530 



Pamplin in New Bot. Guide Suppl., the only mainland station I find 

 recorded by others, nor have I noticed it myself, being so common on 

 this side of the Solent, as scarcely likely to draw my attention when 

 seen, being, moreover, a rather inconspicuous plant when not in 

 flower. The deep violet blossoms, which are produced here from the 

 early part of May till August, open only in clear weather, and in 

 many instances, perhaps in most of the earlier flowers, the corolla is 

 either wanting or does not open at all, the seed being, notwithstand- 

 ing, perfected as usual. I had long since suspected this was the case, 

 from constantly finding fully formed capsules on very young plants at 

 the very commencement of the flowerirjg-season, and from repeated 

 disappointment in obtaining specimens on which the corollas were 

 present and expanded, even during favourable weather. My idea re- 

 ceived ample confirmation from observing the same want of a corolla 

 in all the the earlier flowers of S. perfoliata of North America, where, 

 fi'om the much greater size of the plant and its flowers, the phenome- 

 non could not fail to attract attention. This species is frequent in 

 most parts of that continent, and abounds in old pastures and cotton- 

 fields in the south and west. In April I could scarcely find a blos- 

 som on the many hundreds of specimens I examined, though capsules 

 were produced and ripening in plenty, but in May and June the 

 stems were copiously adorned towards their summits with the large, 

 pale purple, striated flowers ; the calyx of the earlier incomplete 

 ones was usually 3-cleft, of the perfect mostly 5-cleft. S. Speculum, 

 D. C. {Campanula Speculum, L.), the Venus' looking-glass of the gar- 

 dens, will probably turn up some day in the chalky corn-fields of the 

 south-east of England, since Parkinson mentions it as found in Hert- 

 fordshire and Kent in his time, although Gerarde tells us he only ob- 

 served our commoner species where Parkinson alleges the other to 

 grow, namely, about Dartford and Greenhithe. It seems indeed sur- 

 prising, since we have the rarer and more local, that we should want 

 the commoner and more diffused of the two European Speculariae ; 

 and when we consider how plentiful S. Speculum is in all the adjoin- 

 ing parts of the continent, even along the coasts, in Normandy, Bel- 

 gium, Holland and Germany, we must regard it as another instance 

 of the marked tendency in the species of Campanulaceae to become 

 rare or extinct in a westerly direction and in insular localities. The 

 exactly oval shape, exquisite polish and brilliancy of the seeds, re- 

 calling to mind an ancient mirror or speculum, originated the name 

 of one species, to which that of the Paphian goddess was most appro- 

 priately joined. 



