198 REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON GENETICS. 
terminating each in a single white hair. The veins bear on the under 
side spots and hairs similar to those on the stalk. 
In B. coccinea the stem is quite erect, woody, smooth, not thick, and 
bearing many branches. ‘The internodes are long, and the scars 
inconspicuous. The leaf-stalks are short, smooth, and reddish. The 
leaves are elliptical, oblique, hairless ; the margins very obscurely crenate. 
Many silvery spots occur in the upper surface of the young leaves, but 
become faint or disappear in older and later leaves. 
In the strongest hybrid plant the stem left unsupported has grown at 
an angle of about 30° with the ground. Jt is fairly stout, the internodes 
short, the scars fairly large. A few very short hairs occur on it, and 
numerous minute green leafy outgrowths. Branching is fairly free. The 
leaf-stalks are of considerable length, clothed sparsely with minute white 
hairs rising from faint purple spots. The hairs are longer and more 
numerous in a ring round the top of the stalk. A few minute hairs occur 
on the under side of the veins. The fully-grown leaves are large. One 
measured nine inches in length. They are markedly one-sided, with five ~ 
or six moderately deep lobes with fairly distinct crenation. 
Flowers are borne by the hybrid. They bear a great resemblance to 
those of B. coccinea, but are not quite normal. 
Begoma Drege x B. heracleifolia. 
Begonia Dregei dies down to a massive fleshy rootstock, from which 
it sends up annually a considerable number of erect stems to the height 
of eighteen inches or more. ‘These branch very freely. The stems are 
pinkish and are swollen at the nodes. The leaf-stalks and veins are 
pinkish. The leaf-blade at the insertion of the stalk is deep red, but 
elsewhere bright velvety-green, and without hairs. Bristle-like hairs, 
however, spring from indentations of the leaf-margin. 
Of sixteen good plants of B. Dregei x B. heracleifolia only three 
have been grown for study. They are now five years old, and are in very 
good health. The largest plant has formed a dense mass of short shoots, 
lying at various angles with the ground. One is nearly horizontal, and a 
few are nearly erect. The longest stem is not more than five inches. 
The internodes are short. ‘The stems and older branches are covered by 
grey scaly bark. Small leafy growths appear on the stems and branches, 
in some places in a crowd, but usually somewhat sparsely. They vary in 
size from quite minute bodies to outgrowths like young branches. 
The leaf-stalks in the largest plant are pale pink, with a few short 
silvery hairs arising from points crossed by faint red streaks. The hairs 
close up to the blade are much longer and form a thin collar. The leaf- 
blade is red at the place of insertion of the stalk. The longest leaf-stalk 
measures 2} inches. The longest blade measured is 4 inches. A few 
fine short hairs are found on the veins of the leaf, and minute bristle-like 
hairs occur in the indentations of the margin. 
The other two plants are indistinguishable from the above in all 
essentials. In the smaller one the leaves are darker green, and in the 
larger the leaves are rather more deeply cut. The former has the further 
distinction of bearing on the leaves the outgrowths referred to above. 
