174 MR. MILLER CHRISTY ON 
alliances into which they enter one with the other and with 
P. elatior. It is with the latter that I am chiefly concerned. 
As all three species are exceedingly well known by their vulgar, 
or English, names, I shall use these in speaking of them here- 
after. 
II. PRIMULA ACAULIS and P. VERIS. 
As every one is aware, both the Primrose and the Cowslip are 
very widely distributed and exceedingly abundant throughout 
Britain. The former may, indeed, be regarded as our best- 
known and most characteristic plant. Practically speaking, both 
species may be said to occur everywhere, though both are, for 
some not- very - easily - assignable cause, absent from certain 
limited districts. The Primrose has been recorded from no less 
than 111 of Watson’s botanical “ counties,” while the Cowslip 
(which is, from some cause, more erratic and less wide in its dis- 
tribution) has been recorded from 91, the total number of such 
counties being 112. 
Perhaps no point in connection with these two species is 8 
noticeable, next to their great abundance, as the fact that spe- 
cimens may be commonly met with which represent almost every 
conceivable intermediate stage between the two type-forms. Thus 
the flowers are sometimes produced singly, like those of the 
Primrose; sometimes in umbels, like those of the Cowslip ; and 
it is by no means unusual to find flowers of both kinds on the 
same plant. Often, even when a plant bears only umbellate 
flowers, the umbels are irregular, with pedicels springing singly 
from the sides of the peduncle below the umbel. The flowers 
themselves vary to an equal extent. Sometimes they differ but 
little from the Primrose type, but usually they more closely 
approach the Cowslip type, being smaller than those of the Prim 
rose, with the darker yellow, brighter eye, and more inflated 
calyx of the Cowslip. When flowers of this type are borne m 
umbels (which is certainly the most usual form of the hybrid), 
we have the “ Common,” “ Spurious,” or * Hybrid Oxlip," which 
bas received from botanists many names, such as P. brevistylt, 
P. intricata, P. Thomasinii, P. variabilis, P. acaulis var. caulescens, 
and a host of others. This is a handsome flower, decidedly more 
showy than either of its parents, and a great favourite in cottag? 
gardens, where it often grows to a large size. 
To such an extent, indeed, do the Primrose and the Cowslip 
