202 Dr. SuiVHs Obfcrvations on 



it is referred, I now perceive the impofllbility of deciding whether 

 it may or may not be the M. aquatlca exig/ia of Tragus ; but I think 

 his figiu'e, as well as that of Lobel, much more hke arvenfis, and the 

 figure in Fuchfius, p. 291, is mod probably ^r^c/V/j. Dillenius there- 

 fore has been too heedlefs in his fele6tion of fynonyms here as in 

 many other inftances. The fpecimcns he had in contemplation are 

 in the Shcrardian colleftion j and as his error has caufed much 

 trouble to following botanifts, they merit a particular defcription. 



In the firfl: place we find the M, gracilis (M. gentilis Engl. Bot. 

 i, 449^), with a ticket maiked, in the hand of Dillenius if I miftakenot, 

 *' M. verticilhita gl.ibra, odore Menthce fativar — It muft be remem- 

 bered that by M. fativa he means the Linnasan viridis. To this 

 Sherard has added : " M. hortenfn quarta. Dod. Angl. 245. M. au' 

 gtiJlifoUa glabra, odore Mentha fpicata^ D. Dak. In the hop-ground 

 at Bocking plentifully." 



In the fame ftieet of paper with this is Buddie's and Francis Dale's 

 plant, the imaW fativa, the leaves of which are not fmooth. It is in- 

 fcribed *' found by Mr. Buddie in company with Mr. Francis Dale 

 fen. by the fide of the new river near the upper end of Stoke New- 

 ington." 



With them, in the fame paper, is a third fet of 3 fpecimens parted 

 on one iTieet, marked, " obferved by Mr. Francis Dale jun. by the 

 brook down Lordlhip-lane near Stoke Newington." This has nearly 

 fmooth leaves, and does not materially differ from the firft fpecimea 

 in this fheet, gracilis. The calyx is only rather more conftridfed. 



By the remark of Dillenius in the Synopfis, " foliis glabris et an- 

 gufl:ioribus a priori (M. arvenfi) differt," it appears beyond a doubt 

 the plant he intended in that article, p. 232. «. 2, was this gracilis^ 

 with which he confounded Buddie's fpecimen. No one would be 

 juftified in fuppofing a man of Dillenius's chara<Ster and merit could 



make 



?••' 



