SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, JAxNUARY 31. 
xxi 
tubers being almost or quite round, not unlike a handsome Tomato ; 
but this contrast to the shape of Woodstock Kidney is not greater 
than is constantly seen in seedling Potatos, where no cross-fertilisation 
has taken place. There is no apparent difference between the foliage 
of 5a and that of many other Potatos. 
No. 5a was the only seedling considered worth keeping in the autumn 
of 1896. All the other seedlings were discarded as very unpromising. 
No. 5b. — Tomato Earliest-of-All was grafted with a scion of Potato 
Woodstock Kidney in 1895. The Potato-flowers in this case were 
fertilised with their own pollen. The seed was sown in 1896, and the 
tubers were very similar in type , to Woodstock Kidney. In 1898 the 
trial report on the seedling was a medium crop of tubers resembling 
Woodstock Kidney." In this case also only one seedling was kept in the 
autumn of 1896. 
From a comparison of 5a and 5b it would certainly appear that the 
Tomato pollen had affected the seedling resulting from the cross. 
Solanum Maglia Hybrids. 
No. 6. — Typical tubers of Solanum Maglia grown from the Kew 
stock. 
No. 6a. — In 1887 some hundreds of flowers of Solanum Maglia were 
fertilised with pollen from cultivated Potatos, but the only cross effected 
was with pollen taken from an unnamed Potato seedling, and this cross 
resulted in two seedlings, but one of these was so weak that, notwith- 
standing every care, it was lost. The other produced tubers the first 
year corresponding to sample 6a ; and as the result of careful cultivation 
it has increased in size during recent years, as shown by sample 6b. 
The general constitution of the seedling is weak, and as a variety of 
Potato, it will not for a moment compare with the ordinary Potatos of 
commerce. 
Solanum etaberosttm. 
No. 7. — Solanum etuberosum, received in 1887 from Mr. Lindsay, of 
the Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, which have been grown each 
successive year. The tubers when received were very small, about the 
size of No. 7, but flatter, and have increased in size during the intervening 
years, until they have now reached the size of marketable Potatos, as 
represented by the sample 7a. 
Curious Varieties of Potatos or distinct Species. 
No. 8. — In 1888 Mr. Sutton received from a correspondent a distinct 
variety of Potato from Africa, the shape being somewhat similar to the 
Fir-apple Potato, but mottled in colour. The foliage is exceedingly dark 
in colour, and distinct from any other with which I am acquainted. 
The stems are erect and very bushy, and the leaves are so round as to 
appear at first sight entirely unlike those of the Potato, and rather 
resemble those of the Urtica dioica, the common Stinging-nettle. At a 
distance one would hardly think the foliage could be that of a Potato. 
No. 8a. — The tubers, as received, were about the size of sample No. 3, 
