HYDRILLA VERTICILLATA IN BRITAIN 173 



used on account of its being a place-name, and for this reason also 

 replaces lithuanica by crispa. As this does not seem a valid 

 reason for displacing the original name, I used the name H. verti- 

 cillata var. pomeranica (Eeichb.) in Eep. Bot. Soc. and Exch. Club, 

 1914, 22, 1915. 



In recently examining the Du Bois Herbarium at Oxford my 

 attention was attracted to a specimen labelled " A. Stellar ia 

 aquatica fol. longissimus . . . from Mr. Stonestreet." Eev. W. 

 Stonestreet, of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, who died in 1716, was a 

 correspondent of Petiver, Plukenet, and Buddie. His large collec- 

 tion, mostly British and for the greater part without locahties, 

 came into the possession of Charles Du Bois, of Mitcham, and 

 passed into the possession of the East India Company, of which 

 body he was treasurer, by whom it was eventually presented to 

 Oxford. 



The point of interest in this specimen lies in the chance of its 

 being English. In its favour is the prefixed letter "A" (Anglia), 

 which Stonestreet used to designate his English specimens, and 

 that the plant is not identical with the common Indian variety 

 Roxburghii. Against this is the fact that it is also not the same 

 form as the Esthwaite plant, nor indeed quite like the Lithuanian 

 form, and it has evident flowers which I think have not been 

 found on the European specimens. Stonestreet may have obtained 

 his plant from Petiver or Plukenet, who had correspondents in 

 India, but the fact of its being represented in an herbarium of so 

 early a date (circa 1700) is itself of distinct interest. 



AN OVERLOOKED IRISH BOTANIST. 

 By James Britten, F.L.S. 



The revision of our Biographical Index of British and Irish 

 Botanists has resulted in the exclusion from the material for the 

 second edition of a considerable number of names which, on more 

 thorough investigation than was formerly extended to them, 

 appear to be scarcely entitled to a place therein. The exclusion 

 has been conducted in no narrow spirit : the principles which 

 have actuated it will be fully set forth in the introduction to the 

 second edition, and there is therefore no need to discuss them 

 here. 



Among those whose claims were called in question was 

 Andrew Caldwell (1733-1808), a Dublin barrister of whom a 

 brief account is given in Diet. Nat. Biogr. viii. 247. In this there 

 is nothing to show that he was interested in botany or, indeed, in 

 anything save his profession ; and although the note in our hidex 

 indicated that he was a correspondent of Sir J. E. Smith and a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society, these would hardly justify his 

 insertion in our new edition. On looking up the reference to 

 Smith's Letters, however, it was evident that Caldwell was well 



