952 



posed my specimens to be unique, but the same variety has been 

 found in Dorsetshire by Mr. Joseph Woods the year before last, and 

 in greater plenty (Phytol. iii. 264). In my specimens the flowers 

 were of a uniform lemon yellow, verging upon white on the segments 

 of the perianth, without the least of the usual purple colouring, or 

 any trace of the dark pencilling, except a few faint veins of a some- 

 what deeper colour than the ground The still unopened buds were 

 equally pale, but the plant possessed the smell and other characters 

 of the species unaltered. This singular variety much resembled the 

 yellow-flowered one of I. spuria, & halophila of Curtis, Bot. Mag. vol. 

 xlviii. t. 1131. I. fcetidissima is a handsome species, less on account 

 of the elegantly pencilled but rather small blossoms, than through the 

 contrast of its rich evergreen leaves, of the deepest verdure, with the 

 brilliant orange or scarlet, globose seeds, that remain very long 

 attached to the widely spreading valves of the capsule, and together 

 constitute a conspicuous ornament of our woods and hedgerows in 

 autumn and early winter. The smell of the bruised leaves has been 

 thought to resemble that of roast beef, and the plant has been com- 

 plimented accordingly with the name of that national dish ; by others 

 the odour has been compared to rancid bacon, — dissimilar ones cer- 

 tainly, and indicative of the ambiguity of impressions received through 

 the weakest and most deceptive of the senses : the fact is, that both 

 are so far analogous as they are animal nidor. To myself the smell is 

 by no means unpleasant, recalling merely that of milk heated till a 

 pellicle has formed on the surface, or has been slightly burnt. 



Crocus vermis and C. nudiflorus may possibly be found here, as 

 well as in the meadows of central England : I believe from what I 

 have seen of them there, that both are truly indigenous British 

 species. 



}\ Narcissus biflorus. In woods, thickets, meadows and pastures, 

 on hedge-banks and in orchards, on clayey, sandy or chalky soil, in 

 several parts of the Isle of Wight and mainland Hants, but whether 

 indigenous or naturalized I am almost equally at a loss what opinion 

 to form ; certainly introduced in some at least of its stations. On 

 clay in a meadow near Hardingshoot farm, in some plenty, along 

 with N. Pseudo-narcissus and Tulipa sylvestris ; fully in flower, May 

 2, 1849. In fields on the west side of Gurnet Bay, near Cowes, in 

 several places, but particularly about Hornhill Copse, where it grows 

 in very considerable plenty on the grassy banks and borders of the 

 fields, as also in the wood itself; in full flower, April 21, 1846. In 

 several fields betwixt Wootton bridge and the church, but very spar- 



