By the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert. 45 



superior to Johnson's flower, in size and colour, with the 

 longer tube of A. equestris. They make seed pretty freely, 

 and 1 obtained a further cross by impregnating one of them 

 with the pollen of A. rutila and A. fulgida. The bulb of A. 

 rutila and A. fulgida is always surrounded by a crown of 

 blind offsets, and the mule seedlings obtained from their dust 

 began at five or six months old, to produce young bulbs, and 

 every one of theni has now several strong offsets adhering 

 to the bulb; these will be a valuable acquisition.* I have 



* February 18, 1820. Twenty-four bulbs having been lately sent by me to 

 the Society, each being an offset from a different seedling of a mule Amaryllis 

 equestri-vittata, crossed again with A. rutila and A. fulgida, I think it desirable 

 to give a more particular account of them, as, from their rapid growth and in- 

 crease, their free habit, and probable beauty of blossom, they are likely to become 

 favourites in every collection, and to supplant A. crocata and A. equestris, which, 

 though they thrive in a cool stove, appear equally impatient of too much heat 

 and too much cold. 



In March 1818, being desirous at all events of obtaining some seed from a 

 splendid scarlet and white mule A. equestri-vittata, I touched the stigma of its 

 four flowers with the dust of A. rutila and A. fulgida. I believe all the stig- 

 mas were touched with the pollen of both, but to one or two the dust of A. 

 rutila was applied a day before that of A. fulgida, and the others were touched 

 first with that of A. fulgida. The anthers had not been taken out, and 

 before the flowers withered, the natural dust of the plant was purposely super- 

 added, to make more sure of ascertaining whether the plant was fertile. Four 

 capsules were ripened, each being furnished with three cells. The seeds of each 

 cell were kept distinct, and sown in April. They vegetated vigorously, and 

 in a few months they began to shew evidently the type of A. fulgida and A. 

 rutila, by the production of offsets. On their examination, a few days ago, they 

 had all, with the exception of one plant, from five to above twenty offsets. The 

 seedling, which has no offsets, is unlike the rest, and has clearly the leaf of A. 

 equestri-vittata simply, and must be the only seedling produced by the subse- 

 quent addition of the natural pollen. It was raised from the same cell with 

 others that shew the type of either A. rutila or A. fulgida. I apprehend that 



