GLASGOW SOCIETY OF FIELD NATUEALISTS. 179 



unfinished weakly condition, pleasing often to the eye, but intrinsically 

 powerless and inactive. He then gave a short sketch of the 

 development of our higher plants from the simple seed till it had 

 developed into seed again, drawing particular attention to those 

 cases where we had one organ forming another, for instance, a 

 stamen forming a petal. In some plants we have the first seed- 

 leaves simple and undivided; as we ascend in the development of 

 the plant, the leaves gradually show a tendency to divide, till we get 

 the perfect form of the leaf of that plant; as we ascend higher, these 

 perfect leaves again turn to the simple undivided form, as in the 

 bracts, and ultimately form a whorl of leaves outside the flower, as 

 in the calyx, showing that all the various organs of plants are 

 modifications of one and the same organ. This last transformation 

 takes place sometimes very slowly, but at other times the stem at 

 once shoots up from the node at which the perfect leaf was developed, 

 terminating in a whorl of leaves collected round an axis. That 

 these calyx leaves are in reality modified stem leaves, is proved by 

 the occurrence of a number of leaves on some stems being found 

 without the development of the nodes and forming a whorl round 

 the stem. He next treated of the development of the corolla or 

 inner whorl of floral envelopes. Here we have an expansion of the 

 previously contracted whorl. Then we get the corolla gradually 

 passing into the outer whorl of the reproductive organs or stamens; 

 and lastly we have the pistils or inner whorl of reproductive organs 

 formed from the stamens. In illustration of his remarks Mr. 

 Paterson exhibited specimens of a Galtha pahtstris, where the 

 leaves were transformed in two instances into yellow petals; the 

 Wallflower, where the corolla was transformed into stamens and 

 the stamens were transformed into pistils ; a species of Sarracenia, 

 where the umbrella-shaped pistil was transformed into a pure white 

 petal ; a species of Primrose, where the calyx was transformed into a 

 corolla ; the cotyledons of the Beech and Elm, where there were 

 three cotyledons, each with a bud in its axil ; a specimen of 

 Kanunculus, with the pistil formed into a petal; and also several 

 flowers illustrating intermediate transformations, such as Ganna 

 Indica, and a species of Campanula. 



Mr. John Harvie then read some interesting notes on Marine 

 Zoology. He first of all drew attention to the stinging properties of 

 the sea-anemone and the common jelly-fish of the sea shore, remark- 

 ing that although many observers found these animals had the 



