SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, APRIL 25. 



Ixiii 



Scientific Committee, April 25, 1905. 

 Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S., in the Chair, and ten members present. 



Malformed Iris. — Dr. Masters showed a sketch of the stamens of 

 the flowers of Iris tuberosa, brought to the last meeting by Mr. Worsley. 

 The filament had branched so that each stamen bore two anthers. 



Forms of Narcissus Bulbocodium. — Regarding these, shown at the 

 last meeting, Miss Willmott, V.M.H., writes : — " I have some 200 

 geographical forms of N. Bulbocodium collected some fifty or sixty 

 years ago by the late M. Alexis Jordan. They were cultivated by him 

 at Lyons until his death, a few years since, then they passed into my 

 hands. By his notes upon them, and my own observation during 

 the years they have been in my possession, I find that the same 

 amount of variation continues which M. Jordan observed fifty years ago. 

 The time of flowering also varies by several weeks in some of the 

 forms." 



Injured Horse-chestnut Shoots. — Mr. Saunders, F.L.S., reported upon 

 these, shown at the last meeting : — " I cannot find any cause for the injury. 

 I can only suggest that the shoots may have been injured by blows from 

 other branches in a gale, or from some other cause. The injuries were 

 received some months ago." 



Diseased Arums. — Mr. Giissow reported : " I have kept the roots 

 under observation since March 28, but could not discover any cause of 

 the injury whatever. The bacteria present in the decayed portion at the 

 base of the tuber were saprophytic. . . . The plant should be kept 

 dry for a period, and then transplanted into fresh sandy soil containing 

 some charcoal. After forming new rootlets it should be transplanted 

 and cultivated in the ordinary way." 



Striped Auricula. — Mr. Douglas showed a curious form of flower, 

 concerning which Mr. Horner writes : — " In all its florist types the auricula 

 is infinitely variable from seed, but I believe that directly from the plant 

 itself a sport is of very rare occurrence. A decided example of this, 

 however, could be seen at the London show of the National Auricula 

 Society, April 25. The plant was brought by my old friend, Mr. Ben 

 Simonite, of Sheffield, and is a sport, with stripes of crimson and gold, 

 from a bright red seedling of mine — ' Firefly.' 



" This variety has proved very interesting. Some plants of it are 

 constant to the original parental red colour ; others have sported into pure 

 lemon-yellow ; others, again, into a deeper yellow, with a suffusion of 

 red, like the sunny side of a ripe apricot. Very occasionally I have seen 

 a striped flower or two in a head of plain yellow ones. I have never 

 known the yellow sports revert to the original red, nor the striped ones 

 pass back into plain red or yellow. It is, however, open to a striped 

 break to produce an offset that shall not be striped, a contingency much 

 to be deplored, because the rich crhnson-and-gold variation is so far the 

 rarest. In habit of foliage, ' Firefly ' is densely mealed, and so are all 

 the sports of it, except the striped one. In this the foliage has a most 

 significant distinction, always to be relied upon. It consists in streaks 

 or patches of pure green upon the otherwise white-mealed leaves." 



