Miscellaneous. 145 



Forskjil, in his descriptiou of Animals of the East, pubUshed in 1/75, 

 in describing Helix lanthina, p. 127, observes : — " lantliina in vas- 

 culo aqua marina pleno, viva servata ; altero mane mortua, e labiis 

 proboscidis extrusit membrum globosum apice umbilicatum, h\-ali- 

 num, venis longitudinalibus, violaceis. In fundo vitri parvre arcnulcc 

 videbantur punicete ; quae microscopio inspectse, cochlese erant, matrem 

 testa simulantes, non colore ; cor pore quoque dispari ; nam ad uper- 

 turam duo vela transversa, subrotiaida, pilis tremvlis ciliata ; qui- 

 bus puUi hi remigabant : quiqvie sine dubio sobolcs erant niajoris 

 concliKj ; quvmi aqua aliis hospitibus non mixta fuerat. Quid ? quod, in 

 multis aliis vitris postea vidcrim lanthinas demittere tales conchulas, 

 matrem circumnatantes. Matricem in proboscide esse putaverim, 

 quum alia non apparuerunt ejus vestigia." In tab. 40. f. cQ, these 

 young lanthinoi with the two fins are well figured. His editor gives 

 no explanation of the figure, hence probably it has been overlooked. 

 — J. E. Gray. 



Notice of the occurrence of Eleocharis uniglumis, LinJi, near Black- 

 ness Castle, Linlithyowshire. By John T. Syme, Esq.* 



iVmong the ])lants recorded as British since the publication of the 

 Society's Catalogue in 1841, the Eleocharis vnighnnis. Link, is 

 mentioned in the second edition of the ' Manual of British Botany' as 

 having been found at " Aberdeen, Dr. Dickie, and Barvas, Isle of 

 Lewis." I have found it also in Mull and near Swanbister, Orkney, 

 but I am not aware that it has been noticed in this neighbourhood 

 until it was found in the botanical excursion made by Prof. Balfour 

 and his class on Saturday June 1st, 1850, when it was discovered 

 growing in a marsh to the east of Blackness Castle, Linlithgowshire. 



It is very probable that it is by no means a rare plant ; but as it is 

 similar in habit to E. multicaulis, I subjoin the characters by which 

 it may be distinguished both from that and from E. palustris, to 

 which it is in reality much more closely allied. 



In E. uniglumis the root is creeping quite as much as in E. pa- 

 lustris, while it is very slightly so in E. rnidticuulis, Avhich may be 

 easily pulled up by the hand. The glumes are acute with a venj 

 narrow membranaceous margin. Stigmas 2 ; " nut obovate obtuse, 

 rather compressed, shorter than the/oH?- bristles." [I have never seen 

 the perfect fruit myself, but give the characters from the Manual of 

 Brit. Bot. ed. 2. p.\'i4!), and Koch, Syn. Flor. Germ. ed. 2. p. 852.] 



In E. multicaulis the glumes are obtuse with a broad membrana- 

 ceous margin. Stigmas 3 ; nut oblong ovate, acutely triquetrous, as. 

 long as the G bristles. The sheaths of the stem are also much more 

 obliquely truncate than in E. uniglumis, in which they are nearly 

 transverse at the upper extremity. The nuts are of a darker colour 

 according to Koch. 



It must be confessed that E. uniglumis comes very near to E. pa- 

 lustris, which is however usually much larger and stouter ; but the 



* Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, July 11, 1850. 



