AMARYLLI DACEiE. 
147 
tliat plants of tlie same genus cannot have seeds of different, 
structure, I have compared them attentively with those of 
spuria and ochroleuca, and I find no real difference of struc- 
ture, though much of appearance. Those of Iris fcetida are 
plump and of a bright orange ; those of the two others arc 
rather shrivelled and dark brown. The outer coat of the two 
latter is separable, thin, and pellucid ; the flesh coat pulpy, 
and gradually drying up, in consequence of which the outer 
coat becomes shrivelled ; the inner or third coat separable 
from the albumen in the interior. The outer coat of the seed 
of foetida is equally separable but orange (being exactly the 
same difference as between the pericarp of Hsemanthus hya- 
locarpus and coccineus), and the second or fleshy coat is 
more full, consistent, and durable ; but I perceive no differ- 
ence of structure. It is a case somewhat analogous to that 
of H. reticulatum. Another section of the genus Iris has the 
outer and inner coats thicker and a cavity between them, the 
pulpy coat being quite obsolete. It is not requisite that I 
should give any opinion here as to the generic identity of 
these plants, nor have I sufficiently investigated it. It is cer- 
tainly possible, where there is a pulpy coat that dries up 
sooner in one species than in another, that it may be entirely 
absorbed at an earlier period in a third, thereby thickening 
the other coats and leaving a cavity between them, without 
any original difference of structure : but wherever we find 
any difference of seed corresponding invariably with a differ- 
ence in the structure of the flower, I think we may with to- 
lerable confidence pronounce the plants to be of distinct 
genera, and incapable of breeding together. 
There is some difference as to the cultivation of the various 
species of Hippeastrum, in consequence of the several lati- 
tudes, altitudes, and situations in which they are found. 
Capricious watering is their bane ; they should be watered 
pretty freely while they are making leaves, more sparingly 
after they are grown, and not at all when at rest. Aulicum 
I have found very difficult to manage ; I have had but two 
or three roots of it, and have not been satisfied with their 
treatment. Calyptratum flourished well with me in light, 
soil on the hothouse flue, growing all the year round, till I 
was told by a gentleman that they had been found to succeed 
better in the greenhouse, and having transferred them, ac- 
cording to his advice, I lost all my bulbs of that species. 
Psittacinum and the beautiful mules between it and Reofio- 
O 
