Bond.] 356 [May 17, 



Mr. W. P. Wilson exhibited a number of drawings of May- 

 Flowers from Old Orchard, Me., showing the differences in 

 development and relative lengths of stamens and pistils. 

 Some flowers wanted the former entirely, and in these the 

 stigmas always developed five prominent rays. 



Dr. Asa Gray read a paper on the same subject, showing 

 that these flowers may be arranged in two groups, one with 

 small stigmas and good stamens, and one with large five- 

 rayed stigmas and poor or no stamens. These groups may 

 be subdivided into two sub-groups each, according as the 

 styles are long or short ; the long-styled flowers, however, 

 predominate in each group. Epigaea thus shows a tendency 

 to become dioecious. 



Dr. W. G. Farlow said that he had just found the two 

 species of Podisoma, whose occurrence on the White Cedar 

 he had predicted at the last meeting. Specimens of both 

 species were exhibited. Dr. Farlow also exhibited a spe- 

 cies of Morel (Morchella) and recommended its edible qual- 

 ities. 



May 17, 1876. 



The President, Mr. T. T. Bouve, in the chair. Forty-two 

 persons present. 



Mr. G. W. Bond made some remarks on the result of his 

 studies made during the preparation of a series of the wools 

 of commerce for the Centennial Exhibition. 



In the first place he had found indubitable confirmation of the cur- 

 rent opinion that the sheep of Spanish America, both North and 

 South (with possibly some other admixture in Chili), originated from 

 the churro, or coarse sheep of Spain, and not from the Merino, as 

 some writers have supposed. The most interesting observation, how- 

 ever, was the discovery of a similarity of the wool of the Mauchamp 

 race of France and that of the Arabian stump-tailed, fat-rumped 

 race or Mecca sheep. Darwin, in the third chapter of his work on 



