the summits of Milo and Thermia are of schistous marble, it 

 may be conjectured that those of Crete and Gargarus are 

 similar, from the Croci they produce. 



In confirmation of the report concerning the yellow Crocus 

 of the mountains near Damascus, I have long observed the 

 avidity of mice to scratch np and eat C. luteus and lagense- 

 fiorus aureus, and the remarkable fact, that all the lagense- 

 flori, when dug up wild, are found five or six inches deep 

 underground as if for protection, and that the mice never touch 

 any other Crocus in the garden. I tried to roast C. luteus, 

 and found it as hard as a stone ; boiled for three-quarters of 

 an hour or more, it became a soft pulp, of which the flavour 

 was insufficient, but not unpleasant. On becoming cold it 

 hardened, so that it might be pounded or ground for culinary 

 purposes, and with some seasoning might be palatable, but 

 from its setting hard after being boiled, it would probably be 

 not easily digested. It is a remarkable fact, that although the 

 Croci of different localities are little distinguished from each 

 other by casual observers, they refuse to intermix, and I have 

 failed in every attempt to cross C. vernus (which produces 

 seedlings at Spofforth so abundantly as to be troublesome) 

 with any other Crocus, and I have equally failed with every 

 other species, (unless perhaps in obtaining seed between 

 Versicolor, Imperatonianus, and insularis, which are peculiarly 

 allied) although most, except the sorts long cultivated by off- 

 sets, make seed pretty freely. It will not be found that the 

 genus is subdivided unnecessarily. 



Any vendor of bulbs can readily distinguish the bulbs of 

 the common yellow, the vernal, the cloth of gold, the saffron, 

 and that called Scotch Crocus, by their outer coat; and other 

 species are so distinguishable, though often more easily by the 

 eye than by a written description ; but besides that apparent 

 diversity, there is a great difference as to the part of the corm 

 or kernel into which the several coats, or remaining bases of 

 the last year's leaves and leaf-sheaths, are inserted, which is 

 not so easily ascertained ; and also of the particular zone, 

 between the lines of insertion, from which the root-fibres 

 spring ; and it is in fact more easy to ascertain the species 

 from a dry bulb than from a leaf or flower. 



