AMARYLLIDACEJE. 
177 
body of water as the Plata, and the evaporation from it, occa- 
sions a degree of cold on its immediate banks which the latitude 
would not otherwise admit. There is, however, a mystery in 
the constitution of plants, which does not always depend upon 
their native climate. I raised two species of Gesneria from ac- 
cidental seeds lodging amongst the roots of the same plant of 
Pitcairnia, plucked off a rock in Brazil, one of which objected 
to the heat of a stove, and the other could not live through 
the winter without it. Candida flowers abundantly here 
under a warm south wall, upon the first autumnal rains after 
a season of drought, which does not however at all affect its 
foliage; and, if they cease, its blossoming will be suspended, 
unless it be watered, and recommence later. I have an ex- 
traordinary variety (var. 4.) from Buenos Ayres, which 
flowers year after year with eight segments to the flower, 
eight stamens, four lobes to the style, and four cells to the 
capsule. It has a more robust scape a foot high, and very 
conspicuous large flowers, expanding full three inches. I 
have seen accidental flowers of Gladioli with a supernume- 
rary stamen, sepal, and petal, and even with two, and a 
regular fertile four-celled capsule on Camellia Japonica, but 
this is the only instance I have observed of a seedling with 
such a variation permanent. My belief is that this plant 
belongs to a genus intermediate between Zephyranthes and 
Cooperia, though I will not disturb it till the further species 
of those genera can be thoroughly examined. It differs 
from Zephyranthes, and agrees with Cooperia in having 
deformed pollen, a point which I am persuaded must indi- 
cate generic diversity, though we may be sure that the di- 
versity, if positive, would not be confined to such a secret 
feature. It differs from Zephyranthes in the stamen, and 
from the known Cooperias in the absence of a cylindrical 
tube and in its expansion under sunshine ; from both in the 
substance of the leaf and their permanency. The erect lobes 
of its stigma are peculiar to itself ; and it has as yet resisted 
my repeated attempts to cross it with Zephyranthes. I sug- 
gest the name Argyropsis, if its separation should be esta- 
blished on further investigation, in allusion to its silvering 
the banks of its native river, and giving name to the Argen- 
tine republic. It comes very near, however, to Z. sessilis, 
which forms a link between it and the pedunculated species, 
and I can only separate it as a section of that genus. 
I learnt from my lamented friend, Dr. Carey, that the 
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