45 



species. The fact, once fairly admitted, of such extensive variation 

 of a single species, must throw doubt upon thousands of supposed 

 species as they now stand recorded and described in books. 



Veronica officinalis (Linn.) var. — These specimens are distributed 

 in order to show a variation from the ordinary form of the capsule, 

 which is truncate or rounded at the summit, instead of being deeply 

 notched. In this state the plant becomes the link of connexion be- 

 tween the ordinary V. officinalis and the very dwarf variety known as 

 V. hirsuta, of Hopkirk. The specimens were collected on diy and 

 sandy ground, on St. George's Hill, near Weybridge, Surrey. Some 

 of them run pretty near the ordinary obcordate capsule of V. officinalis, 

 while others have the fruit completely obovate and entire. I have oc- 

 casionally seen the latter form of capsule on quite luxuriant plants, 

 though it is more usually found in those of stunted growth, and ap- 

 proximating more towards V. hirsuta. 



Aspidium angulare (8a.). — Mr. Thomas Moore sends a series of 

 examples, numbered 1 to 7, from the neighbourhood of Guildford. I 

 do not know why they are thus distinguished, but have placed them 

 for distribution in sets, of which there are eight or ten. Some other 

 varieties, such as Dr. Mateer's Plantago maritima, with very long 

 bracts, &c, &c, will sufficiently explain themselves, and need not de- 

 tain us. I have still some few things to mention which are more or 

 less doubtful. 



Hieracium maculatum (Sm.). — Mr. Bladon sends excellent speci- 

 mens of a plant labelled under this name from Pont-y-Pool, Mon- 

 mouthshire. They are doubtless examples of the plant which that 

 gentleman mentioned in the ' Phytologist ' lately (see Phytol. ii. 927) ; 

 and they have, as he stated, the radical leaves shrivelled or lost. 

 Such, however, is hardly the normal character of the species to which 

 they belong, namely, the H. vulgare of Fries. On walls, dry hedge- 

 banks, and such-like situations, the radical leaves fade early ; but in 

 the damper meadows and woods of the Highlands, and in the ordinary 

 soil of the gardens in Surrey, the radical leaves are persistent through 

 the summer. This difference may be readily seen in numerous 

 other plants ; for example, the common cereals, in dry and poor 

 ground, or in rich and damp soils. As various species of Hieracium 

 run into " maculatum " varieties, the name has not been kept in the 

 second edition of the ' London Catalogue.' For example, Hieracium 

 sylvaticum maculatum is H. vulgare of Fries, in part, and Hieracium 

 murorum maculatum is H. hypochceroides of Gibson ; Hieracium 

 Lawsoni maculatum has not acquired any other name on account of 



