Transactions of the Horticultural Society. 141 



XXXI. An Account of the Species of Calochortus, a Genus of American 



Plants. By Mr. David Douglas, A.L.S. 



Three species of this very handsome genus are described by 

 Mr. Douglas, from materials collected by himself for the 

 Horticultural Society ; one other is referred to, of which too 

 little is known to enable it to be recorded ; and Fritillaria 

 barbata of Kunth is cited as being probably a fifth species. 

 The only one in the garden is C. macrocarpus, a most beau- 

 tiful plant, having the habit of Tigridia, with flowers of the 

 same size, but of a deep violet blue. Three species are 

 figured — one from a plant that flowered in the Society's gar- 

 den, and two from dried specimens. 



XXXII. An Account of some Improvement in the Construction of Hot- 



beds. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., F.R.S. 



By means of a simple contrivance of wooden or other pipes, 

 Mr. Knight succeeds in keeping up a constant introduction of 

 fresh warm air into the atmosphere of the hot-bed ; a most 

 important improvement, if we consider what the general nature 

 is of the air of hot-beds. 



An Attemj)t to prove that Ava ivas the Ophir of Solomon. 

 By John Ranking, Esq. 



Ophir, Aufer, Aufr, Afer *, is one of the most interesting and 

 remarkable of the uncertainties in historical literature ; 



*• An ignis fatuus that bewitches. 

 And leads men into pools and ditches t." 



Peru, Hispaniola, Guinea, Armenia, South Arabia, Sofala, 

 Ceylon, Malacca, Sumatra, have all had their advocates. The last 

 treatise is by Mr. Bruce ; who, following D'Anville and others, 

 contends for Sofala: and which, says Dr. Robertson J, seems 

 to establish the truth. The author of the article " Ophir" in 

 Rees's Cyclopcedia does not agree with that eminent histo- 

 rian ; and the writer of the dissertation in the Encyclopcsdia 

 Britannica, equally in doubt, ends his remarks thus : 

 Subjudice lis est. 

 Bruce's laborious calculations regarding the monsoons are 



♦ So spelt by Dr. Doig. t Hudibras. % India, p. 9, 



