200 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
seemed to fall naturally upon the stigmas below. The following 
objects were exhibited, viz. :—By Rev. A. Preston, heads of the 
fuller’s teasel, and a cake of vegetable wax from Ceylon. By Mr. 
E. F. Cooper, dried plants from Lancashire, including Andromeda 
poll folia, Myrrhis odorata, Ac., and a curious small green excrescence, 
abundant in the cracks of the bark of oaks iu that district, possibly a 
gall of some kind. By Dr. Finch, a specimen of the cockchafer 
(Melolontha vulgaris). Rev. A. Preston gave a very interesting des¬ 
cription of the extraordinary contrivances for insuring fertilisation in 
orchids, illustrated by a number of fine coloured diagrams drawn by 
Mr. Worthington Smith, which gave rise to some discussion as to the 
real origin and meaning of such apparently unnecessary complications 
to secure a very simple object. 
PETERBOROUGH NATURAL HISTORY, SCIENTIFIC, 
AND ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. — May 6tli. Botanical 
Suction. —Chairman, Mr. J. W. Bodger. Address by the Chair¬ 
man on “ Antliotaxis, or the various kinds of Inflorescence.” Examples 
were given of the following, and, where possible, plants exhibited 
showing the same. Whorled, as in Hippuris vulgaris , the spike as in 
lavender and plantain; the amentum or catkin, as in the willow (both 
male and female); the locusta or spikelet in various grasses, the spadix 
in Arum maculatum, the cone in firs and branch of the larch (Larix 
Kuropcea), showing the ripened cones of the previous year and the 
delicate young fasciculated leaves of the present year; the strobilus, as 
in hop ; the raceme, as in currant and laburnum ; the corymb in 
hawthorn, the thyrsus in vine and lilac, capitulum in coltsfoot and 
daisy, the hypantliodium in fig, the umbel simple in Allium ursinum, 
compound in fennel, parsley, Ac.; the cyme in laurustinus, Ac. ; the 
panicled, helicoid, andscorpioid cymes in privet, Myosotis palustris, and 
Lymphytum officinale; the glomerule in box, and the verticillaster in 
Lamium album. Several plants were brought by the members, and 
commented on in the course of the address.—May 20th. Chairman, 
Mr. J. W. Bodger. Address by the Chairman on the “ Perianth,” 
simple and compound, the calyx of the latter only being considered, 
the various terms relating to the calyx being explained and the 
following forms illustrated :—Partite in Anagallis, cleft or fissured in 
Erythrcea centaunum, toothed in Lychnis vespertina, entire, inferior in 
various plants, superior in gooseberry, etc. ; petaloid in crocus and 
iris, rim in madder, hooded or galeate in Aconitum napellus, gibbous or 
saccate in cheirantlius, calcarate or spurred in tropaeolum and 
Aquilegia vulgaris, caducous or fugacious in poppy and Eschscholtzia, 
the latter being operculate, persistent in gooseberry, etc., marcescent 
in campanula, deciduous in ranunculus, accrescent in winter cherry 
(Physalis Alkehcngi). Mr. Bodger also exhibited several wild flowers 
from the neighbourhood of Peterborough, and Miss Lilley specimens 
of Nepeta glechoma, Ranunculus bulbosus, Cheirantlius Cheiri, Luplio / bia 
peplus, Veronica cliamcedrys, and Viburnum lantana. —June 3rd. 
Ramble to Thorpe, among plants collected were Alliaria officinalis, 
Sagina procumbens, Stellaria Holostea, Geranium molle, Geum urbanum, 
Valerianella olitoria, Galeobdolon luteum, Scandix Pecten-Veneris, and 
Sedum acre. —June 10th. Geological Section. —Geological excursion 
to Spital Cutting, under the guidance of Mr. E. Wheeler. Fossils 
found in cornbrash, Ammonites Herveyi, Terebratula ornitliocephala , 
Rhynchonella various, Trigonia incurva (casts), Ostrea ffabelloides, 
rholadomya ovulum ?, Lima rigida, Fecten demissus, Avicula echinata. 
