SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, MARCH 26. 



xxxix 



here from seeds, which Sir J. D. Hooker, K.C.S.I., sent to the Gardens 

 eighteen years ago. In the same packet came seeds of the Himalayan 

 Bird Cherry, Prunus (Padus) cornuta, with its old bronze-coloured bark, 

 now 25 feet high, and it flowers and fruits freely every year. 



" 2. Flowers of the old greenhouse plant Canarina campanulata, 

 of the Canary Islands, vide Bot. Mag. t. 444. 



" 3. Salvinia natans. As to this, note its waterproof coating of short 

 hairs, which carries down an air film if the plant be temporarily sub- 

 merged ; note also its lifeboat-like habit of ' righting ' itself when placed 

 in a vessel of water. Like Duckweed (Lemna), AzoUa, and other 

 aquatics, it robs all submerged plants of light, &c., by its (and their) 

 habit of forming a dense green mosaic on the surface of the water. 

 Azolla kills or crowds out Lemna minor here, in sheltered open-air tanks. 



"4. Acacia sphcerocephala A. cornigera), 'Buffalo-horn Acacia,' 

 myrmecophilous {vide Belt's ' Naturalist in Nicaragua,' London, 1874). 

 Note the big hollow spines, in which the ants live ; and also the yellow 

 waxy secretion and exudation at the tips or apices of the young leaflets. 

 I do not think this substance has received any chemical study. This 

 ' ant-manna ' seems to be of no actual or direct service or relief to the 

 Acacia, as are some secretions ; the resinous secretions that at times close 

 the absorptive and secretive glands on the leaves of Rosa alpina for 

 example. In any case, it would be a step forward to know exactly what 

 this yellow wax-like leaf product really is. 



" 5. An Indian ' Dodder,' growing on Ivy in cool greenhouse here, 

 Cuscuta reflexa : Hooker, in ' Himalayan Journals,' Minerva Library, 1891 

 edition, p. 27, says: — 'Dodders (Cuscuta) covered even tall trees with a 

 golden web.' This species is so rampant that it might have been one of 

 them. It will grow on Ivy, Pelargonium, Cotoneaster, Calceolaria, Carex, 

 Jasmine, Forsythia, Cytisus, Fuchsia — indeed, nothing seems to come 

 amiss, and it is even self -parasitic (like the Mistleto), this phase of its 

 life-history having been discovered by Dr. Henry H. Dixon, of the 

 Physiological Laboratory, Trinity College, Dublin, a few years ago, and de- 

 scribed in the 'Proceedings of the Eoyal Irish Academy,' as also in 'Notes 

 from the Botanical School of Trinity College, Dublin,' No. 4, January, 

 1901, chap. xvii. p. 146. The plant flowers freely late in summer or 

 autumn, the flowers being white, and not unlike those of a small Lily of 

 the Valley (Convallaria), having a honey-like perfume, which is very 

 attractive to flies of many kinds. 



" 6. Azolla fiUculoides, on water in muddy outdoor tanks here, is now 

 a lovely copper-red colour. I see Hooker (loc. cit. supra), p. 255, mentions 

 Lake Catsuperri, alt. 7,150 feet, bordered by a broad marsh of Bog Moss, 

 in which was abundance of Azolla, colouring the waters red." 



Scientific Committee, March 26, 1901. 

 Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S., in the Chair, and nineteen members present. 



Gattleya, Monstrous. — Dr. Masters described the specimen sent to the 

 last meeting as follows : — The flower is dimerous, in having two sepals, a 

 lip, a lateral petal displaced so as to be situate in the centre, at the back of 



