LIXXILVX SOCIETY OF LOXDGIf. 7 



and finer fruit with pollen of another variety. In these trees 

 there is very little transference of pollen by the Avind, and even 

 if a self-fertile tree is enclosed in muslin whilst in blossom (there 

 being ample movement of the wind, insects only being excluded), 

 it is the exception for any fruit to set ; it is the same with goose- 

 berries and currants. In trials with apples, only 19 varieties out 

 of 65 proved self-fertile ; in pears, 4 out of 30 ; in plums, 21 out 

 of 41 ; in cherries, 5 out of 12 : whilst, when cross-pollinated,, 

 in three quarters of the trials one or more fruits set on a truss. 



There seems to be a preference as to pollen, some varieties 

 setting better with pollen of one variety than that of another,. 

 The knowledge of the usual order of blossoming is useful as a 

 guide for interplanting varieties, so as to choose varieties that 

 flower about the same time for planting together. 



Out of nearly 3000 insects observed last spring ■\isiting the 

 blossoms of the A'arious fruit bushes and trees, 88 per cent, were 

 hive-bees, 5| per cent, humble and other wild bees, and 65 per 

 cent, flies, ants, beetles, wasps, and other insects ; but the latter 

 group have not fluffy bodies for carrying and transferring pollen, 

 and chiefly eat tlie pollen, and are not therefore as useful as the 

 hive and wild bees. 



A discussion followed, the participants being Mr, F. J. Chit- 

 tenden, Dr. E. E. Gates, Dr. A. B. Eendle, IVIr, J, C. Shenstone, 

 Dr. Stapf, Mr. H. E. Darlington, and Dr. A. P. Young, the 

 author replying. 



Dr. Otto Stapf, F.E.S., Sec.L.S., then gave an abstract of a 

 paper by Mr. H. M. Chibbee on the Morphology and Histology 

 of Pi2Jcr Betle, Linn., which had been communicated bv Dr. Haeold 

 H. Manx, F.L.S. 



Mr. A, 0. Walker sent for exhibition a twig of fasciated 

 holly. Ilex Aqui folium, in Avhich some of the berries also had 

 coalesced. 



Dr, Otto Stapf, F,E.S,, Sec.L.S., exhibited specimens of Wild 

 Eice, annual and perennial. He defined " Wild Eice " as including 

 all spontaneously growing forms of Ori/za, which, as far as the 

 structure of their spikelets is concerned, might be considered as 

 conspecific with Orijza saliva, except that their spikelets are readily 

 deciduous when mature. He showed in a map the present 

 extension of rice-cultivation, and traced briefly its history; whilst 

 another map demonstrated the area of the genus Oi-i/za, with the 

 exclusion of cultivated rice. He then pointed out the main areas 

 of " Wild Eice," as defined above : — (1) in Xorth Australia ; (2) in 

 India, with extensions to Cambodja and possibly Borneo ; (3) in 

 tropical Africa from Abyssinia to the Niger ; (4) in Senegambia 

 and possibly extending to the region of Lake Tchad ; (5) in South 

 America. The "Wild Eices" of areas 1-3 and possibly some of 



