89 



country that none of the horticultural authorities considered 

 it worth while to figure them, or to take account of the seeds 

 as a means of propagation. A native of Northern India and 

 China, there was no definite information extant as to its 

 introduction, though it was known to have been in cultivation 

 here as far back as 1548, and Gerarde nearly fifty years later 

 mentions it as in common use for covering arbours. The 

 flower has a two-celled ovary, but as a rule one of these cells 

 became aborted, so that a single fruit was produced. In 

 some flowers, however, both cells developed, and the result 

 was twin berries, one slightly larger than the other, as seen 

 to the left of the group exhibited. These berries are black, 

 and each contains a large seed enveloped in a juicy purple 

 pulp, rather nauseous to the taste. They ripen about 

 November or December, and are at least experimented upon 

 by birds, for many of them show that they have been burst 

 by their bills and the seeds extracted. Mr. Step said he had 

 planted a single seed in the winter of igoo-i, which 

 germinated and produced a healthy plant. The fruits shown 

 had been sent to him from Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, but he 

 had found them on the front of his house at Harlesden 

 during each of the past three seasons, and believed they were 

 produced far more frequently than was generally thought to 

 be the case. 



Other members had noted the occurrence. It was also 

 remarked that Macroglossa stcllatarum had been unusually 

 common during the last season or two, and members were 

 inclined to couple the two facts. 



Mr. F. Noad Clark exhibited the following objects under 

 the microscope : — Legs of Corixa striata ; the anterior pair 

 bear the stridulating organs, which consist of two rows 

 of chitinous teeth of a somewhat complex structure ; the 

 middle pair are the " rowers," or oar-shaped legs, the posterior 

 pair being apparently more adapted for walking. Rudi- 

 mentary wings of female Orgyia antiqua, dissected to show 

 upper and lower wing ; fringed scales oi Picris bvassicce ; and 

 cornea of drone-fly {Eristabis tenax). 



Dr. Chapman exhibited specimens of Rceslcrstamniia er.xlc- 

 hella, female, and contributed the following note : — " Larvae 

 beaten from birch by Mr. Carr at Oxshott (last field meeting 

 S. L. S., 1901), a curiously colourless transparent larva, 

 which makes a tubular cocoon of very white silk, furnished 

 with a hinged lid, with tucked-in flange, something like that 

 of Mcgalopyge crispata. 



"It is placed by Spuler amongst the Tincce aciileata:, and 



