2S6 ON THE BRITISH, DACTYLOID SAXIFRAGES. 



this variety coine a large number of tlie species of Tlawovth and D. 

 Don, differing from one another in robustness, vestiture, the extent to 

 which the shoots lengtlien out, the breadth of the claw and lobes of 

 the leaf, and the proportion which they bear to one another. Of these 

 I may note the following : — 



(1.) l(ctevirens,J). Don, Linn. Trans, xiii.451. An original speci- 

 men from D. Don in Herb. Hooker differs from the Eng. Bot. figure of 

 platypetala only by its perfectly smooth leaves and smaller flowers. 



(2.) elongella, Smith, Litm. Trans, x. 340. An original specimen 

 from D. Don has short, robust, ascending shoots, and robust, smooth 

 leaves, 3-4 lines long, shortly 2- or 3-cleft at the point, with a broader 

 claw and central lobe than usual. Flowers 3-4, middle-sized. 



(3.) trifida. Haw. Misc. Nat. 165. A Welsh form, not appreciably 

 different from the last. 



(4.) Iiirta. D. Don. An original specimen from the West of Scotland, 

 in Herb. Hooker, has very hairy robust leaves, only 3-4 lines long, 

 trifid a third of the way down, with moderately broad lobes and claw. 

 Exactly the same form is in Sir W. C. Trevelyan's Feroe series. 



(5.) Icevis, Haw. Misc. Nat. 30. A Settle and Helvellyn form, with 

 moderately elongated shoots, large flowers, ascending smooth leaves 

 not more than a quarter of an inch long, with three short, very narrow, 

 very acute divisions. 



(6.) Jurta, Haw. Misc. Nat. p. 164. Short ascending shoots, rather 

 fleshy, finely-ciliated leaves, 4-5 lines long, only the uppermost shortly 

 trifid, the others quite simple. 



The variety sponJiemica, as a whole, is common th'-ongh the hilly 

 regions of Wales, the North of England, and Scotland, but seems to 

 be more rare in Ireland. Specimens from the Isle-of Arran, Galway, 

 gatheied by Mr. Kirk, belong here. 



5. I do not see any reason to doubt that the S. enjiypnoides, var. 

 gemmifera, of Syme, is parallel to the hyimoides, not only of Grenier, 

 but also of Koch and Nynian. Comparing it with the last variety, I 

 can only endorse Dr. Boswell Syrae's verdict (Eng. Bot. ed. 3, vol. iv. 

 p. 83), "The extreme states are strikingly different, but the transi- 

 tion from one to the other is so gradual, that it appears to be impos- 

 sible to draw any definite line between them." But, although it 

 seems so to us, Koch, Grenier, and Nyman, all three keep them up 

 without hesitation as distinct species ; and the Continental distribution 



