xxii PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 



January 14, 1908. 



Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., in the Chair, and twelve 

 members present. 



Weevils on Greasebands. — Mr. Saunders, F.L.S., reported that the 

 three weevils captured on the greasebands shown at the meeting held on 

 December 31, 1907, belonged to a species of Magdalinus, but they were 

 too much battered to make out the exact species. There appears to be 

 no record of them attacking plants to a serious extent. 



Malformed Flower of Dendrobium nobile. — Mr. Worsdell, F.L.S., 

 reported that he had examined the very curious malformed flower of 

 Dendrobium nobile sent from the E.H.S. Gardens. He found an attempt 

 at the making of a dimerous flower, but the attempt was partially 

 abortive. Two sepals only were developed, and two petals, one lateral, 

 the other, half of the form and colour of the labellum, and half of the form 

 and colour of an ordinary petal. The latter petal was inserted partly in 

 the position usually occupied by the labellum, partly in the position 

 normally occupied by one of the other petals. The ovary had aborted. 



Ornitliogalum lactcum. — Mr. Holmes, F.L.S., showed a flowering 

 specimen of this plant sent from the Cape. The bulb had not been 

 planted, nor, apparently, supplied with moisture. 



Fasciated Holly. — Dr. Farmer showed a curiously fasciated and 

 twisted specimen of tbe common holly. The stem was fully an inch in 

 breadth and curled round at the apex. It was observed that the causes 

 that bring about fasciation are obscure, and would form a promising 

 subject for further investigation. Sometimes the peculiarity can be 

 induced to appear in individual plants as the result of over-feeding, and 

 it is not infrequently supposed to be directly traceable to this cause. But 

 a little reflection will show that the stimulus given by rich nutriment 

 only serves as the means of causing a tendency already present in the 

 particular plant to materialize. The fact that only an individual here and 

 there of a number of plants grown under similar conditions exhibits the 

 character in question at once proves that the cause is deeply seated in the 

 plant itself, and is not attributable solely to the effects of over-feeding. 

 Whilst in lilies, Tropaeolums, thistles, &c, comparatively few individuals 

 are thus affected, there are others, e.g., Celosia cristata, some varieties of 

 Solum, t vc., in which it occurs in a considerable proportion of the offspring 

 of every generation. The investigations of De Vries seem to indicate 

 that the tendency to fasciation may be regarded, from the point of view of 

 heredity, as being analogous to that which causes some plants, e.g., stocks, 

 to throw out a certain percentage of double-flowering individuals in each 

 generation. But in these potentially fasciated individuals the property of 

 fasciation may lie dormant unless the stimulus of abundant nutrition 

 calls it out. This proximate dependence on excessive feeding has led 



