l68 MUSEUM NOTES. 



" Varenne did not keep his Essex plants distinct ; they were inserted in 

 their proper places amongst others in his herbarium, nor did he trouble to 

 preserve an Essex specimen if he had a sufficiently characteristic one from 

 elsewhere. The great value of his collection of flowering plants consisted — 

 not in its completeness as a county collection, nor even in the number of his 

 own personal gatherings — but in the authentically named critical species 

 which he had received from British specialists. Although an excellent 

 ' all-round' botanist, Varenne had a special liking for the cryptogams rather 

 than phanerogams, and nearly all the specimens in his collection of the 

 former were gathered by him." 



Tlie Varenne Cryptogamic Herbarium, thus rescued from 

 further destruction, consists of the following, in round numbers : — 

 350 Mosses 450 Lichens 



150 Hepaticae 100 Sea- weeds 



200 Fungi (Leaf- parasites) 250 Fresh-water Algae 



1,500 



And two quarto volimies of Essex Mosses, neatly mounted 

 and in good preservation. 



The books are, Gibson's Flora of Essex ; Hassell's Bi'itish 

 Frcsh-watci' Alger (2 vols); Mudd's Manual of British Lichens; 

 Wilson's Bryologia Brilaiiiricn, an 1 l^eh^htons British Lichen Flora. 

 All these books were Varenne's working copies, and they contain 

 many marginal notes of Essex and other localities in his hand- 

 writing. 



Essex botanists will regret to hear of the destruction of the 

 Varenne flowering-plants. It is an instance of what so commonly 

 happens in such cases. The proper home of local collections is 

 the nearest local Museum. How many specimens and collections 

 are there, now mouldering away in country houses in Essex ? 

 The owners are tired of them, but they cannot summon up 

 courage to place the specimens where they would be cared for 

 and valued, and where they would be of use to those studying the 

 natural history of the County. 



VIL—PETRICOLA PHOLADIFOBMIS IN 

 ESSEX AND KENT. 



For some years past conchologists have been aware of the 

 existence in England of a shell whose true home is on the east- 

 central coast of North America. It was first noticed, probably, 



