SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 
cxxxi 
" In the Kew Bulletin for 1903, p. 17, is an interesting article on 
the ecology of the genus by Mrs. M. E. Barber, the well-known artist 
and African botanist. According to this lady, in spite of their extra- 
ordinary power to adapt themselves to the varying and uncertain 
climate, these plants appear to be rapidly disappearing from all parts 
of S. Africa. She says : ' Civilization and colonization are both dead 
against them. They are eaten up by ' all kinds and conditions ' of 
cattle. For instance, if an ostrich finds a Stapelia plant he seldom 
leaves without taking nearly the whole of it with him. Cattle, sheep, 
and goats, in like manner, feed upon them greedily. The native tribes 
during years of severe drought and famine use these plants as food, 
and native children delight in their sweet, young, succulent branches. 
The florist and gardener go hand-in-hand with the rest in the work 
of destruction, for you will hear them exclaiming, ' Oh ! here is one of 
those curious Stapelias/ and it will speedily be pulled up and planted 
in some flower-bed, where, for want of care, it will be overgrown by 
other plants and lost. 
" Nevertheless, though dependent on insect agency for fertilization, 
and, according to Mrs. Barber, they do not as a rule seed freely, the 
species before you, judging from follicles, sent to me by Mrs. Pott some 
time ago, is in no danger of extinction. Though the species is so rare 
in cultivation, the large follicles I received were abundantly packed 
with their beautiful winged seeds, so it may be hoped that this plant, 
at least, will not soon die out." 
Sir Everard im Thurn said that in the case of some of the very 
evil-smelling Aroids the scent was evident in the tropics only during 
the day, and the plants could be brought into the house and used for 
room decoration after dark. Mr. Ledger subsequently wrote that he 
found at 8.30 p.m. the offensive smell of the flower had gone, and at 
10.15 it was still absent. The plant remained in the dining-room all 
night, and in the morning, at 9.30, it had not reappeared, the sun 
having not yet been upon it. 
Various Plants. — Mr. H. J. Elwes, F.R.S., showed Rodgersia with 
bronzy foliage, later flowering than other types and retaining the 
pink in its flowers for a long time. He had grown it for some time 
as R. pinnata, though the name was somewhat in doubt ; Allium 
macranthum from Sikkim, which had proved perfectly hardy at 
Colesborne, and which, like the other Himalayan Alliums, had a 
compressed and sharply-angled stem ; a very dark-leaved Fennel, 
which originally came from Mr. Howard Baker's garden, but which 
Mr. Bowles said, reverted in seedlings to the normal green of the 
common Fennel ; Campanula Vidalii ; C. longistyla, with tall stems ; 
a Hemerocallis from Japan, collected there in 1904, but only now 
reaching its full flowering state; Allium pulchellum ; A. sphaero- 
cephalum ; Ceropegia Sandersonii ; and a beautiful white form of 
Campanula Hostii. 
Spiral Torsion in Mint.- — Mr. C. H. Curtis sent a curious, very 
tightly twisted Mint from the garden of Mr. Malcolm, of Duns, 
