SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 



XXXV 



Scientific Committee, April 29, 1919. 

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



Insects pollinating mistletoe. — Mr. Bowles referred to the subject of insect- 

 pollination of mistletoe, saying that he found certain insects persistently working 

 the flowers, returning to them again and again, particularly Diptera, and he 

 thought there could be no doubt that they were the agents effecting pollination. 

 He had captured many and they had been identified at the British Museum 

 as Sepsis cynipsea (4), Chlorops sp. (3), Tephrochlamys rufiventris (3), Pyrellia 

 lasiophthalma (2), Musca antumnalis (i), Scatophaga stercoraria (1), Elachy- 

 ptera cornuta (1) . With one exception these were different flies from those captured 

 at mistletoe last year (see Journal R.H.S. xliv. p. xlix). 



Malformed Cypripedium. — Cypripedium ' Euryades,' New Hall Hey var., 

 with the dorsal part of the flower doubled, was sent by Mr. C. J. Lucas, of 

 Horsham. Both dorsal sepal and rostellum were paired. 



Wood of Cecropia. — A piece of stem of Cecropia was sent by Mrs. G. E. 

 Bullar, picked up on the shore at L'Islet, Guernsey. The wood is extremely 

 light and has large pith cavities with transverse walls at intervals of about two 

 inches. Dr. Rendle, who identified the specimen, says that the pith cavities 

 are, in the young stem, often occupied by ants, and that the natives of W. Indies 

 and S. America, where the tree grows wild and reaches a height of from 40 to 

 60 feet and a diameter of a foot, use the hollow stems as wind instruments, 

 whence the name ' Trumpet-Wood.' 



