110 REPORT — 1860. 



We are therefore led to speculate as to the final cause of the existence of sexual 

 organs, in plants, as well as in those lower animals which can be propagated by 

 cuttings. 



One use, no doubt, may be the dissemination of the species ; for many plants, if 

 propagated by buds alone, woidd be in a manner confined to a single spot. Another 

 secondary use is the production of fruits which afford nourishment to animals. A 

 third may be to minister to the gratification of the senses of man by the beauty 

 of their forms and colours. 



But as these ends are only answered in a small proportion of cases, we must 

 seek further for the uses of the organs in question ; and hence the author suggested, 

 that they might have been provided, in order to prevent that uniformity in the 

 aspect of Nature which woidd have prevailed if plants had been multiplied exclu- 

 sively by buds. 



It is well known that a bud is a mere counterpart of the stock from whence it 

 springs, so that we are always sure of obtaining the very same description of fruit 

 by merely grafting the bud or cutting of a pear or apple tree upon another plant of 

 the same species. 



On the other hand, the seed never produces an individual exactly like the plant 

 from which it sprung, and hence by the union of the sexes in plants some variation 

 from the primitive type is sure to result. 



Dr. Daubeny remarked, that if we adopt in any degree the views of Mr. Darwin 

 with respect to the origin of species by natural selection, the creation of sexual 

 organs in plants might be regarded as intended to promote this specific object. 

 "Whilst, however, he gave his assent to the Darwinian hypothesis, as likely to aid us 

 in reducing the number of existing species, he wished not to be considered as advo- 

 cating it to the extent to which the author seems disposed to carry it. He rather 

 desired to recommend to Naturalists the necessity of further inquiries, in order 

 to fix the limits within which the doctrine proposed by Darwin may assist us in 

 distinguishing varieties from species. 



Botany. 



Dr. Davbeny invited the Members to visit an experimental garden under his 

 superintendence in the neighbourhood of Oxford, in which he had been carrying on 

 some investigations connected with Agricultural Chemistry, the nature of which 

 he proposed to explain on the spot. 



On a Plant Poisoning a Plant. By R. Dowden. 



On Abnormal Forms o/Tassiflora caerulea. By Dr. C. Dresser. 



On the Morphological Laics in Plants. By Dr. C. Dresser. 



On the supposed Germination of Mummy Wheat. 

 By the Rev. Professor Henslow, M.A., F.L.S. 



The author introduced his observations by reading a letter from Professor 

 Wartmann, of Geneva, who had recently found that seeds might be exposed to 

 a temperature of 198° below zero of Fahrenheit's scale, without losing the power 

 of germination. Professor Henslow had himself exposed seeds to the tempe- 

 rature of boiling water, and they germinated. The question of how long seeds 

 would retain their vitality was one of great interest ; and a Committee of this 

 Association had reported on the subject, but they had not succeeded in making 

 seeds grow which had been kept more than two centuries. He then showed that 

 experiments recorded on the growth of mummy wheat were not trustworthy ; 

 and especially noticed the case which had been relied on so much, of the growth of 

 mummy wheat by Mr. T upper from seeds supplied him by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. 

 He alluded to a sample ot mummy wheat which he had carefully inspected grain 



