E. N. Thomas. 
146 
The shore itself is strewn with the wrack of Posidonia, Pectinella, 
Zostera, etc., which may form vast accumulations. 
An account was given by Mr. Hutchins of Extra-Tropical 
Forestry in Portugal from the point of view of the future of 
Australian forestry. The author lays stress on the value of Pinns 
Pinaster as the most free growing tree in Portugal and South Africa, 
countries comparable to Australia in climate, and points out that 
the wood of well-grown trees is suitable for every purpose of 
furniture and house-building, not merely (as generally supposed) for 
pit props sleepers, etc. 
Various other timber trees, such as cork oak, stone pine, Busaco 
cedar, English oaks, are considered from the point of view of value 
and growth conditions. 
Among the ecological papers should also be mentioned an 
account given by A. E. Hamilton on the Xerophytic Characters of 
Bossicea slopendria, the mature form of which is leafless but 
seedlings show small vertically set leaves which, however, retain 
their dorsiventral characteristics while showing stomata on both 
sides. The winged branches have sunken stomata, and underneath 
these palisade parenchyma is massed. 
A paper on the Climate in Northern Temperate and Arctic 
Zones during the Latest Pleistocene Age was presented by 
Professor Gunnar Andersson, and one on the Geographical 
Distribution of the Sea-grasses, by Dr. Ostenfeld. 
Thallophytes. 
In a paper entitled “ Relationships of Fungus and Alga in the 
Lichen-thallus,” Miss A. Lorrain Smith gave an historical account 
of the vicissitudes of lichen theories and lichen cultures. She traced 
the various steps in the experimental proof of Schwendener’s theory 
of its composite nature and showed that the only question at the 
present day was as to the exact nutritional relation of the two 
symbionts. The advantage to the fungus is sufficiently obvious but 
the advantage to the alga is none the less certain, in that it 
undoubtedly obtains nitrogen and to some extent carbohydrate 
from the former. 
Professor T. Johnson, in a paper on the Contamination of 
Drinking Water by an Alga and its Removal, claimed that 1-10 lbs. 
copper sulphate per million gallons of water successfully freed 
resevoirs of Oscillaria without any injury to man or fish. 
He also read a paper on “ Potato Scab and its Causes,” 
distinguishing between “ powdery scab ” due to Spongospora 
