1888-89.] Source of Badshcty or Royal Sale}). 437 



exist in these Central Asian and Afghan species. By 

 examination of them in a more mature stage, I find further 

 that the growing axis (fig. 7, e, c) ascends through the bulb, 

 first of all filling up the central cavity, and then forcing its 

 way upwards through separating the structures of the bulb. 

 Iq some of the bulbs the apex (fig. 6, g ; fig. 7, g) was seen 

 to consist of two points, being cleft to a greater or less 

 extent. The sap in some of the bulbs, when brought into 

 contact with the oxygen of the air, became highly coloured, 

 an orange-yellow in A. giganteicm (fig. 7), and brick-red in 

 the undetermined species from Afghanistan (fig. 6), whilst 

 that of the others remained unchanged. The sap of the 

 roots, where the flattened stem was divided, and where the 

 sap escaped from the cut surface of the leaves and scape, 

 took on the colouring, the cut surface of the solid part of 

 the balb was scarcely affected, but remained almost its 

 original colour. 



The development of this bulb-structure will form an 

 interesting physiological study for future investigation ; but 

 at present, owing to the limited amount of material at hand, 

 the elaboration of the subject has to be postponed. 



Professor Bentley, in his remarks upon Mr Daniel Han- 

 bury's paper, where indeed he foretold that in all probability 

 this product would prove to be an Allium, noted that some 

 of the commercial bulbs had a strong alliaceous odour, 

 whereas m others no such odour could be distinctly traced. 

 Now, it is a remarkable fact that in handling the fresh bulbs 

 of Allium Madcanii, A. giganteum, and the Afghan undeter- 

 mined spacies, there was no alliaceous odour to be detected. 

 On sections of A. Madcanii being made there was still almost 

 no trace cf any alliaceous odour, though there was the odour, 

 as one of the examiners remarked, " of the remains of an old 

 mustard plaster," with a slight pungency; and this chiefly 

 from the surfaces where the leaf-shoots and growing axis had 

 been divided, rather than from the consolidated part of the 

 bulb. Again, in the sections of A. giganteum the solid 

 portion when freshly divided smelt somewhat like a newly- 

 cut potato, and the alliaceous odour on the section of the 

 leaves was much more obvious than in A. Madeanii; but 

 this might be greatly due to its more advanced stage of 

 growth. But in both the alliaceous odour was certainly 



