SHORT NOTES 227 



SHORT NOTES. 



ScTLL.v CA^tPANULATA Ait. The postcrs issued on the Under- 

 ground Railway have long attracted attention for their artistic 

 qualities, and those representing wild ilowei-s have been universally 

 admired, not only on this ground, but on account o£ their scientific 

 accuracy. It was therefore with some surprise that I noted in a 

 recent picture of "Richmond Park" an admirably drawn group of 

 unmistakeable Scilla campanulata depicted as growing wild at the 

 foot of the trees, and I called the attention of the railway authorities 

 to the matter. They communicated with the artist, Mr. Tafani 

 whose agent replies that the plant "actually grew in Richmond Park ; 

 after making the sketch he [Mr. Tafani] plucked the flower and took 

 it home to his studio and made a detailed study " : the drawino- for 

 the poster was thus evidently not made in si fit. Mr. A. Oliver, the 

 agent in cpiestion, wdiose letter shows that he is not quite cm fait as 

 to the botanical aspect of the matter, writes : " You are of course 

 aware that there are many varieties of the Bluebell ; and I beg to 

 say that I have myself discovered this particular species fi-equentl}^ in 

 the West of England, and on occasions in damp spots in woods in 

 Middlesex." In answer to further inquiry Mr. Oliver wrote: "Con- 

 cerning the instance which I quoted of my having seen the Scilla 

 campanulata growing wild, I have a clear recollection of noticing 

 the plant growing in a very moist and moss}^ spot in a wood, whilst 

 waiting to shoot wood pigeons. I mention my errand on that occasion, 

 as although it may not be significant I have noted that in each 

 instance of my seeing this plant it was among trees in wliich wood- 

 pigeons were building, with one exception whei-e it was among willow- 

 trees which were full of starlings' nests. The instance mentior.el 

 above occurred off the road between Perranjwrth and Truro in the 

 county of Coi'nwall. The willow-trees' locality w^as a little village 

 called Northolt, in Middlesex ; and this is the one case in which the 

 plant was growing not very far from cultivated ground and flower- 

 gardens. I should not have been aware of the variety of this flower 

 had it not been jDointed out to me, when I was displaj'ing it to a 

 friend, as a fine specimen of a bluebell, believing it to be Scilla 

 autumnalis, as I have barely a nodding acquaintance with botany. 

 I also saw a specimen in some woods not far from Watford in Herts, 

 and in this case the woods were actually infested with wood-pigeons. 

 I believe I can trust my memory sufficiently to say that in each case 

 the flower has been in an isolated group of two or three." A West of 

 England record will be found in Journ. Bot. 1912, 216 — near Stoke 

 St. Mary, Somerset, where, in company with the late E. S. Marshall, 

 I found the plant in fair quantity over a small area in a hill copse, 

 associated with Melissa ojficinalis and a dark-red garden iovm of 

 Columbine.— James Bimtten. 



MoNOTROPA Hypopitys. Ou July 31st I was pointing out to 

 Mr. C. E. Salmon, who was staying here, a big colony of Tlelhhoms 

 atroviridis growing beneath some old beeches between the Wyndcliffe 

 and Tintern, when, to my surprise, I found two small specimens of 

 3Tonotropa Ilypopitys, which I had never seen on several 2:)revious 

 visits to the spot. It is, I believe, a new record for v.c. 35, not 

 being recorded in Watson's Top. Bot. or in the Supplement. A few 



