356 CHARLES CARDALE BABINGTON. [1862 



being placed in the chair of the section of Zoology and Botany. 

 But, although not in the position in which we would have placed 

 you, nevertheless you might perhaps come for a few days as a private 

 member of the Association. We want all eminent Cambridge men 

 to attend, and amongst these we place C. Darwin in the first class. — 

 Yours very truly, Charles C. Babington. 



To Professor J. H. Balfour, M.D. 



Cambridge, Bee. 9, 1862. 



Dear Balfour, — I find Lindsay's list of Iceland plants so imper- 

 fect and otherwise unsatisfactory {quoad Phanerogamia — I know 

 nothing of the Cryptogamia), that I am making collections of 

 materials for a new "Flora of Iceland." Are there any Icelandic 

 plants in the herbaria at Edinburgh ? Were Lindsay's collections 

 extensive, and what has he done with them 1 Are they at Edin- 

 burgh ? Unfortunately he does not mark in his list the plants that 

 he saw himself, and he is so Benthamian that many of them are 

 very doubtful. He seems but little acquainted with the works upon 

 northern botany, and has taken but little trouble to identify the old 

 plants, and has therefore made some rather curious blunders. I 

 mention this to shew to you that I have some excuse for attempting 

 a new Flora. Especially as I now have probably the best Icelandic 

 herbarium in Britain. I have discovered a valuable old list in the 

 British Museum, in MS., and unpublished. I intend to give all the 

 localities that I can obtain of the plants, and quote all the old lists 

 to which I gain access. I shall perhaps have a few notes on the 

 Eleocharis TFatsoni, to send to the Society now that I have seen 

 those in the new part of the Bot. Soc. Transactions. — Yours very 

 truly, Charles C. Babington. 



Shall I send a set of the papers given at our Natural Science 

 Examination for Honours now just finished ? 



To the same. 



Cambridge, Dec. 11, 1862. 



Dear Balfour, — Do you know anything of Lindsay's Icelandic 

 plants ? Has he given a set of them to the Botanical Society or to 

 you 1 Did he get many in Iceland ? Did he give duplicates of them 

 to the Botanical Society, and if so, can I obtain a set of those 

 duplicates ? I wish that you would take the opportunity of an early 

 meeting of the Botanical Society to state that I am particularly in 

 want of specimens of Isoetes, from as many different places as possible 

 (two from each place, — one for myself, and one for Gay, of Paris), 

 in Scotland or elsewhere. Could you learn what specimens there 

 are of Isoetes (either lacustris true, or echinospora) in the Botanical 

 Society and your own collections ? I might most probably be able 



