XXxi\ T PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



taken place between a petal and the lip, only half of each organ, 

 however, being present. Without negativing the possibility of 

 this being the case, an examination of the origin, form, and dis- 

 tribution of the fibro-vascular cords entering this complex organ, 

 suggested rather that it was not two, but really only one organ 

 which had developed one half as a lip, the other half as a petal, 

 just as in semi-double flowers a stamen will often develop one 

 anther cell, the other being petaloid. With regard to the position 

 of the parts, while the two sepals were strictly " right to left," 

 the common (transverse) axis of both the petals and of the 

 column was shifted, and so became unsymmetrically situated with 

 regard to the sepals. The ovary cell was replaced by an irregular 

 cavity, with no trace of placentas or ovules. 



Iris florentina. — Mr. McLachlan brought a normal flower 

 taken from the same plant from which he exhibited three petals 

 at the meeting held on June 23, 1891. They were half white 

 and half purple. The question was then raised whether it was 

 an indication of reversion to Iris germanica, supposing the plant 

 to be a pale variety of that species, or the result of a cross 

 between I. germanica and I. florentina. A comparison made at 

 Kew with the present flower proved it to be the typical I. floren- 

 tina, which differs particularly in the form of its "falls," these 

 being markedly different from those of I. germanica, in that they 

 are more contracted towards the base than is the case with the 

 latter species. The pale variety is known as " albicans," and is 

 quite distinct from I. florentina ; consequently the appearance of 

 the purple colour on the petals of this species is the more un- 

 accountable. 



Scientific Committee, June 21, 1892. 

 D. Morris, Esq., in the Chair, and seven members present. 



Tea Plant attacked by Fungus. — The fungus shown by Mr. 

 McLachlan at a previous meeting proves to be Poria xylostro- 

 matoides,Berk. ; an undetermined specimen in the Kew herbarium, 

 evidently the same species, is marked, " The Tea Stems, Cachar, 

 India." The remedies suggested were the rubbing and scraping 

 the stems, with the use of sulphur and lime. 



Carnations attacked with Hylemyia Grubs. — Mr. McLachlan 



