102 REPORT—1868, 
inclusive. The first Plate represented the interior of the largest nest of Vespa 
arborea? of Mr. . Smith; and the second and third five nests of the Vespa Britan- 
nica, with four of the wasps taken out of them. 
Plate II. exhibited the more delicate and exquisitely fabricated nests of the Vespa 
Britannica of Leach, or, as other entomologists term it, V. Norvegica. 
On some Organisms which live at the bottom of the North Atlantic, in depths of 
6000 to 15,000 feet*. By Professor T. H. Huxtey, LL.D., PRS., ELS. 
On the Necessity of Photographing Plants to obtain a better knowledge of them. 
By Dr. Karu Kocu. 
The author drew attention to the advantage of photographs to the systematist for 
the comparison of plants. There are many plants of which the dry specimens in 
the herbarium are not sufficient, especially in the case of trees, where the best de- 
scriptions cannot give an idea of their physiognomy. The Liliaceous plants, and 
nearly all the Monocotyledons, in a dry state, give a bad view of their physiognomy. 
In the Botanic Garden and glasshouses at Berlin, such plants are cultivated which 
when photographed would give, more especially for monographers, good material 
for their description or their diagnosis. A collection of plant-photographs is being 
made at the Botanic Gardens at Berlin; and the author would thank possessors of 
gardens and greenhouses to send him photographs of interesting plants and trees. 
The author exhibited the photograph of an Aroideous plant, from which he was 
alone able to determine that the plant was new and to give a good diagnosis and 
description. 
‘On the Specific Identity of the Almond and the Peach. By Dr. Kart Kocu. 
The author stated that he had travelled over the mountains of the Caucasus, Ar- 
menia, some parts of Persia and Asia Minor, during four years, for the purpose of 
studying the origin of our fruit-trees. Although the author could not assert that 
he had found them perfectly wild or run wild, he nevertheless had collected much 
interesting material. The author believes that our pears and apples, cherries, most 
plums, also peaches and apricots, are not natives of Europe. Only certain bad 
varieties of plums have their origin from Prunus insititia, the tree which grows 
in a wild condition in the woods of Europe. After discussing the wild stock of our 
cherries and pears, the author stated that apricots do not grow wild in Oriental 
countries, but may perhaps come from China and Japan, as also the peaches. In 
the east of Persia, however, a peach-shrub grows, which is intermediate between 
the almond and the peach-trees. For some time naturalists and gardeners have 
asserted that there is no difference between almond and peach-trees; that the latter 
is merely a variety in which the dry rind of the almond has become fleshy, and 
where at the same time the stone has acquired a rough surface. Botanists say also 
that the petioles of the almond-tree have ut the superior end small glands, which 
are absent in the peach. But the nectarine, which is but a smooth-skinned peach, 
exhibits these same glands. The flowers are not readily distinguishable of peach 
and almond. On the shores of the Rhine a double-flowered variety grows, as to 
which it is not certainly Inown whether it is peach or almond. In England and 
France also there is a plant which is well known as the peach-almond, and which 
is a constant variety. This plant occasionally produces a branch bearing good 
peaches, but, as a rule, its fruit is intermediate in character. The property of ata- 
vism seems to prove the derivation of the peach from the almond; for occasionally 
a sound peach-tree will produce a branch bearing almond-like fruit. 
On the Classification of ihe Species of Crocust. By Dr. Kart Koon. 
Most botanists haye only made use of the flowers and fruits of plants in the for- 
* Published in extenso in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for 1868, 
t Published x eatenso in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, September 12, 1868. 
