481 



nymous with the F. spatulata. Among the specimens of F. apiculata 

 (F. lutescens, Jord.) from the various localities, there is a close simi- 

 larity of general habit. This is less the case with those of F. spatu- 

 lata. The few of the latter species which I collected in a field of 

 oats near Chessington Church, Surrey, are remarkable for their more 

 upright and more regularly dichotomous growth, with narrower leaves. 

 Others from a wheat-field, near Walton-on-Thames, in the same county, 

 have a very spreading ramification, the branches being often horizon- 

 tal or even defiexed, and the leaves are in general much broader. 

 The specimens from Mr. Gibson are intermediate between these two 

 forms, and approximate more to F. canescens (the ordinary F. germa- 

 nica of authors) in their mode of branching. The distinguishing- 

 characters of the three apparent species may be found in the ' Phyto- 

 logist,' iii. 314. 



Anacharis Alsinastrum (Bab.). Only few specimens of this inte- 

 resting plant could be distributed in the spring of last year. It was, 

 however, mentioned in my notes (Phytol. ii. 41) under name of Udora 

 verticillata. Since that time it has become familiar to English bo- 

 tanists by name of Anacharis, although many of them may be still in 

 want of specimens ; which can now be sent to all members of the So- 

 ciety, from the liberal supply furnished by the Rev. A. Bloxara, col- 

 lected in the Reservoirs, Foxton Locks, near Market Harborough, 

 Leicestershire. The long and very slender stalk which raises the 

 flower above the surface, while the rest of the plant is wholly in the 

 water, appears so weak or fragile that many of the specimens will be 

 likely to reach their destination with the flowers broken off. Of 

 course the Anacharis could not be introduced into the second edition 

 of the 'London Catalogue,' which had been just printed when its dis- 

 covery was announced ; and it may therefore be worth while to men- 

 tion that it will form a third genus under the order of Hydrocharidaceae. 

 It is probable that few young botanists would unite the Anacharis, 

 Stratiotes, and Hydrocharis into one order, if they undertook to group 

 plants according to general resemblance ; yet the exigencies of the 

 so-called Natural System require this ; the system being, in fact, ar- 

 bitrary and conventional in many of its details, although truly founded 

 upon natural similitudes. Thus, even in the hands of that clever sys- 

 tematise Dr. Lindley, it is more forced and arbitrary in its details, 

 than with most other technical classifiers. 



Melilotus arvensis (Wallr.). The first announcement of this species, 

 as British, in the ' Phytologist, 1 iii. 344, was made on the authority of 

 specimens communicated to the Botanical Society of London, by Mr. 

 Vol. hi. 3 r 



