106 GEOEGE JOHN EOMANES isso- 



can ; for I have now been so long attending to other 

 subjects, and with old age, I fear I could make no 

 suggestions worth anything. Formerly I knew the 

 subject well. 



Kolreuter, Gartner, and Herbert are certainly far 

 the most trustworthy authorities. There was also a 

 German, whose name I mention in ' Origin,' who 

 wrote on Hybrid Willows. Naudin, who is often 

 quoted, I have much less confidence in. By the way, 

 Nageli (whom many think the greatest botanist in 

 Germany) wrote a few years ago on Hybridism; I 

 cannot remember title, but I will hunt for it if you 

 wish. The title will be sure to be in Focke. 



I quite agree with what you say about Passiflora. 

 Herbert observed an analogous case in Crinum. 



November 15, 1880. 



I have just read your article. As far as my judg- 

 ment goes it is excellent and could not be improved. 

 You have skimmed the cream off the whole subject. 

 It is also very clear. One or two sentences near the 

 beginning seem rather too strong, as I have marked 

 with pencil, without attending to style. I have made 

 one or two small suggestions. If you can find my 

 account in < Nature ' (last summer I think) ] about 

 the hybrid Chinese geese [being fertile] inter se, it 

 would be worth adding, and would require only two 

 or three lines. I do not suppose you wish to add, 

 but in my paper on Lythrum, and I think requoted 

 in c Var. under Dom.' vol. ii. 2nd edit, bottom of 



1 See Nature, vol. xxi. p. 207. 



