CViii PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A discussion arose as to the degree of perfection to which 

 flowers can attain when grown in total darkness. Mr. McLachlan, 

 for example, found a Hyacinth, which by accident could not 

 emerge from the ground, to be rose-coloured. Mr. Smee on a 

 former occasion exhibited a dark purple Hyacinth which had 

 developed underground beneath a slate. Many other instances 

 are known. The Committee expressed a wish to receive de- 

 scriptions of any cases of plants developing in darkness which 

 correspondents may be able to furnish. 



Excrescences on Willows. — -Mr. Blandford had examined 

 sections of the specimens- brought to the last meeting. The 

 woody tissue was very dense, and indicated no clear evidence of 

 insect origin. He suggested that there might have been an old 

 gall, and that the hypertrophy of the tissues continued after the 

 escape of the insect, possibly a cryptocampus or sawfly. The 

 wood was referred to Professor H. Marshall Ward for an examina- 

 tion of the tissues. 



Staves perforated. — Mr. Blandford observed that the insect 

 officially reported by the India Office as taken from the barrels, 

 and supposed to be the wood-borer, as mentioned at the last 

 meeting, proved to be incorrect. The staves are really per- 

 forated by Xylcborus perforans, an insect well known since 1855, 

 and detected as perforating Sugar-canes in St. Vincent in 1867. 

 He proposed making further investigations. Mr. McLachlan 

 remarked that the original home of this insect was Central and 

 South America, that it was exported to Madeira, and thence to. 

 India. Mr. Morris observed that the distribution also agreed 

 with exportation of the Sugar-cane. 



Injuries to the Cocoa Tree (Theobroma cacao). — Mr. Morris 

 remarked upon the presence of Styrastina clepressa infesting 

 Cocoa-trees in Grenada, that it was not a native of the West 

 Indies, but introduced from South America. At the Jamaica 

 Exhibition, Cocoa from Surinam, together with insects injurious 

 to it, were shown. Hence it was undoubtedly introduced into 

 the West Indies along with the Cocoa. 



Kcempferia, Tuberous Boots of. — Professor Church had 

 examined the tuberous roots exhibited at a previous meeting by 

 Mr. Morris, which are used as food in Trinidad and Dominica. 

 He found that they contained very little starch, but a relatively 

 large amount of gummy matter, which possessed a strong left- 



