British Association. 
[October, 
694 
procured venomous snakes from a distance, and applied for 
the special certificates necessary. Considerable delay 
ensued; various objections were raised, and set at rest; 
and at last all the certificates were obtained; but meantime 
the snakes had died.” 
In the Department of Botany Sir John Lubbock read a 
paper on “ Seeds.” He directed attention to the difference 
in seeds, some being large, some small, some covered with 
hooks, some provided with hairs, some smooth, some sticky, 
&c. Many seeds required protection from birds and insects, 
hence the shells or husks of the beech, Spanish chestnut, 
horse chestnut, walnut, &c. In some cases, as in the 
common herb, the calyx closed over the seeds when the 
flower faded, and opened when the seeds were ripe. In 
other cases the flower stalk changed its position. The 
modes of dispersion by means of which seeds secured a 
sort of natural rotation of crops, and were also in other 
cases enabled to rectify their frontiers, were also described. 
Some plants threw their seeds. Among the higher plants 
the seeds were transported by the wind. Many seeds were 
provided with a wing which caught the wind, and these 
and kindred aids in dispersion were as various as the 
plants themselves. The dispersion was often effected by 
the agency of animals. In some cases the action of 
animals was involuntary, and these might be divided into 
two classes, those in which the seeds adhered to animals 
by hooks and those in which this was effected by sticky 
glands. The seeds of a South African plant, provided with 
hooks more than an inch long, were said sometimes even 
to destroy lions. They rolled about on the sandy plains, 
and if a seed attached itself to the skin the wretched animal 
tried to tear it off, and getting it into his mouth was fatally 
injured. Sir John, in conclusion, called attention to mimick- 
ing seeds, such as the scorpiurus, the pods of which did not 
open, but looked so exactly like worms that birds were in- 
duced to peck at them, and thus the seeds were freed. 
A paper on the effects of the frosts of 1860-61 and 1878-79 
on vegetation was read by Mr. E. J. Lowe, F.R.S., from 
which it appeared that the greatest cold of i860 exceeded 
that of last winter by 10 degrees, being 6 degrees below 
zero in i860, whilst it was 4 degrees above zero during 
the late frost. Instead of the cold killing the slugs and 
various pests of plants they were never known to be so 
numerous. Many hardy plants in pots were killed when 
they escaped if planted in the ground. 
