Cxlii PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



times only show a small rim of that substance raised above the bark of 

 the tree. Sometimes, however, the bees go on building outside, and 

 adding on to the rim until they have formed a wide-mouthed entrance 

 which projects as much as a foot from the tree. These structures 

 commonly assume the shape of the mouth of a large trumpet, flattened 

 horizontally, and have a perpendicular diameter of a foot or so, and a 

 horizontal diameter of three or four inches. They are built with great 

 regularity in their exterior half, but not so regularly towards the base, 

 from the necessity of adapting the structure to the shape of the tree where 

 the hole may chance to be. What the internal economy of the nest may 

 be I cannot say, as the tree has commonly to be felled in order to obtain 

 the contents, and this I have never seen done. I am informed that from 

 five to ten ' viss ' are usually obtained from one nest. A viss is about 3| lbs., 

 and costs about sixpence in the bazaars. This substance appears to 

 consist of oil united with resin. It is soluble in oils and turpentine, but 

 not in spirits of wine. In Burmah the name Pwai-ngyet is often 

 applied in the bazaars to denote any kind of resin or ' dammar,' but the 

 true Pwai-ngyet is a structure formed by the dammar bee for its own habi- 

 tation probably from a mixture of substances, and is found on various 

 trees and in numerous situations. ' " 



Potatos, diseased. — Some small tubers were sent by Mr. Eckford, 

 which Dr. Cooke undertook to examine. 



Scientific Committee, August 5, 1902. 



Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S., in the Chair, and eight members present, 



Larch Disease.— Dr. Cooke, V.M.H., replied thus to Mr. Elwes' 

 inquiry : — 



" Some time since some Larch twigs were sent to the Committee which 

 were evidently diseased, but after careful examination I was compelled 

 to report that I could find no fungi present. Afterwards, it appears that 

 specimens were sent to the Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, and the report 

 made upon them was that they were affected by a fungus called Alkscheria 

 laricis. This report was communicated to me rather as a reproach, I 

 presume, and I returned a polite request to be furnished with a reference 

 to the authority for the name of the presumed fungus, as I was un- 

 acquainted with any such genus as Allescheria, and could not trace the 

 name in Saccardo's ' Sylloge ' — the most complete work of the day. To 

 this communication 1 received a reply, dated July 24, to the following 

 effect: 'For Allescheria laricis see Hartig in " Centralblatt fur d. ges. 

 Forstwesen," 1899, also Hartig, " Lehrbuch der Pflanzenkrankheiten," 

 Aufl. 3, Berlin, 1900. Signed A. W. Borthwick.' 



" My next step was to consult the works named above, where I cer- 

 tainly found the name of Allescheria laricis, attached to a small woodcut ; 

 but although this was apparently the first mention of the genus Allescheria, 

 it was without any diagnosis of the supposed genus, or of its affinities, 

 and the only intimation vouchsafed was that it was intended to be de- 

 scribed hereafter, and therefore that Allescheria as a genus of fungi is 



