Cxlii PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and affected with fungus, were also exhibited. The Carrots and 

 the Seakale were referred to Professor Marshall Ward for exami- 

 nation and report. 



Effect of Fog on Orchid Blossoms. — Mr. Veitch showed 

 flowers of Phalrenopsis and Oncidium, showing how the fog 

 affected blossoms which had not fully expanded, and arrested 

 their further development, while those in a more fully developed 

 condition were relatively uninjured. The specimens were re- 

 ferred to Dr. Scott for examination and report. 



Insect injurious to Sugar-cane in Barbados. — Mr. Morris 

 exhibited specimens sent from the botanical station at Barbados, 

 which were referred to Mr. Michael. 



Production of Seedling Sugar-canes in Barbados. — In con- 

 nection with the above, Mr. Morris incidentally drew attention to 

 the discovery of seedling Sugar-canes in Barbados, and to the 

 interest attaching to them, as furnishing a possible means of 

 obtaining new and improved varieties. It is singular that up to 

 this time the variations in the Sugar-cane have been derived 

 chiefly from sports or bud variations. 



Dactylopius {Mealy Bug) in Egypt. — Mr. Morris read a letter 

 addressed to Professor Oliver, Royal Gardens, Kew, by Admiral 

 Blomfield : — 



" I see in the August number of the Kew Bulletin an interest- 

 ing account of the Icerya Purchasi, and its depredations in South 

 Africa, California, &c. During the past four years our gardens 

 at Alexandria have been invaded by a coccus, which threatens 

 now to destroy all our trees, and is causing the greatest alarm 

 here. I have taken the liberty of sending some specimens in a 

 tin box. Our local savants do not seem satisfied as to its 

 scientific name, though one has pronounced it to be the common 

 mealy bug — D. adonidum — which I imagine to be a very much 

 smaller insect. It first appeared about four years ago, when I 

 noticed it in quantities on the under side of the leaves of a 

 Banyan tree, but it has since spread with extraordinary 

 rapidity, and one of our most beautiful gardens, full of ti'opical 

 trees and shrubs, has been almost destroyed. A breeze sends 

 the cottony bugs down in showers in all directions. It seems to 

 attack almost any plant, but the leaves of the Ficus rubiginosa, 

 and one or two other kinds of Fig, seem too tough for it, and it 

 will not touch them. It seems almost hopeless here for a few 



