41 



Bailey from Mr. Tuomey, specimens were sent to Prof, Ehreii- 

 berg, the celebrated German Naturalist, and by him distrib- 

 uted among the leading microscopists of the world. 



The Nottingham specimens appear to be the same as the 

 infusorial earths from the Rappahannock, with the exception, 

 principally, that the Actinocyclus and some other forms in 

 the latter, are replaced by the beautiful Heliopelta in the 

 former, as in the Bermuda Tripoli. They are interesting to 

 the geologist as showing the apparent resemblance of geo- 

 logical formations. 



The statements of this communication were further com- 

 mented on by the chair. 



John M. Ives, of Salem, offered some remarks upon the 

 various fruits now engaging the attention of the horticul- 

 turist. 



The Chair exhibited a rose, from the center of which a 

 green stem had been produced ; a phenomenon not very 

 rare, but full of botanical interest, the rationale of which he 

 explained to the meeting. 



George D. Phippen, of Salem, after making some remarks 

 on the plants collected during the day, read the following 

 communication on 



The Instinct of Plants. 



Whether this term be inadmissible or not, it cannot be 

 denied that plants do exhibit actual sensibility, though of a 

 low order, and that, in many cases, they have the power ©f 

 " making movements tending to determinate ends." 



The Creator has placed on the earth many races of sentient 

 beings of high order, and these with such a structure and 

 organization that their very existence here is made to depend 

 upon the presence of another class of organized life, wholly 

 distinct in characters from the first. This latter, feeding on 

 the store of mineral and gaseous material around, is ever 

 made to prepare, by assimilation, the aliment of those higher 

 ■creatures known as animals. Thus these intermediate stnic- 



ESSEX INST. PROCEED. VOL. lii. 6. 



