Vlll 



British ferns and Orchidese, and who, I regret to say, has lately died 

 of consumption, brought to me for four successive years living speci- 

 mens of Orchis hircina, with a round of virgin turf still investing the 

 stem, which he asserted he had himself dug up in Kent. As Potter 

 always refused to disclose the exact locality, I have hitherto declined 

 saying anything on the subject, knowing that the extravagant price 

 given by some botanists for this and other rarities holds out a pre- 

 mium to deception, and thinking it possible poor Potter might have 

 received the plants from abroad. I may, however, add that I never 

 had any better reason for this uncharitable suspicion than the fact 

 that botanists have uniformly failed in rediscovering the plant in^ its 

 Kentish station. 



Mr. Woods has a paper intituled 'Botanical Notes, the result of a 

 Visit to Glamorgan and Monmouthshire in the latter part of July and 

 beginning of August' (Phytol. iii. 1053). This paper is interspersed 

 with numerous observations on the characters of supposed species of 

 Rubi, and the introductory paragraph on this fashionable genus con- 

 tains some highly valuable remarks, worthy of a very careful perusal. 



To Mr. Bladon, of Pont-y-Pool, we are indebted for a paper on 

 the genus Hieracium, exhibiting a tabular view of the species as they 

 stand in Fries's ' Symbolae ad Historiam Hieraciorum ' and Mr. Ba- 

 bington's ' Manual of British Botany.' This contribution might have 

 been rendered still more useful had the author added more largely, 

 and given more copious explanations, from his own resources ; for it 

 is well known that few of our British botanists have paid so much 

 attention to this difficult genus. A careful revision of the British 

 species is still a great desideratum, and I hope Mr. Bladon may be 

 induced to undertake it. By confining the attention to a limited 

 group of this kind, much more may be effected even by a tyro in 

 botany than can be achieved by the greatest proficient, as an infini- 

 tesimal portion of the vast whole which he is desirous of grasping. 



Mr. Kirk has an interesting paper on Udora canadensis, as occurring 



