xxvi Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



He gave evidence of facts in this regard met with in South Africa. 

 In concluding, he would like to sum up his views on this question as 

 far as South African plants were concerned. Some of these seemed 

 to occur only on fields of white quartz, where they were not easily 

 distinguished, particularly at night-time, owing to their own white 

 colour. It was probable that the limited occurrence in these districts 

 was due to the destruction of individuals which sprung up in other 

 localities, where their whiteness easily betrayed them to the night- 

 feeding animals. Examples were the Anacampseros papyracea and 

 a species of Mesembrianthemum. There were some species of 

 Mesembrianthemum which were so well hidden among the fragments 

 of yellow and brown shale that they were most difficult to detect. 

 Yet this was not true mimicry, for after these plants were cultivated 

 in a moister climate, e.g., at Cape Town, they produced green leaves. 

 This showed that the yellow and brown colouring were the effect of 

 the Karroo climate, and not protective adaptation, although the 

 plants had obtained efficient protection from them in their natural 

 surroundings. There were, however, some species of Mesembrian- 

 themum, viz., M. Bolusi and M. nobile, which retained their 

 remarkable structure even under cultivation, although the leaves 

 were somewhat less dull under these modified conditions, and lost 

 consequently some of their desert character. This, he thought, was 

 Mimicry, or, if one preferred the word, " Homoplasy." It was possible 

 that Mesembrianthemum truncation, Th., and M. ti'uncatellum/TL&w., 

 were also some examples of this group. 



Ordinary Monthly Meeting. 

 June 29, 1904. 

 Dr. J. D. F. Gilchrist, President, in the Chair. 



Messrs. H. E. Arderne, Dr. W. Beste, W. B. Gordon, and O. T. 

 Hennesey were elected ordinary members. 



Dr. E. Broom's paper on "The Structure of Mesosaiirus" and 

 Dr. W. F. Purcell's " Descriptions of New Genera and Species of 

 South African Spiders" were read. 



Dr. J. D. F. Gilchrist exhibited a deep-sea fish (Gatcetyx 

 messieri), along with some of its eggs and several embryos. These 

 embryos had been found among the eggs, thus proving that the fish 

 is vipiparous. Evidence was adduced to' show that it is probable 



