28 REVIEW OF THE GENUS NAKCISSUS. 



wild state, but a considerable number of them he bad never seen him- 

 self, but had taken up from the rude woodcuts of the pre-Linnsean 

 herbalists. These 150 species he classified under 16 genera. 



The Dean of Manchester, who for many years made a special study 

 of Jmaryllidacece, performed a very useful service in revising Haworth's 

 work, which he did by reducing his 16 genera to 6, rejecting such of 

 his types as were known from figures only, and grouping the rest 

 into combinations of a highei' order of value ; but he, too, here, as in 

 the other genera of the Order, took a different view of what consti- 

 tutes a species to that which it is possible for any writer who deals 

 with wild plants to adopt, and, in consequence, often founded species 

 upon a basis of character so narrow as to make it quite impossible for 

 those who use his book to apply his definitions in practice. The 

 principal writers upon the genus on the Continent liave followed our 

 two English monographers almost implicitly, both as regards the ar- 

 rangement and characterization of the plants ; Spach, and Eoemer 

 and Schultes, treading in the footsteps of Haworth ; and Kunth, in 

 his ' Enumeratio,' — whicli is the book generally used, both at home 

 and abroad, for naming and classifying Amaryllldacece and Liliacecp, — 

 following close upon the track of Herbert. My own view is, that the 

 range in structure which the plants show, taking in view the gradual 

 manner in which the extremes are connected by intermediate links, is 

 not too great for them to be associated together in a single genus, as 

 Linnaeus planned ; and I believe that the number of what may be fairly 

 called species, as the term is understood by the majority of bota- 

 nists, which it is possible to characterize as clearly as species ought to 

 be characterized, and which are known definitely in a wild state, is not 

 much over 20. In the present paper I propose to pass these under 

 review, giving for each as good distinctive characters as can be fur- 

 nished, and enumerating under each its principal varieties and syno- 

 nyms, with a reference to the figures where the typical plants and 

 varieties will be found represented. 



At the outset it will be better to clear the way by a few general re- 

 marks on the parts of the plant which vary sufficiently in the different 

 species to furnish characters by which they may be known from one 

 another ; and for this purpose I will pass the parts of the plant rapidly 

 under review. 



Bulbs. — The bulbs of the dift'erent kinds vary in size very much, but 

 in all are quite uniform in general character. 



