1G7 



OKDINARY GENERAL MEETING* 

 Colonel T. H. Hendley, CLE., in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read and confirmed. 



The Kev. AVilliam McKibbin, D.D., LL.D., was elected a member, 

 and the following paper was read by the Secretary in the absence of the 

 Author :— 



PLANT -DISTRIBUTION FROM AN OLD STAND- 

 POINT By H. B. GUPPY, M.B., F.R.S.E. (;Honoraiy 

 Corresponding Member.) 



TX this paper I have elaborated a theory of plant- 

 differentiation which is briefly outlined in the preface and 

 final chapter of my recent book on Plant-Dispersal. It is based 

 on the view that observation can only discover the differentiation 

 of types, the agencies concerned with type-creation being not 

 evident to us. 



Many of the most serious difficulties connected with the 

 study of plant-distribution have their origin in the endeavours 

 to discover the centres of dis})ersion or the homes of genera, 

 tribes, and families, difficulties that are often intensified wdien 

 w^e call in the aid of the geological record. Botanists appear to 

 have been more })ersistent in this direction than zoologists ; and 

 we have something to learn from the circumstance that those 

 who have taken the broadest views of distribution have often 

 troubled themselves least with such speculations. If the 

 standpoint adopted in this paper is correct, all such endeavours 

 are misdirected and vain, since the ditticulties would arise 

 from an initial misconception of the problem. 



The difficulties in distribution created by a misconception of the 

 proUem. Let us glance at a few of the difficulties that take 

 their origin from the hypothesis that a genus can only have a 



Monday, April 8th, 1907. 



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