23 



if we like to commence the work of observation. I chose 

 the subject because I thought it might give us all an object 

 to work for at once, as the Primroses are now coming out. 

 I give you a hint or two about it. Set notes down in your 

 vade-mecum (I suppose no member of a Natural History 

 Society goes out without a note-book) to work out answers to 

 the following questions : — 



1. Are these oxlips most plentiful among primroses or among 



cowslips ? 



2. Do those which occur among primroses bear a closer 



resemblance to primroses than to cowslips ? 



3. Do those among cowslips resemble those flowers most ? 



4. Have you ever found primroses and oxlips on the same 



root? 



5. Have you ever found cowslips and oxlips on the same 



root? 

 In all probability the Primrose, Cowslip, and Oxlip are not 

 distinct species, but have been developed from one common 

 form, accordinrj to surrounding circumstances. 



Wednesday, April 27th, 



Conversazione at the Town Hall. On the table were 

 collections of Dried British Plants, and also from the Arctic 

 Regions. The following Paper on the latter was read by the 

 President : 



ARCTIC BOTANY. 



I propose this evening to say a few words on the effects of 

 temperature in modifying the growth and external character- 

 istics of plants. You are, most of you, I think, aware that I 

 made a voyage some 13 or 14 ago to the North Pole, with 

 Lord Dufferin, an account of which he subsequently published. 

 I am not, to-night, going into any account of that voyage, or 

 of the many points which might, perhaps, be interesting to 

 us as Naturalists ; this I propose to do, with your permission, 

 on some future occasion, when in the form of a Lecture I 

 may call your attention, not only to the Fauna and Flora of 

 the extreme North, but to the manners and customs of the 

 natives, some of them sufficiently primitive, which may prove 



