152 Aitchison . — On the Source of Bctdsha, 
them in a more mature stage, I find further that the growing 
axis (Fig. 7, e, e) ascends through the bulb, first of all filling 
up the central cavity, and then forcing its way upwards through 
separating the structures of the bulb. In some of the bulbs the 
apex (Fig. 6 ,g; Fig. 7,^) was seen to consist of two points, 
being cleft to a greater or less extent. The sap in some of the 
bulbs, when brought into contact with the oxygen of the air, 
became highly coloured, an orange yellow in A. giganteum 
(Fig. 7), and brick-red in the undetermined species from 
Afghanistan (Fig. 6), whilst that of the others remained un- 
changed. The sap of the roots, where the flattened stem 
was divided, and where the sap escaped from the cut surface 
of the leaves and scape took on the colouring, the cut surface 
of the solid part of the bulb was scarcely affected, but re- 
mained almost its original colour. 
The development of this bulb structure will form an inter- 
esting physiological study for future investigation ; but at 
present, owing to the limited amount of material at hand, the 
elaboration of the subject has to be postponed. 
Professor Bentley, in his remarks upon Mr. Daniel Hanbury’s 
paper, where indeed he foretold that in all probability this 
product would prove to be an Allium , noted that some of the 
commercial bulbs had a strong alliaceous odour, whereas in 
others no such odour could be distinctly traced. Now, it is 
a remarkable fact that in handling the fresh bulbs of Allium 
Macleanii, A. giganteum, and the Afghan undetermined species, 
there was no alliaceous odour to be detected. On sections of 
A. Macleanii being made there was still almost no trace of any 
alliaceous odour, though there was the odour, as one of the 
examiners remarked, ‘ of the remains of an old mustard 
plaster/ with a slight pungency ; and this chiefly from the 
surfaces where the leaf-shoots and growing axis had been 
divided, rather than from the consolidated part of the bulb. 
Again, in the sections of A. giganteum the solid portion when 
freshly divided smelt somewhat like a newly-cut potato, and 
the alliaceous odour on the section of the leaves was much 
more obvious than in A. Macleanii ; but this might be greatly 
