SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 



xlvii 



roots was due to partial suffocation, and occurred in congested portions 

 of the shrubs. 



" Fire " in Tulips. — Dr. A. S. Home showed leaves of Darwin 

 Tulips with the typical symptoms of " fire," due to the attack of 

 Botrytis parasitica. He remarked upon the freedom from disease 

 of the plants in some localities, and the abundance of it in others. 



Tulipa Fosteriana. — Mr. A. Worsley exhibited flowers of Tulipa 

 Fosteriana to call attention to the variation occurring in them, 

 especially in the marking at the base. Mr. Bowles said T. Fosteriana 

 was a polymorphous species, and he found no characters so constant 

 as to afford ground for the establishment of varieties. Mr. Worsley 

 also showed a diseased Peach stem, which Dr. Home took for further 

 investigation. 



Colour of Flowers from Reciprocal Crosses. — Mr. Worsley also showed 

 flowers of a hybrid between a garden Phyllocactus and Coreus amaeca- 

 mensis, and said that the colour in the reciprocal crosses followed that 

 of the pollen parent in the main. It is to be remarked that the Phyllo- 

 cactus used was of hybrid origin, and would be unlikely to produce 

 offspring like itself. 



Eumerus strigatus. — Mr. C. E. Shea exhibited a number of specimens 

 of the lesser Narcissus fly hatched out under glass. 



Uncommon Plants. — Mr. H. J. Elwes, F.R.S., remarked upon the 

 desirability of encouraging the growth and exhibition of true species 

 and primary hybrids of hardy plants, and suggested the offer of a 

 Challenge Cup for such exhibits. He asked members to consider the 

 matter and make such suggestions as occurred to them. 



Improvement of Pasture. — Mr. F. J. Baker recounted an experience 

 which had just occurred to him with some poor, tussocky grass land. 

 He had sown vetches on the land without turning it up, and many of 

 the seeds had grown. The cattle had eaten the grass and vetches 

 much more readily than they had before eaten the tussocky grass, and 

 this had had the effect of greatly improving the pasturage. 



Lissochilus arenarius. — Sir Jeremiah Colman, V.M.H., exhibited 

 this terrestrial Orchid, which has a very wide distribution in tropical 

 Africa, occurring in sandy places and savannahs from Guinea to Natal. 

 The flowers, which are borne in a spike, bear a remarkable resemblance 

 to those of Impatiens Roylei. 



Fasciated French Beans. — Mr. Ballin sent some French Beans, 

 which, while one-celled in the lower half, divided about the middle 

 into two separate pods, each of which contained seed. 



Tricotyledonary Acers. — Mr. J. W. Mackay, forester at Jervaulx 

 Abbey, Middleham, wrote that he had two herbarium specimens of 

 the common Sycamore showing a first whorl of four primary leaves, 

 and four cotyledons (which have fallen from one of the specimens), 

 but in each case the second and succeeding nodes have reverted to the 

 decussate arrangement. He also had an herbarium specimen of the 

 common Beech with three cotyledons and a whorl of three primary 

 leaves, and an Ash with three cotyledons, but the normal number (2) 



