MX^fEAX SOCIETY OF LOXDOX. 



39 



Dr. Gr. B, LoNGSTAFF, P.L.S., exhibited some Foxglove flowers 

 from his garden at Putney. 



Ill 1913 he had an unusual number of foxgloves and there 

 were many abnormalities amongst tliem. Mrs. G. B. Longstaif 

 exhibited on Jime otb of tliat year a fine specimen of synanthy, 

 and two specimens with spirally twisted stems on June 19th. 

 [Proc. Linn. Soc. 1912-13, pp. 66, 67.] 



In 191-1: there was not such :i large crop oi foxgloves and but 

 two malformations were noticed : two spikes bearing synanthous 

 flowers, one pure white and one spotted. The seeds from these 

 were saved, sown in a box and raised in a frame. The seedlings 

 were planted out in the early spring. About 65 plants resulted, 

 which all flowered this (their first) season, producing about 

 70 spikes. Of these about 30 bore flowers of the normal red, or 

 of a pale pink colour, the upper flowers tending to wliite. About 

 40 spikes bore white flowers, some spotted, others spotless. Two 

 spikes with pink flowers exhibited synanthy, one withered pre- 

 maturely, the other was white and dark spotted. About 14 other 

 spikes had synanthous flowers, some pure white, some dark- 

 spotted. As the spikes had not all opened and the plants were 

 planted closely, it was difficult to count with certainty. 



Prof. Den-dt recalled the exhibition on the 16th June, 1910, 

 by Mr. X. C. Macnamara, of foxgloves grown by him at Chorley 

 Wood, Herts, followed bv a note on " Mutations in Foxglove 

 Plants," read on the 16th November, 1911 (Proc. 1911-12, 

 pp. 4-6). 



Mr. BiiucE F. CuMMiXGS gave an exposition of his account of 

 Colonel George Montagu, the naturalist, concerning whom he 

 had obtained information not previously published. The Society's 

 miniature of him was shown, the only porti-ait known. (Abstract, 



P- 43-) 



The General Secretary added a few remarks on Montagu's 

 conTiection with the Linnean Society in its early years, and that 

 ten papers by him had been pubhshed in our ' Transactions ' 

 between 1798 and 1818. 



Dr. George Henderson, F.L.S., sent for exhibition two sheets 

 of dried specimens of Calotropis procera, which grows in dry 

 ground in West and Central India; it produces a valuable fibre, 

 the latex a sort of rubber, and the pods a cottony substance. 

 The specimens had been furnished by Mr. Arthur Delaval Young- 

 husband, C.S.I., late Commissioner of Sind, and the officers of the 

 Forest Department of Sind. Besides the materials named, a 

 fishing-net was shown, made from the fibre derived from the 

 stem, stated to be one of the strongest known. Dr. Henderson 

 suggested that this species might be profitably grown in the dry 

 northern coast of Africa, and machinery applied to the preparation 

 of the fibre, hitherto effected by hand. 



