REVIEW OF THE GENUS NARCISSUS. 27 



Having had many Roses to gather in large quantity, I have been in 

 the habit of using in my autumnal excursions a cover made of Ame- 

 rican leather, which I have found very useful. This cover, made 

 out of about a yard of the fabric, with three large transverse bands 

 with buckles, two strings run in the borders, and finally a fourth 

 band by which to cany it on the shoulder or back, may be in- 

 creased or diminished at will. Light of itself, it adds little to the 

 weight of the specimens, wliich is often considerable. I have carried 

 home in it as many specimens as might be crowded into half-a-dozen 

 ordinary collecting-boxes. It may be used with advantage not only 

 for Eoses and Brambles, but for many other kinds of plants. 



Eoses in flower should be put into a small press on the spot. To 

 make good specimens they should be taken in the morning before the 

 dissemination of the pollen. After the dehiscence of the anthers, the 

 petals fall much more easily. — Prof. Crepin, in Balletin de la Soc. 

 Royale de Bot. de Belgique, tome viii. p. 320. 



EEVIEW OF THE GENUS NARCISSUS. 



By J. G. Baker, F.L.S. 



{Extracted from the ' Gardener's Chronicle ' for 1869.) 



In view of the reviving interest in this beautiful genus, I propose to 

 devote a little space this spring to a review of the species and princi- 

 pal varieties, pointing out their characteristic distinctions as well as 

 the materials at my command will allow, and endeavouring to group 

 them so that my remarks may serve the reader as a guide to the naming 

 and arranging of his specimens. In the last generation, at the time 

 when the public interest in Narcmi reached its highest point, Mr. 

 Hawortii and the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert studied the genus from 

 living plants in English gardens iu a very careful and elaborate 

 manner, and both published the result of their investigations. In 

 Haworth's monograph, which was printed in 1831, and published as a 

 supplement to Sweet's ' Flower Garden,' in the year 1831 (vol. i., 

 second series), nearly 150 so-called species are enumerated and cha- 

 racterized ; but what Ilaworth understood by a species, is what most 

 botanists mean when they speak of a sliglit garden variety ; and not 

 only have a large proportion of his plants never been identified in the 



