of the characters of the bulbous Irises of long ago. And 

 we may fairly suppose that from it has descended the more 

 specialised form now so well known as I. reticulata (fig. 3). 

 This receives its name from the netted nature of the coats of the 

 bulb * (figs. 4 and 5). I. Sisyrinchium has also netted coats, 

 but the coats of I. reticulata are fewer and thinner than those 

 of I. Sisyrinchium, never forming a shaggy envelope, and the 

 pattern of the network is different. The form of the reticulata 

 bulb is, moreover, an oval, sometimes a long oval, not a flattened 



FIG. 4. BULB OF IRIS KETICULATA 

 (Caparn). 



FlG. 3. IBIS BETICULATA. FlG.'5. POBTION OF THE OuTEB 



(From the Garden.) COAT OF A BETICULATA BULB, 



magnified five times. 



sphere as in Sisyrinchium, so that there is no difficulty in dis- 

 tinguishing the bulbs. 



I have used the phrase Iris reticulata as if there were a 

 single species only ; but we now know several allied Irises, arid 

 the number will probably be still enlarged, forming together 

 what may be called " the reticulata group." 



* The netted character is more marked in the outer older coats than in 

 thei nner newer ones, so that if the outer coats be removed it is not so easy 

 to recognise that the coats are netted. This is more particularly so with 

 some of the species of the group e.g. I. Danfordice and L Kolpakowskiana, 

 in which the inner coats show hardly any netting at all. 



