444 REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON GENETICS. 
varieties) and Jris Marie—-reputed to be one of the most difficult of the 
Oncocyclus tribe—produced a group of exceedingly vigorous varieties, 
of which the now well-known ‘ Artemis,’ a very vigorous variety with rich 
purple and violet-black coloured flowers, may stand as the type. Without 
going into cultural details, the fact that the stock of séme of the varieties 
(all of course propagated by division from single, selected specimens of 
special merit) in many cases now consists of several hundred plants, 
conclusively shows that this race has come to stay in our gardens, and 
will not ultimately dwindle away as the pure Oncocyclus always do. 
Naturally my attention also turned to the hybridising of the best 
varieties of the ordinary bearded Irises (germanica) with the Oncocyclus. 
A beautiful and very large flower came out of a cross between J. iberica 
Fic. 121.—Irnis REGELIo-cycuus. 
and I. germanica macrantha, the flower measuring not less than six 
inches across and of a beautiful blue, with broad, spreading falls, heavily 
bearded, and with a dark, black-blue central spot. Unfortunately in our 
climate, with its damp summers, we cannot give to these plants the dry, 
baking heat of southern countries, and the plants consequently are very 
shy-flowering, as are also similar crosses of Oncocyclus with I. pallida and 
I. germanica. Hybrids raised by Sir M. Foster, however, among these 
groups, notably I. paradoxa and I. iberica crossed with I. variegata and 
I. sambucina, are almost as free-flowering as is the ordinary I. germanica. 
Nerine.—Notable hybrids in this beautiful group of autumn-flower- 
ing bulbous plants arose from the intercrossing of Nerine pulchella, of 
which I grow an almost evergreen variety, with the best of other species 
and hybrids. I cannot understand why all the plants which were raised 
