264 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (SEPTEMBER, 1906, 
was not essential to Mendelian results. Mr. James Douglas, Great 
Bookham, remarked that the Carnation had been developed from the wild 
stock, Dianthus caryophyllus, by careful selection, apparently without 
hybridisation, though it might be hybridised by any species of Dianthus, 
He added that he understood little of Mendel’s Laws, but he knew what he _ 
wanted, and generally got it. The question of Mutation was also 
mentioned, and the Chairman exhibited a specimen of Dipsacus from Dr. 
Masters’ garden. It was from seeds of the twisted variety, which was 
found by Prof. de Vries to reproduce itself to the extent of 80 or Qo per cent, 
but Dr. Masters had grown the plants from this same stock for years with- 
out ever seeing a twist in the stem, except once, as the result of frequent 
mutilation, but even this had not been reproduced in seedlings from it. 
In the evening the delegates were entertained at a banquet held in the 
Society’s Large Hall, under the presidency of Sir Trevor Lawrence. After 
the loyal toasts, Veitch Memorial Medals were presented to Mr. William 
Bateson, F.R.S., President of the Conference, to Prof. Johannsen, for his 
discovery of the effect of ether in advancing the inflorescence of flowers, to 
Prof. Wittmack, for many years’ devotion to systematic and practical botany, 
and to M. Maurice de Vilmorin, a member of a firm which had done s0 
much for horticulture. Gold Banksian Medals were also awarded to Miss 
Saunders, lecturer on Botany at Newnham College, Cambridge, for her 
studies on Inheritance in Plants, and to Mr. B. H. Biffen, of Cambridge, for 
his researches and discoveries in connection with Heredity in Cereals. 
Various toasts and speeches followed, during which the opinion , was 
expressed that the Conference had been a great success, and Mr. Bateson 
claimed that a knowledge of the Laws of Heredity would give man @ 
power over his future which no other science had yet endowed him with. 
M. Philippe Vilmorin, on behalf of the Horticultural and Botanical Societies 
of France, invited the R.H.S. to pay a visit to Paris, ard hold a Hybridis® 
tion Conference there. 
On Friday the delegates visited the Natural History Museum, South 
Kensington, and then proceeded in carriages to Gunnersbury, to visit the 
beautiful gardens of Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, where they were entertained 
at luncheon, and spent some time in examining the numerous objects © 
interest, including a nice collection of Orchids. F inally they went on us 
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where they visited the Orchid and several 
other houses in the somewhat limited time remaining, and were invited t0 
tea by the Director, Colonel Prain. 
