174 The Meeting of the British Association. 
in extenso in the present number of this journal, and by an 
interesting account, illustrated by lantern-slides, of Mr. A. W. Hill s 
recent travels in the desert regions of Bolivia and Upper Peru. 
Friday morning was devoted to papers on Mendelian heredity. 
A more or less general account of the principles of the subject, 
illustrated by his own work on poultry, was given by Mr. Bateson. 
Th is was followed by an admirable paper from Miss E. R. Saunders 
giving the results of her own work in crossing various plants. 
Finally Mr. C. C. Hurst gave a summary of results obtained from 
crossing orchids. A few questions were asked and were replied to¬ 
by the readers of the papers. The interest of Mr. Bateson’s and Miss 
Saunders’ papers was much enhanced by their exhibits of specimens 
of different plants, showing the results of various crossings. The 
trouble they had taken in selecting and bringing these from 
Cambridge was much appreciated by the Section. 
On Friday afternoon Professor Lignier of Caen read a paper 
on the flowers of Gnetaceae, which was criticised by Miss Benson 
and Dr. Lotsy ; Dr. Lotsy followed with an account of the embryo- 
sac of Gnetum ula , in which he shewed that in all probability the 
embryos in this species are produced from the numerous eggs 
parthenogenetically. 
Dr. Darbishire read a paper on “ The Sandhill and Saltmarsh 
Vegetation of Southport.” After giving a short general account of 
the physical conditions to which sand-dune plants are exposed, he 
described and illustrated by means of lantern slides the general 
features of the great sand-dune area lying to the south of Southport. 
One of the most striking features of this flora is the remarkable 
abundance of Salix repens which forms a pure community over 
considerable tracts of loose sands and acts as a dune-forming plant. 
The blown sand lies on the flat surface of peat which borders this 
part of the Lancashire Coast and in the low lying portions of the 
dune area the water level rises to near or sometimes above the 
surface of the soil, so that miniature freshwater marshes are formed 
in the sand. Here Parnassia palustris , Samolus Valerandi , etc., 
flourish; the former with very short peduncles, spangling the 
ground like daisies on a lawn. 
Saturday Excursions. 
On Saturday there was a successful Excursion, partly botan- 
cal, to the Wirral Peninsula, while a number of the members of 
