96 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 29, 1886. 
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, 1885. 
chairman. 
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, K.C.S.I., M.D., C.B., F.R.S., Y.P.L.S., Royal Gardens, Kew. 
VICE-CHAIRMEN. 
Rev. M. J. Berkeley, F.R.S., Sibbertoft, Market Harborough. 
Dr. Michael Foster, F.R.S., Shelford, Cambridge. 
Grote, Arthur, F.L.S., 42, Ovington Square, S.W. 
SECRETARY. 
Rev. G Henslow, F.L.S.,F.G.S., Drayton Uouse,Ealing. 
Baker, J. G., Koval Herbarium, Kew. 
Balfour, Professor I. Bayley, Hillhead, 
Glasgow. 
Beddoine, Colonel, Sispara, West Hill, 
Putney, S.W. 
Bennett, Alfred W., M.A., B.Sc., F.L.S., 6, 
Park Village East. Ealing. 
Boulger, G. S., 9, Norfolk Terrace, Bays- 
water, W. 
Burbidge, F. W., Trinity College Gardens, 
Dublin. 
Church, A. H.,F.C.S„ Royston House, Kew. 
Clarke, Col. R. Trevor, Weltou Place, 
Daventry. 
Glaisher, James, F.R.S., Dartmouth Place, 
Blaekbeath. 
Houston, D., F.L.S., 179, Mayall Road, 
Herue Hill, S.E. 
Loder, Edmund Giles, Floorc, Weedon, 
Northamptonshire. 
Lowe, Dr. Wm. Hy., Woodcote, Inner Park 
Road, Wimbledon. 
Llewelyn, J. T. D., F.L.S., Penllargar#, 
Swansea. 
Lynch R. Irwin, A.L.S., Botanic Gardens> 
"Cambrid ge. 
Masters, Maxwell T., M.D., F.R.S., Mount 
Avenue, Ealing, W. 
McLachlan, R., F.R.S., Lime Grove, Lewis¬ 
ham. 
Michael, Albert D., Cadogan Mansions, 
Sloane Square, S.W. 
Moore, Thos.. F.L.S., Botanic Gardens, 
Chelsea, S.W. 
Murray, G., Natural History Museum, 
South Kensington, S.W. 
Pascoe, F. P., F.L.S., 1, Burlington Road, 
Westbourne Park, W. 
Plowright, C., 7, King Street, King’s Lynn. 
Ridley, Henry N., B.A., Natural History 
Museum, South Kensington, W. 
Smee, A. U., The Grange, Wallington, 
Surrey. 
Smith, Worthington G, F.L.S.. 38, Kyver- 
dale Road, Stoke Newington, N. 
Wilson, A. Stephen, North Kinmundy, 
Summerhill, Aberdeen. 
FRUIT COMMITTEE. 
CHAIRMAN. 
F. Du Cane Godman, F.R.S., 10, Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, W. 
VICE-CHAIRMEN. 
II. J. Veitch, F.L.S., Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, W. 
John E. Lane, Berkhampstead. 
R. D. Biackmore, Teddington. 
SECRETARY. 
Archibald F. Barron, Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick, W. 
Bunyard, George, The Old Nurseries, 
Maidstone. 
Burnett, J., The Gardens, Deepdene, Dork¬ 
ing. 
Denning, W.,The Gardens, Londesborongh 
Lodge, Norbiton, Surrey. 
Ellam, Joseph, The Gardens, Cliveden, 
Maidenhead. 
Ford, Sidney, The Gardens, Leonardslee, 
Horsham. 
Goldsmith, G., The Gardens, Ilollanden, 
Tunbridge. 
Haywood,!'. B., Woodhatch Lodge,Reigate. 
Hogg, Robert, LL.D., F.L.S., 99, St. George's 
Road S.W. 
Howcr ft, Anthony, 14, Tavistock Row, 
W.co 
Lee, J.ohn, 78, Warwick Gardens, W. 
Lyon, S., The Gardens, Sundridge Park, 
Bromley. 
Mason, Major F., The Firs, Warwick. 
Miles, George T., The Gardens, Wycomb e 
Abbey, High Wycombe. 
Paul, George, The Old Nurseries, Cheshunt, 
Herts. 
Paul, William, Waltham Cross, N. 
Rivers, T. F., Sawbridgeworth. 
Roberts, J., The Gardens, Gunnersbitry 
Park, Acton. 
Ross, Chas., The Gardens, Welford Park, 
Newbury. 
Rutland, F., The Gardens, Goodwood, 
Chichester. 
Sheppard, J., The Gardens, Wolverston 
Park, Ipswich. 
Silveriock, Charles, 412, Strand, W.C. 
Sutton, Arthur W., Reading. 
Webb, Henry, Redstone Manor House, 
Redhill. 
Weir, Harrison, Henwick Lodge, Lans- 
down Road, Tunbridge Wells 
Willard, Jesse, Holly Lodge Gardens, High- 
gate, N. 
Woodbridge, John, The Gardens, Syon 
House, Brentford, W. 
FLORAL COMMITTEE. 
CHAIRMAN. 
Geo. F. Wilson, F.R.S., Heatherbank, Weybridge Heath. 
VICE-CHAIRMEN. 
Maxwell T. Masters, M.D.. F.R.S., Mount Avenue, Ealing, W. 
John Fraser, Lea Bridge Road Nursery, Leyton, 
Shirley Hibberd, 1, Priory Road, The Green, Kew. 
SECRETARY. 
Archibald F. Barron, Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick, W. 
Baines, Thomas, Fern Cottage, Palmers 
Green, N. 
Bnllantine, H., The Dell Gardens, Eg- 
ham. 
Bealby, William,The Laurels,Roehampton 
Park, Putney Heath, S.W. 
Bennett, H., Shepperton. 
Canned, Henry, Swanley. 
Child, James, The Gardens,Garbrand Hall, 
Ewell. 
Dominy, John, 11, Tadema Road, Chelsea, 
Douglas, J., The Gardens, Great Gearies, 
Ilford, E. 
Dnttie'.d, G., The Gardens, Bamford Lodge, 
Winchmore Hill, W. 
Uerbst, H., Kew Nursery, Richmond, 
Surrey. 
Hill, E., The Gardens, Tring Park, Tring. 
Hudson, James, The Gardens, Gunners- 
bnry House, Acton. 
James, J., Woodside, Farnliam Royal, 
Slough. 
Kellock, W. B., F.L S., Stamford Hill, N. 
Kinghorn, F. R., Sheen Nursery, Rich¬ 
mond, Surrey. 
Laing, John, Stanstead Park, Forest Hill, 
S E 
Llewelyn, J. T. D., F.L.S., Penllergare, 
Swansea. 
Noble, C., Sunningdale Nursery. Bagshot. 
O’Brien, James, West Street, Harrow-on- 
tlie-Hill. 
Perry, Amos Isaac, Stamford Road, Page 
Green, Tottenham. 
Pollett, H. M., Fann Street, Aldersgate, 
E.C. 
Smith, J., The Gardens, Mentmore, Leigh¬ 
ton Buzzard. 
Turner, Harry, Royal Nursery, Slough. 
Walker, J., Whitton, Middlesex. 
Wilks, Revd. W., Shirley Vicarage, near 
Croydon. 
Williams, Henry, Victoria Nursery, Upper 
Holloway. 
ON RAPID CHANGES IN THE HISTORY OF SPECIES. 
, A T a >v reC m n u meet i? g ® f the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila 
delphia Mr. Thomas Meehan exhibited flowers of a remarkable Halesia 
and remarked on the wide divergence reached without any intervening 
modifications from the original, and observed that it was another illustra 
tion of what he thought must now be generally accepted, that the maxiir 
or .hay, Tsutui ci nonJcicit scLltunij itself_needed modification. He had callec 
attention to this particular departure among others in a paper before thf 
American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1874. What li< 
desired to do now was to emphasise a few of the points brought out pro 
minently in that paper, that ‘‘variations in species, as in morphological 
c individuals, are by no means by gradual modifications—thal 
suddenly formed and marked variations perpetuate themselves from seec 
and behave in all respects as acknowledged species, and that variations o' 
similar character would appear at times in widely separated localities.” 
In addition to the illustrations given in that paper a remarkable one was 
afforded by the Richardia aethiopica, the common Calla of gardens, the 
present season. Some 4 inches below the perfect flower a mere spathe was 
developed, partially green, but mostly white as usual; but in this case we 
do not call it a spathe, but a huge bract. In other words the usually 
naked flower scape of the Richardia had borne a bract. Flowers with a 
pair of more or less imperfect spathes were not uncommon in some seasons. 
The peculiarity of the present season was the interval of several inches on 
the stem, which justified the term of bract to the lower spathe. From the 
vicinity of Philadelphia numbers had been brought to him, and others had 
been sent from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois—some hundreds of miles apart. 
What was the peculiarity in this season over others which induced the 
production of this bract ? was one question. Whatever it may have been, 
it operated in bringing about a change of character without the interven¬ 
tion of seed directly on the plant, and in many widely separated places at 
the same time. What is to prevent a law which operates exceptionally in 
one season operating again and in a regular and continuous way? So far 
as we can understand there can be no reason, and, if it should, we have a 
new species, not springing from seed, or one individual plant, constituting 
one geographical centre of creation, from which all subsequent descendants 
emigrated and spread themselves, but a whole brood of new individuals 
already distributed over the earth’s surface, and entirely freed from the 
struggle for existence which the development of a species from a solitary 
individual pre-supposes. 
Aside from the great value of this illustration of how the whole 
character of a species might be modified simultaneously o fer a wide extent 
of country, it afforded a lesson in environment. External circumstances 
may influence modification, but only in a line already prepared for modi¬ 
fication. This must necessarily be so, or change would be but blind 
accident, whereas palaeontology teaches us that change has always been in 
regular lines and in co-ordinate directions, which no accident has been able 
to permanently turn aside. Just as in the birth of animals we find that 
however powerful may be some exernal law of nutrition, which, acting on 
the primary cell of the individual, decides the sex—yet we see that no 
accident has been able to disturb the proportion of the sexes born, which 
has always been, so far as we know, nearly equal. So in the birth of 
species, making all allowance for the operation of environment, the primary 
plan has been in no serious way disturbed. We have to grant something 
to environment in the production of new forms, but only as it may aid an 
innate power of change ready to expend itself on action as soon as the cir¬ 
cumstances favour such development—circumstances which, after all, have 
very little ability to determine what direction such change shall take. 
We know that distinct forms do spring through single individuals from 
seed, and that after battling successfully with all the vicissitudes of its 
surroundings, a new form may succeed in spreading through the lapse of 
years or ages over a considerable district of country. But the idea that 
always, and in all cases, species have originated in this manner, presents 
occasionally difficulties which seem insurmountable. In the case of the 
similarity between the flora of Japan and that of the eastern portion of the 
United States, we have to assume the existence of a much closer connection 
between the land over what is now the Pacific Ocean, in comparatively 
modern times, in order to get a satisfactory idea of the departure of the 
species from one central spot, and to demand a great number of years for 
some plants to travel from one central birthplace before the land sub¬ 
sided, carrying back species in geological time further perhaps than mere 
geological facts would be willing to allow. But if we can see our way to a 
belief that plants may change in a wide district of country simultaneously 
in one direction, and that these changes once introduced be able to per¬ 
petuate themselves till a new birth time should arrive, we have a great 
advance towards simplifying things. 
WILLERSLEY CASTLE, MATLOCK, DERBYSHIRE. 
As the traveller passes the small town of Cromford, on the road that 
leads to that well-known place of resort, Matlock Bath, the first object of 
interest that attracts attention is Willersley Castle, the seat of F. C. 
Arkwright, Esq. The Castle is beautifully situated on a hill with the 
Derwent below, and the grounds possess great variety and beauty. 
Directly opposite the Castle on the south side runs a ridge of rocks, 
which are beautifully fringed with trees and underwood, and though 
towering to a considerable height it does not terminate the prospect from 
the Castle, which commands extensive views beyond it. The entrance to 
the grounds is marked by a neat lodge and a broad well-kept carriage 
drive with broadbands of turf on each side. 
Behind the Castle is a hill of considerable height, which is covered 
with wood to its summit. In this wood are several romantic rocks, round 
which runs a serpentine walk, about a mile in length, in an eastward 
direction. Another walk leads from the Castle in a northern direction to 
the flower and kitchen gardens. Off this walk at a short distance is a 
large tennis ground, kept in excellent order. The flower gardens are large 
and well kept, and are thrown open once a year on the occasion of a 
flower show, and many avail themselves of this opportunity of seeing 
them. The carpet bedding used to be a great attraction, but is discon¬ 
tinued. The beds are now filled with Roses and other useful flowers for 
cutting. 
Opposite the flower gardens stands a large conservatory, which is 
filled with a grand display of bloom. Large Camellias are planted out in 
the centre, and these will shortly produce a grand effect. A vigorous 
plant of Lapageria rosea trained near the roof was very telling. A short 
distance from here in a snug corner is a large double span roofed green¬ 
house. The stages are placed near to the glass, so that the plants receive 
pleoty of light and air. This house is filled with Calceolarias, Cinerarias, 
Cyclamens, and Primulas, all in robust health. 
A pretty hedge of Silver Hollies intermixed with the common green 
variety was very effective. A few yards from there on the left are the 
precipitous rocks known as Wild Cat Tor, from which lovely views are 
