BOOK REVIEWS. 



243 



group of 11 Pogoniris of Syria and Asia Minor," and Junonia is 

 established as distinct from Cypriana. I. albicans is at length 

 properly separated from /. florentina, which is probably a getmanica, 

 while albicans (as said above) is of Eastern origin. In passing 

 be it said that no one who is content with florentina as a white 

 iris can have seen the white solid splendour of albicans (matched 

 only by the ' Shelford ' white seedling of I. kashmitiana) , though 

 unluckily the latter always seems to feel our winters, and does not 

 usually flower in England as it does in the Mediterranean region. 



/. Barioni becomes a yellow form of /. kashmiriana, which may 

 explain why in most gardens it is equally unsatisfactory. 



No explanation seem to be offered how /. germanica, being pre- 

 sumably the national flower of France, came by its name. But the 

 obscurity which veils its origin is pointed out, and the reader is chal- 

 lenged to say if he knows of any locality where it is indisputably wild, 

 abundant as it is about old castles, on old walls and on rocks near the 

 present or past habitations of men. This plant, which adorns most 

 cottage gardens in this country, and, in various forms, hundreds of 

 railway stations in France, presents in fact more than one curious 

 problem. Has anyone raised from seed or fertilized with any other 

 kind the ordinary form with which we are all familiar, and which some 

 still regard as the " type " of all the absurdly so-called ' German ' 

 Irises ? I may say that I have occasionally gathered a single seed 

 pod naturally fertilized, and that I have two or three seedlings which 

 have not at present flowered, and which do not seem to grow with the 

 indomitable vigour of their parent. 



The treatment of the bulbous species adds a good deal to Foster's 

 little monograph. The Junos, which were formerly classified by mere 

 size, now make three groups ; as to /. reticulata it is made almost certain 

 that the reddish form, and not the more familiar blue, is the " type." 



J. tuberosa ceases to be an iris altogether, and is to be called 

 Hetmodactylus tuber osus. 



Of the plates little need be said except by way of praise both for 

 the drawing and the reproduction. The colours are in nearly every 

 case marvellously faithful, and the character of each kind is well 

 shown. The plate of seeds is an interesting study. Two hybrids 

 raised by the author are figured as having points of special interest ; 

 one between fulva and foliosa, neither of which has probably been 

 crossed before, the other between Loppio and teetotum, in which the 

 crest of the latter species appears as well as the beard of the former. 



In all technical matters of execution it would be difficult to find 

 anything to criticize; the print and the arrangement are wortrry of 

 the great press which has undertaken the work. Nor could anyone 

 but an expert as well qualified as the author himself discover any 

 serious inaccuracy in matters of fact. Perhaps one may express a 

 hope that he will make a renewed study of the means by which the 

 flowers of the various groups are naturally fertilized. On one small 

 point, almost of a personal nature, I feel proud to be able to make a 



r 2 



