Trdnsactioni of the Horticultural Society^ 53 



12. psonicsflora rosea. Red Pasony-flowered Camellia, 



13. pasonicsjldra pallida, Pale Red, or Blush Padony-Rowered Camellia. 



14. pseonicBfiora alba, White Pseony-flowered Camellia. 



15. semidiiplex, Semidouble Med Camellia. 



16. carnea, Flesh-colom-ed, or Middlemisf s Red Camellia, 



17. atrorubens, Black Red, or Loddiges' Red Camellia. 



18. Welbankii, Welbank's White Camellia. 



19. rosea. Rosy, or Le Blanc's Red Camellia. 



20. speciosa, Showy, or Rawes's variegated Waratah Camellia. 



21. imbricata, Irnhvicaie-petaled, or Crimson Shell Camellia. 



22. Parksii, Parks's Striped Rose Camellia. 



23. ^abmidna, Sabine's White Camellia. 



L Thea (from the Chinese tsha or tchaw, changed into Thea) viridis. 

 Green Tea. Introduced about 1768, by the late John Ellis, Esq., of the 

 India House, who obtained it from seed. The flowers are delightfully 

 fragrant like those of the orange, and the plant half-hardy. 



2. Thea Bohea, Bohea, or Black, Tea. A more lax and upright shrub than 

 the green tea, producing its flowers in greater abundance ; and these do 

 not open till a month after those of Thea viridis. By no means so hardy 

 as the green tea, and requires to be kept in a warm or airy situation in 

 the green-house or conservatory during winter. 



3. Thea euryoides. First imported by the Horticultural Society, in 1822,- 

 by chance, as a stock for a variety of Camellia japonica. The grafted 

 portion of the camellia having died during the voyage, the stock sur- 

 vived, and was found to be this species of Thea. It is figured in Lod- 

 diges's Botanical Cabinet, t. 1493., under the name of Camellia eurydideSi 



" Le Comte says {.Journey in China, p. 228.) it grows from 2 to. 

 200 ft. in height, and sometimes so thick that two men can scarcely 

 grasp the trunk in their arms ; but he afterwards observes that f he tea 

 trees in the province of Tokian did not exceed 3 or 6 ft. in height, 

 ■which appears to be much nearer the truth, and agrees with the account 

 given by Ksempfer in his Amcenitates Exoticce, p. 605., and by Osbeck in 

 his Voyage to China, vol. i. p. 247. It is cultivated principally in valleys, 

 or on the declivities of hills, having a southern exposure to the sun, 

 and is said to bear considerable variations of temperature, flourishing in 

 the northern climate of Pekin as well as about Canton. \ 



56. Upon the supposed Changes of the Climate of England. By 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., President, F.R.S. Read May 5. 



1829. 



Mr. Knight is of opinion " that our winters are generally 

 a good deal less severe than formerly ; our springs more cold 

 and ungenial ; our summers, and particularly the latter parts 

 of them, as warm at least as they formerly were ; and our 

 autumns considerably warmer : " and he thinks that he C9,n 

 " point out some physical causes, and adduce some rather 

 strong facts, in support of these opinions." 



" Within the last fifty years very extensive tracts of ground, which were 

 previously covered with trees, have been cleared, and much waste land has 

 been enclosed and cultivated ; and by means of trenches and ditches, and 

 other improvements in agriculture, and covered drains, the water which 

 falls from the clouds, and that which arises in excess out of the grounds, 

 has been more rapidly and more efficiently carried off than at previous^ 

 periods. The quantity of water which our rivers contain and carry to the 

 sea in summer and autumn is, in consequence^ as I have witnessed in many" 



