on tlie Coast qfCfieshire. 389 



doubt in the present day. Since I had last the honour of ad- 

 dressing the Society on this subject, opportunities have been af- 

 forded me of making many additional observations on the Bri- 

 tish shores; and of personally extending these to almost every 

 port on the Continent, between the Texel and the Garonne. I 

 have also, through the obliging communications of friends, been 

 enabled to extend my inquiries to other quartere of the globe ; 

 and I am now prepared to state, that, with a few comparatively 

 trifling exceptions, the sea appears to be universally gaining 

 upon the land, tending to confirm the theory. That debris, 

 arising from the general degradation of the land, being depo- 

 rted in the bed of the minor seas, is the cause of their present 

 tendency to overflow their banks. 



Description of several New or Rare Plants which have flowered 

 in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, during tlie last 



three months. By Dr Graham. 



10/^ March 1828. 

 iEginetia capitata. 



M. capitata ; herba pilosa, caule radicanti ; floribus capitatis. 

 Description — Stem herbaceous, jointed, rooting, ascending, cylindrical, 

 branched, purple. Leaves opposite, petioled, ovate (1^ inch long, above 

 1 inch broad), spreading, slightly decurrent along the petiole, veined, 

 veins curved forwards *, petiole more than half the length of the leafl 

 Peduncle axillary, (3 inches) long, sometimes exceeding, sometimes 

 shorter than the leaf, round, tapering a little, spreading. SHpnia fili- 

 form, opposite, alternate with the leaves (i an inch long). Capitulum 

 ebracteate, about 12.flowered, few flowers expanded at a time. Pedicels 

 very short. Calt/x adhering to the sides of the germen, extended into 

 four oblongo-spathulate, distant, suberect, persistmg segments, equal in 

 length to tne tube of the corolla. Corolla funnel-shapec^ 4-clefl, slightly 

 pubescent without, and pubescence somewhat reflected, tube cylindrical, 

 throat dilated, lined with close yellow pubescence just above the tube ; 

 limb while in bud green, afterwards lilac, white towards the throat, seg- 

 ments obovato-elliptical, spreading, revolute, and smooth above. S'to- 

 mens 4, filaments aahering along the inside of the tube of the corolla, free 

 only for a portion at the top about the length of the anthers, to the back 

 of which they are attached ; anthers oblong, sometimes nestling among 

 the yellow hairs in the throat of the corolla, in other instances carried up 

 as high as the divisions of the limb, but the length of the free portion of 

 the maments does not vary ; pollen globular, white. Pistil single ; stig- 

 ma large, pubescent, white, cleft, segments revolute ; style single, fili- 

 form, projecting beyond the anthers, but shorter than the limb of the 

 corolla, white ; germen inferior, obovate, slightly flattened, bilocular, 

 ovula numerous. 

 The stem, branches, leaves, stipulse, petioles, peduncles, and outside of the 

 calyx segments are very hairy, inside of tnese last less so ; hairs long, 

 spreading, somewhat harsh, very slightly glutinous, at least on the 

 parts of the flower. 



JANUABY— MARCH 18^8. C C 



