Mr. C. C. Babington on the British Violets. 105 



corolla is nearly as large as in those from France. V. sude- 

 tica (Willd.) I believe to be the same plant. In a communi- 

 cation to the Botanical Society on the 13th of January, 1842, 

 Mr. A. Seton appears to be of opinion that V, lutea is not 

 distinguishable from V. tricolor, and most correctly states that 

 the characters usually employed to distinguish these plants 

 are not sufficiently constant. I cannot however agree with him 

 in his conclusion that they are forms of one species, as I be- 

 lieve them to be constantly distinguishable by attending to 

 the characters given above ; neither can I agree with him in 

 separating V. arvensis (Murr.) from the following species. 

 6. V. tricolor (Linn.). Cells of the anthers diverging below ; spurs 

 elongate, subclavate- filiform, spur of the corolla about equal to 

 the calycine appendages ; leaves crenate-serrate, lower ones ovate- 

 cordate, upper ovate or ovate-lanceolate ; stipules lyrate-pinnatifid, 

 the terminal lobe spathulate-crenate ; stems ascending. PI. VII. 

 fig. Q.—Eng. Bot. 1287. Reich, f.4517. 

 Flowers with the upper petals purple, lateral ones bluish, lower one 



yellow; capsule ovate. 

 Var. p. arvensis (V. arvensis, Sibth.), Eng.Bot. 2712, has the petals 

 shorter than the calyx and whitish, and the capsules nearly glo- 

 bular. — O ? May, September, common; p. in corn-fields. 



A very variable plant, both in the colour and size of its co- 

 rolla, and the size and outline of the terminal lobe of its sti- 

 pules, which is sometimes copiously crenate, but often with 

 only one or two notches upon each side. I have never seen 

 it quite entire. 



The following table will perhaps place in a clearer light 

 those characters to which this paper more particularly refers : 



