1877.] 165 [Minot. 



cate what has seemed to me to be a tendency toward a slender type 

 of bill. In the study of this family I have been more and more 

 deeply impressed at every step with the conviction that the key to 

 its true classification will be found in a thorough investigation of the 

 embryology of the group. Until this is done, it seems to me proba- 

 ble that our best efforts can only result in very moderate success, 

 while absolute certainty of the true affinities of the species must be 

 unattainable in any other way. 



Section of Botany. April 11, 1877. 

 Mr. B. P. Mann in the chair. Fifteen persons present. 



Dr. G. L. Good ale exhibited a small cruciferous plant, 

 Draba caroliniana, recently discovered in Salem; also a 

 specimen of Corylus hyalinus, closely related to our species. 



General Meeting. April 18, 1877. 



Vice-President Mr. S. H. Scudder in the chair. Forty- 

 one persons present. 



Mr. Charles Sedgwick Minot gave an account of the re- 

 cent investigations of embryologists on the formation of the 

 germinal layers and the phenomena of impregnation among 

 animals. 



Mr. Minot reviewed the various observations which had been made 

 and the conclusions which could be already drawn. Hseckel was the 

 only person who had hitherto attempted a general retrospect of the 

 work done in this field ; he had promulged the Gastraea theory, 

 which cannot' be accepted because it does not agree with the 

 known facts, and Hseckel has been able to maintain it only by a long 

 series of misrepresented statements. Mr. Minot rejected the Gastrsea 

 theory for these reasons, but did not attempt to replace it, although 

 he wished to point out peculiarities hitherto overlooked in spite of 

 their being common to all forms of embryonic development. 



