XIU 



at other times comes up in abundance and entirely covers the 

 pond. I have seen but few specimens of the plant in flower ; 

 of the two which were given to me by Miss Kirby, of Leicester 

 (who is a relative of Miss Kirby, of Lubbenham Lodge), I 

 sent one to the London Botanical Society, the other to Mr. 

 Babington : both were female plants, with the stigmas beauti- 

 fully plumose or fringed. Several of the specimens which I 

 collected had the peduncles of the flowers still remaining, 

 which were shortened or elongated (not in a spiral manner 

 like the Valisneria), according to the distance of that portion 

 of the stem, from whence they sprang, to the surface of the 

 water, but the whole of the germen was gone, and the bifid 

 sheaths seen in the flowering specimens were obliterated. It 

 is to be hoped that male flowers may be discovered next year, 

 and then it will doubtless be decided whether the plant is al- 

 together a new species, or identical with some of the American 

 forms." In conclusion, I may state that Reichenbach makes 

 two German species of the genus, and that Mr. Watson in- 

 forms me Dr. Planchon thinks he has detected three Ame- 

 rican species. The British plant will be likely to prove 

 identical with one of the German species. I have committed 

 an error at page 1050 in supposing the genus not Europaean. 

 Rubus /ruticosus, ^c, ii. 1049. Rubus still continues to be the 

 most fashionable genus of British plants : two accomplished 

 botanists, the Rev. Andrew Bloxam and the Rev. W. A. Leigh- 

 ton, have issued fasciculi of specimens in illustration of the 

 variations to which these polymorphous plants are liable. 

 My proposition of raising Rubi from seed, although at first 

 treated as irrelevant and chimerical, has obtained the serious 

 consideration of a botanist whose labours in the cause of the 

 bramble are already well known, and the result of whose 

 present experiment will appear in a future number of this 

 journal. 



