On the Species of the Genus Primula in Essex. 185 
under stimulation may be called an “irregular umbel,” by 
which I mean that the flowers do not all spring from one 
centre, but some grow out of the stalk a little helow the rest, 
and, reaching up, mingle with them; or that the umbel is 
slightly irregular in some other way. This variety sometimes 
appears in conjunction with another in which one or two 
leaves (rarely more) spring out of the umbel just below the 
pedicels. Generally these leaves are about an inch long, 
though sometimes more, and are situated opposite one 
another. Presumably they are bracts abnormally developed, 
as I have seldom, if ever, seen this form except under 
stimulation. This variety seems to affect particular plants, 
and two examples may often be found on one root. It is 
not uncommon in the garden Auricula, but I never observed 
it in the Cowslip. It often occurs very early in the season; 
for instance, I obtained an umbel bearing a leaf 2.J- inches 
long on the 15th of March, 1882, before any of the other 
varieties described had been observed. 
Among the other minor varieties I may mention that I 
have twice come across bifid leaves, both growing in the open 
in Pounce Wood. The first was divided in two very near the 
bottom. The second was on a peculiar plant I gathered in 
March, 1882, which bore both a bifid and a trifid leaf, the 
branchings taking place just above the ground; also a very 
short thick peduncle about one inch high, supporting in¬ 
numerable buds and three or four opened synanthic flowers, 
having a great number of calyx-teeth, many petals, twelve or 
thirteen stamens, and a large flattened stigma. I have met 
with these monstrous flowers several times, but always among 
normal ones, on fasciated stalks growing under stimulation, 
and they have always been short-styled, like the flower last 
mentioned. They are generally furnished with a large num¬ 
ber of calyx-teeth, petals, and stamens, so that the opening 
of the tube becomes a long narrow oval; I have also seen a 
double-flower with one common calyx, the corollas opening 
into one another at the side, and the pistil branching about 
its middle, one branch going into each half. On several 
other occasions the pistil has been abnormal—generally 
