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BOTANY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



The botanists had a busy time at York, and thanks to the 

 excellent arrangements of the local members, not an idle 

 moment was spent. Prof. F. W. Oliver, of University College, 

 London, was president of the section, and chose as the subject 

 of his address ' The Seed, a Chapter in Evolution.' The 

 subject was a natural and suitable one, from a palaeobotanist 

 who has recently done so much to raise the question of the 

 seed and its significance in comparative morphology to such a 

 position of interest. The second portion dealt with ' Botany in 

 England,' but more especially modern botany, which is the 

 product of the last twenty-five years. He made a significant 

 reference to our large Herbaria, ' the effort involved in their 

 construction and upkeep being altogether disproportionate to 

 any service to which they are put.' With some this may be 

 merely a matter of opinion, but no one will quarrel with his 

 remark that these institutions might and ought to become 

 centres for the teaching of systematic botany of the best type, 

 for it is remarkable that in no botany school in England is 

 systematic botany taught as it should be. The address is as 

 full of interest as it is stimulating, and should be read by all 

 botanists. We were glad to see Mr. J. G. Baker rise to move a 

 vote of thanks, for who could have been more suitable than this 

 veteran Yorkshire botanist. 



The address was followed by several interesting papers. 

 Mr. Seward read two papers for Prof. Pearson on ' South 

 African Cycads.' Mr. Hugh Richardson dealt with the 

 ' Vegetation of Teneriflfe,' and Miss Sanders ' The Metabolism 

 concurrent with Heat-production in some Aroids.' The 

 morning's work concluded with several reports of committees, 

 that on ' Botanical Photographs * was illustrated by a number of 

 prints, including some of Irish plants by Mr. A. Welch, and 

 others of Alpine plants by Mr. Ballance. Many of these 

 were excellent, and showed exactly what ought to be done in 

 this direction. Mr. F. J. Lewis in the report on ' Peat Moss 

 Deposits ' records that the chief point of interest up to the 

 present time is the discovery of a well-marked Arctic Plant bed 

 lying at the base of the peat. A silty clay occurs in some 

 places on the banks of and partly under the river Tees at about 

 2000 feet, crowded with well-preserved leaves of Salix reticulata 

 and S. Arbiiscula. The stems, and frequently the leaves, of 

 these plants are abundant at the base of the peat over the 



1906 September i. 



