February igtJi,igoi?[ PROCEEDINGS. xix 



Berwickshire," as the northern limit for this diminutive form of 

 the type. Wirtgen describes it as occurring in the valley of the 

 Sayn, and in the ditches which run into it, between Sayn and 

 Isenberg, and also as not being scarce in the valley of the Alf. 

 In the third edition of "W. D, J, Koch's Synopsis der deutschen 

 und schweizer Flora" Vol. I., p. 27 (Leipzig, 1890) it is reported 

 as growing in the Rhine at Schaffhausen, Coblenz, Ladenburg, 

 &c. 



My conclusions respecting this plant accord with Wirtgen's 

 later view of it, namely, that the differences between it and the 

 type are merely comparative. In the Eye Water at Ayton many 

 of the stems of freely-flowering examples were from six to eighteen 

 inches long, varying with the depth of the water in which they 

 grew. At a point above the weir at Ayton Law, a water sluice 

 runs from the river to feed the paper mill at Ayton, and in this 

 sluice of swiftly-running water the plant, while still retaining its 

 slender habit and small-sized flowers, produced leaves three to 

 four inches, and stems five or six feet, in length. I gathered the 

 same form, 17th July, 1900, but slightly more robust, in the 

 River Tweed on the Northumberland side of the river, at Wark, 

 opposite Coldstream ; and the range of examples now exhibited 

 shews that there are all intermediates between the diminutive 

 form collected at Ayton in the north, and the nine or ten feet 

 plant of the New Forest in the south. 



The plants which Wirtgen distributed many years ago from 

 the Rhine Provinces included examples of this plant, but in my 

 set it was missing. By the kindness of Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill 

 I am able to exhibit some sheets of Wirtgen's collecting, which 

 were in Syme's herbarium of continental plants, now in Mr. 

 Melvill's possession. 



It may be as well to put on record that Minmlus Itiietis, Linn., 

 is established along the course of the Eye Water, and, although 

 it is a poor bramble district, I added two species to the county 

 during my visit, viz. : Rubus Rogersii, Linton, and Riibus radula, 

 Weihe. 



