SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, APRIL 30. 



xli 



seedling in a market-grower's garden in the South of England, where 

 it was regarded as a variety more curious than useful. (Figs. 29, 30, 

 31-) 



Scientific Committee, Apeil 30, 1912. 



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



members present. 



Hybrid Saxifrages. — Mr. J. Eraser reported on Saxifrages sent 

 by Dr. Blaxall, of Edgware, as follows: — The two Saxifrages were 

 hybrids between S. granulata and either one of the group of S. mus- 

 coides Rhei or S. decipiens. All the characters of the hybrids were 

 different from those of either parent. No. 1 had the stamens more or 

 less imiperfect, the petals shortened, the flower flattened, and the disc 

 greatly enlarged. The stem was shortened, forming a compound 

 corymbose cyme. The leaves were deeply lobed on the tripartite plan, 

 much divided and with more acute lobes, not rounded as in S. granu- 

 lata. The basal leaves formed a rosette, with short, broad, flattened 

 petioles, these characters being derived from the dactyloid parent. 

 The bulbils at the root and in the axils of the basal leaves were in a 

 more or less leafy condition, and some of them had developed into 

 leafy branches, especially in No. 2. The styles of both were divaricate 

 in fruit, as in the dactyloid parent, not erecto-patent as in S. granulata. 



Albino form of Orchis 7}iascula. — Mr. Gumey Wilson, E.L.S., 

 showed an albino form of Orchis mascula collected by him in a field 

 in Mid- Sussex. 



Jach fruit. — Mr. O'Brien, V.M.H., showed on behalf of J. S. 

 Bergheim, Esq., of Belsize Court, Hampstead, a Jack fruit (Artocarpus) 

 brought from Brazil. 



Arsenic in drainage water. — Dr. Voelcker remarked on some water 

 he had recently received for analysis which had come from a stable 

 and had been reputed to injure plants. He had found it to contain an 

 appreciable quantity of arsenic, which was no doubt the cause of the 

 injury. He had found that many plants would absorb a certain 

 amount of arsenic from the soil without any appreciable injury, but in 

 this case the quantity had been too great. Mr. O'Brien made the 

 following remarks, which suggest a probable source of the arsenic: — 

 " I remember to have often heard of those in charge of horses giving 

 them small doses of arsenic to improve their condition, and many a 

 good horse has died suddenly from ' heart trouble ' in consequence. 

 Of course it is done secretly. But if done at all it would account for 

 the presence ol arsenic in the stable. If pure arsenic cannot be had 

 on account of the restrictions, might not the knowledge that it is 

 present in weed-killer cause small doses of that to be mixed with the 

 food and the surplus thrown on the floor ? The arsenic must have got 

 in somehow, and this is as likely a way as any." 



Orange with yellow stripe. — Mr. Holmes, F.L.S., reported on an 

 Orange which had a narrow yellow stripe down one side passing from 



