ON THE FLORA OF SHETLAND 165 



publication of his " Flora," and while he was still only in his 

 twenty-first year. The book is well printed, and is withal 

 so light and portable, that it is regrettable that it should 

 not be a more reliable guide to the Flora of the islands. 



One or two mistakes have crept into Mr. Bennett's 

 supplement to " Topographical Botany " ; and, as the 

 practice with regard to Shetland plants is, " once a record, 

 always a record," it may be well to dispose of them before 

 they have become established on the permanent list. I do 

 not deal with some instances of what I regard as omissions, 

 and confine myself to the other side of the question : " Viola 

 lutea, Beeby (?)." I think this should read " Beeby spec. (?)," 

 which is not quite the same thing. Certainly a little doubt 

 was felt about some of my Unst gatherings in 1886 or 1887, 

 but the plants were referred without hesitation to V. tricolor 

 by Professor Babington, and I have not seen any reason to 

 doubt the correctness of his determination. " Carduus nutans, 

 Evans." This was but a single specimen on the beach, " very 

 likely from the rubbish of boats " (A. H. E. in lift.}. This 

 record appeared to me so unlikely when first published, that 

 I wrote to Mr. Evans for details, with the above result. 

 " Scirpus acicularis, Beeby." This was an error of mine, 

 and was subsequently withdrawn ("Journ. Bot." 1894, p. 87). 

 Mr. Bennett wrote recently that he had unfortunately omitted 

 to take note of the correction, hence the record. Besides 

 these, there are " Mentha arvensis, all except 71"; and 

 " Alnus glutinosa, all except ill." What is the authority 

 for the occurrence of these two plants ? Shetland is not 

 credited with them in Professor Trail's " Additions," and 

 I have been unable to trace any record of their being 

 found. 



Concerning the forms of Ranunculus acris named below, 

 I must call to mind that in "Scot. Nat," January 1891, I 

 wrote of R. Steveni, and of the burnside form (presumably 

 intending R. vulgatus), that " cultivation of the two states 

 indicates that the differences between them are due to 

 situation alone." I cannot now recall the experiment ; but 

 I was then living in London, and my plants grown at 

 Reigate were about that time removed to my late mother's 

 new garden at Worplesdon. There may have been some 



