SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, 
XCV 
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 
July 3, 1917. 
Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair, and five members present. 
Peloric Delphinium. — Mr. W. 1. Worsdell, F.L.S., showed spikes of Del. 
phinium var. from Dr. Chapman, of Reigate, of which the terminal flower was 
regularly peloric and spurred, and the peduncle fasciated. 
Festuca x loliacea. — Mr. J. Fraser showed specimens of the hybrid grass 
Festuca x loliacea, derived from Festuca elatior and Lolium perenne. It is a 
somewhat variable plant, approaching at times the one, at others the other 
parent, and is not at all infrequent, apparently especially in water-meadows. 
Various Plants. — Mr. Bowles showed, on behalf of Mr. Elwes, the late-flowering 
Xiphium Iris, I. Taitii, at its best after all others of this group are past ; the 
Asiatic Streptopus amplexicaulis, Delphinium Brunonianum, the dwarf form of 
Poterium obtusum called hakusanense, a very dark form of Campanula amabilis, 
and a well-fruited shoot of the so-far unnamed Lonicera F. 269, collected by 
Mr. Farrer in Kansu. 
Scientific Committee, July 17, 1917. 
Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair, and ten members present. 
Fasciated Asparagus. — Col. Sandeman, of Hayling Island, sent a very large 
specimen of the common Asparagus showing fasciation, having a stem over 
2 inches in breadth. 
Infertility in Barley Field. — Dr. J. A. Voelcker showed specimens of Barley 
from fields on Salisbury Plain very stunted and poor, and another of about 
normal growth from places in the fields where stooks had stood last season for a 
month. Doubtless the greater fertility of the place where the stooks had stood 
was due to the washing out of salts, &c, from the old Barley, and possibly also 
to protection from washing of the soil beneath them ; but the infertility of 
the remainder of the field, considering the nature of the manurial treatment, 
must have been at least partially due to some other cause, and possibly to the 
gout fly, the chrysalids of which were present in some of the specimens. 
Enations of Foliage of Picrasma ailanthoides . — Mr. W. C. Worsdell showed 
foliage of this interesting Himalayan tree belonging to the Simarubaceae, and 
hardy at Kew, whence the specimens came, having on the upper side of the 
rachis both at the nodes and along the internodes numerous enations of various 
forms, some being shaped like a cup or goblet. 
Hybrid Calceolarias. — Mr. E. J. Allard showed hybrids between Calceolaria 
alba and other forms, including cana, integrifolia, and a garden hybrid of cana, 
alba being the pollen parent. In every case, foliage, habit and flower colour 
were of the pollen-parent type, and in every case they were sterile. This is a 
remarkable case of almost complete paternal inheritance, comparable with the 
known cases of maternal inheritance, e.g., in Primulas. C. alba itself is sterile 
so far as the ovules go. 
Various Plants. — Mr. H. J. Elwes showed a number of plants from his garden, 
including A strantia helleborifolia ; a very florif erous Lonicera of bushy, late-flower- 
ing habit, perhaps L. grata ; Pelargonium Endlicherianum, and others ; Thero- 
pogon pallidus, somewhat resembling a large-flowered pink Lily-of-the-Valley, 
but lacking scent, native of the Himalaya ; Hymenocallis ; Aristolochia ornitho- 
cephala, strongly scented in the daytime, but scentless at night. 
Ants and Lilium regale. — Mr. Bowles showed a bud of Lilium regale and read 
the following note : "A group of this growing in a garden at Norwich has been 
attacked by ants. The owner of the garden has watched the ants at work on 
the unopened buds, and has seen them carry away particles of green matter 
that they have apparently extracted from the flower. They confine their 
attention in the first place to those portions of the flower that are'coloured with 
the chocolate-brown that comes on regale in its early stages. The first effect 
that is apparent is that the chocolate disappears in patches. As the flowers 
develop the portions attacked begin to decay, and, naturally, spoil the flower. 
