EXTRACTS OF PROCEEDINGS. 



CXXXV 



irritations wliich are prolonged tend to produce effects which 

 may be transmitted to the offspring. The cause of the monstrous 

 condition of the specimens exhibited was thought to be over- 

 nutrition, judging from the gross nature of the foliage, &c. 



Origin of the Chrysanthemum. — A communication was read 

 from Mr. Hemsley, in which he recorded the fact that the earliest 

 specific name given by Ramatuelle to the Chrysanthemum was 

 not sinense, but morifolium, C. indicum being supposed to be a 

 distinct species. Mr. Burbidge, however, observed that of seed- 

 lings from any Chrysanthemum, forms apparently identical with 

 C. indicum, which is a native of China, always arise, leading to 

 the supposition that this latter species is the real origin of both 

 kinds in cultivation. All wild specimens are yellow and single, 

 the other colours having arisen by cultivation. 



OrcJiids exhibited. — Mr. O'Brien showed the following plants, 

 which were received from Mr. Tautz, of Hammersmith : Cyc- 

 noches barbatum ; this first flowered in 1849 with Mrs. Lawrence, 

 of Ealing Park. It was (if dimorphic, as other species) pre- 

 sumably the male form. A Botanical Certificate was unanimously 

 awarded. Stelis micrantha, a minute-flowering plant ; Trichosma 

 suavis trilabellia, this being one of several Orchids now cultivated, 

 with a tendency to Peloria, in that the two other petals are 

 more or less coloured like the labellum. 



Bhododendron indico-javanicum (bigeneric). — Mr. Henslow 

 described the foliage of this cross, exhibited by Mr. Veitch at the 

 last meeting. Though smaller in size, the leaf agreed both in 

 form and anatomical details with that of the Bhododendron, or 

 female parent, in every detail of importance. That of Azalea 

 was markedly different, being obovate instead of lanceolate ; 

 toothed and not entire ; covered with fibrous hairs instead of 

 being glabrous above, with minute peltate scales below ; the cell- 

 walls of the epidermis being sinuate instead of straight ; and the 

 proportion of stomata being less than in the Rhododendron as 

 well as the cross. The hairs of Azalea are very peculiar in 

 structure. They grow on the branches, petioles, midrib, and 

 veins below, and generally scattered over the upper surface of 

 the leaf. They are composed of numerous fibres resembling 

 short liber-fibres, graduated in length so that the longest form 

 the point of the hair. Mr. Henslow observed that he could 

 not discover any previous description of such a structure, which 



