OBSERVATIONS ON So.MK oF TIIK I'LAN I S KXII ] r.ri'KI). 101 
IIyhkid Clematis.— Mr. Jackiuan exhibited some viiri('ti(!S of a liyhrid 
between C. cocci nea and C. Jackniaiuii, itself a hybrid. The dark purple 
colour of the latter had modified the original scarlet of C. cocc/Jiea, while 
the flower itself had enlarged. 
Mr. Scaplehorn, of Woking, informs mo that from his experiments, 
i'. coccinect, vfhvu used as the female parent, didjiot produce any material 
results. It was only wlien the various varieties of C. Jach inanni were 
crossed with the pollen of C. cocciuca that the production of hybrids 
seemed possible. 
SwKE'P Peas. — As examples of varieties obtained without hybridising, 
these furnished a good example, there being now between two and three 
hundred sorts cultivated by the Messrs. Sutton at Reading. The lecturer 
observed that as florists of the last two centuries did not practise hybridis- 
ing they depended upon seedlings for their varieties, though very probably 
a good deal of crossing was done by bees unknown to them. Thus 
Sharrock, in " The History of the Propagation and Improvement of 
Vegetables " (1672), observes, in speaking of the production of variations 
in the colours of Tulips :— " To hasten which effect let such of your 
colours as are strong and luxuriant be set in lean and hungry, but fresh 
ground, and the next year after in that which is fat and well manured ; 
and so yearly removed to contrary soils until you obtain the end desired." 
Similarly Rose, in his "Elements of Botany " (1775), says : — " The 
soil changes plants, and thence varieties arise. ... A botanist who will 
exercise himself in finding out the varieties shall never be able to come to 
the end of the various forms of sporting nature." 
Calochortus and Cyclobothra. — These genera, united under the 
first name by Bentham and Hooker, afford a problem in geographical 
distribution ; for being allied to the Tulip, Calochortus is only found on 
the west of N. America, as in California ; while Tulii:)a occurs everywhere 
else around the northern hemisphere. The former there replaces the 
Tulip, and the question arises. What were the local conditions which 
evolved it out of Tulips ? It differs in having the parts of one whorl 
smaller than those of the other, not all alike as in Tulips ; and the fruit 
dehisces septicidally, i.e. the three carpels separating from each other ; not 
loculicidally, as in Tulips, i.e. bursting through the back of each carpel. 
OiiNiTHOGALUM AEABicuM. — Tliis plant, with its large w^iite belMike 
flowers and black-green ovaries, is somewhat difficult to grow in this 
country. It is one of the commonest " w^eeds " in the fields of Malta. 
The Maltese being very indolent in keeping their fields clean, numerous 
w^ild flowers abound in them, which we prize in England, such as 
Gladiolus, tall species oi Allium, purple Anemone coronaria, Pheasant's 
Eye, and the too-abundant golden-flowered Oxalis ccrnua, introduced 
there from the Cape in 180G. 
Selaginellas. — A fine group of these plants afforded a subject for 
remarks upon their geological history. Being all humble herbs at the 
present day, Selaginella, LycoiJocUnm, and a few other genera compose 
an entire family. They are the sole existing representatives of a 
numerous one boasting of great trees which flourished during the " Coal 
Epoch." Numerous forests, which were the source of that useful 
commodity, were, with Ferns, mainly composed of members of that and 
closely allied famihes. 
