SELBOR/VE SOCIETY NOTICES 
119 
In Herriard Park, near Basingstoke, there are some pines, said to be the 
tallest in England ; they are not, I think, of the same kind as the Norfolk tree ; 
they are plainly visible from the railway near Basingstoke Station. I never heard 
what their height is. 
In a garden at Thrumpton, Notts, there are some larch trees, reported to be 
the oldest in England ; they are more massive than lofty. 
The tallest beeches that I know of are in I lack wood Park, also near 
Basingstoke. 
Otham, Maidstone. F. M. Millard. 
The Fruotihcation of the Aucuba. — Soon after the introduction into 
this country of the male plants of the Aucuba, I got some plants and planted 
them in my garden near a large female plant of that shrub, and I closely watched 
year by year the way in which the female plant got fructified and bore berries, 
so that I can vouch most positively for the correctness of my observations. 
As I have never seen any statement of the fact in print, I thought perhaps it 
would not be out of place in your Natural History Magazine. 
There is only one insect that fructifies this shrub, and that insect is the 
common blue bottle or flesh fly. I have never seen any other insect come 
near it. 
The first sunny day in April after the plants have come into blossom, I have 
been certain to see a considerable number of blue bottle flies approach them, 
though I have never before caught sight of a single fly of the sort since the 
previous summer. The flies invariably go first to the male blossoms, and there 
they make a meal of the pollen, drawing it in through their proboscis. When 
they have eaten to satiety, they then as invariably go afterwards each of them to 
a female flower, and they evidently quench their thirst by applying their proboscis 
to the viscid substance on the stigma of the pistil, remaining some time on it. 
This is the only way in which the Aucuba is fructified. 
As I have seen no pollen adhering to the flies, my idea is that when they draw 
the viscid substance on the stigma up one of the tubes of their proboscis, they at 
the same time eject some of the pollen on which they have surfeited, down 
another of the tubes of the proboscis, and so into the tube of the pistil, from 
which it is conveyed to the ovules and fructifies them. I do not know whether 
or not this theory is the correct one. 
24, Parkhill Road, Hampstead. Peter Hastie. 
May 16, I902._ 
SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES. 
Council Meeting. — The usual monthly meeting of the Council will be 
held at 20, Hanover Square, W., on Tuesday, June 17, at 5.30 p.m. 
New Members. — G. Soundy Unwin, Esq., Surbiton ; J. Ray Eddy, Esq., 
Skipton ; Wm. E. Clarke, Esq., Rotherhithe ; A. Riley Gillman, Esq., Hamp- 
stead ; Alfred Bolus, Esq., and Mrs. Bolus, East Dulwich ; Mrs. Franklin, 
Porchester Terrace; London Clarion Field Club; W. H. Morris, Esq., Croydon ; 
J. Watson, Esq., Ealing; Francis H. Baker, Esq., Hampstead; Peter Hastie, 
Esq., Hampstead. 
Donations and Subscriptions. — The Council beg to acknowledge the 
following: Subscriptions over 5s. — Wm. E. Clarke, Esq., 7s. 6d. ; F. Cross- 
ley, Esq., 21S. ; Mrs. Arthur Hill, 21s. ; Mrs. Chas. Mathews, los. 6d. 
FIELD CLUB RAMBLES. 
May 3. — The ramble was under the able and energetic direction of Mr. J. E. 
Whiting, and the route chosen was from Northwood to Batchworth Heath and 
back by different roads. Both Selbornians and members of the Hampstead 
Scientific Society, to the number of about fifteen, took part in the ramble, which 
would have been better attended but for the wetness of the afternoon. 
The lateness of the season was evidenced by the blackthorn still in full bloom. 
