174 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The interior of the cup in the Black Currant is destitute of hairs ; 
in the Gooseberry hairs similar to those on the style project inwards 
from the base of the petals and filaments, and are long enough to meet 
the hairs of the style. Im the hybrids only a few short hairs occur in 
this position, or they may be altogether absent. 
There is much red coloration in the upper side of the sepals in the 
hybrids, the colour being developed chiefly at the base and margins. 
Very often short fine hairs are present on the upper side of the distal 
half of the sepals. The petals are white, and are less distinctly spathulate 
than in the Gooseberry. 
Th? filaments are markedly adherent in the Black Currant, non- 
adherent in the Gooseberry, and slightly adherent in the hybrids. The 
anthers of the hybrids are of good size, but the pollen is deficient in 
quantity and highly abnormal. In a microscopic examination of it, one 
scarcely finds a single grain with any appearance of soundness, a condition 
of affairs met with also in Mr. Culverwell’s hybrid. 
My plants are visited freely by humble and hive bees, and would 
inevitably be fertilised if the pollen were good. Perforation of the side 
of the flower of Mr. Culverwell’s hybrid by bees is a not uncommon 
occurrence, and the aperture thus formed may sometimes be so enlarged 
by repeated visits as to become confluent with the mouth of the flower. 
I have not noticed any of the flowers of my hybrids similarly pierced. 
In one of my hybrids (B, fig. 87), as in Mr. Culverwell’s best known 
plant, the stigma protrudes so far beyond the stamens as ordinarily to 
escape self-pollination ; but in the other (A) a good many of the flowers 
have styles so shortened that the apices of the anthers are in very close 
proximity to the stigma, and self-pollination might take place, especially 
when the flowers have faded a little. 
Mr. Culverwell informs me that all he does to assist in the fertilisa- 
tion of his plants is to shake the bushes when the atmosphere is a little 
damp. It is very likely that a drop of water might suffice to convey the 
pollen to the stigma hanging below the anthers, and shaking, or the 
action of the wind, might also help; but the difficulty encountered after 
all is the probability of the pollen being impotent. On the other hand, 
itis highly probable that many of the flowers are pollinated by bees 
which have come direct either from Gooseberry or Black Currant bushes. 
My plants grow beside Black Currants, and I have observed bees passing 
from the latter to the former, and vice versa. If Gooseberry bushes had 
been near by, a similar transference of pollen between them and the 
hybrids would certainly have taken place. 
Mr. Culverwell kindly sent me some shoots in fruit last year. I 
understand that as many as four fruits may be carried by a single spur. 
Two is a common number. The fruits are slightly bigger than a large 
Black Currant, often flattened considerably, and in colour, as already 
noted, resembling a dark red Gooseberry. The flavour is that of the 
Gooseberry, decidedly and very palatably mingled with that of the Black 
Currant. It is interesting to find that the somewhat thin and rather 
tough skin, if pressed on white paper, leaves a pink stain, whereas the 
Black Currant leaves a purple stain, and the Gooseberry none at all. 
All the fruits examined by me, numbering twelve or more, like those 
