708 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 
this has developed a few flower buds which will, I hope, open next spring or 
summer. It is clear, therefore, that, as in the case of other species of this 
genus, Yucalyptus globulus is also able, under certain conditions, to produce 
flowers on juvenile plants. 
4. Histology of the Leptoids in Polytrichum. By Marcarer Hur. 
The leptoids in Polytrichum do not deserve the name of sieve-tubes in any 
ordinary sense of the word. Their contents differ from those of tlie other living 
cells in never including starch grains or large drops of oil, but each leptoid 
has a nucleus. They are rich in connecting threads, which are especially thickly 
aggregated in the terminal walls, and are also abundantly present in the lateral 
walls, towards the ends of the cells. The threads occasionally show an arrange- 
ment into definite areas as in the sieve-plate, but are more frequently quite 
diffusely scattered. Where such plate-like areas occur there is no change in the 
thickness of the cell-wall. The area of the terminal wall is enormously increased 
by its bag-like shape, so that the end of one cell depends into the lumen of 
the next. 
The connecting threads do not differ in structure from those found in the 
cortical cells, and they do not appear to undergo any progressive change into 
slime-strings, with accompanying alteration of the surrounding cellulose into 
callus. 
Histological arguments in favour of the conduction of organised food 
materials by the leptoids must be based upon the elongated shape of the cells, 
the great area of their terminal walls, and the wealth of connecting threads, 
especially aggregated towards the ends of the cells. 
Irom direct experiment, the conducting function of the leptoids seems, more 
probably, to be confined to albuminous materials, and not to be concerned with 
carbohydrates. The latter are possibly conveyed in the hydroids which, it 
seems likely, have not a purely water-conducting function. 
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. Fossil Plants showing Structure from the Base of the Lower Car- 
boniferous of Kentucky. By Professor E. C. Jurrrey and 
Dr DME. Scorr) ForSec. Res. 
‘he specimens were collected by Prof. C. R. Eastman, near Junction City, 
Boyle County, Kentucky; they come from the nodule-bearing layer at the 
bottom of the Waverley shale, at the base of the Lower Carboniferous, and are 
among the oldest known land-plants with their structure preserved. 
The following specimens have been investigated :— 
1. Calamopitys americana, sp. nov. 
A stem allied to C. annularis (Unger): remarkable for the mixed pith, 
containing tracheides, and for the paired leaf-trace bundles in the wood. The 
leaf-base has the structure of Kalymma. 
2. Kalymma petioles, no doubt belonging to Calamopitys americana or allied 
species. 
3. Calamopteris Hippocrepis, sp. nov., a petiole of the Kalymma group, but 
with the bundles arranged in a horse-shoe form, and largely fused. 
The above-mentioned fossils are clearly members of the transitional group, 
Cycadofilices or Pteridospermee. 
4. Archeopitys Hastmanii, gen. et sp. nov. 
A stem with dense secondary wood and numerous small mesarch strands of 
xylem scattered in the pith. Probably one of the Cordaitales, allied to Pitys. 
5. Periastron perforatum, sp. nov. 
A curious petiole with a median row of separate vascular bundles and large 
