198 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



beam is an Arctic tree, and I feel the greatest doubt whether 

 either belongs truly to the same period as the Arctic willows. In 

 each case the fruit is particularly hard and bony, and these fruits 

 are among the very few British species which might be washed out 

 of one bed and redeposited in another in a recognizable state. In 

 the Arctic Bed at Iloxne worn nuts of hornbeam, derived from 

 the underlying Temperate Bed, certainly occur ; but no temperate 

 plant- bed has yet been discovered beneath the Arctic Bed in the 

 Lea Valley. 



Oxyria digyna. This x\rctic and Alpine dock has nob pre- 

 viously been recorded fossil in England, although it occurs in one 

 of the silted-up lakes close to Edinburgh. 



Salix lapponum. This Arctic willow does not appear to have 

 been recorded as a fossil elsewhere in Britain ; it is common at all 

 four locahties in the Lea Valley, though the long slender leaves 

 are difficult to extract without injury. 



BATTAEEEA PHALLOIDES PEES. IN BEITAIN. 

 By John Eamsbottom, M.A., F.L.S. 



Since the pubUcation of my paper on Battarrea (p. 105) further 

 information has been obtained. In Withering's Botanical Ar- 

 rangement (ed. 2, iii, 448 (1792) ) it is named ''Phallus camvanulatus 

 (Woodward)" with the " EngUsh " name "bell-headed Morell." 

 "In the Phil. Trans, it is referred to the genus Lycoperdon, and 

 Mr. Dickson has introduced it . . . under the name of Lycop. 

 Phalloides ; but the distribution of the Fungi adopted in this work, 

 compels me to rank it as a Phallus^ Two localities additional to 

 those of Dickson are given — Earsham and Kirby, Norfolk — both 

 attributed to Woodward. In the third edition (iv, 376 (1796)) 

 Dickson's name — Lycoperdon Phalloides — is used. " Its habit, and 

 the mucilaginous matter between the coats of the wrapper had 

 induced me to rank it as a Phallus ; but in truth it is neither a 

 Phallus nor a Lycoperdon, but a sort of connecting link between 

 the two, and most probably forms a new Genus." No further 

 records are given. 



There is a letter (dated May 16th, 1844) in the Berkeley corre- 

 spondence in the National Herbarium from Phihp Erost, who was 

 gardener to Lord Grenville at Dropmore, relating to his discovery 

 of Battarrea. " Since I forwarded the specimen of Batarrea 

 phalloides to Sir W. J. Hooker, I have not discovered any more of 

 it, tho' about four years since, it was found in the same locahty : 

 the hollow part of an old ash tree, quite at the base, growing as it 

 were out of the earth, and decomposed wood. From the rarity of 

 the plant, and the general information you and Sir W. Hooker 

 wish to obtain, I will go frequent to the spot to see if I can gain 

 the information required, and forward it both to yourself and Sir 

 W. Hooker. It was from his work I traced what the plant was, 

 and seeing it was rare [this] induced me to forward the specimen 

 to him, which I am exceedingly glad I did, as Sir William seemed 



