EXTRACTS OF PROCEEDINGS. 



lxxxv 



briatum oculatum, but which the Secretary changed to 

 D. clavatum, the flowers being of that species. Mr. Ross also 

 exhibited Dendrobium Farmeri. 



Votes of thanks were passed to the various exhibitors, but no 

 certificates were awarded. 



FRUIT COMMITTEE. 



Sir C. W. Strickland, Bart., in the Chair, and eleven members 



present. 



Mr. C. Ross, Welford Park Gardens, Newbury, sent a Seedling 

 Melon named Standard, which was not quite ripe. The Com- 

 mittee expressed a desire to see it again. 



Mr. J. Doughty, Cranbrook, sent a Seedling Melon, which 

 was passed. 



Mr. R. Dean, Ealing, sent good-sized, well-formed bulbs of 

 Queen Onion, from seed sown in April 1888. 



From the Society's Gardens were sent three varieties of 

 Strawberries— Crescent Seedling (Vilmorin), quite ripe, King of 

 the Earlies and Noble (Laxton), beginning to change colour. 

 Examples of Benary's Buttercup Cabbage Lettuce (a promising 

 variety) were also sent from the Gardens. 



SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 



Dr. M. T. Masters in the Chair, and four members present. 



Fritillary Bulbs dormant. — Mr. Morris read a communica- 

 tion from Mr. C. Packe, of Stretton Hall, Leicester, who in 187G 

 had planted two bulbs of F. Moggridgei (F. Burnati var. lutea, 

 Reich. Icon. x. ccccxvii.). They did not come up till the pre- 

 sent year — i.e. after a lapse of thirteen years ; only one bore 

 flowers. " The facts," he adds, " are absolutely certain, and it 

 is quite impossible that they could have got in that place except 

 from the corms that I originally planted there." Dr. Masters 

 observed that bulbs had been known to retain their vitality for 

 long periods, and gave as an illustration a certain field which, 

 havingbeen arable for at least forty years, was laid down to pasture, 

 when the Bee Orchis appeared abundantly. Mr. Henslow added 

 that a bulb of Urginea scilla, which had been in the museum of 

 St. Bartholomew's Hospital for upwards of twelve years, tin ew 

 out a leafy shoot of about 6 inches in length, and then died. 



