1915] The Ottawa Naturalist. 167 



along the margins, whereas the sepals of V. septentrionalis are 

 strongly and very conspicuously ciliolated. In the hybrid the 

 sepals have rather sparsely ciliolated margins. 



,< The conclusive evidence showing beyond doubt that the 

 plants are forms of neither V. cucullata nor V. septentrionalis, 

 but hybrids between those species, is, however, furnished by 

 the pollen. An examination of the same proves this without 

 doubt. A large number of pollen grains are perfectly sterile,, 

 as a matter of fact not less than about 95 per cent, whereas 

 pollen from specimens of V. cucullata and V. septentrionalis ^ 

 collected with the hybrid, shows one hundred per cent perfect 

 grains. 



V. [fimbriatula X septentrionalis was collected at 

 Charlottetown, P.E.I. , by Mr. L. W. Watson. ^^ As specimens of 

 this hybrid have not been seen by the authors of the present 

 paper, it will not be discussed here. 



In the spring of 1913 the authors made a joint excursion 

 to Chats Falls, Ont., situated on the Ottawa River, and only 

 about 20 miles from the Capital. Among other interesting finds 

 was a violet h^-brid which is of special interest not only because 

 it has not been recorded before from America, but also because 

 the species from which it had been formed belonged to a group in 

 which hybrids, so far, have never been observed on the American 

 continent. The hybrid in question is 



V. CONSPERSA RCHB. X ROSTRATA PuRSH. 



The occurrence of this hybrid in the Ottawa district is 

 furthermore of interest, because V. rostrata is a comparatively 

 rare plant in these latitudes. As a matter of fact, its occurrence 

 at Chats Falls was a very agreeable surprise to the authors 

 as so far, it had been recorded only from three localities 

 in the vicinity of Ottawa. The occurrence of the hybrid between 

 V. rostrata and V. conspersa was, as a matter of fact, less surprising 

 than the occurrence of V. rostrata itself. The two species grew 

 mixed together and blossomed at the same time. Consequently as 

 hybrids between allied species of violets are very readily formed— 

 a fact that is most emphatically demonstrated by the list of 

 hybrids, given on previous pages — the discovery of the combin- 

 ation V. conspersa x rostrata was really only a matter of diligent 

 search, it being quite a natural consequence of the parent species 

 growing together. 



^^ Brainerd, Rhodora, vol. 6, p. 217. 



