172 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the appearance as if two cotyledons of equal size were present, 

 each stalked, the stalks originating from the top of a slender 

 tigellum or caulicle, whose base is dilated into the tuber ; this 

 appearance is rendered the more deceptive as the hook-like 

 rudiment of the cotyledon has entirely disappeared. 



The specimen in question may be explained in consonance 

 with what has been before described as the mode of development 

 of the seedling, by supposing a fusion of the leaf-stalks of the 

 two first leaves for some distance. It must, however, be re- 

 membered that two cotyledons have been found in this genus. 

 Gaertner fil. figures one such instance out of hundreds examined 

 by his father and himself. Other specimens (Fig. 21, Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9) 

 presented a similar fusion of the first four leaf-stalks in varying 

 degrees. That there has been a fusion or lack of separation of 

 the stalks, and not a division or branching of one into others, is 

 shown by the existence of minute furrows proceeding upwards 

 from the tuber to the point of separation of the little leaves, such 

 furrows being more obvious on a cross-section. 



SNOWDKOPS. 



By Mr. James Allen, F.K.H.S. 



[Read March 10, 1891.] 



As I know nothing of botany, I must ask you to bear with me 

 in the use of unscientific terms when speaking of the various 

 Snowdrops. I cannot give you any information as to how many 

 species of Snowdrops have been described and allowed by the 

 best authorities, neither can I tell you the points that constitute 

 a species, or that separate one species from another. What I 

 propose to do is to attempt to describe, in homely language, the 

 various Snowdrops that, with but few exceptions, have come 

 under my own observation. 



Less than twenty years ago there was, practically, but one 

 kind of Snowdrop grown in England, G. nivalis, in its single 

 and double forms. G. plicatus was introduced soon after the 

 Crimean war, but it was not often seen unless in botanical 

 gardens. Early in the '70's G. Elivesii was introduced, and 

 in 1875 Mr. Barr offered, under the name of G. Iwvperati, a very 



