169 
THE CORONA OF NARCISSUS. 
By W. G. Surrg, Esq. 
(Prare XLVII. Fro. 6-11, AND Pirate XLVIII.) 
Many of the most complex and intricate questions in botanical 
oS admit of a clear and simple explanation when once the struc- 
and functions of the plants in question are fully and distinetly 
decies. However difficult and involved the organography of 
some plants may at first appear, it is not often that the solution of the 
difficulty is as perplex as the apparent enigmatic growth would warrant, 
and, on the other hand, a very simple exposition will frequently jake 
quite clear what was before abstruse and difficult to understand. 
The family Amaryllidacee contains about 110 genera; of these, 
about 42 genera only are distinguished by the presence of a corona, 
whilst all, without exception, have the permanent and unchanging 
characters of 6 perianthal segments and 6 stamens. 
It is therefore reasonable to suppose that as the corona is only pre- 
sent in the smaller part of the family, it is in no way typical, but is 
probably some appendage of the other organs, for the 6 segments of 
the perianth and the 6 stamens are constant. 
This leads me to the conclusion that the attempts to account for the 
presence of the corona by a duplication or triplication of the perianthal 
segments, or an imperfect condition of an additional series of stamens 
or two series, is indefensible ; for there is as much reason to suppose 
the corona an abnormal growth of an additional series of segments of 
the perianth when it is petal-like (Plate XLVII. fig. 6, 9, 10), as it is 
to suppose it an abnormal condition of another series of stamens, or two 
series, when it bears anthers; but it is far more reasonable to suppose 
it is neither, when it can be shown that the corona may exist without 
encroaching upon or altering the permanent family-characters of “ 6 
stamens and 6 divisions to the perianth.” 
The transition of the leaf to the sepal, the sepal to the petal, the 
petal to the stamen, and the stamen to the pistil, has often been re- 
marked, and is well known, but no attention has been paid to the 
metamorphoses of the Jeaf-stipule ; this is not often valuable as a 
generic distinction, but upon the observation of its occurrence or non- 
occurrence in some plants I am led to found my hypothesis. 
