SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, OCTOBER 21. 



cxcv 



also well formed. It was thought that it replaced the flowering bud, this 

 having been broken off, but an examination by section showed that such 

 w as not the case ; so that it arose from the replacement of the fiower-bud 

 by a true bulb. Mr. Healey adds : " The sheath around the Onion 

 below, over the second bulb, and right to the top, was continuous ; and 

 when pulled up the sheath was not even broken." (Fig. 260.) 



Physiantlius Catching Moths. — Professor Henslow showed flowers 

 of this American Asclepiad, often cultivated at Cape Town, nearly every 

 flower of which had securely caught a small grey moth, its proboscis being 

 nipped between the anthers. They either died of starvation, or, as was 

 frequently the case, they were carried off by bats, which seemed to know 

 that they were likely to find food in these particular flowers, and visited 

 tham accordingly. 



Scientific Committee, October 21, 1902. 

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



Boses. — Rev. W. Wilks exhibited specimens he had received from the 

 herbarium of M. Maurice de Vilmorin of Rosa sericea, with long decurrent 

 thorns ; of B. macrophylla var. crasseaculeata, with very large thorns ; 

 and illustrations and photos of R. macrophylla, a large crimson-flowered 

 species (see figs. 134-140). 



Begonia, crested. — Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., V.M.H., sent several 

 flowers showing different degrees of cresting of the petals. In some the 

 entire petal was reduced to a midrib covered with projections. 



Leaf -miner. — Mr. Holmes showed specimens of a leaf -miner on 

 Hogweed, which Mr. Saunders undertook to examine. 



Cankerous Groiuth. — Mr. Hooper showed some fruit-tree branches 

 with a cankerous growth, and Daffodil bulbs attacked by the dipterous fly 

 Mcrodon equestris (see p. 181). 



Auricula Aphis. — Mr. Douglas brought plants of an Auricula, the 

 roots of which were infested with an aphis, but the plants themselves 

 were perfectly healthy. The aphis appeared to be Trama Auricula?, and 

 had been observed twenty-five years ago. 



Vigour in Hybrids. — Mr. Douglas, V.M.H., called attention to a plant of 

 a hybrid between Cattleya Doiciana and C. velutina ; the first parent 

 has usually three to five flowers, and the latter three only ; but the hybrid 

 bore nine. The specimen illustrated the usual result of increased 

 vigour in hybrid plants, sometimes at the expense of fertility. It was 

 observed that hybrids of Cypripcdium Fairieanum will not cross. 

 Mr. G. Paul, V.M.H., remarked that extraordinary growth occurred in 

 hybrid Crimson Rambler Roses, long shoots sixteen feet in length 

 occurring in one season, but accompanied with some decrease in the 

 production of flowers. 



Carnation Leaves Booting. — Mr. Douglas brought leaves of a Tree 

 Carnation, one branch of which bore leaves with minute roots, arising 

 from the pericycle of the fibro -vascular bundles, and issuing from beneath 

 the epidermis all along the midrib. Mr. Massee, V.M.H., observed that it 

 was not infrequent when eelworms were at the roots ; the roots then often 

 appear from the stem as well as from the leaves. 



