FLOWERING PLANTS. on 
The whole of the preceding Batrachian Ranunculi are consi- 
dered as forming a single species by Mr. Bentham ;* and Dr. Walker 
Arnott is apparently inclined to take the same view, although he 
gives specific descriptions of six. Is not this carrying the idea of 
super-species to an extreme length? For example: between 
Ri. circinatus and any of the other species there is not to be seen 
a single intermediate form (which could give an excuse for linking 
them together), among many hundred specimens of Batrachia from 
all parts of the world, contained in the Hookerian Herbarium. 
By intermediate forms I here intend those which a practised eye 
would feel some hesitation in referring to either of two allied 
species or sub-species, — such as we find amongst the fruticose 
Rubi and Hieracia. 
Scs-Grenus II.—EU-RANUNCULUS. 
Sepals and petals 5, the latter usually with a scale over the 
nectary. Style short. Carpels without distinct transverse ridges. 
Land or marsh plants, with the leaves very seldom divided into 
capillary segments. Stipules inconspicuous, adnate. Peduncles 
not reflexed after flowering, usually terminal, and arranged in an 
irregular cyme. Petals yellow in the British species. 
SPECIES VIII—RANUNCULUS SCELERATUS. Lim. 
Puate XXVITI. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. IIT. Ran. Tab. XI. Fig. 4598. 
Stem erect, branched, thick and hollow, furrowed. Lower leaves 
stalked, reniform or pentagonal in outline, 3-cleft, with lobed seg- 
ments, lobes crenated. Upper leaves nearly or quite sessile, tripar- 
tite; segments tripartite, elliptical, or strap-shaped, nearly entire. 
Petals little longer than sepals. Nectary without a scale. Head 
of fruit oblong or oblong-ovoid, closely packed. Achenes small, 
very numerous, slightly compressed, their sides faintly transversely 
wrinkled in the middle, with a furrow on the back instead of a keel, 
and an extremely minute apiculus at their apex. Receptacle nar- 
rowly oblong, slightly hairy. 
In muddy ditches and wet places. Common throughout Britain, 
though it becomes less frequent in the northern part of the kingdom. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual or Biennial. 
Summer and Autumn. 
* Since this paragraph was written, the first number of the illustrated edition of 
Mr. Bentham’s Handbook has appeared, and in it he recognizes R. hederaceus (including 
hederaceus and Lenormandi) as a species distinct from R. aquatilis, 
