SHORT NOTES 25 7 



unfertile flowers, 56 o£ which were on the main stem : all but one 

 of the lowest flowers on this stem were barren. When these j)lants 

 l^roduce so man}^ seeds it is strange that usually they appear at such 

 uncertain intervals and in such small quantities — often I believe 

 singh^, as in this case, or in twos and threes — on walls, banks and 

 waste places. This specimen had ten branches ; the longest was 

 3 ft. 6 inches, with 140 flowers ; five branches had about 80 flowers 

 each, four had 65 each, and a subsidiary one had 30 flowers : total 

 S30 flowers. Deducting 96 unfertile flowers, we arrive at a total of 

 734 capsules formed. I calculated that the capsules averaged 350 

 seeds each, which gives a total of over 250,000 seeds. Several of 

 the longest leaves, including those of the basal rosette, were 9 or 10 

 inches in length ; and 34 leaves were over five inches long. These 

 larger leaves were all crenate-lobate. The middle and upper leaves 

 tapered more and more. The flowers, opening very few at a time, 

 were an inch in diameter, pale cream with a suggestion of pink ; and 

 the two upper corolla-segments were invariably blotched with pale 

 purple at the back (I find no mention of this anywhere) * : it is 

 probably these two petals which give the purple-pink colour to the 

 flat buds. The filaments are clothed with beautiful purple hairs. 

 The pedicels were mostly longer than the calyx, solitar}^ and glandular 

 like the whole upper portion of the plant. There was another Mullein 

 a few yards oif in the grass — a stout, unbranched V. virgahim, with 

 bright 3^ellow blossoms 1\ inch across. The pedicels were more 

 fascicled, much shorter than the calyx, and more glandular than in 

 V. Blattaria. Besides the more densely flowered raceme the lower 

 leaves were quite different, being bluntly serrate, much less crenate, 

 not shiny, and lighter in colour, and the upper leaves were slightly 

 decurrent. In habit and colour this species is nearer V. nigrum. 

 The hairs of the filaments are purple in all three species, whereas in 

 V. Lychnitis they are whitish. — H. S. Thompso]N". 



EuGLEXA EUBEA TX Brttaix. I had gone out to get for Prof, 

 Bayley Balfour some Hydrocliaris JSIorsus-rancE which is found in a 

 pond just outside the Preston Borough Boundary, when I noticed that 

 the surface of the water was covered with a rusty scum. Some of this 

 was submitted to Professor G. S. West of Birmingham who writes, 

 " The organism is JEuglena rubra Hard}^ which has been found in 

 Central Europe and Australia : I cannot be certain of any British 

 records." The pond in question is one of a group, but the Evglena 

 was confined to that in which the Hydrocliaris is found, with the 

 excej^tion of one very small patch in a pond about six hundred yards 

 away : it is probable this has been carried there by moor-hens which 

 breed in these ponds. I shall be interested to hear if there are any 

 other British records. — W. Hy. Heath cote. 



Yaccixiu:^! IX LiNCOLXSiiTRE. A specics long believed to be 

 lost, Vaccinium Oxycoccos, was found again in the parish of Applebv 

 on June 19. Another species, which has never been recorded for 



* Since this note was written, I have seen in the Botanic Garden of the 

 University of Bristol a yellow-flowered Moth-Mullein with similar purple blotches 

 at the back of the two upper corolla- segments. 



