346 8H0BT NOTES. 



necessary to aay that of the figures whicli can be identified, some 

 certainly represent portions of the epidermis, one is a Foramini- 

 fer, and another a Sponge-spicule I The whole is utterly untrust- 

 worthy. It Rcarc(>ly, however, reijuired such a barefaced imposition 

 as this plate to discredit the observations, if what is stated in the 

 " American Journal of Microscopy" for August is to be believed, i.e., 

 that the whole thing wasan advertisement got up by dealers in artificial 

 manure, and that translated it reals thus : " If you want good crops 

 buy our finely-divided silica." In a well-timed article in the last- 

 mentioned journal, in which it is shown that only one of the Diatoms 

 figured belongs to the exclusively marine deposit with which the field 

 was manured, the author expresses the regret of Americans that the 

 foremost scientific joui'nal of the country " should have lent its aid 

 to the propagation of such nonsense." 



HoLOTHRix Vatkeana ; ultra pedalis, gracilis, tuberidiis oblongo- 

 ovoideis, foliis geminis heraistratis a basi rotundata oblongis acntis, 

 racemo sparsifloro plurifloro quaqueverso, bracteis triangulo-semi- 

 lanceis, peiigonio conniventi, sepalis triangulis, tepalis ligulatis por- 

 rectis plus diiplo longioribus, labello ad medium tritido laciuiis lineari- 

 bus, calcari couico amplo apice gracili incurvo, ovarium dimidium vix 

 sequante. Polia, pedunculum, bracteae, ovaria pilosa, perigonia 

 calva. — This is the tallest of all now known species of the genus, 

 growing more than a foot long. The leaves nearly cover a shilling- 

 piece. The flowers are twice as great as that of its nearest ally, 

 Holothrix gracilis, Lindl., which has a different spur, thick leaves, 

 etc. It grows in Somali Land, at Meod, in the territory of Serrut, at 

 an elevation of 1800 ft., on limestone, under shrubs (Hildebrandt, no. 

 1465). It is a pleasure to me to dedicate this species to Dr. Vatke, 

 of Berlin, a most ardent botanist. — K. G. Reichenbach til. 



IsNARDiA PALUSTKTS, Limi. — With regard to Mr. J. C. Melvill'snote 

 in last month's "Journal of Botany " (p. 309), I may say that in 

 August, 1874, I very carefully searched the Brockenhurst station- 

 without finding the plant. In 1873 Mr. Beeby and myself did the 

 same at Peterstield Heath, but unsuccessfully. Mr. W. W. Reeves 

 for several years has looked for it at Buxted without success, but 

 has what he thinks may be a very small specimen without flower or 

 fruit, gathered from there within the last year or so. In July, 1 874, 

 Dr. F. A. Lees gathered a few specimens in St. Peter's Marsh, Jersey. 

 There is yet another station mentioned by Dr. Bromficld in the old 

 series of the " Phytologist," vol. iii., p. 1098, in a foot-note to Leersia 

 oryzoides, in which he describes it as trailing on the damp soil, 

 flowering and fruiting freely in plenty, with Pcplis Portula and 

 Helosciadinm inundatuin. This station I also carefully looked for in 

 1874, and here I think the plant may again be found, but it has pro- 

 bably not been gathered since August 23, 1849. — A. Bennett. 



Crocus nudiflortjs. — The enclosed specimen was gathered on the 

 7th October in a hilly pasture-field just below Wolstanton Church, 

 about a mile from Ncwcastle-under-Lyme. At ilichaelmas there was 

 no appearance of the plant ; the growth must be very rapid, as by 



