Armenia, which resembled the above in form and other features, 

 but which were purple in colour; and I have quite recently 

 received from Mr. Allen, of Shepton Mallet, a plant also like the 

 above in form and other features, but of a very pale blue colour. 

 We obviously have to deal here with a distinct third variety of 

 reticulata, which may or may not possess the distinct blue 

 colour justifying the name cyanea. 



A few years ago I received through the kindness of Mrs. 

 Barnum, of Kharput, a fourth variety, which I described in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle as var. sophenensis. This is charac- 

 terised by the narrowness of the segments and the metallic sheen 

 of the coloration, as well as by the fact that the flowers expand 

 as soon as, or even before, the leaves pierce the soil. This variety 

 seems to occur in several shades of colour, from a red-purple 

 to a lightish blue. It is fairly abundant in Central Asia Minor. 



Quite recently Mr. Max Leichtlin has introduced, also from 

 Central Asia Minor, under the name of var. purpurea, a fifth 

 variety, which resembles Krelagei in colour, but in many of its 

 features comes near to sophenensis. 



And there is yet a sixth variety. But before I speak of this 

 I must turn to a member of the reticulata group, found in 

 Palestine, which has been described as a distinct species, under 

 the name of I. Histrio (fig. 6). This, however, does not seem to 

 me to differ more widely from the varieties of 7. reticulata, of 

 which I have just spoken, than do some of these from each other, 

 and I therefore cannot help regarding it as in reality a variety 

 of reticulata. Indeed it differs from reticulata chiefly by its 

 colour, which is peculiar. The fall in its central parts is of 

 creamy white, dotted over with blotches of a bright blue ; these 

 blotches fuse together at the edge and tip of the fall into a uni- 

 form ground colour of blue ; the blue, however, is not a pure 

 blue, having a slight admixture of red. There are certain 

 differences in form between it and reticulata, but these are not 

 marked ; more distinctive, perhaps, is the habit possessed by the 

 plant, that, unlike the other varieties of reticulata, the leaves 

 acquire very considerable length before the flower expands. 



I. Histrio is found in several places in Palestine, which country 

 is also given as one of the habitats of the typical reticulata ; 

 but I have never as yet come across bulbs of the latter, about 

 which there could be no doubt that they came from Palestine, and 



