146 



Carex riparia and C. paludosa. By Wm. A. Bromfield, M.D. 



Besides the characters commonly assigned in books for the discri- 

 mination of these two closely allied but very distinct species, there is 

 another, which, as far as my own experience goes, is of equal stability 

 with those formerly noted. In C. riparia the connectivum of the 

 anther is produced into a small but very distinct awn-like point, 

 which is either entirely obsolete, or reduced to an extremely minute 

 apiculus in C. paludosa, a difference which, though not verbally 

 noticed, is accurately expressed in the admirable figures of these spe- 

 cies in Curtis's ' Flora Londinensis.' The anthers of some Carices, as 

 C. laevigata and C. binervis, are spinulose at the tips. This circum- 

 stance, and the above instance of the production of the connectivum 

 into a subulate point, may 'possibly be found capable of affording good 

 discriminating marks, as the latter certainly appears to do with regard 

 to the species in question. 



W. A. Bromfield. 



Eastmount, Hyde, Isle of Wight, 

 May 9th, 1848. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



Friday, May 5, 1848.— John Edward Gray, Esq., F.R.S., &c, 

 President, in the chair. 



Francis Brent, Esq., of Liverpool, was elected a member. 



Donations to the library were announced from the Horticultural 

 Society of Berlin, and Mr. T. W. Barlow. 



British plants had been received from Mr. James Lynam. 



Mr. T. H. Goulding read a paper " On the Botany of Devon and 

 Cornwall."— G. E. D. 



Further report of Experiments on the Cowslip and Oxlip. 

 By Hewett C. Watson, Esq. 



In the pages of the ' Phytologist ' for June of last year, I reported 

 the results, incompletely shown at that time, of two additional experi- 

 ments, made with a view to ascertain the extent of variation which 

 will occur among plants raised from seeds of the cowslip or oxlip. 



