172 Proceedings. 



Ordinary Meeting, April 2nd, 1895. 

 Henry Wilde, F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



The thanks of the members were voted to the donors 

 of the books upon the table. 



Professor F. E. Weiss, B.Sc, exhibited specimens of 

 Ramalina reticulata and of Phallus impudicus> recently- 

 added to the Manchester Museum, Owens College. The 

 former is a lichen, which grows in a net-work form and 

 shows the small cup-like processes which contain the 

 characteristic spores. The genus was first described by 

 Agardh as a marine alga, and though this description was 

 corrected by Asa Gray long since, it is still often described 

 as such, even in recent botanical works. The common 

 stinkhorn {Phallus) was represented by several specimens, 

 showing different stages of growth, and mounted in spirits, 

 a plan which has great advantages over the usual method 

 of drying. 



Mr. W. E. HOYLE, M.A., exhibited illustrations of the 

 method which is being adopted in the Museum for the 

 illustration of the different natural orders of the vegetable 

 kingdom. For each a printed label giving the characters of 

 the family, diagrams of the morphology of the flowers and 

 a map showing the geographical distribution are displayed, 

 with examples of the more prominent genera and species 

 suitably preserved. 



Mr. Charles Bailey, F.L.S., in commenting on the 

 exhibits, alluded to a case in which the powerful and un- 

 pleasant odour of the Phallus had given rise to a suspicion 

 of imperfect drainage. 



Dr. A. HODGKINSON read a paper " On the Germination 

 of Orchidaceous Seeds," in which he showed that terrestrial 



