SHORT NOT£S AND QUERIES. 37I 



wZr' ?Tfr^,*° the corresponding mathematical forms." This 

 wo d make; oblong a parallelogram; but all that seems to be impi id 



extent: :u the proportion of length and breadth there is but lit le ao" ^ 

 ment among authorities. ' Oval ' and ' elliptical ' are doub less svrTo iv 

 mousrn geometry, and Linnaeus (Phil. Bot.) employed th m h tl sS 

 mathematical sense ; they are still used interchangeably by many otan s 



o ndica e a figure about twice as long as broad^ broadest in tJ. n Zb 

 jnd equal at the ends, which may be either rounded or pointed Pro.' 



fessor Oliver's outline figures, however, 'elliptical' is a figure b-oaier 



an 'oval in the proportion of 3 to 2. Other descriptive bot n 

 d.s luguish between ' oval ' with the apex and base graduated to a o nt 



nd 'elliptic' with the end. rounded, mid the sides more or less paS ' 

 It appears to me that a combination of or compromise between the v ts 

 of htterent wnt^ers might be effected with advantage, and the four terms 

 Urefofo: •:;:•■ "" ^'^ ^'""^ '' si-ply-utHned leave^ equal at both en s in 

 the tollowmg manner, m no case giving a ?/eiv sigirification to a term 



ptlSei J'"'""' '^'"'"^ '' '^^'^^ "°^ ''^^^ -^^ i^ --iy-iiy 



Leaf tapering from the middle equally to base and apex— 



About twice as long as broad = oval. 



About thrice „ = lameolate. 



Leaf with more or less parallel sides and blunt extremities— 



About twice as long as broad = elliptic. 



About thrice „ = oblong. 



Intermediate forms can be expressed by combination of these terms 

 «nd forms w ere either the base or apex is the broader by the use of S 

 ^^oho^ale, alone, or ,n combination with one of the terms above defined 

 Whatever definitions be adopted, at all events it is very desirable that 

 C^Tm""^^"''"^^ ^''^^'^^^ ""' ''''''''' **^''*" ^' P'-^«^"t existsJ-HENRY 



A KIMEN. 



Middlesex Plants.-Ou some waste ground near the new South 

 West India Docks I noticed last month (October) a very large quant v 

 ot Ader Inpoluan, both rayed and not rayed. On the same -round 

 occurred as introductions Scnecio vi^cosus and XcuUhium spim,un° The 

 latter is not given as a Middlesex plant in the published Flora of that 

 county I may also mention that in ISGfi I collected XantJdum Struma- 

 Ynrn^i Chelsea; the latest date in the Flora is 1746, and the plant is 

 'vi± I" 'P>-o'^^'Wy extinct." I have shown my speeimens to Dr. 



Trimen. — F. Naylor. 



ISOTE ON THE Supposed Cerastium pumili^m from Jersey (sec 

 arde, p. 199).-As Dr. Trimen has been kind enough to allow me to sec 

 some more specimens of the Craslinm which he gathered on the sand- 

 hills of Jersey, I think it may be as well to state here that, on a second 

 examma ion 1 have found no reason to change my former opinion, and I 

 believe the plant is lypieal C. Idramlrmn, not C. pnmilnm. So far as my 



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