Xliv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



white or whitish filaments, but these were usually coloured like the 

 Scilla. The flowers in the second generation were mostly broad 

 petalled. 



Narcissus with frilled trumpet. — Mr. Bowles showed flowers of a 

 white Narcissus with a frilled corona, and remarked that when the 

 plants were newly divided the frill was, as a rule, not developed until 

 two or three seasons of growth had been passed and the plants had 

 become established. 



Scientific Committee, March 18, 1913. 

 Mr. C. E. Shea, F.R.H.S., in the Chair, and five members present. 



Dahlia plants failing. — Mr. Massee, V.M.H., reported that the 

 Dahlias sent from Edinburgh in which the buds had failed to start 

 were attacked by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. 



Lathyrus sativus (poisonous). — Mr. Holmes, F.L.S., showed seeds 

 of Lathyrus sativus and those of Pisuni sativum and P. arvense from 

 India for comparison, in order to draw attention to the fact that 

 seeds of the first -named plant were being sold (under the name of 

 Mutti) for cattle food instead of the latter. They were imported from 

 India and were now to be obtained in various markets. The seeds 

 of L. sativus are poisonous, though the symptoms of poisoning do not 

 always manifest themselves very quickly and the actual poisonous 

 substance has not been isolated. 



Holly growing on shingle beach. — A correspondent sent a photograph 

 of a fine Holly growing on a shingle beach at Lydd, Kent, where also 

 several other unusual plants are to be found growing wild. The bush 

 is a large one and fruited well in the past year. 



Alleged poisoning by Ferns. — Miss S. Edmonds sent an account 

 of the death of two cats, supposed to have been caused by eating 

 the fronds of Ferns in a dwelling-house. One had died, and a second, 

 which later betrayed the same symptoms, which were those of an 

 irritant poison, was killed, as recovery was deemed impossible. The 

 first was not examined, but the second was, and pieces of a Fern 

 frond were found in the stomach. The Fern was sent for examination 

 and proved to be Nephrolepis exaltata var. todeaoides. No record of 

 this Fern or any of its congeners being poisonous was known to any 

 member of the Committee, but the Committee would be glad to learn 

 whether animals having access to it have been known to be poisoned. 

 The evidence in the present case seems far from conclusive, but as 

 cats very frequently nibble Ferns, and this Nephrolepis is very widely 

 cultivated, other cases may come to light. 



Scientific Committee, April i, 1913. 

 Mr. G. Gordon, V.M.H., in the Chair, and five members present. 



Fasciated Stock. — Mr. H. Stuart Thompson sent from the South 

 of France part of a fasciated example of Matthiola sinuata bearing 

 hundreds of flowers and having a stem about 2| inches in width. 



