518 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



be imperfectly understood. The cow-wheat was supposed to 

 resemble the cocoons of ants, and one observer stated that ants 

 do' actually carry them to their nests, and if this was so the 

 seeds would find a fine germinating bed in the tilth of an ant. 

 hill. It was possible to find in the fruit-head of the common 

 marigold three different kinds of fruits — some with wings, which 

 were evidently adapted for wind dispersal ; others with hooks 

 for hanging on to the coats of passing animals, while a third 

 allured birds by resembling a green caterpillar. Vegetables 

 used in cooking were derived from, any part of the plant. The 

 tomato, cucumber, and marrow were given as examples of 

 fruits. The potato was an underground stem, which had 

 become a storehouse for reserve food material. Turnips, 

 beets, . parsnips were examples where the taproot had become 

 modified, for during the first year they were stored with food, 

 but in the second year this food was utilised for the formation 

 of seed. In the asparagus it was the bud which was eaten, and 

 when asparagus v/as stringy it was due to the food-conducting 

 tubes or vascular bundles being well developed ; while Brussels 

 sprouts were simply small cabbages produced as buds in the 

 leaf axils on the main stem, while the white fleshy centre of the 

 cauliflower furnished an example of modified flowers. In the 

 discussion which followed Messrs. Robert Welch, G. Donald- 

 son, N. Carruthers, W. H. Gallway, C. Cunningham, and the 

 Chairman took part. 



" CONTINENTAL GLACIATION." 



A lecture under the auspices of the Irish Field Club Union 

 was delivered in the Museum, College Square North, on 

 Tuesday evening, 9th April, by Professor Grenville A. J. Cole, 

 F.G.S., M.R.I.A., the well-known Dublin scientist, who chose 

 for his subject " Continental Glaciation." The chair was 

 occupied by the President (Mr. W. H. Phillips). 



Professor Cole, in the course of his lecture, said that 

 despite local cycles of increase and decrease, they were famiHar 

 everywhere in Europe with the fact that glaciers are shrunken 



