ERICA CARNEA, LINN., GATHERED IN DEVON. 137 
Heaths, being deficient in several of those comprised in our flora, I 
made known my wants to Mr. T. E. Archer Briggs, who was so very 
kind as to supply from his own collections, and obtain from Mr. J. G. 
Baker, specimens of all those I did not possess, including the Hiber- 
nian E. mediterranea. 
This latter is one of our critical plants. Considered by Mr. Beutham 
as identical with the Continental species of that name, it was distin- 
guished by him, in his monograph of the genus written for De Can- 
dolle's Prodromus, as a var. occidental* of E. car, tea, L., passing by 
numerous intermediate forms into the type ; but in his < Handbook of 
the British Flora,' he no longer separates it as a variety. Bertoloni 
t 1. Ital. iv. p. 331), after examination, considers it as quite distinct from 
& cornea, and equally so, it would seem, though he does not say so 
tot idem verbis, from the Continental S. mediterranea. In the eighth 
edition of Hooker and Arnott's 'British Flora,' it is distinguished as 
a var. Eibernica of the latter, whilst Professor Babington calls it E. me- 
i erranea, with a query as to its being Linnaeus's species. Professor 
Vis;ani (Fl. Dalni. ii. p. 143) admits both E. carnea and E. mediter- 
rauea (quoting under the latter Bentham's E. carnea /3. occidental*), 
and discriminates them by characters which, partly at least,— as for 
'"stance the acute or obtuse sepals, and the simple or bifid stigma, 
seem imaginary. Mr. H. C. Watson, whose opinions, being never 
nastily pronounced, are of great weight, writes (Cybele Brit. ii. 149), 
* Strangely enough, Mr. Bentham unites the Irish species with E. 
probably through looking only at herbarium specimens, which 
are much alike; although, in a living state, the whole habit of growth 
ie two species, as well as their climatal requirements, are widely 
dissimilar." Bertoloni, Visiani, and Grenier, all distinguish E. meO- 
vranea by its erect habit, as contrasted with the spreading, diffuse 
n>ode of growth of E. carnea ; and Nyman (Sylloge Fl. Eur. 3 14) 
& lv 'es the distribution of the two plants as follows : 
E. carnea.— Switzerland, Austria, Germany (Alps, Ratisbon, Silesia), 
Italy (Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, Rome), Dalmatia, Croatia, 
Hungary, Transylvania, Greece. 
E - ^diterraaea. —Ireland, France (Gironde), Spain (Arragon, Ga- 
licia), Portugal; — omitting Dalmatia, probably through over- 
sight. 
st * carnea is a mountain plant, preferring subalpine localities, 
carrwa 
