50 SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES. 



represents a striking specimen of the arborescent Aloe of ^atal. Mr. 

 Sanderson's sketch was made in 1869 near Verulam. In a letter to 

 Dr. Hooker, dated July 17, 1874, which I have been allowed to see, 

 Mr. Sanderson remarks ; — " This is the one which I imagine has now 

 been named Bainesii. I found one near Dr. Calloway's, Springvale, 

 Upper Umkomas, and also near Bishopstowe, near Maritzburg, 2000 ft. 

 or more above the sea, apparently identical with the Verulam one, 

 which was not 100 feet above the sea, and only 5 or 6 miles from it." 

 I collected together in the " Gardeners' ChrQnicle," for May 2, 1874, 

 all the information I could get access to with respect to the S. African 

 Tree- Aloes. I was then of opinion that the Kaffrarian Tree- Aloe was 

 sufficiently distinct from the Natal one to allow both to be maintained 

 as separate species. Having, however, watched the growth of a 

 small branch sent home by Mr. Baines, I find that the crowded 

 arrangement of the leaves into a rosette in the Natal plant has 

 gradually disappeared, and from this and a general change in the 

 aspect of the plant, I now see no reason to doubt that the Tree-Aloes 

 of the east side of South Africa belong to only one species. For this 

 I propose (see ''Nature," Dec. 3, 1874, pp. 89—91) to retain the 

 name of Aloe Barlerm, and Aloe Bainesii will, therefore, become a 

 synonym of this. — W. T. Thiselton Dyer. 



Ulleriore, a "Water- Weed. — '* Moreover, Moray contains a lake of 

 fresh water denominated Spynie, greatly frequented by swans, in 

 which there is a certain uncommon herb with which the swans are 

 greatly allured ; we call it * the ulleriore ' ; it is moreover of this 

 kind, that when it hath fully established its roots, it spreads itself so 

 widely, that, in my memory, it hath extended its basis so far as to 

 have rendered five miles of the lake itself of Spynie, where salmon 

 formerly abounded, altogether shallow." — The above is a translation 

 given in the ''Agricultural Survey of the Province of Moray," from 

 the History of Scotland of John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, 1578. I do 

 not find any reference to the quotation in Mr. Gordon's " Collectanea 

 for a Flora of Moray" of 1839 (where, however, Spynie is frequently 

 mentioned), nor is there anything in this list that I can fix upon or 

 suggest as the plant meant. — F. M. Webb. 



Cyprtpedium Calceoltjs, Linn. — In 1873 this rare plant was dis- 

 covered by the clergyman of the parish in some plenty in one of the 

 many rocky well-wooded magnesian limestone denes of Durham. 

 As I myself saw in 1872, trees and underwood were being ex- 

 tensively cut down ; and this fact furnishes the reason of its sudden 

 appearance. "Like Epipactis, it seems to lie dormant in shade and 

 only springs up when the sun gets to the ground," and I feel 

 satisfied that it is really native. Quite independent of the above 

 discovery, this year. (1874) Cypripedinm was also gathered in another 

 Durham dene, some miles further to the north, by Mr. John Cameron ; 

 and upon his second visit to the spot with Mr. E. C. Robson, 

 "seventeen plants were observed, not together but distributed; 

 occasionally, however, in clumps of six or eight." This second locality 

 was " a truly wild and out of-the-way spot ... in a ravine, thickly- 

 wooded and steep on the southern side, but less abrupt on the northern 



