SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, DECEMBER 10. 



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attempt the elucidation of any laws regarding hybridisation. Mr. 

 Worsley had also examined the flowers, and had arrived at similar 

 conclusions. 



Calif omian Galls. — Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse, of the British Museum, 

 reported upon some large Californian galls which had been sent for 

 identification, and said that they were formed by a species of Cyjiips, 

 which could not, however, be named. The galls were similar to the 

 English Oak marble galls, but much larger, measuring, indeed, fully 

 2 inches in diameter. They were of a pale brown colour, and, unlike 

 the Oak marble gall, contained, originally, more than one grub. The 

 perfect insects had, however, emerged. 



Quince with Fungus. — Mr. Giissow reported that he found no fungus 

 on the Quinces shown by Mr. Worsley, but Botrytis cinerea, which had 

 evidently followed the ripening of the fruit. 



Grub in Crassula falcata. — Mr. Druery, V.M.H., showed a stem of 

 Crassula falcata containing the larva of the " Garden Swift Moth " 

 (Hepialus lupulinus), which had burrowed up into the stem, a most 

 unusual place for the larva of this insect to feed, as it is usually found 

 feeding underground. 



Temperature Variations. — Mr. Curtis showed several sets of thermo- 

 graph records, showing the enormous variation found in the temperatures 

 taken at different levels above the surface of the ground, and illustrating 

 the erroneous notions as to the temperatures to which vegetation is 

 exposed through radiation, gathered by merely taking the records in an 

 ordinary screen. 



Seedless Apple.— Mr. Worsdell, F.L.S., showed a photograph of a 

 seedless Apple which had five very small Apples growing out at the "eye " 

 end. He suggested that the seedlessness was possibly brought about by 

 the energies of growth being diverted from the seeds to the formation of 

 these small growths. 



" Sport " in a Fungus. — Mr. Worsdell also showed a specimen of 

 a species of Tubaria in which the gills were developed upon both 

 surfaces of the pileus instead of upon the lower surface only. 



Brassica Grosses.— Mr. A. W. Sutton, V.M.H., showed crosses between 

 a Savoy and Brussels Sprout, and between a Cabbage and Brussels Sprout, 

 each of which bore a good heart and a large number of small hearts up 

 the stem, somewhat after the manner of a Brussels Sprout. The con- 

 dition, said Mr. Sutton, was now fixed. 



Summer Pruning. — Mr. C. Wakely, of Chelmsford, Essex, communi- 

 cated the results of a series of experiments in summer pruning (see p. 497). 



Fruits of Akebia lobata. — Miss Ethel Webb sent fruits of this plant 

 from Newstead, Notts, where it fruits freely every year. The plant is on 

 a south wall, and has reached a height of about 14 feet. The fruits are 

 freely disposed about the plant in groups of two to four, and, though now 

 past their best, form with the foliage a very ornamental feature. Birds 

 do not touch the fruit until frost has split the skin and exposed the 

 contents, when they devour the black seeds embedded in the white, jelly- 

 like pulp. Bluebottles are also partial to the fruit. The skin has a bitter 

 flavrur, which doubtless protects the fruit from birds and insects until it 

 is split by the frost. 



