480 



rule, the large parcels are found to contain the worst specimens ; and 

 yet there is a brilliant exception to this rule, in the parcels from Mr. 

 French, which are both very good and very numerous in their contents. 



The number of specimens which it is necessary to place in the ca- 

 tegory of mis-labelled plants, I am happy to say, is yearly decreasing; 

 and the errors are chiefly found in the parcels of recently-admitted 

 members, or of those botanists who contribute without being mem- 

 bers of the Society. Moreover, the false labels now usually belong 

 to allied species which have been confused together by authors, or to 

 forms not always recognized as species. For example, it will excite 

 no surprise that specimens of Prunus avium should have been label- 

 led with the name of Prunus Cerasus, and by a good botanist, or that 

 the specific names of the Lastraeas should have been crossed and mis- 

 applied. 



In the latter of my two categories, I included such varieties and 

 recently-discovered species as are not yet included in the ' London 

 Catalogue of British Plants,' in or by which the members mark their 

 desiderata ; as also, any other plants of doubtful name, or requiring 

 some special explanation. It is for the purpose of giving an expla- 

 natory notice respecting some of the specimens belonging to this se- 

 cond lot or selection, that I now seek to address the members of the 

 Botanical Society, through the pages of the ' Phytologist.' I shall 

 myself put up these specimens into packets, as far as their numbers 

 will extend, and mark the several packets 1, 2, 3, &c, in a series up 

 to 50 or 60, according to the fullness of their contents. The distri- 

 butors in London will determine with whom, of the many contributors 

 in 1848-9, the greater and earlier claims for them may rest. The 

 Anacharis Alsinastrum and recently-distinguished species of Filago 

 will be the only novelties, of which some duplicates will still remain 

 over and above the fifty or sixty packets. 



Filago canescens (Jord.), F. apiculata (G. E. Sm.), and F. spatulata 

 (Presl.). All three of these having been heretofore included together, 

 under the collective or general name of Filago germanica, I gathered 

 a copious supply of each, in my own neighbourhood, in Surrey, in 

 order that their distinctions should be rendered more clear and satis- 

 factory, through all three being presented to the eye at once, with 

 correct labels. Mr. E. G. Varenne also sent many examples of F. 

 apiculata, collected at Kelvedon, in Essex ; and Mr. J. W. Salter 

 added a few others, labelled from Redneck Heath, Thetford, on the 

 authority of Mr. C. C. Babington. To Mr. G. S. Gibson the Society 

 was indebted for a large supply of F. Jussiaei (Coss.), which is syno- 



