num), longifolia of the Cape, and the columnar Crinum 
bracteatum; and Mr. W. Herbert has not only raised 
seedlings from the offspring of various alliances between 
the true Crinums and those ranked as Amaryllis, but has 
made their pollen fertilise other Crinums, and vice versd. 
There is no other difference between the true Crinums and 
those placed under Amaryllis, than a slight variation in the 
form of the corolla, and in the inclination of the tilaments. 
The form of the bulb constitutes no essential distinction, as 
it varies greatly in the acknowledged members of the genus, 
being spherical, or conical, or cylindrical, or of mixed form; 
these forms graduate into each other, and in some species 
the trace ofa bulb is hardly to be made out, the leaves 
diverging at once from the root stock. In Crinum erubes- 
cens, which never loses its leaves, the bulb is scarcely 
to be traced: this plant has been frequently sent me from 
intertropical America under the name of White Water Lily. 
In Crinum asiaticum, and its allies, itis decidedly columnar, 
and the foliage persistent: these inhabit the deep alluvia 
of rivers; are exposed to inundation during the season 
of the periodical rains ; and are always sufficiently supplied 
with moisture to be kept in a state of growth. Amaryllis 
ornata, (Crinum scabrum of Herbert,) and all its kindred 
Amarylloid Crinums, have true bulbs, and in our collections 
cannot be preserved in health without a season of absolute 
rest: their foliage is deciduous, in C. scabrum, and others, 
sloughing off completely from the bulb. These inhabit 
dry ground in their native regions, and are exposed to long 
periodical returns of great drought, and to the utter loss of 
their foliage. The existence of the bulb, in a form more or 
less perfect, or its entire absence, seems to be closely 
connected with the habitats of the plant; and supposing 
all Crinums to have branched out from one primary type, 
as I much suspect, the variation of form has perhaps 
resulted from a provision contrived by nature for the pur- 
pose of enabling it to adapt itself to the exigences of its 
locality.” 
So 
