275 
know he looks upon Ray’s infallibility as only 
second to that of the Pope; and you and I, with- 
out thinking Ray so absolutely infallible as he does, 
may set him still higher than His Holiness in that 
point of view. 
I have little botanical news to tell you; but you 
will be glad to hear that Crowe found three speci- 
mens of Ophrys Loeselii on St. Faith’s Bogs this 
summer: they were far distant from the spot on 
which Pitchford found his, and Crowe left them 
untouched ; they were growing on the very wettest 
part of the bog, and actually in the water. Mr. Sole 
of Bath has found several on Hinton Moor near 
Cambridge, where Ray mentions their growing. 
Roots have been sent to Curtis and to Dickson, 
and are grown in Curtis’s and the Museum garden. 
I understand the full force of your expression 
“yveally new” in regard to Dickson’s Scotch disco- 
veries. I do not look upon it as very clear that all 
are so; but as he has the game entirely in his own 
hands, he must play it as he likes. I understand 
he has said he almost wishes he had never found 
them, as he finds such great difficulty in making 
them out to his satisfaction. I wish the discoveries 
do not more confuse than elucidate these difficult 
tribes of plants. I wish much to gaina knowledge 
of the Fuct, &c. which are at present very little 
known, and on which few authors have written; for, 
except Gmelin and Lightfoot, I know none from 
whom much information is to be gotten. In my 
late tour I stayed a day at Cromer for low water, 
but I found little there. The Ulva plumosa of 
T 2 
