466 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



cies, being barely half an inch long ; and its color, a bright pink 

 or rose, like that of the European E. Dens-Canisy reflects the 

 meaning of the generic name (viz. red), which is lost to us in our 

 two familiar Adder-tongues, one with yellow, the other with white, 

 blossoms. The most singular peculiarity of the new species is 

 found in the way in which the bulb propagates. In E. Dens- 

 Canis new bulbs are produced directly from the side of the old 

 one, on which they are sessile, so that the plant as it multiplies 

 forms close clumps. In our E. Americanum long and slender off- 

 shoots, or subterranean runners, proceed from the base of the 

 parent bulb and develop the new bulb at their distant apex. Our 

 Western E. aJbidum does not diff'er in this respect. In the new 

 species an offshoot springs from the ascending slender stem, or 

 subterranean sheathed portion of the scape (which is commonly 

 five or six inches long), remote from the parent bulb, usually 

 about mid-way between it and the bases or apparent insertion of 

 the pair of leaves : this lateral offshoot grows downward, sometimes 

 lengthening as in the foregoing species, sometimes remaining 

 short, and its apex dilates into the new bulb. 



This peculiarity was noticed by Mrs. Hedges, the discoverer of 

 this interesting plant, to whom great credit is due. Most lady 

 botanists are content with what appears above the surface ; but 

 she went to the root of the matter at once. I learn that E. alhi^ 

 dmn abounds in the same locality. E. Americanum is also found 

 in the region, but is scarce. 



It is not easy to find or frame a specific name which will clearly 

 express the most remarkable characteristic of this new species. 

 But I will venture to name it 



ERYTHRO>'iUii PROPULLANS ;— E. scapo infra folia pnUultane; foliis 

 oblongo-lanceolatis acuminatus parum maculatis ; perianthio roseo-pur- 

 pureo (semipollicari), segmentis acutis basi luteo tinctis ommno planis 

 (nee calloso-dentatis nee suleatis) ; antheris oblougis ; stylo fere equabili 

 integerrimo ; ctigmate parvo vix tridentato ; ovulis in loculis 4-6. 



Scape bulbiferous from its sbeatbed portion below the developed leaves, 

 these oblong-lanceolate, acnminate, slightly mottled ; perianth rose- 

 pui-ple or pink (half an inch long) ; the segments acute, all with a yellow 

 spot but plane at the base, the inner like the outer destitute of either 

 groove or tooth-like appendages, but a little more narrowed at base ; 

 anthers merely oblong; style hardly at all narrowed downward, entire, 

 the small stigma even barely three-lobed ; ovules few (4-6) in each cell. 



■ — The American Naturalist^ 



