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REPORT ON THE 



asked by Professor Oliver to exhibit a sheet of drawings made by 

 Madame Merian, which date back to a much later period than 

 the end of the sixteenth century. The artist died in 1716, and of 

 course we have no knowledge of the period when these drawings 

 were made, but they are very valuable and interesting. 



Professor Foster : I rise with great diffidence, but my 

 chief object in so doing is that I may, if possible, bring Mr. 

 Churchill on to his feet, because I think it is very undesirable 

 that we should not have the advantage of his words, as we have 

 undoubtedly the advantage of his presence. He will, at any rate, 

 kindly correct me when I make mistakes in what I am about to 

 say. I imagine the case stands somewhat in this way. There 

 can be no doubt that P. pubescens is a hybrid between P. Auricula 

 and P. hirsuta. That is a fact which we may take as settled. I 

 think it is also a fact that Clusius (and I am sure everyone will 

 join with Mr. Baker in a vote of admiration for the writing of 

 that great man) sent from the Alps to Belgium numerous 

 Alpine Primulas, but he says that his friends complained that 

 they most of them died. The two that lived were P. Auricula 

 and P. pubescens. That is a second fact. A third staternent I 

 have to make is in the nature of a question. Is there evidence 

 that Primula Auricula by itself, without the admixture of any 

 foreign pollen, ever sports ? Against the idea of its sporting is the 

 fact that it has spread widely, but has, in spite of its wide 

 distribution, still the same characters. That is against the idea 

 of any tendency in the plant to sport. On the other hand, 

 P. pubescens shows indirectly its hybrid origin by sporting. I 

 think I am right in saying that you may in the same place gather 

 as many as nine different colours and varieties of P. pubescens. 

 I have seen it stated somewhere as a matter of common note 

 that pubescens is an Alpine Primula which sports very largely. 

 Put these facts together ; first, the fact that to Belgium, whence 

 obviously the Auricula sprang, there were sent a number of 

 Alpine Primulas, and of those Alpine Primulas the two which 

 flourished were P. Auricula and P . pubescem ; secondly, the 

 fact that P. pubescens, in itself a hybrid, sports largely, while 

 P. Auricula by itself does not sport largely ; and it seems to me 

 the probability is that your Auriculas, either the ordinary 

 Auriculas or the Alpine, have come, not from P. Auricula only, 

 but from P. pubescens also, possibly crossed back again with 



