cclii PROCEEDINGS OF TPTE KOYATi HORTTrTTr^TTTEAri SOOTETY. 



August 20. All these were removed. Of the 24 left, 14 bore female 

 flowers by September 23. Of the remaming 10, seven more proved' to 

 be also females by October 30. The three remaining died. Hence, the 

 21, when not crowded, developed only female flowers. In another ex- 

 periment in a 6-inch pot there were 45 seedlings. Of these, 27 were 

 males and 18 females, i.e. in the proportion of three to two. These 

 plants grew much taller than in the smaller pots, the males being from 

 nine inches to 12 inches in height, the females from four inches to six 

 inches, whereas in the 3^-inch pot they flowered when only about four 

 inches in height. 



Scientific Committee, November 8, 1910. 



Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair, and 

 ten members present. 



Fruit of Mum ventricom.. — Mr. Worsdell, F.L.S., showed' a fruit 

 of a species of Musa, probably M. ventricosa, which he had collected 

 in the Northern Transvaal, the plants growing in a grove on the edge 

 of the forest just where it joins the high veldt. 



Pollen of Apples, etc. — Mr. Hooper showed photographs of the 

 pollen of several kinds of fruit trees and bushes. 



Malformed Pears. — Mr. Bowles showed on behalf of Mr. Hooper 

 Pearson some so-called proliferous Pears. This malformation is not 

 uncommon, and is explained by the fact that the fleshy part of the 

 Pear is an axial structure, not a part of the ovary. The terminal fruits 

 are mierely extensions of the axis without the formation of carpels. 



"triple flower of Dendrohium formosum. — Mr. L. Crawshay made 

 the following report on the flower referred to him from the last meet- 

 ing : This flower was developed near the apex of an inflorescence bear- 

 ing normal ones and was about half as large again in all parts. The 

 normal flowers consist of six perianth segments, the petals much 

 broader than the sepals, two of the latter, together with the labellum 

 and column, being prolonged backwards to form a spur. The spur 

 was complete posteriorly by the cohesion of the posterior margins of the 

 lateral sepals, but was split almost to the apex anteriorly, on account of 

 the corresponding margins of the lateral sepals being free. The 

 abnormal flower showed five sepals and three petals, a double la})ellum 

 and triple column, the middle third of which was smallest. It was 

 formed of three flowers, the laterals being set nearly at right angles 

 to the median one. Each lateral flower consisted of two complete 

 sepals, two petals (one on the labellum), and a well-developed spur. 

 Each also accounted for one-third of the column, and bore a normal 

 pollen' apparatus. The posterior petal (dotted in figure) showed traces 

 of a dividing line, and represented the two contiguous petals of the lateral 

 flowers, whilst the anterior sepal (lined in figure) similarly represented 

 two lateral sepals. The only evidence of the median flower w^as in the 

 ovary and the middle third of the cohnim, which was barren. 



