128 REPORT—1874. 
inroad into Ireland at the end of the fourteenth century and advanced into the 
bowels of the land, he carried with him a Gaelic population cognate with our own 
eople, and in all probability left a residue in Ulster, thus leavening the original 
Fit olgs, Tuatha-de-Dannan, and Milesians, with the exception of the County 
of Donegal, which still holds a large Celtic population speaking the old Irish 
tongue, and retaining the special characters of that people as I have already de- 
scribed them. This Scotic race, as it now exists in Ulster, and of which we have 
specimens before us, I would sum up with three characteristics. That they were 
courageous is proved by their shutting the gates and defending the walls of 
Derry ; that they were independent and lovers of justice has been shown by their 
establishment of tenant-right; and that they were industrious and energetic is 
manifest by the manufactures of Belfast. Do not, I entreat my brethren of Ulster, 
allow these manufactures to be jeopardized, either by masters or men, by any dis- 
agreements, which must lead to the decay of the fairest and wealthiest province 
and one of the most beautiful cities in this our native land. 
Borany. 
[For Dr. Hooker’s Address see page 102.] 
Note on Variation of Leaf-Arrangement. By Husrrr Arny, M.D. 
Approaching the problem of leaf-arrangement from a Darwinian point of view, 
it is important to observe the variations which arise at the present day in the 
disposition of leaves in different individuals of the same species ; for it is reasonable 
to suppose that variations of the same kind have arisen also in former ages, and the 
problem would be solved if we could see that the accumulative tendency of such 
variations (starting from some simple form of leaf-arrangement) would naturally 
result in the production of all the complex forms of leaf-arrangement which now 
exist. 
The chief general feature of leaf-arrangement being the disposition of leaves in 
parallel ranks, vertical or spiral as the case may be, the variations which present 
themselves at the present day are of two kinds :— 
First, there are variations in the number of leaf-ranks. 
Second, there are variations in the obliquity of ranks, their number remaining the 
same, 
The object of this paper is especially to put on record some observations which 
illustrate the first of these two kinds of variation. 
(1) Examples of variation of xwmber of leaf-ranks. 
Number of speci- | Number of con- Character 
ame of plantand mens with same | spicuous ranks ob tauke Phyllotactic 
part examined. ENDS ETB! éGileaves (vertical fraction. 
ik ; "lor spiral). 
Knautia arvensis | 2 specimens had} 10 & 16 con-| Spiral. | This arrangement 
(head). spicuous is that which 
spiral ranks, would result 
ten one way from condensa- 
and sixteen tion of the eru- 
the other. cial arrange- 
ment of the 
stem -leayes.— 
Call it a. 
1 specimen had | 8 & 13. . Near . 
