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called the attention of the meeting to a remarkable variety of Helix 
rufescens, with a depressed spiral, brought to his notice as occurring here 
by Miss Jellie, of Redland. It had not been publicly shown before, and 
the name Helix rufescens, var. compressa, was proposed for it. He also 
stated that Clausilia bilicata, and C. Rolphii, generally supposed to be 
oviviparous, had been observed by him to be viviparous. 
The President then invited Professor Buckman, late of the Royal 
Agricultural College, Cirencester, one of the Corresponding Members of 
the Society, who had come purposely from Dorsetshire to be present at 
this meeting, to address the Society upon " The Structure and Economy 
of British Grasses." 
Professor Buckman, in introducing his subject, said that he had chosen 
it because it was one to which so little attention was generally paid. No 
country — not even excepting Ireland — was so remarkable for the number 
and variety of its grasses as England ; nowhere were such meadows and 
lawns to be found. Grasses were very wonderfully made, and were com- 
posed of but few and very simple elements,, though these were almost in- 
finitely varied. Even among professed botanists there was great ignorance 
existing as regarded the names of the grasses, the same species being 
sometimes differently named by two or three botanists. The speaker had 
seen instances of* this, and, from his connection with agriculture, had been 
led to pay great attention to this beautiful tribe of plants. He proposed 
to describe their structure in general terms, and to add a few words on 
their general economy, as derived from a somewhat extended experience. 
Professor Buckman illustrated his remarks by drawing several diagram- 
matic sketches on the blackboard, and by a collection of drawings and 
dried specimens of almost every known species of British grass. 
The structure of the stem, or culm, was first described. It was shown 
to be constructed so as to obtain the greatest amount of strength out of 
the smallest amount of material, being a hollow tube— or fistular— ad- 
ditional strength being given by solid nodes, which were nearer together 
at the base than at the upper part. The only grass in which there was no 
node, or at least only one at the bottom of the stem, Molinia Ccerulea, 
had a solid stem. The manner in which the leaves folded over the stem 
was then explained, and the existence of a small organ between the stem 
and the sheath of the leaves, called the ligule, was pointed out. This 
ligule was composed of a very thin membrane, closely adherent to the 
stem, and its purpose apparently was to keep the leaves in their position. 
The variations in the structure, character, and position of this ligule were 
deserving of attentive study, because upon them many of the most reliable 
modes of distinguishing species were founded. The flowers of the grasses 
were then spoken-of, and they were shown to be in their general plan 
merely altered arrangements of the leaf developments, although the 
details were varied to an immense extent. The flowers differed greatly in 
appearance according to whether the florets were sessile (/. e. without stalks) 
