148 REPORT—1840. 
On an Anomalous Form of the Plum, observed in the Gardens of 
New Brunswick. By Professor Ross. 
New Brunswick is not favourably situated for the development of 
Rosaceous fruits. In the summer of 1839, the author had an oppor- 
tunity of observing the progress of destruction among the plums. 
Before or soon after the pieces of the corolla had fallen, the ovarium 
had become greenish yellow, soft and flabby ; as the fruit continued 
to grow, its colour became darker and of a more muddy yellow, 
and, at the end of a fortnight or three weeks, the size of the abor- 
tive fruit was fully greater than that of a ripe walnut, and resembling, 
in appearance, apricots. When examined they were hollow, contain- 
ing air, and consisting of a distended skin, insipid, and tasteless. By 
and bye a greenish mucor or mould is developed on the surface 
of the blighted fruits, which becomes black and shrivelled, and, at 
the expiration of a month from the time of blowing, the whole are 
rotten and decomposed. The flower appears about the beginning of 
June, and before August there is hardly a plum to be seen. The 
changes producing these anomalous forms of the fruit were explained 
on the admitted principles of morphology. The differences from a 
normal form of the fruit would be found as follows :—the exocarp is 
yellow and wrinkled, not smooth and red or black; while the meso- 
carp is as little developed as if the protophyllum had become a leaf. 
Its cells are loose and dry, while the vessels, large and very prominent, 
are discerned passing through it. The two largest sets of vessels run 
up along the inner surface of the groove or suture, corresponding to 
the line along which the edges of the protophyllum are united, and 
those which correspond with the radicle in the protophyllum. They 
all anastomose and converge towards the apex, where all contribute to 
form portions of the style and stigma. The endocarp was small; it 
was attached by vascular fibres, but sometimes adhesions existed be- 
tween it and the mesocarp, on which it lay. Sometimes it was attached 
near to where the style was given off, in other instances it was mid- 
way between that point and the peduncle. In some cases it was 
empty ; mostly one or two ovules might be seen; and one was gene- 
rally smaller than the other, indicating its deficient nutriment. Each 
ovule was made up of three transparent shut sacs, the innermost of 
which (the tercine) contained a transparent fluid, and nothing more. 
The author supposed this anomalous form of fruit to be influenced in 
its production by cold winds and long-continued rains at that season at 
which the flower is open, and the reproductive organs the most exposed 
to atmospherical vicissitudes. It was popularly attributed to insects ; 
but, from not having observed any, he did not think this could be the 
cause. 
Mr. Babington stated that he had found the Cuscuta epilinum, or 
Flax Dodder, at Burrishoole, in the County of Mayo, in Ireland ; and 
also in a field near to the Crinnan Canal, in Scotland. He also stated, 
