Frrnvany 5, 1887.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
-183 
the members at their monthly meeting, held in the 
Working Men's Institute, Old Road, Lee, on the 
28th ult. 
Honours TO HORTICULTURISTS.—We learn 
that Mr. p Moonz, of the Royal Glasnevin Gardens, 
and Mr. BunnrpGg, of the Trinity College 
Garden, DE have been elected members of the 
Royal Irish Academy—an honor greatly to be appre- 
ciated by the recipients and the craft at large. 
TTISH HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. — 
y 
held in Edinburgh, and requested him to lay the 
matter before the members of the Association. Mr. 
Gretve said he had also heen in communication bs 
the same correspondent, and with others in variou 
parts of Scotland, the North of England, and in 
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Fic, 45.—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE VARIATIONS IN 
` А, the main tunic of Crocus Sieberi ; > ditto 
THE SPECIES OF CROCUS. 
Tue old question of “ What is a species?" here 
crops up. There are few genera in which the indi- 
vidual species are separated in even or equal degree 
rate individual species. 
ecific demarcations 
must therefore vary in different genera. No hard o 
fast line can be drawn, and final conclusions must 
often be arrived at by a balance of evidence, and the 
questionable cases presented themselves to me, and 
1 should like to briefly refer to some of them. 
1 do not think that the case of Crocus sativus, 
between them, and no single character, size and 
THE SKIN OF THE CORM IN THE GENUS CROCUS. 
C. sativus var Pallasii; C, ditto of C. serotinus; р, ditto of C, carpentarius; 
, ditto ч C. versicolor; F, ditto of C. Fleischeri, 
- Ireland on the same subject, with c agris that a 
ее of delegates from parts was to be he 
ant 
e Pres ide аҹ д behalf of 
sure the 
санет xtended ; arse it was 
moved that pus President, зу: йш musei Secretary, 
Mr. Ir. D. P. Laro Should represent 
the Aou ick on the occasion referred to. 
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.—Farthing Dinners. 
y GEORGE HERBERT Sare Edition, 
(London: Sorex, MARSHALL & Co. )—Hose Synstyle ; 
Etudes sur les Roses. Ву F. Cm&erw. (Ghent: 
.C. AxwNoor-BRAECKMAN, oste Sucer.)— Appl» 
Tree Annual, 1887 (Lond 
А. wo ENDENNING, 34, 
London Wall, E.C., and 25,1 РШ, EC.; and R. W. 
LLEN, 4, Ave Maris Laue, E.C. у= Industrial Ireland 
ра: e 
Bord oM R. Goss (Oxford: at the Clarendon Pres). 
m E by ха they can be ees 
and e ds PUT they pass i ach 
ilit t insensible е man 
Crocus hadri and. 0. ME —The question of 
separating C. hédsiations from C, sativus troubled 
was in doubt why C, hadriaticus should 
е specie 
others, for whilst most of the суапїс species have 
asional albinos, I know of no white species which 
ism is often most 
in ten or twelve, intermixed wi type. 
hadriat pact and Pc district, 
ts normal white flowers 
vidi iP cla Vc Pills ein йй it has its 
„а red, papillose, oblong see 
C. Boryi, С. Tournefort 
own set of varieties, some with a purple Pipes 
others with a bright golden-yellow throat, and t 
latter departure from the type is never found in c 
sativus : it was a difficult point to decide, but on the 
whole I thought it best to endorse the opinions 
of those who have written upon Crocuses before 
me, and to follow Herbert and Baker in separating 
C. hadriaticus as а species distinct from С 
sativus. 
i, C. Aucheri, and C, Suterianus,—I think 
it would sias been preferable to have grouped all 
these three, which have heretofore been considered 
nus. 
C. —— and © Bala @.— Under С. vitellinus 
1 hav 
dendi a with it С. syriacus s and C. graveolens, but 
I am оте E retain C. Balanss as a distinct 
: s two or three months later than C. 
trict, the leaf-structure of the two species is notably 
different, and the foliage of C. Balansæ is remarkable 
for its persistency, lasting green up tot 
The corms also differ, and the exceptionally small 
pollen of C, vitellinus is a distinctive character not to 
be overlooked in connection with the constancy in 
size of the pollen grains of all the species (C. sativus 
only excepted). 
С. veluchensis and C. Sieberi are, I think, entitled 
to separate specific rank; the latter has always an 
Sieberi is unbearded 
C. reticulatus and C. dalmaticus,—These are doubt- 
less allied ; but there are several good d m ben 
points, and if the absence of a basal tunic in C. d 
MTS is те it із a specific character not 7 
be overl . dalmaticus is а much more robust 
species, nd quite different in habit to C. reticulatus. 
C. Crewei and C. bi ,—C. Crewei is, I think, a 
black-anthered variety of C. biflorus, and this is the 
view Ihave almost expressed in what I have written 
about it. 
. Malyi and С. versicolor. — Y cannot agree to 
associate these two species in any way. There 
be no resemblance or affinity 
cupy distant and separate 
m тае except at 
The throat 
й, sed С. veneris, —I think 
C. veneris might be placed as a small geographical 
Tournefortii is, I think, a 
form of С. Boryi; but C. 
distinct species, differing from Boryi in its constant 
purple flower ee its hairy filament, and in 
other characte 
мойнун and C. vernus.—I do not think 
montenegrinus is even allied to C. vernus. I 
the anther, 
0 
that C. mon 
admit that the stigmatic appendage to 
i f 
I conld observe in the dri 
unbearded, and the stigmata are quite unlike those 
of a vernus. 
iacus, Ker, = C. aureus, Sibth. and arai 
е; have e never seen any wild varieties of C. mesi 
of the stigmata; but the existence of so many old 
horticultural forms departing much from the type, 
which are not known to oceur wild, and the history 
of which is unknown, i is very curious. 
s are all nearly 
emo 
the very large corm of C, Salzmanni, its distinc- 
