TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 799 



placed cuttings of begonias. The plants grew well and were not sensibly affected 

 by the presence of the fungus in the substratum or in its surface. Placed subse- 

 quently in conditions which were eminently suitable to the development of the 

 parasitic form, they resisted its action perfectly, though control plants which had 

 not been cultivated in the ground infected by the attenuated form were killed very 

 quickly. From their experiments the authors claim to have shown that the form 

 of Botri/t)s cinerea intermediate between the gouidial and the sterile form can 

 make plants immune to the attacks of the latter. 



Researches of a somewhat kindred nature dealing with the infection of 

 particular plants by specific fungi have been communicited recently to this Section 

 bv Professor Marshall Ward in his paper read last year on the Bromes and their 

 brown rust. They brought to light many very important facts connected with 

 the question of adaptive parasitism and immunity. Few questions in vegetable 

 physiology can compare in economic importance with these when we think of 

 their possible development in relation to agriculture. 



I have now somewhat hurriedly surveyed certain parts of the field of vegetable 

 physiology. It has been impossible in an Address like this to do more than indicate 

 what seem to me some of the more important problems awaiting investigation. 

 May we hope that all such work will be vigorously conducted, but that the con- 

 clusions reached will be scrutinised with the gi'eatest care and subjected' to 

 repeated examination ? Great hindrances to the advance of the science resulted 

 from dogmatic assertions made by eminent melt Jji the past, their personal in- 

 fliience having led to their conclusions, not ajjtogeth'er accurate, being nevertheless 

 almost universally accepted. Many years subsequently these conclusions have 

 needed re-examination, the result being the destruction of a whole fabric that had 

 been reared upon tliis unworthy foundation. I may close, as I began, by an 

 appeal to the younger school of botanists to take some of this work in hand, and 

 by assiduous and critical experiment and observation to contribute to the solution 

 of the problems pressing upon us in this field. 



The following Papers and Reports were read : — 



1. ExMhition of Forms o/" Erica Tetralixy?-09?i Connemara. 

 By Professor I. Bayley Balfour, F.R.S. 



2. Notes on a Census of the Flora of the Australian Alps. {Part I.) 



By James Stirling. 



In preparing this census, with accompanying notes on the orders represented, 

 the author has in view an inquiry into the origin and distribution of the mixed 

 types of plants now growing on the highest altitudes over south-east Australia, 

 and the subsequent correlation with other Alpine and the Tertiary floras of the 

 region. 



From 1875 to 1888 he collected 1,019 species of plants, of which 678 were 

 Phanerogams and 341 Cryptogams. 



Over one-tenth of the total of the plants of the Australian continent are found 

 in the Australian Alps at elevations between 2,000 and 7,000 feet. 



The area investigated includes the main watershed line, separating the streams 

 flowing northerly into the Murray from those flowing southerly into the Gipps- 

 land Lakes and the Southern Ocean — i.e. from the heads of the Yarra River on 

 the west to the Kosciusko plateau on the north-east, over a distance of 15,000 

 square miles. It embraces also the high tablelands, between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, 

 which form expansions of the lateral watershed line. 



An outline of the physical features is given with reference to the geological 

 structure and to the climatic conditions of the area. 



The outlines of a number of the principal mountains are mainly of the relict 

 class of Professor Geikie, formed by denudation and erosion from an extensive 



