184 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
be produced, and this experiment was also successfully made, and the 
opinion verified. “ Plants,’ he remarked, “ have, been raised both by 
myself and by Mr. Trevor Alcock, near Caermarthen, and, having flowered, 
have shown that the Linnean N. odorus, the genus Philogyne in all its 
variations, is cross-bred between Ajax and Jonquil ” (‘‘ Journ. Hort. Soc.,”’ 
ii. p. 24). The cross between the Daffodil and N. poeticus was repeated 
more than once, and also reversed, and numerous varieties produced, 
which Herbert considered “ sufficient to establish the point that the 
several varieties, single and double,’ of N. incomparibilis were hybrids 
between the two species (J.c., p. 22). 
The experiment was confirmed by Leeds, who raised N. incomparibilis 
expansus from N. pseudonarcissus, var.major, crossed with poeticus (Moore 
and Ayres, “ Gard. Mag. Bot.,”’ ili. p. 289, fig. 2), and also N. Leedsii from 
precisely the same parentage (J.c., p. 169, fig. 2). Commenting on this, 
Mr. Leeds remarks: “It is quite clear... that ¢ncomparibilis is no 
species. .. . I think . . . the number of species is very small.’ Yet 
in 1888 we find Mr. Baker enumerating N. incomparibilis as a species, 
and N. Leedsii as a hybrid (“‘ Handb. Amaryll.,” pp. 5,14). Grenier and 
Godron also treat N. incomparibilis as a species, mainly because it has been 
found growing by itself, but a scarcely distinguishable plant found growing 
with its two parents they admit as a hybrid, under the name of N. pseudo- 
narcisso-poeticus (‘ Fl. de France,” ili. pp. 254, 255). It is known, how- 
ever, that both incomparibilis and odorus become naturalised in suitable 
localities, and their existence in isolated spots in no way disproyves 
their hybrid origin. 
Herbert believed that other so-called species were really hybrids, 
adding, ‘‘I have more than once had seed from N. poeticus by the 
Jonquil, which would indubitably have produced N. gracilis, but the 
seedlings have been neglected and the labels mislaid”’ (“‘ Journ. Hort. Soc.,”’ 
ii. p. 26). He also raised N. Spofforthie by crossing N. incomparibilis with 
the pollen of N. poeticus, and expressed himself as being as confident of 
the origin of some others asif he had “obtained them from seed,’ adding, 
‘«« And I have not troubled myself to make the like ”’ (/.c., p. 22). 
Messrs. Damman, of Naples, it may be observed, have now demon- 
strated the hybrid origin and parentage of N. gracilis, Sabine, and proved 
the correctness of Herbert’s opinion, for seedlings between the Jonquil 
and N. Tazetta raised by them certainly belong to N. gracilis. They, 
however, used the Jonquil as the seed parent. N. tenwior, Lois, which 
Mr. Baker also classes as a distinct species, is a form of the same hybrid. 
The Rey. G. H. Engleheart has proved the hybrid origin of N. biflorus, 
Curt., by crossing N. poeticus with the pollen of N. Tazetta (“ Journ. 
Roy. Hort. Soc.,” xii. p. 317, also lii.), and subsequently from the reverse 
cross (l.c., xix. p. 12), some of the seedlings being identical with wild forms, 
thus confirming what has long been suspected. Grenier and Godron, it 
may be remarked, enumerate N. biflorus as a species (‘‘ Fl. de France,” 
iii. p. 256), but on the next page they give N. Tazetto-poeticus, though they 
were unable to point out any tangible character by which the two could 
be distinguished. 
The pretty little N. pulchellus, Salisb., has also been reconstructed 
by the Rey. G. H. Engleheart by a cross effected between N. triandrus 
