875 



Supposing the specific identity of these two to be made certain, and 

 necessarily admitted by botanists, we might question twenty thou- 

 sand other presumed species. The English name " oxlip " is incor- 

 rectly given to the Primula elatior {Jacq.) ; for English rustics intend 

 the umbel-bearing varieties of P. vulgaris by that name. 



In Euphorbia we have a change which seems more likely to in- 

 crease than to remove error and confusion. The two names of 'stricta' 

 and ' platyphylla ' are both adopted ; the former for the Monmouth- 

 shire species, and the latter for the ordinary corn-field species. But 

 the corn-field plant having been figured in ' English Botany,' and 

 described by Smith, under name of stricta, the application of the 

 same name to a different species was far from advisable. And it is 

 contrary to the author's practice in other very similar instances ; for 

 he rejected Don's name of Alchemilla argentea, and substituted that 

 of Alchemilla conjuncta {Bah.) instead, on the ground that the for- 

 mer name had been applied before (although improperly) to A. al- 

 pina {Linn.). Is it not equally true that the name of " stricta " had 

 been before applied to E. platyphylla ? 



Parietaria officinalis {L.) is divided into P. erecta {Koch) and P. 

 diffusa {Koch). In this, and numerous similar cases, it really appears 

 the more judicious course to sink an earlier name which includes two 

 or more species, and may be applied indifferently to either. But we 

 think it fair and proper to remind the author of the Manual, that he 

 is himself here following Koch in a course very similar to that in 

 which he refuses to follow Newman ; whose specific names for the 

 Lastraeas h'e rejects, although proposed on the only sufficient reason 

 which can be assigned by Koch for discarding the name of P. o ffici- 

 nalis ; that is, its applicability alike to several species. 



In Potamogeton, contrary to expectation, we find the species 

 standing nearly as in the former edition. P. compi-essus (" L.") is 

 recognized for a species apart from P. pusillus, which is probably a 

 correct view. In the former edition two forms of Zostera marina 

 were slightly mentioned ; and a third is now added, the addition of 

 which renders their characters less apparently clear on paper. All 

 three are now described for species, as before intimated. 



Eleocharis uniglumis {Link) is an added species, stated to have 

 been found by Dr. Dickie, in Aberdeenshire ; also in the isle of 

 Lewis. This species so closely resembles the E. multicaulis {Smith), 

 as to suggest the possibility, if not probabihty of their identity. The 

 essential distinction is found in the three stigmas of Smith's species, 

 and we have occasionally only been able to detect two in dried spe- 



