Xxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Swellings on Eibes. — Mr. Michael reported that he had dis- 

 covered no Phytoptus on the specimens submitted to him. 



Basal Disease of Daffodils. — Rev. W. Wilks exhibited 

 specimens of this disease, which Mr. Michael considered as very 

 likely to be the result of the attacks of a mite, Ehizoglyphus 

 Eolini. Mixtures of sulphur and soft-soap, or of carbolic acid, 

 were recommended as likely to be beneficial. 



Sugar-cane attacked by Boring Insect.— -Mr. Blandford 

 showed specimens of cane attacked by a boring beetle at the 

 nodes. The direction of the perforation was from within out- 

 wards. 



Birch Bark. — Mr. Burbidge sent specimens with the follow- 

 ing letter : — 



" I beg to send for the inspection and consideration of your 

 Committee some fragments just taken fresh from the trunks of 

 Betula papyracea, reared here from seeds kindly sent from the 

 Boyal Gardens, Kew, some ten or twelve years ago. It can be 

 written upon with ease with an ordinary pen and ink, as these 

 examples will show. Its texture is very soft and fine, except 

 here and there, where transverse corky lenticels occur. It would 

 be interesting to know the part this exquisitely finely textured 

 bark plays in the economy of the tree, as contrasted with other 

 barks of a more rough and corky nature, such as say Quercus 

 Suber or ' Cork Oak.' Both are, no doubt, identical in their being 

 practically impervious to water, either from within outwards or 

 vice versa. As a contrast I send a small piece of stem of Arauja 

 (Schubertia), or Physianthus grandiflorus, with netted, rugose, 

 corky bark, arranged around a stem quite green, and doubtless 

 rich in chlorophyll. 



" Ginkgo Seeds. — I also enclose seedlings of the 'Maidenhair' 

 or 1 Ginkgo Tree ' of China and Japan (Ginkgo biloba). Dr. E. 

 P. Wright, M.D., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in the University 

 of Dublin, saw the ripe fruits in one of the public gardens at 

 Borne last autumn, a crop of golden Plum-hke fruits amongst 

 the Maidenhair-like leaves, and succeeded in obtaining a supply 

 of the seeds through H.M. Ambassador, the Marquess of Dufferin 

 and Ava. 



••I am enabled by the courtesy of Dr. Wright to send a few 

 of these fresh seeds for the inspection of the Committee, as well 

 as seedlings raised from the same, sown on December 8, 1891, 



