BOTANICAL GAZET2E. 8g 



who took it up, both giving the derivation from '■^niesembria" mid- 

 day, alluding to the time the blossoms open. But both Breyne and 

 Dillenius about half the time wrote Mesembryanthetnum. Linnjeus, 

 adopting the latter, became consistent by making a wrong and far- 

 fetched derivation to match the orthography. Among systematic 

 writers Sprengel almost alone keeps to the correct orthography, and 

 Webb insists on it. The younger Breyne, in his edition of his 

 father's Prodromus, has a note about it (p. 8i). He mentions an ex- 

 cuse for changing the orthograpiiy, namely, that some species do not 

 open the blossom at noontide, and intimates that Linnsus' derivation 

 from the insertion of the corolla around the middle of the germ, 

 is open to the same objection. If heeded, that kind of objection 

 would be fatal to very many generic names. — A. Gray, 



PoTAMOGETON Vaseyi, Robbins. — This spccies has usually been 

 considered the rarest of all our pond-weeds. The fructiferous form with 

 floating leaves, perhaps, is so, having been detected, so far as I am 

 aware, in only two localities in the United States and one in Canada. 

 The submerged form, however, promises to be much more abundant. 

 In company with Mr. Edwin Faxon, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., I 

 dredged for it this summer in Lake Quinsigamond, where a few spec- 

 imens, floating on the surface, were obtained some years ago by Dr. 

 Robbins. 



This sheet of water resembles one of the lochs of Scotland, ly- 

 ing in a deep hollow among low hills. It is almost five miles long by 

 half a mile broad. The water deepens abruptly from the shore, hav- 

 ing on the outer edge of the bed a belt of stones and pebbles. Within 

 this the bottom seems to be composed of silt washed from the sur- 

 rounding hills. In this silt, at a depth varying from six to twelve feet, 

 throughout the lake, we found P. Vaseyi growing in great profusion. 

 It was mixed with P. Spiril/us, P. piisillus and Naias flexilis. 



This form of the species has filiform stems, 6-18 inches high, 

 sending up long branches from the base and shorter ones above ; 

 leaves scattered, setaceous, i-nerved, 1-3 inches in length, and ta- 

 pering to a long needle-like point ; stipules delicate, free, acute, 2>-^ 

 lines in length and rather persistent. The plant is propagated exclu 

 sively by gemmae, which are much like those of P. gemmiparus, but 

 usually smaller and more delicate. 



Our find shows the importance, when searching for aquatics, of 

 using a dredging rake. Plants as slender as this cannot be seen from 

 the surface unless the water is extraordinarily clear, nor even then 

 well enough to determine what they are. I have found myself re- 

 peatedly deceived in fishing up something dimly discerned on the bot- 

 tom which proved to be very different from what I expected. Had 

 we trusted to eyesight alone in this case, we should never have sus- 

 pected what riches lay beneath the water. — Thomas Morong, Ash- 

 land, Mass. 



Baptisia calvcosa, W. M. Canbv. — I have lately collected fine 



