162 MR. C. C. BABINGTON ON THE 
lower petal is not spathulate, but widens gradually throughout its 
upper half. 
Dr. Walker-Arnott has shown (Edinb. Bot. Soc. Rep. iii. 99) 
that the typical F. capreolata (Linn.) is the plant found at Mont- 
pellier (the F. speciosa of Jordan). It is exceedingly beautiful, 
and has larger flowers than those of F. pallidiflora. Its corolla is 
white, but tinged reddish on the back and with a brownish-black 
tip. The pedicels are turned downwards, “ parallel to the peduncle, 
almost from their point of insertion, and this before the flowers 
have fallen off, so that the spur of the flower is superior, the apex 
pointing downwards,” to adopt his accurate words. The fruit is 
much smaller than that of F. pallidiflora, and closely resembles in 
size and form that of F. muralis, except that it is not “equally 
rounded at the top as elsewhere,” but is slightly truncate; the 
apical pits also are small but deep. It seems to be quite a distinct 
species from either of those described in this paper, and is chiefly 
found in the South of Europe. Linnzus adopted it primarily from 
Bauhin, and DeCandolle ascertained that the plant found at 
Montpellier is that of Bauhin. I have a specimen of the F., ca- 
preolata (F. speciosa, Jord.) gathered at DeCandolle’s station by 
Sonder. Linnzus also quotes Ray's ‘Historia’ (405) to his 
plant, and therefore gives England as a locality for it; but Ray’s 
plant is certainly not that of DeCandolle, which is apparently as 
certainly that of Linnsus, who does not seem to have known it 
practically, but adopted it from his predecessors. 
Some excellent botanists will doubtless say that these plants are 
all forms of one variable species, and I suppose that no person is 
in a position to contradict them ; for who knows what really con- 
stitutes a species amongst plants? It seems to me to be just as 
impossible to prove that the * aggregate species," as Mr. Watson 
terms them, are quite distinct from each other, as it is to show 
that the “segregate species" are so. The difference between my 
views and those of my eminent friends referred to above amounts 
only to this, that they think that by a study of the aggregate 
species they best advance our knowledge of the vegetable creation, 
whilst I consider a discrimination of the segregate species to tend 
atleast as greatly to that end. The search after truth is our com- 
mon object, and, although we may be far from having yet attained 
to it, we all confidently hope that our accurate and honest endea- 
vours will assist our successors in its discovery. 
l. F. PALLIDIFLORA (Jord.): sepalis ovatis dentatis corollam dimi- 
diam longitudine fere equantibus ejusque tubum latitudine superan- 
