58 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



side of a piece of wood lying on damp earth at Morningside, 

 Edinburgh, 2nd November 1904, have been submitted to Dr. R. 

 F. Scharff, Dublin, who has written on the Irish species of the 

 group, and he confirms my identification. Other localities in which 

 I have noted this planarian are near Roslin, near Aberdour, and 

 near Balerno, where it occurred in flood refuse in April 1903. It 

 is no doubt widely distributed and not scarce in Scotland, but the 

 only previous Scottish record I have seen is that of Dr. W. T. 

 Caiman from Kirkmichael in Perthshire ("Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist." 

 1902, p. 232). WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. 



Anthoxanthum Puelii, Lee. and Lam. var. /3 nana, Townsend, 

 ("Journ. Botany," 1875, P- 4)> A. odoratum, ft nanum, Lloyd (Fl. 

 Loire Infer., p. 293). In the "Journal of Botany," I.e. Mr. F. 

 Townsend calls attention to specimens he possesses of the above 

 grass from Mr. W. Gardiner, labelled "A. odoratum, L., alp. St., Loc. 

 Ben Avon ; Hab. Summit ; Co. Aberdeen; Coll. July, 1844." Mr. 

 Townsend remarks : " Ben Avon is over 4900 feet above sea level." 

 Of course this was a slip, as the height of Ben Avon is 3843 feet only. 

 Mr. Townsend gives several other names under which it has appeared. 

 Dr. Trail, in ' Topographical Botany of Scotland,' " Ann. Scot. Nat. 

 Hist." 1900, p. 37, notices it under the name "92, var. nana." 



Gray ("Nat. An. Brit. Plants," p. 135, 1821) has, under A. 

 odoratum, a variety " f3 alpinum, spike branched ; awn longer than 

 the flowrets, leaves smooth. Perhaps a distinct species." This 

 seems to apply to this alpine form of A. Puelii; but I have not 

 been able to find it noticed in British books. Smith ("Eng. Flora," 

 i. p. 37, 1828) takes no note of it. This form is put under 

 A. aristatum, Boiss., as A. Lloydii, Jord., by Nyman ("Consp. Fl. 

 Europ," p. 790 (iv.) 1882); but Mr. Townsend considered (I.e.) that 

 it came under Puelii. I send this note to ask : " Has anyone 

 gathered this plant since Gardiner's time ? " 



Unfortunately Gray gives no station, and I have not been able to 

 trace any specimens, or any notice of it since Mr. Townsend's article 

 on A. Puelii. ARTHUR BENNETT. 



Fungus Flora of a Cast-out Hearthrug. Under this heading 

 Messrs. C. Crossland and J. Needham in "The Naturalist" (1904, 

 pp. 359-363) give an account of the various species found growing 

 on a worn-out rug, between February 1897 and the spring of 1899, 

 in a wood near Hebden Bridge. The rug was made of pieces of 

 cloth fixed into a coarse sacking, and backed with jute sheeting, 

 its fibres including wool, cotton and jute. The species observed 



