146 The Irish Naturalist. June, 



a circular on the matter to the secretaries of some forty or 

 fifty Natural History Societies and Field Clubs in England, 

 Wales, and Scotland, enclosing a copy of questions to be 

 answered either by themselves or by other botanists in their 

 respective societies. 



The result of this appeal to the Societies has been a most 

 gratifying one, as replies have been sent in in most of the 

 cases ; a great many of these replies embody observations 

 actually made on the point in question, and m}^ best thanks 

 are due to those who have so kindly and — in some cases — so 

 enthusiastically joined in the work. In vScotland Arum 

 maculaium is an uncommon plant, and where it does occur 

 its leaves are never spotted. One of m}^ correspondents, 

 however, in Greenock, points out that Kennedy's Clydesdale 

 Flora, 1865, mentions that it is often found with purple spots, 

 and gives some localities for the plant. Another cor- 

 respondent in Glasgow imforms me, that on an excursion of 

 the Andersonian Naturalists' Societ}'' on April 4th of this year, 

 " two or three plants of Arurn macula t2wi were found outside 

 a garden wall b}^ the roadside, and, contrary to all other former 

 experiences, the leaves of ther.e plants were evenly marked 

 with black rectangular-shaped spots. This makes for us a 

 new station, and a new variety of the plant." 



From Wales, up to the present, only one repl}^ has been 

 received, which states that the unspotted form is the commoner. 



From England replies have been received^ dealing with 

 twent3^-two counties ; in several instances two or three replies 

 being sent in from the same county. The Northumberland, 

 Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Natural History Society 

 deserves special mention for the interest taken in the question, 

 its secretar>% Prof Potter, having sent in a schedule contain- 

 ing the results of the observations of fifteen workers, as well 

 as those of the members of the Gateshead Natural History 

 Societ}^ and a map showing the distribution of the plant in 

 the County of Durham. 



It is scarcely necessary to go into the details of the results 

 thus collected ; suffice it to say that in every case, with the 

 exceptions presently to be mentioued, the form with un- 

 spotted leaves is by far the commoner of the two. Thus, 

 from Northumberland the report is " about 90 per cent, are 



