1 86 GENERAL REVIEW. 



rooms may be obtained, and even the curious little autumnal 

 Narcissus and the autumnal green Jonquil may be brought into 

 action. But the great value of these experiments lies in the 

 strong light they throw on the wide variation which the Al- 

 mighty has permitted from His created type with licence to 

 revert towards the abandoned form, and by intermixture to pro- 

 duce new forms ; while in other races, which exhibit less diver- 

 sity of form amongst the species, the variation seems fixed." 



Nerine. We have here a very interesting genus of deciduous 

 flowering bulbs, principally natives of the Cape, others coming 

 from China and Japan. Among the species in our garden are 

 N. corusca (scarlet), N.flexuosa (pink), N. pulchella (rosy lilac), 

 N. rosea (rose), N. sarniensis, Guernsey Lily (scarlet), N. 

 nndulata (pink), and N. venusta, scarlet. The well-known and 

 deservedly popular N. Fothergillii appears to be little more 

 than a seminal form of N. curvifolia major. 



They are readily propagated by division, offsets, or seeds 

 sown in a gentle bottom-heat of 60 to 70 as soon as ripe, or 

 early in the spring. Seedlings of N. undulata generally flower 

 the third year from seed others take longer ; and seedlings of 

 N. curvifolia are often eight or nine years before they flower. 



Among the hybrids already raised may be mentioned those 

 obtained at Spofforth prior to 1837 by the late Dean Herbert. * 

 N. Mitchamice ( N. versicolor) is the result of crossing N. 

 curvifolia and N. undulata. This has umbellate scapes of 

 rose and purple flowers, the filaments of the stamens being 

 bright red, while it is said never to produce fertile seeds. (See 

 ' Herb. Am.,' pi. 45, f. i.) N. Haylocki is a hybrid between N. 

 curvifolia and N. pulchella, the flowers similar in colour to 

 the last, and it bears fertile seeds. Other hybrids obtained also 

 by Herbert were : JV. claronis (N. pulchella x undulata), N. 

 Parkerii (N. pulchella x humilis), N. Seymourii (N. humilis x 

 undulata), and N. Spofforthice (N. venusta x undulata}. 



The Guernsey Lily is one of the oldest and most beauti- 

 ful, and might possibly be much improved by hybridising with 

 N. Fothergillii ; indeed JV. Plant ii is supposed to be a hybrid 

 between the two last-named species. 



THE PERIWINKLE FAMILY (Apocynacea). 



A group of ornate plants represented in our gardens by the 

 following genera : Allamanda, Taberncemontana, Vinca (Peri- 

 winkle), Nerium (Oleander), Rhynchospermuin, Echites, Mande- 



* See Herbert's 'Amaryllidacese,' p. 283 et seq. 



