TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 745 



a medicinal plant. But plants grown in this country do not seem to be good for 

 medical purposes. I also mention Verbascum thnpaus, Linn., a self-seeding biennial 

 which grows in and about my garden. I saw a specimen one summer a mile and 

 a half down the stream ; this flowered splendidly, but the stem was broken down 

 when in flower. It did not in any way indicate being a hybrid. 



As regards trees or shrubs, in the fall of 1903 I had examined at Kew 

 a specimen of a shrub growing on the moor of the original type of Samhucus 

 nigra, Linn., which shows some peculiarities in flowering and in fruitbearing. 

 Near it is Cratcegus Oxycantha, Linn., the spot marking the limits of both in 

 that part of the country. I had also a thornless rose pointed out to me several 

 years ago growing at Lochaber, Alford, Aberdeenshire. At the time I looked over 

 it I found no thorns, only a few hairs. Up to date it presents similar conditions, 

 Mr. J. Gr. Baker of Kew compared it, making it a form of the North American 

 Rosa Virginiana of Millar, Rosa lucida of Ehret, Rosa Baltica of Roth, which was 

 introduced into Britain two hundred years ago, and is well figured by Dillenius in 

 ' Hortus Elthamensis.' The shrub must have been growing there for a hundred 

 years at least. It is situated in a rough sort of stone dyke along the end of a 

 garden, reaching to the side of the stream. The roots may penetrate down into 

 the rock. It grows up in the garden hedge. There are no accounts of how it may 

 have got there. I have not seen any other quite the same, though I have one 

 similar, so far as having few thorns is concerned, in my garden. Whether this 

 rose had been introduced or has originated in this country is doubtful. It is either 

 the form taken by an acclimatised rose or a species originating in this country 

 analogous to the North American one. 



FRIDAY, AUGUSTS. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. Some Aspects of the Present Position of Palaeozoic Botany. 

 By Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S. 



The classification of the Vascular Plants of the Paleozoic period provisionally 

 adopted may be tabulated as follows : — 



jSphenophyllales 1 Articulatae (Lignier) 

 Lycopsida-^ Bquisetales J \ a • 



\ Lycopodiales 

 Filicales 

 Pteropsida- Pteridosperme^ 1 Spermophyta 

 Gymnospermeffi \ '^ ^ "^ 



The main divisions Lycopsida and Pteropsida, proposed by Professor Jeffrey, 

 are employed as convenient, and, on the whole, natural, though constant dis- 

 tinctive characters may not be assignable. It is recognised that the distinction 

 between Lycopsida and Pteropsida is by no means an absolute one, and the 

 existence of a certain afiinity between Sphenophyllales and Ferns, as suggested by 

 Professor Lignier, is regarded as probable. 



The Sphenophyllales are found to be a synthetic group, the representatives 

 known to us being apparently the last specialised survivors of a very ancient 

 race of plants, of which the Devonian Psendobornias may give us some conception. 



The near relation between the Sphenophyllales and the Equisetales is ex- 

 pressed by their association under ArticulatoB. The Lycopods are more remote. 



Both vegetative and reproductive characters indicate a definite affinity between 

 the recent Psilotales and the Sphenophyllales, though not so close as to justify 

 their union under a common name. The quasi-spermophytic Lycopods are 

 regarded as a parallel development, without affinity to Conifers or to any other line 

 of true seed-plants. 



The second main division, Pteropsida, is taken to include the whole of the 



