Ydl. Ill, Nu. 8.] On Geutiana corouata'^lAoyle. • 16T 



[N.S.] 



s. I coiiclude from my study 6£ the Gentiauu tliat we appaieufcly 

 Lave in it a species in tlie state of breaking up iijto ^ub-species,' 

 partly in response to tlie dryness increasing toward the ndrth-vvest' 

 of th^ hills that it inhabits, and almost certainly to other dirMni-*^ 

 stances not yet to l)e guaged. The increasing dryness of -tlie 

 cluuate is exhibited iii the increasing firmness of the leaves aik %Ve 

 go north-westward, and in tlieir greater tendency to be condupli- 



rate. Fimbriation in the flowers is the rule in the hills nearest 

 to the plains ; and on the range, south of the Vale of Kashmir, it 

 seems to be the only condition; elsewhere on the hill-i 

 back from the plains fimbriate flowers occur here and theie : 

 they occur in Bashahr, where there are non-fimbriate plants, nearer 

 to the plains than they, on the momitains of Kedaikanta and 

 Marale : they occur on the Pensi-la, near Dras in the Marpa nala, 

 and on the Drawah pass, which localities are farther from the plains 

 than the Shisha Nag, Kainniul, Matayan, Sogam, the Kaj Nag 

 and Mozufferabad, whence come non-fimbriate plants : but the 

 localities farthest back are all localities for non-fimbriate 

 plants. 



The crested capsule is a mark of the species. The crest deve- 



lops aftej; flowering and is only just indicated in the figure on 



page 157. 



The limits of the distribution of the species are within the 

 Himalaya, west Nepal, and witli apparently Kashgar. In Kashmir 

 it is found right back to the water-parting; but eastwards it has 

 not been obtained far back in the mountains. It seems strange that 

 it has not been obtained in Kulii, whereas several travellers have 

 obtained it in adjoiniug Lahul, and it occurs in Bashahr on the 

 other side of Kulu. 



Flowering occurs generally in May and June in the eastern 

 part of the plant^s area of distribntion ; but very many of the 

 specimens from the western part are specimens collected in July and 

 Auo-ust. One of the eastern specimens was collected in flower in 



August. 



I find it not uncommon for a little pellet of earth to have been 

 washed into the flowers apparently by the spattering of sudden 

 squalls of rain that have caught the flowere open, 



I think one may signal out for their diversity within the 

 species three extremes : 



1. Type 1. Seethe figure on p* 150 which is the most south- 

 eastern form. 



2. Type 8. See the figure on p. 164 which is the most north- 

 western form. 



3. Type 4. See Dr. Stapf s figure on p. :^77 of this Journal 

 for 1906, w^iich is the G. Hnjclii of Grisebach. 



A glance successively at the figures above of type 9 (p. 166), 



type 7 (p. 1G3), type 6 (p. 162), and type 4 (p. 157;, will show the 



reader one line of divergence, and another glance at type 4 and 



then at Dr. Stapf s fignre will show another. A comparison of 



he fignre of type 5 given on p. 160 with Dr. Stapf s figure will 



