160 CASTLE-EDEN AND OTHER [vol. lxxvi, 



Discussion on the two foregoing Papers. 



Prof. A. C. Seward said that he regarded it a privilege to have 

 heard the Author's admirable account of her recent researches ; he 

 had never listened to a palseobotanical communication to the Society 

 with greater interest, or with fuller confidence. He asked whether 

 the Mediterranean Sea might not have formed the barrier to the 

 Southern migration of the Chinese-North American plants rather 

 than the Alpine ranges. The speaker felt sure that Fellows who 

 had previously doubted the value of fossil seeds as criteria of affinity 

 would be compelled to alter their opinion after the Author's con- 

 vincing demonstration. He expressed the hope that a national 

 collection of seeds and fruits would be provided. 



Prof. James Small emphasized the degree of accuracy which is 

 possible in the determination of fossil seeds and fruits. Having 

 been privileged with an opportunity of examining some fossil fruits 

 of Composite (sent to him by Mrs. lleid), he found that he could 

 distinguish between varieties of the same species, and that he could 

 even detect microscopical differences in the cells of the fruit-wall 

 in specimens of the same recent species grown at La Mortola 

 and at Cambridge, the former being identical with the fossil 

 specimens from Castle Eden, while the latter could easily be 

 distinguished from the fossils. He explained that, from being a 

 botanical sceptic, he had become a complete convert to the value of 

 the study of seeds and fruits, both recent and fossil. 



Mr. M. M. Allorge expressed the opinion that the Author's 

 papers Avere of great interest, not only to geologists, but also to 

 botanists and geographers. It was a well-known fact that a large 

 portion of China was covered with deposits of loess ; these seolian 

 deposits occurred chiefly along the eastern margin of the present 

 centre of high barometric piessure of Siberia. If the present 

 Chinese-North American flora were associated with the loess, was 

 it plausible to infer, from the presence of numerous exotic Chinese 

 plants in Western Europe during the Pleistocene Epoch, that at 

 that period the climatic conditions in Western Europe were also 

 favourable to the formation of the loess ? 



Dr. C. W. Andrews and Sir Henry Howorth also spoke. 



The Author thanked the speakers for the very kind reception 

 that they had given to her papeis. In reply to Prof. Seward, 

 she said that if it had been the Mediterranean, not the trans- 

 continental mountains, which formed the barrier to the southward 

 migration of the Chinese-North American association of plants, 

 the West European Pliocene floras would have shown a closer 

 relationship with the living flora of the Mediterranean region 

 than was the case : Mediterranean species occur very rarely in 

 the West European Pliocene floras. With reference to Sir Henry 

 Howorth's very just statement that Asa Cray recognized the 

 closest alliance of the Japanese flora to be with that of the 



