PRIMROSE LEAGUE 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 405 



species in spring. The Common Primrose (P. 

 vulgaris), abundant in woods, hedgebanks, and 

 pastures in Britain and in most parts of Europe, 

 has olxivate-oblong, wrinkled leaves, and single- 

 flowered scapes ; the flowers about an inch broad, 

 yellowish white. This is the plant to which the 

 English name primrose specially belongs. Akin to 

 it is the Cowslip (q.v.), or Paigle (P. verts}, and 

 perhaps still more nearly related is the Oxlip (P. 

 elatiur), apparently wild in some parts of England, 

 particularly in the eastern counties, but supposed 

 by some botanists to be intermediate between the 

 common primrose and the cowslip, which they 

 therefore regard as extreme forms of one species. 

 The Polyanthus (q.v.) is a cultivated variety of 

 the cowslip. The Auricula (q.v. ; P. auricula), 

 an Alpine species, is a favourite garden flower. 

 The Bird's-eye Primrose (P. farinosa) and the 

 Scottish Primrose (P. scoticu) are both flowers of 

 exquisite beauty, found in the northern parts of 

 Britain, the latter chiefly on the coasts of Suther- 

 land, Caithness, ami the Orkney Islands. The 

 Alps and the Himalaya Mountains produce several 

 species. The Chinese Primrose (P. sinensis) has 

 for more than fifty years been very common in 

 Britain, not only as a greenhouse but a window 

 plant. It produces compound umbels of very 

 numerous lilac, red, or white flowers, which are 

 displayed in autumn, winter, and spring. Two 

 varieties occur in the eastern states of the Ameri- 

 can Union the Bird's-eye Primrose (P. farinosa) 

 and /'. mistaninica, botli rare and several varie- 

 ties in the western states, the most conspicuous 

 being P. parri/i, with large purple flowers, which 

 grows on the Rocky Mountains. 



Primrose League. This political organisa- 

 tion was founded Novemlier 17, 1883, by Lord 

 Randolph Churchill, Sir John Gorst, Sir Alfred 

 Slade, and Sir H. Drummond Wolff. The name 

 was chosen in reference to the fact that the primrose 

 WII.H Lord Beaconslield's favourite Hower (a fact by 

 some unkindly disputed ; cf. Notes rind Queries for 

 isss. pp. 146, 416); ami the fivefold petal of that 

 flower is taken to indicate the five principal 

 divisions of the British empire in Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, America, and Australia. This strictly 

 Conservative society, by the moderation and even 

 liberality of its professions, by its enlistment and 

 organisation of women, by its distribution of titles 

 and badges, and by its choice of an emblem 

 dear to all and accessible to all, has attained an 

 enormous growth and great political influence. 

 It was originally intended to admit men only, 

 banded in companies of about 100 to act as mission- 

 aries of the league ; and the effect of admitting 

 women may l>e gathered from the fact that the 

 iiiiiiilx-r of "members rose from 957 in 1884 to 

 237.2H3 in 1886. The numbers as given by the 

 society in 1891 were : habitations, 2126, and knights, 

 dames, and associates enrolled as members, 963,943. 

 Tin- first grand-master of the Primrose League 

 was the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G. The head 

 office is at 64 Victoria Street, Westminster. In 

 July 1890 the first branch in Canada was estab- 

 li>licd at Winnipeg. See an article by Sir A. 

 Borthwick in the Nineteenth, Century for July 1886. 



Prlmulacea*, a natural order of exogenous 

 plants, containing more than 200 known species, 

 mostly natives of temperate and cold regions. 

 They are all herbaceous, or scarcely half-slmiliby, 

 with. leaves generally all radical, and no stipules. 

 The calyx is generally live-cleft, inferior or half- 

 Bnperior, regular, persistent ; the corolla, with the 

 limb divided into as many segments as the calyx, 

 rarely wanting ; the stamens inserted on the corolla, 

 one opposite to each of its lobes ; the ovary one- 

 celled, the style solitary, the stigma capitate ; the 



capsule with a central placenta and many seeds. 

 Many of the Primulaceae have flowers of much 



Flowers of a few of the Primulacese : 



a, Primula sikkimensis ; b, P. obconica ; c, P. rieboldii ; d, common 

 primrose (J*. vulgnris)', e, cowslip (P. veris). 



beauty, and some are very fragrant, as the Prim- 

 rose, Cowslip, Auricula, Pimpernel, &c. 



Primiim Mobile. See PTOLEMY. 



Prince (Lat. princeps), an epithet which was 

 originally applied to the princejas senatus of the 

 Roman state, and afterwards became a title of 

 dignity. It was adopted by Augustus and his 

 successors ; hence the word was afterwards applied 

 to persons enjoying kingly power, more especially 

 the rulers of small states, either sovereign or 

 dependent. The title is now very generally applied 

 to the sons of kings and emperors and persons of 

 the Mood-royal, sometimes with a territorial title 

 ( Prince of \Vales, Prince of Orange ), or with an 

 addition, 'crown prince," 'prince imperial,' &c. 

 In various parts of continental Europe the title 

 prince is borne by families of eminent rank but 

 not possessed of sovereignty. Practically in Britain 

 the term prince is restricted to members of the 

 royal family (see PRECEDENCE). The eldest son 

 of the reigning sovereign is by a special patent 

 created Prince of Wales ( see WALES, PRINCE OF). 

 In France, under the old regime, dukes took pre- 

 cedence of princes ; and many dukes had prince- 

 doms as minor titles. Napoleon put his new- 

 created princes above dukes. In Italy princes 

 rank after dukes, sons of dukes being called 

 princes. In Germany the ambiguity of applying 

 the same title to the members of royal houses 

 and princely families, not sovereign, is avoided, 

 the former being styled 'Prinz,' the latter ' Fiirst. ' 

 The German Fiirst takes rank below the Duke 

 (Herzog). Most of the counts who had a seat in 

 the old German Diet were elevated to the dignity 

 of Prince on their acquiescence in the dismember- 

 ment of the German empire (see GERMANY, Vol. 

 V. p. 177). In a more general acceptation the term 

 prince is often used for a sovereign or the ruler of 

 a state. 



Prince Edward Island is a province of the 

 Dominion of Canada, having entered the confedera- 

 tion in 1873. It is situated in the Gulf of St 

 Lawrence, and is separated from New Brunswick 

 and Nova Scotia by Northumberland Strait. The 

 greatest length of the island is 130 miles ; its 

 breadth varies from 4 to 34 miles, and it has an 



