1903- CoLGAN. — The Leaf-marki7ig of A7UVI mactdatum. 79 



Passing from the British Isles, we find a great diversity of 

 view amongst Continental authors on this same point. In 

 Scandinavia, according to Hartmann, Skandi7iavie7is Flora, 

 9th Ed., 1869, the leaves are pure green or blotched with 

 brown (" rent grona eller braun-flackiga ") ; in Germany, 

 ^xXV^oviirix, Pfla7izen7'eich Deutschlaiids, 1882, sets them down 

 as occasionally blotched with black (" bisvv^eilen schwarz- 

 gefleckt"), while Garcke, Flo^-a von Deiitschland, i8th Ed., 

 1898, describes them as self-coloured or blotched with brown 

 (" einfarbig oder braun-gefleckt "). In France, according to 

 Gillet et Magne, Flore Francaise^ 1869, and Iylo3'd, Floi'c de 

 I'Oiiest, 5th Bd., 1897, they are " souvent tachees de noir" ; 

 Haller, in his great Histo7ia Siirp. hidig. HelveticB, 1768, says 

 that the leaves in Switzerland are scepe maculala ; while, not 

 to further multiply authorities, we Jiave old Caspar Bauhin, in 

 his famous Pi7iax, 1671, recording, as the result of his obser- 

 vations in France, Germany, and Ital}^ that he had usually 

 found the Arum leaves immaculate, though sometimes marked 

 with purpleor blackish blotches (0^5f;'Z'rt;z^zw?^5 Aro7i vidgattwi 

 co77wnniUcr 7iullh 77iaculis sig7iaUi77i ; aliqua7ido liUcris 

 7iig7'ica7ilib2is vel p7irp7crcis sig7iatu7}i). 



Whether this diversity of statement amongst Continental 

 authors expresses anything more than diversity of opinion 

 arising from insufficient observation, it is not easy to judge. 

 It may be surmised, however, that the want of agreement 

 amongst the Continental authors arises rather from a real 

 diversity in the facts as observed in different countries and 

 under varying conditions. Possibly some clue to the causes 

 which produce the leaf-markings of the Arum might result 

 from a study of the climatic and other conditions which 

 obtain in areas where such markings are conspicuous either 

 by their prevalence or their absence. 



The object of these notes, however, is not so much to draw 

 attention to the general question of the marking of the Arum 

 leaf as to record the occurrence of a peculiar concomitant of 

 that marking, observed last year in county Dublin. On the 

 28th March last some dozens of well blotched plants were 

 found at Kilbogget, near Ballybrack, growing alongside a cart 

 track in a copse, still quite leafless, and yielding free passage 

 here and there to shafts of direct sunlight. As usual, the 



