244? Mr Arnott's Tmir to the South of France 



habituate ourselves to that labour. Hitherto we had dried pro- 

 bably not more than 1500 or 2000 specimens ; but that may be 

 reckoned a great number, when we consider the early season of 

 the year. 



22rf April. — ■" In company with Delile and Dunal, we bota- 

 nized to-day for a few hours about Restinclieres *. we now found 

 several Helianthema in flower. Polygala monspeliaca was be- 

 ginning to make its appearance, at least we only met with a 

 very few specimens. Euphorbia segetalis, sylvatica^ characias^ 

 and several other species, have been in flower for some time, 

 but they are so troublesome to dry, that we have looked for- 

 ward to that task with little pleasure. At first they were not 

 in fruit, and now other plants are in abundance : to-day, how- 

 ever, we dried a few of Euphorbia rubra and retusa (my dis- 

 tinguished friend M. Roeper has, with great justice, re-united 

 these to E, exigua) : Fedia auriculata we also met with. M. 

 Dunal, with a liberality of mind that distinguishes every true 

 botanist, from the observations he made to-day, avowed that he 

 now considers the Helianthemum apenninum is not distinguish- 

 able from H. hispidum : to these may perhaps be joined H. vir- 

 gatum. Helianthemum canum and penicellatum are two species 

 very common here. I never heard of the latter before my ar- 

 rival at Montpellier ; and I doubt exti vn^^ely if I shall ever be 

 able to distinguish it, unless assured that the specimens before 

 me come from the midi de la France. How to separate it from 

 the H. alpestre^ or even from H. celandicum, requires a nicer 

 eye for discrimination than I possess. The most serious cha- 

 racters are, that in H. celandicum the flowers are said to be 

 small, and the leaves nearly smooth. This, however, is at best 

 a contested species. I am willing to consider it as an accidental 

 variety ; but I cannot beUeve that the small size of the flower 

 is constant, or ought to form a reason for distinguishing it spe- 

 cifically even although such had ever been observed. In H. al- 

 pestre, the flowers are large, the leaves various, smooth, carnose, 

 or hirsute ; while in H. penicellatum the leaves and the sepals 

 are more pilose. These three, I conceive, may prudently be 

 united, and to them be added H. obovatum. The characters to 

 separate these from H. canum are more easily perceived : in the 

 preceding, the leaves, though covered with hairs, are neverthe- 



