SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, JANUARY 15. 



XXIU 



whether the Grapes showed any superiority. It is hoped that Mr. Sharpe 

 would continue his experiments, and record comparative results. 



Injured Peach-shoots. — Mr. James Hawkes, of Ostorley Park, Isleworth, 

 sent shoots with the following remarks : " During the past two seasons, 

 about the time the house is closed for forcing, a great many of the young 

 shoots of Royal George (age of tree twelve years, growing in an early 

 Peach-house, and ripening at the end of June) have black rings round 

 them, and from the buds small globules of gum exude. The tree in 

 question has cropped well, has plenty of fibrous roots, and the growth is not 

 over-strong. It has not been subjected to high or extremes of temperature, 

 and is well supplied with water, nor has it been overfed with manure." 



The specimens were sent to Dr. W. G. Smith for examination and 

 report. 



Qlimhing Cactus. — Dr. Masters, F.R.S., exhibited photographs of a 

 spirally climbing Cereus, having a flattened stem, and spines proceeding 

 from the edges. It was a species named Cereus Wittii, from Brazil. The 

 photographs were received from Dr. Schumann, of Berlin. Mr. F. Im 

 Thurn observed how Cereus in Guiana at first grows flat against a support, 

 but when it grows freely above assumes a more cylindrical character. It 

 would seem, therefore, to be one of Kerner's so-caJled " leaning " climbers, 

 which often form a lattice-work by intersection of their shoots, if they have 

 no adhesive roots such as some species of Cereus possess. Professor Henslow, 

 V.M.H., observed that the change of form is probably correlated with a 

 difiterent distribution of the mechanical or supporting tissue, for he finds 

 that an Ivy- shoot when supported has more pith and less wood than one 

 of the same diameter but growing freely in the air, in which the propor- 

 tions of wood and pith are reversed. Dr. Schumann wites thus of it to 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle: — 



Cereus Wittii {K. ScJi.). — Among the numerous novelties which the 

 last decade of the past century brought to Europe this Cereus is surely 

 one of the most interesting for both the amateur and the professional 

 cultivator. I received this curious plant through the kindness of Mr. 

 N. H. Witt, of Manaos, Erlado do Amazonas, Brazil. He told me, long 

 before he was able to send specimens, that a climbing species of a genus 

 he was not able to determine grew in the swampy forest of Igape, on 

 the Amazon River. Closely appressed to the stems of the trees, and fixed 

 to them by numerous roots, in the region of the yearly inundation, there 

 creeps a Cactus with the habit of a Phyllocactus, but armed with very 

 sharp spines. It is so closely connected with the plant on which it grows 

 that one must look carefully to distinguish it. In fig. 120 the Cactus is 

 represented creeping over a Palm-stem which is provided with great 

 thorns, that prevent the Cactus from being removed from the bark. The 

 joints have been therefore bent and broken, to avoid the thorns, and that 

 enables the Cactus to be more readily recognised. 



When I had the specimen in my hand, after it was unpacked, 1 did 

 not at all know how to class it. I was not able even to indicate the 

 genus. It could not belong to Phyllocactus, however much the form of 

 the leaf -like joints suggested that genus. Perhaps it might be a very 

 abnormal species of Rhipsalis, but the flowers or fruits being absent, the 

 question could not be answered. 



