370 CHARLES CARDALE BABINGTON. [1872—73 



understood to have sown many plants at Hinton, although very few 

 of them seem to have remained ; and I think that the Siler will not 

 remain much longer. You will see that the poor old Master of 

 Emmanuel College is dead : we wonder much if Fuller or Phear 

 will succeed him. — Yours very truly, Charles C. Babington. 



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



5, Brookside, Cambridge, March 5, 1872. 



Dear Balfour, — The quotation is correct. Colonel Brown's 

 remarks are in " Magazine of Natural History " (Charlesworth) i., 

 447, at foot of page. This is M.N.H. Ser. 2. I hope that you 

 may succeed in finding some of the arctic forms of Betula in 

 the Highlands. I fully expect it, especially B. intermedia. I am 

 not bringing out a new edition of the " Manual " just yet, although 

 I have gone over most of the present edition with the view to be 

 ready whenever one is wanted. I think that you must look on the 

 high parts of the mountains — in such places as B. nana loves — for 

 the B. intermedia, and other arctic species. They might easily pass 

 for stunted forms of the usual Birches, but present a look very 

 different, if attended to. We join in the kindest regards to Mrs. 

 Balfour and yourself. — Yours very truly, Charles C. Babington. 



To the same. 



Kelly's Hotel, Roundstone, co. Galway, Sept. 12, 1873. 



Dear Balfour, — I am exceedingly obliged to you for the informa- 

 tion which you gave me about the locality of Erica ciliaris. The 

 day before yesterday we spent several hours in a very careful 

 inspection of the ground on both sides of the road, and some little 

 way (as far as I could well get) back from it, every rocky bank, 

 and all turf banks, for at least one-and-a-half miles along the road 

 near Craigie More. I could not find the least trace of that heath, 

 nor indeed did I see any spot which seemed to me at all likely to 

 produce it. There is plenty of E. Mackaiana scattered along the 

 road-side, and the less wet spots, back from the road on both sides. 

 The more I see of this heath, the more convinced I am that it is 

 quite distinct from E. Tetralix. I think it is our most beautiful 

 heath. Neither do I in the least believe that it is a hybrid. If 

 E. ciliaris had been very abundant there, and also E. Tetralix (which 

 although there, is very scarce), there might have been some excuse 

 for the idea. But every thing is a " hybrid " now, if it causes any 

 trouble to systematists in their studies and herbaria, and if there is 

 the faintest excuse for considering it as one. I really do not know 

 what to make of this matter about E. ciliaris. I am told that there 



is a specimen at Dublin ; but if in our friend collection, 



I should place no trust in it ; for he was of the old inaccurate school. 



I 



