Aug. I, 1S68.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



1G9 



SPLITS. 



§£*>, T is an old asser- 

 tion, and one in 

 the truth of 

 which all natu- 

 ralists will con- 

 cur, that there 

 is always some- 

 thing new in the 

 study of Natural History ; so 

 old, indeed, and so generally 

 admitted is it, that space 

 would only be wasted in prov- 

 ing its truth. But it may not 

 be amiss, in these days of pro- 

 gress, to draw the attention of 

 the readers of Science-Gossip 

 to an illustration of the fact in 

 connection with our British 

 plants. To a casual observer, 

 it might seem that the botany 

 of so small a country as our 

 be examined, and become 

 but so far is this from being 

 more a natural science is in- 

 vestigated, the more there seems to find out 

 about it. Not only do we find that new plants are 

 continually " cropping up," and that a year seldom 

 passes without some addition being made to our 

 phanerogamic flora, to say nothing of the more 

 numerous discoveries in cryptogamic botany, but 

 the investigations of our leading botanists, coupled 

 and compared with those of continental authors, 

 lead us to the conclusion that many so-called 

 species are, in reality, composed of two or more 

 perfectly distinct forms, which present sufficiently 

 definite features to merit separate names, and 

 themselves deserve elevation to the rank of species. 

 It is not our intention in this paper to discuss the 

 relative merits of " lumpers and splitters," but we 

 are anxious to draw attention to the fact that 

 even our commonest plants are worthy of attention, 

 and that strict investigation is necessary to deter- 

 mine their various forms, whether we call them 

 varieties, sub-species, or species. One thing is 

 No. 44. 



own would soon 

 thoroughly known ; 

 the case, that the 



certain, the minute examination which such in- 

 vestigation entails cannot fail to be beneficial in 

 supplying us with additional objects of interest, and 

 in rendering us better acquainted with our common 

 wild flowers. 



The examples which we have selected for present 

 consideration are almost exclusively of moderately 

 common plants ; so that all may be able to examine 

 and judge for themselves regarding the merits of 

 each case. The recent (sixth) edition of Babington's 

 " Manual of British Botany," as well as the reissue 

 of " English Botany," now publishing, will convince 

 all that, whatever may be the opinions of individuals, 

 the " splitters " are at present the reigning party 

 as far as botany is concerned. We must premise 

 that our remarks do not present very much 

 originality— they are, in a great measure, simplified 

 from the before-mentioned works ; also that, as 

 Science-Gossip is not devoted alone to professed 

 botanists, we have purposely dwelt almost entirely 

 upon the obvious and easily-defined characteristics 

 of the plants we mention, advising all who wish to 

 carry out their observations more minutely to refer 

 to one or both of the books named. If, therefore, 

 the less conspicuous distinctions be passed over, or 

 only slightly touched upon, it must not be supposed 

 that their value is under-estimated ; but in a 

 popular periodical such minutiae would be some- 

 what out of place. Lastly, lest it should be 

 thought that we are arrogating to ourselves a 

 knowledge superior to that of our brethren, we 

 frankly admit that we are quite unable to discrimi- 

 nate between the species of Willow, and confess 

 that Rubus fndlcosus still holds its place in our 

 mind as the representative of the fruticose Rubi. 



The number of species into which the "small 

 silver-budded weed," the Water Crowfoot {Ranun- 

 culus aquatiUs of Linnseus), has been divided can 

 scarcely have escaped the notice of any who have 

 looked through a local Flora, or modern work on 

 British Botany. It must be admitted that some of 

 these species are somewhat closely allied, and in an 

 untechnical paper like this, it would be useless to 

 point out the differences, which none but professed 



H 



