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124 LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON.
(March 22). Ziiqnjyetalum Whitei Eolfe, n. sp. — Iris sindjarensis
(fig. 55).— (Marcii 29). ' The Fingered Citron' (figs. 56, 58-60).
Journal cle Botaniqiie (Jan. 16). — L. Guiguard, ' Sur la localisation
dans les amandes et le laurier-cerise des principes qui
fournissent I'acide cyauhydrique.' — ' B. Balansa, Catalogue des
Graminees de I'ludo-Chine francaise ' (Bonia, n. g.). .Hue,
' Lichens de Canisy (Manche).'— (Feb. 1). C. Sauvageau, ' Observations
sur la structure des feuilles des plantes aquatiques.'—P. Hariot,
' TrentepolUici .'—N. Patouillard, ' Flore mycologique du Tonkin.'
Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschri/t. (March). — J. Weisner, ' Ueber das
Saftperiderm.' — E. Hackel, Streptochmta Sodiroana, n. sp. — E. v.
Halacsy, Cirsium Heldreichii, n. sp. — V. v. Borbas, ' Kahl- und
behaartfriichtige Parallelformen der Veilchen aus der Gruppe
Hypocarpefe.'—K. Bauer, ' Untersuchungen liber gerbstoffriihrende
' Pflanzen (contd.).— J. Freyn, ' ' Plantae Karoante (contd.).
LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON.
February 20, 1890. — W. Carruthers, F.E.S., President, in the
chair.— Messrs. W. Eagle Clarke and J. H. Veitch were admitted,
and Mr. James Jack elected Fellows of the Society. — Mr. G. C.
Druce exhibited specimens of Agrostis canina var. scotica, and a
small collection of flowering plants dried after treatment with
sulphurous acid and alcohol, and showing a partial preservation of
the natural colours of the flowers.— Sir John Lubbock then gave an
abstract of four memoirs which he had prepared :
(1.) " On the Fruit and Seeds of the JuylandecB.'" In a previous
paper I have described the peculiar four-lobed cotyledons of Pterocarya,
and shown that this depends on the form of the seed, which
resembles an anvil on four short stout legs. This form is again
due to that of the fruit, the four projections of the seed having
grown into four hollow spaces left in the solid woody tissue of the
fruit. I have now traced the gradual development of the fruit
from the flower, and compared the fruit of Pterocarya with that of
the Walnut, in which, however, the hollow spaces developed in the
fruit are much larger, so that, instead of a solid wall, with hollow
spaces occupied by the seed, it gives the impression as if the seed
was thrown into folds occupied by the wall of the fruit. To occupy
these spaces fully the cotyledons themselves were thrown into folds
as we now see them. The fruit of Pterocarya is much smaller than
that of the Horse-chestnut, which was, doubtless, itself formerly not
so large as it now is. As it increased, the cotyledons became
fleshier, and found it more and more diflicult to make their exit
from the seed, until at last they have given up any attempt to do
so. Hence the curious folds, with which we are so familiar, are
the efforts made by the original leafy cotyledons to occupy the
interior of the nut. Moreover, while essentially similar, the fruits
of Pterocarya and of the Walnut offer several remarkable differences.
The fruit of Pterocarya is winged, which is not the case with
Juylans ; it is much smaller, and a great deal harder. Again, the
cotyledons of Pterocarya are aerial, while those of JvgJans no longer