146 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxxvi 



out his Thayerae. This reduction would also explain why 

 Davidi has never been found again since the first gathering. 

 Specimens have been referred either to sutchuenense or 

 Thayerae. Franchet was so impressed by the character 

 of the perianth segments and by the villosity that he made 

 no comparison of Davidi with his new" species sutchuenense. 

 In re([uesting the loan of the type specimens of Chinese 

 lilies from Paris I fell into the same error. I did not think 

 it necessary to borrow the type of Davidi since from Elwes' 

 illustration it seemed so completely distinct from any of 

 the other Western Chinese lilies in its villosity. Through 

 the kindness of Professor Lecomte I have been able to 

 rectify this and have examined the specimen on which the 

 plate of L. Davidi was based. The specimen is far from 

 good, but the artist in Elwes' Monograph has done his best. 

 The accompanying plate will show its present condition. 

 There is no doubt in my mind tliat it is the original. It 

 has had three flowers and many leaves. Hairs are present 

 on some of the leaf-axils. The legend runs thus : — 



" Lilium an nova species (?) insignis caule scabro, 



foliis linearibus margine revolutis, flore lutoo (?) intus abunde 

 maculato, extus in medio lanato (note de M. Duchartre). 

 Recolte parmi les grandes montagnes qui separent Moupin 

 du Setchuan, en juillet 1869 a.d." 



Elwes' Monograph gives : — " Tibet orientalis, territorio 

 ' Manze ' dicto, alt. 9000 ped." The month quoted is June 

 1869, but as the Abbe brought only a single dried sj^ecimen 

 of this lily, both accounts are referable to it. 



The examination of the type confirms Mr. Wilson's 

 surmise — Davidi and Thayerae are equivalent. 



I must now revert to consideration of Franchet's type 

 specimens of sutchuenense. Prince Henri's specimen shows 

 no bulb ; the stem is somewhat slender, densely and finely 

 scabrid ; the leaves narrow, linear, and grass-like, crowded, 

 with tufts of whitish hairs at the base of some of the 

 leaves ; the perianth appears to have been orange with 

 dark spots; the flower is fully expanded and shows no 

 remains on the outer median line of any villosity. I have 

 before me two sheets of Farges, No. 186. One shows a 

 bull:» from which the stem arises direct without any inter- 



