FLORAL DEMONSTRATION. 
139 
including our British wild ones, are very valuable plants to bee- 
keepers, as great quantities of honey are secreted by the flowers. 
A dwarf Sweet Pea named " Cupid," from Mr. Burpee, of 
Philadelphia, U.S.A., was remarked upon by the lecturer as 
evidence of what could be done by selection. It would be difficult 
to explain loliy dwarfs arise at all ; but gardeners know very well 
that dwarfing may be obtained by sowing the seeds early or late, 
and then pricking the seedings out several times so as to check 
their growth. By the selection of the smallest seeds also year 
after year a dwarfer and dwarfer habit may be obtained. Cross- 
ing with pollen taken from the shortest stamens in Rhododen- 
drons has been proved to give rise to dwarf plants. 
The lecturer recommended that a series of experiments of this 
nature, conducted on a definite basis, might lead to very valuable 
results, or at all events teach us a little more than we know at 
present about the physiological processes of dwarfing. 
A specimen of Hydrangea hortensis — which belongs to the 
natural order Saxifrageae — was referred to simply to point out 
that it was the calyx only which was expanded and formed the 
the popular "flower" — the corolla, andr^eceum, and gyn^ceum 
being closed up and aborted in the centre. 
In the Guelder Rose or Snowball-tree {Viburnum O^ukis), 
which belongs to Caprifoliacese, it was the corolla, and not the 
calyx, which was expanded, while the other organs were unde- 
veloped. 
Prof. Henslow next touched upon the regularity and irregu- 
larity of flowers, and said that botanists had come to the con- 
clusion that all irregular flowers had been derived from regular 
ones as simply the result of interference on the part of insects. 
A regular flower was always situated in a terminal position, or 
else so that the nectary couJd be reached from any point of the 
compass, but in irregular flowers there was usually only one way 
of entering, as the flowers were almost invariably situated close 
to the stem. 
As examples of irregular flowers being changed into regular, 
Sinningia {Gloxinia) speciosa was mentioned. It was introduced 
in 1815, and had irregular drooping flowers with four stamens. 
Sinningia (Gloxinia) caulescens was afterwards introduced, 
and hybrids were soon raised between them. In 1846 Mr. Fyfe, 
of Messrs. Dobbie & Co., of Rothesay, N.B., succeeded in raising a 
