SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 



xxxiii 



of cutting out the infected portions well behind the part on which the fungus 

 fruits are produced and behind any parts showing a brown discoloration in 

 the wood. 



Hardy Maize. — Prof. R. C. Punnett, F.R.S., sent an exhibit showing ripe 

 cobs of two varieties of Maize ripened in Cambridge, one yellow, the other cream, 

 and both of the hard-corn type. These had been raised by him by crossing 

 different varieties as recounted in Gard. Chron., January n, 1919. A Certificate 

 of Appreciation was unanimously recommended for the work done by Prof. 

 Punnett in raising these varieties. 



Primula variabilis and Narcissus Tazetta var. — Mr. G. C. Druce sent specimens 

 of the hybrid between Primula vulgaris and P. veris with small coloured flowers, 

 often grown in gardens under the name P. variabilis, and found in abundance 

 near Pulborough in an apparently wild state. Pie also sent a form of Narcissus 

 Tazetta, near " Paper White," collected as an escape near Yiewsley, Middlesex. 



Scientific Committee, February 25, 1919. 

 Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., V.M.H., in the Chair, and five members present. 



Potato Disease. — Mr. F. J. Baker, A.R.C.S., drew attention to a common 

 practice of throwing out partly diseased potato tubers when the clamps are 

 opened in spring, and permitting them to lie about until much later. Ke con- 

 sidered these tubers a source of danger, in that growth might start and the 

 disease occur upon it, spreading thence to shoots of plants cultivated near. 

 He thought it wise to collect and destroy such tubers ; they may be boiled and 

 fed to pigs, when any danger would be removed, but they should not find their 

 way into sties, &c, without previous cooking. 



Artificial Production of Natural Hybrids. — Mr. R. A. Rolfe, A.L.S., showed 

 a plant under the name of Odontoglossum x Humeanum Rchb. f. This had been 

 raised by pollinating O. maculatum by O. Rossii. Reichenbach suggested O. 

 cor datum and 0. Rossii as the parents of the plant to which it is believed that 

 he attached the name O. x Humeanum, but Mr. Rolfe can find no trace of 

 0. cordatum in the wild plant or evidence that the two supposed parents 

 grow together in the wild state. A plant was described after Reichenbach's 

 Humeanum as O. x asp er sum Reich, f. and the parentage O. maculatum x Rossii 

 ascribed. It was believed to be a natural hybrid, and the plant now exhibited 

 is exactly identical. The plant originally called O. x Humeanum appears to have 

 been lost. The plant exhibited was raised by Mr. Rolfe in the collection of 

 F. H. Moore, Esq., Royal Infirmary, Liverpool, and has now, after nineteen 

 years, flowered at Kew. A figure of the plant (O. x Humeanum) is given in 

 Reichenbachia, ser. 1, ii. pp. 75-82, and the full history of the plant exhibited 

 in Orch. Rev. xxvii. p. 4). The Committee unanimously recommended a 

 Certificate of Appreciation to Mr. Rolfe for the work he had done in raising 

 this plant. 



Spiral Hazel. — Mr. Gurney Wilson, F.L.S., showed a stem of hazel from a 

 railway cutting at Haywards Heath, Sussex, having a deep and broad spiral 

 groove traversing it. Such grooves are usually the result of the growth of either 

 honeysuckle or Clematis on the young stem. 



Colouring of Leaves by Fungus Spores. — Mr. Bowles showed ivy leaves coloured 

 deep brown by the presence of numerous spores of the fungus Polyporus igneus, 

 which had formed its fruits upon the stem of a horse-chestnut above the ivy. 

 The leaves were completely covered. 



Narcissus aberrant. — Mr. J. K. Ramsbottom sent flowers of a Polyanthus 

 Narcissus from Scilly in which the terminal flower of the inflorescence had in 

 each case eight perianth pieces. 



Scientific Committee, March ii, 1919. 

 Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., V.M.H., in the Chair, and five members present. 



Odontoglossum x aspersum. — Mr. G. Wilson, F.L.S., showed several early 

 drawings of the plant known as 0. x Humeanum and the alleged parents, and of 

 O. x aspersum and its parents. 



Variations from Root Cuttings of Bouvardia. — Dr. W. Bateson, F.R.S., 

 exhibited drawings of Bouvardia ' Bridesmaid,' and of the plant raised from it 



VOL. XLV. 0 



