SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 191 
exhibited, showing the singular parasitic growth of Cuscuta appendiculata 
on Nicotiana glauca. 
Dr. Cogswell exhibited specimens of vegetables belonging to four 
different families of plants, to illustrate the symmetrical development of 
the rootlets. 
Prof. Martin Duncan exhibited under the microscope, and made some 
remarks upon, the Spheridia of an Echinoderm. 
Dr. Masters gave a summary of a paper “ On the Comparative Morpho- 
logy and Life-history of the Conifere,” a review of the general morphology 
of the order, based upon the comparative examination of living specimens in 
various stages of development. These observations, made in various public 
and private “pineta,” supplemented by an examination of herbarium 
specimens, demonstrated the utility of gardens in aid of botanical research. 
The mode of germination, the polymorphic foliage, its isolation or “ con- 
crescence,” its internal structure, the arrangement of the buds, the direction 
and movements of the shoots, were all discussed. In reference to the male 
and female flowers, the author described their true nature, tracing them 
from their simplest to their most complex or most highly differentiated 
condition, and showed that, so far as known, the histological structure and 
development were essentially the same throughout the order. Various 
special forms, such as the needles of Pinus, the phylloid shoots of Sciado- 
pitys, and the seed-scales of Abietinee were described, and their significance 
pointed out. The phenomenon of Enation, with the correlative inversion 
of the fibro-vascular bundles in such outgrowths was considered in relation 
to the light it throws upon certain contested points in the morphology of 
the order. The chief teratological appearances noted in the order were 
detailed and their significance discussed. The various modifications were 
shown to be purely hereditary, or partly adaptive, and dependent on 
permanent or independent arrest, excess, or perversion of growth and 
development, and to various co-relative changes. Lastly, the polymorphic 
forms of the so-called genus Retinospora suggested that in studying them 
we might be watching the development and fixation of new specific types. 
The meeting adjourned to May 2nd. 
ZooLogicaL Society or Lonpon. 
March 19, 1889.—Prof. Ftowrr, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., President, in 
the chair. 
The Secretary read a list of the fishes collected at Constantinople and 
sent to the Society by Dr. E. D. Dickson. The species were sixty-six in 
number, and had been determined by Mr. G. A. Boulenger. 
Mr. Tegetmeier exhibited a female Gold Pheasant in male plumage, 
and a curiously distorted pair of horns of the Ibex of Cashmir. 
