352 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



J. balticus has been divided into several varieties. That which 

 occurs in North- West Europe is var. europaus Engelru., which 

 differs from the varieties mexicanus, columnar is, and montanus, 

 which occur in America, and from var. japonicus in Japan, in 

 having very short stamens, about half as long as the perianth 

 segments, with the anthers about equalling the filaments, and from 

 var. Hcsnkei (Japan, &c), which also has short stamens, in the 

 lanceolate perianth segments, all nearly equal in length, which 

 are slightly shorter than the mucronate capsule. 



COMMEMOEATION OF THREE ESSEX NATURALISTS. 



Rather more than a year ago Mr. Miller Christy noticed that 

 the tombs of John Ray and his friend and medical adviser, Dr. 

 Benjamin Allen, in Black Notley churchyard stood in need of 

 some repair and that there existed no memorial of their friend and 

 neighbour, Samuel Dale, of Braintree, author of the Pharmacologia 

 and editor of Taylor's History of Harwich. He accordingly got 

 up a subscription for these purposes, and the completion of the 

 work was celebrated by a joint meeting of the Essex Field Club 

 and the Braintree Educational Society at Black Notley and 

 Braintree on April 27th, 1912, at which the restored tombs were 

 inspected, a bronze memorial tablet to Dale was unveiled in 

 Braintree Parish Church, and a eulogy on the three naturalists 

 was delivered in the High School by Professor Boulger, a Past 

 President of the Essex Field Club, who has given considerable 

 attention to the lives of Ray and Dale. This eulogy, which 

 incorporates various biographical details that have come to light 

 since Professor Boulger published his life of Dale in this Journal 

 for 1883 (pp. 193 sqq.), has now been published in the Essex 

 Naturalist, as has also a " First and Final Report " on the 

 Commemoration Fund by Mr. Christy. This latter is illustrated 

 by five plates, viz. the tombs in Notley churchyard ; a view of 

 Dewlands, John Ray's home, taken shortly before it was burnt 

 in 1900 ; the Dale Memorial Tablet ; the Portrait of Ray in the 

 National Portrait Gallery ; and that of Dale at Apothecaries' Hall. 

 Both portraits were photographed direct from the originals ; and 

 it is interesting to observe how, owing to the liberties taken by 

 the engravers, the portrait of Dale, of which an autotype accom- 

 panied Professor Boulger's memoir in 1883, differs from the 

 photograph from the same original, which, by the courtesy of 

 Mr. Christy and the Essex Field Club, we reproduce as frontis- 

 piece. In the engraving the hat was omitted, as were also the 

 backs of the two books to the left of the figure, whilst the 

 expression is far more stern and forbidding. The present is 

 altogether a more pleasing presentment. 



Both Professor Boulger's eulogy and Mr. Christy's Report 

 contain a good deal of matter of biographical interest. It appears, 

 for instance, that the Jesus Chapel of Braintree Church, in which 



