130 Rhodora [JUNE 
England Botanical Club, 17 sheets of Silene antirrhina being there. 
The results were interesting. About 100 sheets, embracing at least 
from 200 to 300 specimens were examined. Every plant was scabrous 
or pubescent at the base, with the exception of one from Texas, col- 
lected by F. Lindheimer in 1843 and marked in Dr. Asa Gray’s 
handwriting, “var. laevigata.” This is described in Plantae Lind- 
heimerianae, Part I, 217 (1845), by George Engelmann and Asa Gray 
as follows, “21 [Silene antirrhina] var. laevigata; the leaves smooth, 
and with smooth margins — Galveston." It is to be noticed that an 
examination showed that not only the leaves but the entire plant is 
glabrous. 
None of the specimens had glutinous bands on any of the lower 
internodes while twenty-nine plants had none at all. I suspected at 
first that these bands might be absent in the earlier stages in the life 
of the plant, but might appear later in the season. This, however, 
was disproved by the fact that of the twenty-nine plants mentioned 
above eight only were in flower while twenty-one were in fruit. The 
glutinous bands, accordingly, were absent through the life of these 
plants and doubtless this is true of all others that show at any time a 
lack of these bands. I will say here that in making these observations 
I used a strong pocket lens, as being all that is required for systematic 
work of this kind. 
An examination of a number of Manuals in which this species is 
described shows that the points above mentioned are all well charac- 
terized only in Torrey and Gray's Flora of North America, i. pt. 2, 
191 (1838) as follows, “Stem... .puberulent or scabrous at the base, 
a portion of the upper internodes usually viscid." I noticed also that 
occasionally the plants were slightly pubescent above and that the 
leaves were always ciliate at the base. This last fact is mentioned in 
some of the Manuals. In the above details the species might be 
characterized as follows: — Scabrous to pubescent at the base, upper 
portion generally glabrous, sometimes slightly pubescent, leaves 
ciliate at base; a portion of one or more of the upper internodes gener- 
ally, but not always, glutinous. 
It is interesting to note how variously the plant has been described 
as regards the special points noticed above. One statement or another 
is wrong, and the effect of this is often far-reaching and hard to elimi- 
nate. I will cite a few cases: Bigelow's Florula Bostoniensis, ed. 2, 
183 (1824) and ed. 3, 194 (1840), “Stem smooth... . Leaves... .sub- 
