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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 88. 



pressed here — which hard been uttered. " You came 

 from us," said Mr. Saunders: "if you return to us, 

 you will meet a welcome which has in it as much 

 warmth as that which you have accorded to us. 

 Upon all occasions, whether they be international 

 or inter-scientific, I assure you that the American 

 people, particularly the English-speaking American 

 people, will find a cordial greeting on the part of any 

 Englishman to whom they appeal." 



The chair announced that the motion to discharge 

 the committee had been withdrawn. 



The only other response to the call for reports was 

 made by Professor Young of the committee in rela- 

 tion to duty on scientific books. He said that the 

 committee had prepared, and, he believed, had pre- 

 sented to congress, a bill on the subject stated, which 

 had failed to reach congressional attention. 



THE BOTANICAL CLUB OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN ASSOCIATION. 



The meeting of the American association last year 

 at Minneapolis attracted a larger attendance of bot- 

 anists than usual. Without much consultation, a 

 meeting of those interested in botany was called, a 

 president and a secretary were chosen, and discus- 

 sions, short communications, and papers upon bo- 

 tanical subjects, listened to. The Botanical club was 

 thus inaugurated; and before the close of the session 

 it was decided to do what was possible to secure a 

 larger attendance of botanists at the next gathering 

 in Philadelphia. 



Although during the interim the prospect of a good 

 attendance at the Philadelphia meeting had been 

 fair, the most sanguine were surprised to find, that, 

 as early as Monday preceding the opening, a number 

 of botanists had arrived in the city; and by the fol- 

 lowing day a larger gathering could have been assem- 

 bled than the total attendance at Minneapolis. 



The first meeting of the club, of which several 

 were held between Friday and Wednesday, was re- 

 sponded to by an attendance of about thirty, — a little 

 below the average attendance for the subsequent 

 meetings. Prof. W. J. Beal of Lansing, Mich., the 

 president, took the chair; and Prof. J. C. Arthur of 

 Geneva, N.Y., was appointed secretary to fill the 

 vacancy caused by the absence of Professor Coulter. 

 A paper by Dr. N. L. Britton of New York, on the 

 composition and distribution of the flora of New 

 Jersey, was read. The surface-features of the state 

 were given, and the corresponding vegetation de- 

 scribed. The work of cataloguing the plants is being 

 done under the supervision of the State geological 

 survey. The list at present has reached the very 

 large total of nearly fifty-five hundred. 



Prof. C. E. Barnes of La Fayette, Ind., spoke of 

 the course of the fibro-vascular bundles in the leaf- 

 branches of Pinus sylvestris. The two needle-leaves 

 at the end of each short lateral axis contain each a 

 paired bundle. The question at issue was whether 

 this structure represented one or a pair of bundles, 

 or whether it might not be a segment of the fibro- 



vascular ring of the stem. A study of the early 

 stages shows that the first change in the stem is to 

 divide the fibro-vascular ring into halves at right 

 angles to the plane of the leaves ; and subsequently 

 these divide again, sending one branch of each to 

 each leaf. The paper led to much discussion by Pro- 

 fessors Buckhout, Macloskie, and others. 



Dr. Bessey of Ames, Io., described the opening 

 of the flowers of Desmodium sessilifolium. They 

 expand partially in the usual manner, then remain 

 stationary till a particular sensitive spot at the base 

 of the vexillum is touched by an insect, when the 

 wings and keel descend with a jerk, the stamens are 

 released, and the insect dusted with pollen. 



Professor Mackloskie of Princeton, N.J., described 

 the method of cross-fertilization of Geranium macu- 

 latum by bumblebees. Professor Dudley of Ithaca, 

 N.Y., spoke of the torsion of stems of Eleocharis 

 rostellata, and also on the protogynous character of 

 some species of Myriophyllum. Mr. William H. 

 Seaman of Washington, D.C., advocated the use of 

 rather thick oblique sections in studying the struc- 

 ture of the fibro-vascular bundle, — a method that 

 called forth a very strong protest. 



Professor W. J. Beal gave a paper concerning the 

 manner in which certain seeds bury themselves be- 

 neath the soil, which was discussed by Professors 

 Bessey, Rothrock, and others. A paper by Prof. W. 

 R. Lazenby of Columbus, O., on the prolificacy of 

 certain weedy plants, embraced careful estimates of 

 the average number of seeds produced by individual 

 plants among various kinds of weeds. Dr. J. T. 

 Rothrock of Philadelphia addressed the club on some 

 phases of microscopic work, alluding particularly to 

 micro-photography, its importance to the investiga- 

 tor, and the ease of execution. 



Dr. Asa Gray called attention to the interesting 

 discovery of Mr. Meehan regarding the mode of ex- 

 posing the pollen in the common sunflower. He had 

 found, that, contrary to the teachings of the text- 

 books, the pistil and stamens develop together until 

 reaching full length, when the filaments rapidly 

 shorten, and the anther tube is retracted, exposing 

 the style covered with pollen, the further changes 

 being the same as usually stated. This Mr. Meehan 

 construed to be a device for self-fertilization; while 

 Dr. Gray showed, that, although bees carried pollen 

 from one flower to another of the same head, they 

 also carried it from head to head, which constituted 

 crossing in the fullest sense. An interesting discus- 

 sion followed, in which Professor Beal suggested that 

 an excellent experiment would be to cover up the 

 heads, and ascertain if any fertile seeds were pro- 

 duced. Dr. Gray thought it very likely there would ; 

 for, when cross-fertilization is not effected, self-fertil- 

 ization often takes place. Mrs. Wolcott had proved 

 this to be so; for, in covering up the flowers to keep 

 birds away, she found that plenty of seeds were formed. 



Dr. George Yasey of Washington gave some notes 

 on the vegetation of the arid plains; which was fol- 

 lowed by observations on the curvature of stems of 

 conifers, by Dr. Bessey, in which he noted the bend- 

 ing of stems one, two, and even three years old. 



