SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 
xliii 
shape of the petals, as well as having two-spur peloria, there seems 
to be a series of changes which follow. They are i — ■ 
1. A change in the distribution of the vascular bundles, which 
affects the form and size of one of the anterior petals. 
2. This change in the anterior petal takes place in other flowers 
than those with extra spurs, and is passed on by the seed sown in an 
open garden. 
3. The subtending leaf of the peloric flowers is suppressed 
altogether, or is pushed a few millimetres up the pedicel and dwarfed, 
perhaps 90 per cent. 
4. The suppression in (3) is accompanied by a shortening of the 
internodes, and as many as seven flowers will arise from less than 
1 inch of a lateral branch, and of these perhaps four will show two-spur 
peloria and the rest will be normal. Subtending leaves may, or may 
not, be suppressed or dwarfed. 
5. Each additional spur is accompanied by the change of at least 
one anterior petal into one with the sessile character and obovate 
shape of the posterior petals. A three-spur flower will sometimes 
have all five petals sessile, with the vascular bundles coloured and 
well defined in each. 
6. The normal spur is no longer connected with a posterior sepal, 
but is in line with and directly extends a posterior petal. 
All these modifications, with the exception of the last, which 
appeared only last summer, have been transmitted by the seed in 
the open garden. The formation of a spurred petal appears to be 
the first occurrence of the kind in Tropaeolum on record. 
Geaster sp. — Mr. Clarence Elliott sent one of the curious fungi, 
called earth-stars, belonging to the genus Geaster, in which the outer 
part of the fruit splits in a stellate fashion, turns back, and carries 
the inner spore-bearing portion above the surrounding ground. 
Scientific Committee, February 22, 1916. 
Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair, and thirteen 
members present. 
Cardamine amara form.' — Mr. J. Fraser, F.L.S., showed a specimen 
from Weybridge of the form of C. amara called lilacina or erubescens. 
In the type only the stamens are coloured ; in the variety the petals 
also are tipped with reddish colour. 
Plants from Gallipoli.< — Mr. E. M. Holmes, F.L.S., showed a number 
of dried plants, including species of Mentha, Thymus, Marrubium, 
&c, which Lieut. G. M. Owen had sent to Mr. Chittenden from Gallipoli. 
One thistle was a particularly handsome plant. 
Effect of Screening on Plants. — Col. H. E. Rawson showed a further 
series of examples of Tropaeolums showing deviations from the normal, 
such as suppression of bracts, congestion of flowers, hairiness and the 
