ii Transactions of the Boyal Society of South Africa. 
and exhibited some of the specimens. Among the new species are some 
of special biological interest. Mesembrianthemum mitratum was dis- 
covered in the desert belt east of Port Nolloth by Mr. Garwood Alston. 
The shrub bears at the end of the apparently dead branches a fleshy 
knob. This consists of two closely joined leaves, between which the 
flower appears. Flower and fruit are then fed by the sap of the knob 
until fully developed, when nothing is left of the sheltering knob except 
its skin. Another species of Mesemhrianthemum takes the same care of 
its flower and fruit, nursing them within its own body ; but it is even more 
cautious than its big brother, for it buries itself entirely in the ground and 
shows only the apex of its few leaves. As the ends of the leaves are flat, 
flush with the ground, and coloured exactly like the rusty gravel, it is 
practically impossible to detect them when they are not in flower. 
Euphorbia elastica is the species from which some sort of rubber has 
been manufactured in Little Namaqualand, and although the quality was 
not good, it is not impossible that with the present boom in rubber, even 
those barren deserts may see a flourishing industry. 
The following papers were read : — 
" Variation of Gravity," by Dr. K. A. Lehfeldt. There have been 
differences of opinion as to the way in which the value of gravity is 
affected by height above sea-level, and special interest attaches to 
measurements on a really larger table-land. The result of observations 
taken at Johannesburg and Vereeniging is that the variation per meter is 
0-000236, considerably less than that given by Helmert. At the Eoyal 
Observatory, Cape Town, gravity is 979-714 (observed value). 
" The Ovule of the BruniacecE," by W. T. Saxton, M.A., RL.S. The 
main point brought out in this paper is that the ovule in the Bruniacecs is 
pendulous and anatropous with a dorsal raphe. There is a simple massive 
integument with a long slender micropyle. In the genus Brunia the 
embryo-sac is packed with starch and is all that remains of the nucellus, 
while in Berzelia and Staavia a little of the basal nucellar tissue persists. 
The only conclusion to be drawn from the study is the same to which 
Schonlandwas led, viz., that the Bruniacece are very isolated in the cohort 
to which they are usually attached. The single integument might be 
regarded as a primitive character if it were not associated with the ovule 
of the Composites, while in some of those orders usually regarded as 
primitive {e.g., Proteacece) two integuments are found. The other 
characters of the ovule rather tend to agree with essentially modern 
types (e.g., CompositcE) than with primitive {e.g., Banunculacece). 
**0n Ghrysochloris Namaguensis, Broom," by E. Broom. Chryso- 
chloris Namaguensis was named from skulls found at Garies in the 
disgorged pellets of owls. A description is now given of the skin. A 
remarkable feature of the species is that the third molar is about as 
