner comprised an abstract of what had been 

 previously done in this subject. The second part gave details of 

 the microscopic structure of some few modem lavas, such as the 

 Solfatara Trachyte, the Vesuvian lava-flows of 1631 and 1794, 

 and a lava of the .\lban Mount, near Rome. In the trachyte 

 of the Solfatara acicular crystals of ^felspar show a well-marked 

 flow around the larger and first-formed crystals. In the Vesu- 

 vian and Albanian lavas leucite seems, in part at any rale, to 

 take the place of the felspar of other lavas ; and the majority of 

 the leucite crystals seem to be somewhat imperfectly formed, 

 a^ ii the case with the small felspar prisnis of the Solfatara rock 



