SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, NOVEMBER 20. 



xciii 



than without manure." Mr. G. Massee has also shown experimentally 

 that the same kind of trouble may be caused by certain conditions working 

 together during the ripening process. (See " Kew Bulletin," August 1906.) 

 The trouble is due to a purely physiological cause, and is not induced by 

 the attacks of either fungal or insect parasites. 



Diseased Celery. — Mr. Chittenden reported that the celery from 

 Colyton shown at the last meeting was attacked by the fungus Septoria 

 Petroselini var. Apii, and the attack seemed to be a very bad one. The 

 whole of the leaf, blade, and petiole was covered with the brown spots 

 which show where the fungus was growing, and upon each of these little 

 black spots the perithecia of the fungus were abundant. Each peritheeium 

 contained large numbers of spores which were set free on wetting the leaf, 

 and would easily be washed on to other leaves, where they would set up 

 the disease afresh. All the diseased parts of the plants should be destroyed 

 by burning, and a celery crop should not be taken off the same soil next 

 year. Spraying the plants at intervals of about a fortnight with ammo- 

 niacal solution of copper carbonate would probably prevent the recurrence 

 of the disease in a succeeding year. 



Diseased Violets. — Mr. Chittenden also reported that he had found the 

 fungus Ascochyta Violcs upon the violets shown at the last meeting. This 

 fungus is becoming more and more prevalent upon violets, and the only 

 plan when the disease has once gained a secure footing seems to be to burn 

 * the stock and start afresh on fresh soil. 



Fruits of Magnolia. — Mr. W. H. Divers sent fruits with ripe seeds of 

 Magnolia Lennei from the gardens, Belvoir Castle, Grantham. The seeds, 

 which are of a bright pink colour and half as large as the seeds of French 

 beans, are set free by the bursting of the follicles, and hang for some time 

 attached by the long slender funicle. 



Fruit of Gomphocaiyus fruticosus syn. Asclepias fruticosa. — Dr. 

 Masters showed on behalf of Mr. Hales, of the Chelsea Physic Garden, 

 the fruits of this interesting asclepiad. The fruits are large bladdery- 

 looking pods of a white colour, and contain numbers of brown seeds, 

 each furnished with a tuft of silky-white hairs at the apex. 



Maize Varieties. — Mr. S. B. Dicks, F.R.H.S., sent specimens of varieties 

 of maize grown in the gardens of Mr. C. L. Allen, of Long Island, U.S.A., 

 as follows : — 



1. A cob of the primitive (?) form, in which the grains are each covered 

 with bracts about an inch to an inch and a half long. 



2. A cob of golden pop-corn. 



3. A cob found on a plant of golden pop-corn, but having black grains 

 instead of the usual light-coloured ones ; a variation not at all infrequent 

 in Zea Mays. 



4. Two cobs from a plant, the result of a natural hybridisation between 

 the (Egyptian ?) primitive form with long bracts and the golden pop-corn. 

 Although these were picked from the same plant, there was considerable 

 variation in the length of the bracts to be seen, one cob having the grains 

 entirely hidden, while in another they were exposed. 



Narcissus viruJiflorus. — Messrs. Barr showed this interesting species 

 of Narcissus wild in Morocco and Gibraltar, in flower, having a tall scape 

 surmounted by two flowers having green segments. 



