162 MR. C. C. EAEINGHON ON THE 



lower petal is not spathulate, but widens gradually throughout its 

 upper half. 



Dr. Walker-Arnott has shown (Edinb. Bot. Soe. Eep. iii. 99) 

 that the typical F. capreolata (Linn.) is the plant found at Mont- 

 pellier (the F. speciosa of Jordan). It is exceedingly beautiful, 

 and has larger flowers than those of F. pallidiflora. Its corolla is 

 white, but tinged reddish on the back and with a brownish-black 

 tip. The pedicels are turned dow^nwards, " parallel to the peduncle, 

 almost from their point of insertion, and this before the flowers 

 have fallen off", so that the spur of the flower is superior, the apex 

 pointing downwards," to adopt his accurate words. The fruit is 

 much smaller than that of F. 'palUdiflora, and closely resembles in 

 size and form that of F. muralis, except that it is not " equally 

 rounded at the top as elsewhere," but is slightly truncate; the 

 apical pits also are small but deep. It seems to be quite a distinct 

 species from either of those described in this paper, and is chiefly 

 found in the South of Europe. Linnaeus adopted it primarily from 

 Bauhin, and DeCandolle ascertained that the plant found at 

 Montpellier is that of Bauhin. I have a specimen of the F. ca- 

 preolata (F. speciosa, Jord.) gathered at DeCandolle' s station by 

 Sender. Linnaeus also quotes Ray's ' Historia' (405) to his 

 plant, and therefore gives England as a locality for it ; but Eay's 

 plant is certainly not that of DeCandolle, which is apparently as 

 certainly that of Linnaeus, who does not seem to have known it 

 practically, but adopted it from his predecessors. 



Some excellent botanists will doubtless say that these plants are 

 all forms of one variable species, and I suppose that no person is 

 in a position to contradict them ; for who knows what really con- 

 stitutes a species amongst plants ? It seems to me to be just as 

 impossible to prove that the "aggregate species," as Mr. Watson 

 terms them, are quite distinct from each other, as it is to show 

 that the "segregate species" are so. The difference between my 

 views and those of my eminent friends referred to above amounts 

 only to this, that they think that by a study of the aggregate 

 species they best advance our knowledge of the vegetable creation, 

 whilst I consider a discrimination of the segregate species to tend 

 at least as greatly to that end. The search after truth is our com- 

 mon object, and, although we may be far from having yet attained 

 to it, we all confidently hope that our accurate and honest endea- 

 vours will assist our successors in its discovery. 



1. F. PALLIDIFLORA (Jord.) : sepalis ovatis dentatis corollam dimi- 

 diam longitudine fere sequantibus ejusque tubum latitudine superan- 



