TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 117 



■whether its being in a state of decay, and of coui'se soft, was the cause of the Pi/rola 

 entering ; the author is iucluied to think that the former was the case, and that for 

 three reasons : — 



1st. It had evidently been in contact some time, because the side shoot of the 

 Pyrola had attained the full thickness of the parent root, which is not usually tho 

 case with the lateral shoots. 



2nd. The white shoot, after entering- the Willow, had become of the same brown 

 colour, and the two root3 were so incorporated together that it was impossible to 

 say for a certainty where the one ended and the other began. 



3rd. That the root did not go through the Willow, and so proceed on its way, as 

 in all probability it woidd have done had the AVillow been soft with decay when 

 the Pyrola entered. 



The author concludes that the two plants have a kind of sympathy for each 

 other ; and if it does not amount to the Pyrola being a parasite on the Willow, it 

 certainly must have some mysterious affinity for it. lie has found Orobanche 

 hederoi with much less proximity to the Ivy tliau the disputed plants are to each 

 other, and has also seen Monotropu hyjoopitys with no ajjpearance of parasitic habits, 

 and j-et all naturalists believe these plants to be parasites. 



Now, except it can be disproved by its habits and associations in localities which 

 he has not yet had the opportunity of studying, tho author must conclude the 

 Pyrola to be a parasite upon the ^^'illow. 



On the Vojitable Products of Centred Africa. By Col. J. A. Geasx, F.B.G.S. 

 [For an abstract of this paper, see Appendix.] 



Notes on the Whcdehone-Whcdes of the Southern Hemisphere. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. 



[Printed in an extended form as the " Geograpliical Distribution of the Cetacea," in 

 the 'Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist.' November 1870.] 



On the Fortiifjuese Globular Anchor-Siionqe (Pheroncma Grayi). 

 By Dr. J. E. Ghay, F.R.S. 



[Printed in cxtcnso in the ' Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' October 1870.] 



On the Abnormal Growth of Ferns. By Townshend M. Hall, F.G.S. 



In this communication the author gave some results of his observations with 

 reference to the increasing prevalence of abnormal structures amongst certain 

 species of ferns in the south-west of England, but especially in Devonshire, Ho 

 stated that his remarks did not in au}' way relate to the variations of ferns which 

 had been subjected to artificial treatment imder cultivation, but simply to the 

 changes which appeared to have taken place during the last few years amongst 

 those commoner species which abound in every wood and hedge-row. From the 

 profusion in which they grow in the south-west of England, there are several 

 species which may be looked upon as aflbrding an excellent indication of that 

 change, which, whether it may be called development, or whether it be considered 

 retrogression, is so rapidly effecting an alteration amongst this tribe of plants. 



Of the various species of ferns, the Scolopendrium vuhjare appears to have been 

 amongst the first to assume bifid and midtifid forms, and so rapidlj^ have they 

 increased, either by sowing the spores or by inoculation, that there are now many 

 localities where plants bearing abnormal fronds are the rule instead of the excep- 

 tion. Other common forms of this fern are the crisped and crested, naiTOW and 

 ramose ; all showing, however, the marked tendency of the species to depart from 

 its normal structure. 



Many other ferns, such as the following, have also recently appeared in the De- 

 vonshire lanes with bifurcated leaves : — 



