CXXVi PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Diseased Daffodil Bulb. — He also reported upon the speci- 

 men brought by Mr. Wilks, that a saprophytic fungus was now 

 present, which had followed a disease induced by some other 

 unascertainable cause. 



Diseased Pears. — Mr. Massee sent the following additional 

 remarks upon the fruit reported upon at the last meeting : 

 " The fungus attacking the Pears first appears upon the leaves, 

 and from thence it passes on to the fruit. The tree should have 

 been sprayed with a fungicide previous to the appearance of 

 bloom, and once or twice after the fruit had set. Bordeaux 

 mixture has been proved effective." A unanimous vote of 

 thanks was given to Mr. Massee for his interesting and valuable 

 reports. 



Job's Tears (Coix lachryma, L.). — Mr. McLachlan exhibited 

 a specimen of this Grass, grown at Loughborough, Leicester- 

 shire, in the open air. It is remarkable for the stony involucres, 

 often used as beads. Prof. Church drew attention to another 

 species, C. gigantea, Boxb., which is cultivated in the Khasia 

 hills, and elsewhere in Bengal. C. lachryma is not cultivated, 

 though the grain of wild plants is eaten. Prof. Church's 

 analysis of the grain of C. gigantea shows that it contains 16*8 

 albuminoids and 58*9 starch, &c, so that its " nutrient value " 

 is very high, being 90 per cent. (Kew Bulletin, 1888, p. 267.) 



Splicer ia Bobertsii. — Mr. Harry Veitch exhibited specimens 

 of this well-known parasitic fungus of New Zealand issuing 

 from the neck of a large caterpillar (Hipialis virescens). It is 

 called aweto or " vegetable caterpillar." The latter frequents 

 particularly, if not quite exclusively, the Rata tree (Metro- 

 sideros robusta), and when the pupa burrows into the ground at 

 the foot of the tree, the spores of the fungus attack it, the 

 mycelium ramifying through the body, while the stem bearing 

 the sporiferous asci issues erect from between the folds in the 

 neck of the caterpillar. 



Split Planorbis Shells. — Mr. Wilson sent specimens split 

 transversely, with the following observations: "The shells are 

 deposited in large numbers on the bent-down rushes at the water's 

 edge of one of our ponds at Oakwood, Wisley. There are no 

 signs of rats near. I much wish to know what cuts them, whether 

 beast or bird." It was suggested by Mr. Michael that if the 

 shell lay half in water a severe frost might possibly have effected 



