50 THE JOUEXAL OF BOTANY 



specimens also growing Avith E. pnhisfris on wet clayey ground on 

 ledges in sliding cliffs in the Isle of Wight. This is said to be the 

 variety densiflora, and the Anglesey plants certainly came very near 

 the description of this variety, the spike being dense, the spur con- 

 siderably shorter than in the type, hardly exceeding 1 cm. in length, 

 and the scent slightly different from that of Cflnc>y7,?e«, with an element 

 of clove in it. The leaves, however, were quite narrow. 



Spiranthes autumnalis grows in England, usually on dry hilly 

 pastures on limestone or chalk, in late August and early September. 

 It is abundant in Switzerland on grassy slopes at the foot of the 

 Hardre, near the lake of Brienz. In the south of France, however, it 

 grows in dry woods on siliceous soil, and, strange to say, it is taller 

 and more robust. It also occurs in Malta, where it flowers in Sep- 

 tember and October. At first sight it seems strange that it should 

 flower later in a station so far south, but it has to wait for the heat of 

 summer to moderate, and for the autumn rains. Perhaps the most 

 striking example of wide variety of habitat is Epijyaciis afropur- 

 piirea Raf. {E. ruliginosa Grand., E. ovalis Babington), which is 

 normally found in shady borders of woods or in clearings. Its hand- 

 some flowers are often seen along the wood-sides in Switzerland, but 

 it also occurs in great numbers on sand-dunes along the coast of the 

 Continent, and in the Tyrol it is found growing at the height of 

 6000 feet. In the mountains it is generally found on chalk, often in 

 di-y barren localities. In Great Britain it is almost entirely confined 

 to bare limestone rocks, growing in the full blaze of the sun, where the 

 soil is of the scantiest. It aj^pears to be equally at home in the 

 I'ich soil and sheltered shade of woods, the parched dryness of ex])osed 

 limestone, and the sandy barrenness of coastal dunes — a curious 

 example of adaptability to such diverse conditions of light, heat, 

 moisture, soil, and elevation. It is strange that a plant so easily 

 satisfied should be so rare in Britain, and should practically confine 

 itself to one out of its three different varieties of habitat. It is still 

 more remarkable that an orchid which is found under such extremely 

 different conditions should show such a very small nyige of varia- 

 tion, this being restricted to differences of size, and of the colour of 

 the flowers. Tliis seems to .show^ that great caution is required in 

 accepting the theory that great ranges of variation can be explained 

 bv mere differences of soil and situation. 



AN AVERTED CALAMITY. 



During the past month the learned and scientific world has 

 l)een deeply stirred by the astonishing announcement that the Air 

 Ministry proposed to take over the British Museum, both at Blooms- 

 bury and South Kensington, for purposes connected with the War. 

 The perpetration of this "outrage," as one of the weekly reviews 

 called it — and we do not think the expression too strong, — was pro- 

 ])osed, it would seem, in entire ignorance of what such a proceeding 

 would involve from a scientific standpoint, and without any considera- 



