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The British Association at Winnipeg. 
and finally, arrest of the original terminal flower itself. The author 
also drew attention to what he terms “ intercalary inflorescences,” 
in which the main axis, after forming lateral flowers, continues its 
apical growth vegetatively. Examples are Cnllunn, Callistemon, &c. 
Professor Douglas H. Campbell (Leland Stanford University) 
then gave a note on the Prothallium and Embryo of Daucea. No 
root is found till the embryo is of considerable size, and it then 
arises endogenously, in the centre of the embryo, probably from the 
stem-quadrant. The foot covers the growing point of this root, 
like a root-cap. 
Professor D. T. Gwynne-Vaughan read a paper by Dr. Kidston 
and himself, on the “ Ancestry of the Osmundaceae.” The authors 
hold that the Osmundaceae and Zygopterideae have arisen from a 
common ancestor. So far as the vascular systems of their stems 
are concerned, the two orders exhibit parallel lines of evolution. 
In both cases the primitive forms were protostelic. The central 
pith found in the more advanced types of both series, would seem 
to have arisen by the transformation of a central mass of tracheal 
elements into thin-walled parenchyma. 
Further evidence for these views was afforded by a preliminary 
note contributed by Mr. W. T. Gordon, on the stem of Zygopteris 
Pettycurensis , a protostelic form which occupies the same position 
in the Zygopterid alliance as Thamnopteris Schlcchteudahlii does in 
the Osmundaceous. It is interesting to note that though these two 
orders show almost exactly the same sequence of development, the 
Zygopterid series is much the older of the two. It began in the 
Calciferous Sandstone series, and apparently ended in the Permo- 
Carboniferous, while the Osmundaceae originated in the Upper 
Permian and have continued down to existing times. 
Professor A. H. R. Buller and Mr. C. W. Lowe gave an account 
of some observations on the number of Bacteria in the air of 
Winnipeg. They found that the number of micro-organisms falling 
upon a square foot of surface during one minute, varied from 3 in 
winter to 8,500 on a very windy day in summer. 
In the afternoon Miss E. J. Welsford discussed some problems 
connected with the life-history of Trichodiscus elegans, an alga 
belonging to the Chaetophoraceae. 
The rest of the afternoon sitting was occupied by an account 
by Mr. Parkin of the new industry of rubber cultivation. This 
paper aroused a good deal of interest amongst the audience, and 
was fully illustrated with specimens, lantern slides, instruments, &c. 
