78 



mens so named in the herbarium of the Linnean Society. At the 

 present moment I am also sending to Mr. Watson for his inspection 

 ordinary examples of that common plant which I have figured and 

 described under the name of Equisetum fluviatile. I shall feel much 

 obliged to Mr. Watson if he will state in an early number of the 'Phy- 

 tologist,' whether he considers the Linnean specimens and those of 

 the common London plant which I have sent him, are or are not in- 

 dividuals of one and the same species ? 



Believing that Mr. Watson will at once decide that the specimens 

 in question belong to the same species, and will with his usual 

 candour give the public the benefit of his decision, I will venture on 

 a second question. Knowing that a discrepancy has not unfrequently 

 been detected between descriptions and the specimens to which they 

 are supposed to refer, I would ask Mr. Watson whether he detects 

 any discrepancy between the descriptions and specimens of Linneus 

 in the present instance that induce any doubt as to their perfect ac- 

 cordance ? 



Supposing that Mr. Watson's answers favour my view of this sub- 

 ject, I shall consider it worth while to point out what I believe to be 

 an original error on the part of Fries, and a copied error on the part 

 of Mr. Babington ; but on the other hand, supposing Mr. Watson 

 answers my questions in the negative, I shall not presume to trouble 

 the readers of the 'Phytologist' with any further remarks upon the 

 subject. 



Edward Newman. 



Peckham, February 25, 1848. 



Botanical Extracts from James Backhouse's Visit to the Mauritius, 



fyc. 



Signal Mountain. — " The soil of this narrow, basaltic ridge is good, 

 and produces grass and bushes, with many beautiful plants, some of 

 which have originally belonged to other countries, but have become 

 naturalized, Here we gathered an elegant fern, Adiantum rhizopho- 

 rum, growing in the crevices of the rocks. The facility with which 

 plants establish themselves in such a climate and soil, renders it dif- 

 ficult to distinguish between those originally native and those intro- 

 duced. Among the latter is Omocarpum sennoides, the plant pro- 

 ducing the little, scarlet, bead-like peas with black ends, often seen 



