72 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
Mar., 1891. 
His report showed the society to be in a flourishing condition, having 
a considerable balance in hand. The election of a secretary, to succeed 
Mr. Underhill, was deferred until the next meeting. At the close of 
the business, the members adjourned to the corridor, where refresh¬ 
ments were kindly provided by Mr. Poulton, and a pleasant evening 
was spent. The Radcliffe Library and the Hope Collection of Insects 
were open by kind permission of Sir Henry Acland and Professor 
Westwood.—February 5th. The President in the chair. Mrs. F. H. 
Peters was elected to the office of secretary, most efficiently filled by 
Mr. H. M. J. Underhill since the foundation of the society. After the 
formal business, Mr. W. Warde Fowler, M.A., read a paper on “ The 
Ornithology of Aristotle.” He commenced with a brief sketch of 
Aristotle's life, saying that in his home and surroundings he had great 
opportunities for observing the habits and migration of birds. Although 
he lived long before the age of classification (2,000 years before 
Linnaeus), he named and numbered 178 different birds out of 400, and 
so described them as to enable ornithologists of the present day to 
identify many of them ; amongst which are our thrushes, blackbird, 
pigeon, cuckoo, kingfisher, woodpecker, wryneck, &c. Aristotle thought 
that some birds hibernated by retiring into caves and holes, and 
losing their feathers. He does not seem to have thought that all birds 
moulted, although he speaks of some changing their feathers. At the 
close of his paper, the lecturer described a swallow’s nest built in a 
boathouse belonging to Mr. Vernon Harcourt, of Cowley Grange. The 
nest itself was of the usual kind, but it had a curious appendage in the 
shape of a terrace, constructed of the same material, extending along 
the whole length of a beam. A probable explanation of it was : some of 
the beams in the boathouse had been tarred, and the birds, fearing 
the one leading to their nest would be treated in the same way, pro¬ 
ceeded to cover it themselves. Mr. Aplin exhibited a blackcap, which 
was shot at Bloxliam during the late severe weather.—February 19th. 
Lecture by Professor Sydney H. Vines, D.Sc., F.R.S., on “ The Plant 
and the Soil.” The lecturer said he would briefly describe the way in 
which roots are distributed in the ground, and the way they lay hold 
of nourishment. The function of roots is to take up nourishment from 
the soil, which can only be absorbed in a liquid state. A certain por¬ 
tion of the soil is alive, i.e., alive with germs: the top-soil is living, 
the sub-soil is dead ; for this reason, in “ trenching,” the gardener 
always takes care to keep the top-soil on the surface. Germs reduce 
the organic matter in the soil, and fit it to be taken into the plant as 
nourishment. The decay of organic matter is due to the presence of 
bacteria. After explaining the action of “root-hairs” in taking up 
nourishment from the soil, the lecturer showed how some plants 
gained the same object in a very different way, viz., by going into 
“ partnership ” (symbiosis) with certain fungoid growths. For example, 
the Leguminosse (pea and bean tribe) have curious tubercles on their 
roots. These are full of a kind of fungoid “germ,” which derive 
their nitrogen from the air present in the soil, and pass it on to the 
bean plants. Thus a crop of beans leaves the soil richer in nitro¬ 
genous compounds than it was before the crop was planted, and yet 
beans contain more nitrogen than any other plant. Something similar 
occurs in the roots of trees of the order Cupuliferse, which, instead of 
root-hairs, have their ends covered with a thick felt of fungus mycelium, 
which acts as root-hairs do in other plants. This is a case of sym¬ 
biosis only paralleled by lichens, in which plants, algae and fungi, live 
together, forming what we call a “lichen.” A discussion, followed 
by a vote of thanks to the lecturer, closed the meeting. 
