SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, FEBRUARY 27. 
xxviL 
Scientific Committee, February 27, 1900. 
Dr. M. T. Masters in the Chair, and five members present. 
The Lucomhe Oak. — Specimens of foliage and acorns were received from, 
the Rev. J. H. Ward, of Silverton Rectory, Exeter, from a tree growing, 
in the churchyard, requesting information as to their identity. Dr. 
Masters has supplied the following details : — " I believe the leaf and 
acorns exhibited to be those of the Lucombe Oak, or one of its descend- 
ants. The Lucombe Oak was a hybrid between the Turkey Oak (Quercus 
Cerris) and the Cork Oak (Q. Suher). The leaves are all but evergreen ; 
indeed, in some of the varieties, quite so. As is the case generally with 
hybrids, the descendants from the first cross vary extremely ; consequently 
there are many forms and varieties of the Lucombe Oak in existence.. 
As the specimens came from Exeter there is additional ground for pre- 
suming it to be descended from the Lucombe, as the original tree was 
raised in the nursery of Messrs. Lucombe & Pince, of Exeter. The^ 
Fulham Oak, raised in the Fulham nurseries of Messrs. Osborne, had a. 
similar origin, and now I believe it to be impossible to distinguish its 
descendants from those of the Lucombe Oak. A full account of these 
Oaks will be found in Loudon's ' Arboretum,' vol. iii." 
Large Yew-trees. — Mr. Ward also mentions the fact of a Yew-tree in 
the same churchyard being 25 feet in circumference at a height of 4 feet 
from the ground, and asks if it is a reasonable conjecture that the tree 
was planted before the Norman Conquest. Data as to the rate of growth 
of Yew-trees have been supplied from trees planted in Basildon Church- 
yard in 1726. They have been measured in 1780, 1796, 1834, and 1889. 
They were found, after a commencing period of more rapid growth, to be 
pretty regularly increased by one line (one-twelfth of an inch) per annum 
(see Nature, October 17, 1899). 
Bulbiferous Scilla. — A plant of Scilla nutans was received from Mr. 
Alex. Mortimer, 1 Paper Buildings, Temple, in which the outer bulb- 
scale had become greatly elongated upwards, forming a closed tube. It 
bore two small bulbs on the inner surface, and was greatly thickened at- 
the summit, as if attempting to form a larger bulb ; but no other than 
the above two were developed. They both possessed small, rolled-up,. 
green leaves. 
Orange malformed.-— Dr. Masters showed an Orange having a band of 
paler colour, and smoother rind than the rest of the skin. It was referred 
to Dr. Bonavia for examination, who writes as follows : — It somewhat 
resembles the Bigaradier tricolor Orange, which has a yellow skin, with 
orange stripes w^hen ripe. Again, the Bigaradier Bizarrerie has smooth 
parts of an orange colour and warty parts yellow. These parti-coloured 
Oranges are normal." Dr. Bonavia would theoretically explain this 
peculiarity by referring to the " fingered " Orange, which he regards as a. 
w^horl of modified leaves, coalescing to form a covering to the inner 
portion of the fruit. To apply this theory to the case in question, he 
would compare the paler portion to, say, a Euonymus, which may have 
green leaves with an occasional yellow one, or again he would compare it 
with striped petals as of the York and Lancaster Rose. The objection to 
Dr. Bonavia's theory lies in the fact that the paler-coloured stripe did not 
