ACCLIMATION — rilAL.ENOPSIS AMABILIS. 19 



Mr. Hovey replied that the suggestion had been made before in 

 regard to the Araucaria imbricata, and that there was some show 

 of truth in the theoiy. These seeds will be as likely to produce 

 hard}' progenj^ as those from its native habitat, and perhaps more so. 



Mr, Strong hoped that the subject of the effect of climate and 

 selection on the hardiness of plants might come up for discussion 

 at some future time. 



James Cruickshanks said that he had seen the first Araucaria 

 imbricata introduced into Great Britain, at the Botanic Garden at 

 Edinburgh, where Mr. McNab, the curator, had also from thirt}' to 

 thirt3^-five specimens six feet high, which were only protected by 

 placing a mat over them. 



Mr. Wilder said that at Elvaston Castle four hundred Araucarias 

 had been planted, but when he was there, in 1867, they had dimin- 

 ished to twenty oi* twenty-five. They had then been planted about 

 twenty years. 



E. S. Rand, Jr., spoke of the Plmlcenopsis amabilis exhibited by 

 him, a rare orchid known as the East Indian Butterfl}^ Plant, being 

 a native of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, where it grows 

 upon the branches of trees, to which it clings by its thick fleshy 

 roots. It is a true epiphyte, being wholly sustained by the moist- 

 ni'e in the air. The foliage is dark gloss^^ green, the flowers pure 

 white, with pink tendril-like antennae from the centre. The speci- 

 men on exhibition was remarkably fine ; there were three flower 

 stalks with twenty-one fully expanded flowers and many buds. 

 The flowers measured three and a half inches in diameter. It 

 would be hard to find a more exquisitely beautiful flower, whether 

 we regard the purity of color or the grace and elegance of the 

 long racemes of bloom. It is very rare to find a plant of such 

 size and so well bloomed ; indeed, there are very few plants in 

 this country, and their high cost and the difficulty of importation 

 will forever prevent their becoming common. 



Mr. Hovey remarked on two very beautiful plants of another 

 orchid, Lycaste Skinner i, exhibited by James Cartwright. This 

 species is not often seen ; the flowers will last eight weeks when 

 in a cool house where no drip or water can reach them. 



The Chairman of the Committee on Discussion announced that 

 next Saturday Benjamin G. Smith would give some account of 

 his experiments to test the hardiness of different varieties of 

 strawberries. 



