810 



in the ' Regulations,' the contributor of mislabelled specimens is of 

 course confirmed in his error. A striking instance occurred in a par- 

 cel received this winter. Numerous examples of Anthriscus vulgaris 

 and Arabis hirsuta were sent labelled under the false names of Cauca- 

 lis daucoides and Turritis glabra. The specimens were excellently 

 dried, with their labels printed in full. Here the contributor had 

 taken much trouble in collecting and drying the plants, and had in- 

 curred some expense in printing their labels, — all for nothing ; the 

 labels being erroneous, and the species collected not being required 

 at all. Now, one or both the same misnomers had been sent by the 

 same contributor on a former occasion, also with the labels printed ; 

 and if a specimen and corrected label had been then returned to him, 

 his repetition of useless trouble and cost might have been avoided ; 

 and the Society might have got something useful instead of the same 

 useless errors being sent over again. 



Unequal value of the parcels. Before concluding the present no- 

 tice, which has already become rather lengthy, I would yet say a few 

 words on this subject. There is enormous inequality in the value of 

 the parcels, in respect to the selection, the drying, and the labelling 

 of the specimens. One parcel from Mr. Gibson, Mr. French, Mr. 

 Taylor, Mr. Salmon, the Rev. Mr. Crotch, and others who might be 

 named, is worth ten or twenty parcels from as many other members, 

 whose names I will not just now mention in the disparaging contrast; 

 and the rather, because in some instances the real fault may rest with 

 the Secretary in omitting to give copies of the ' Regulations ' to new 

 members. The difference between the two sets of contributors other- 

 wise is, that the former act up to and in accordance with the printed 

 ' Regulations ' issued by the Society ; while the second set appear to 

 hold themselves at liberty to attend to the rules as little as possible, 

 and thereby to give as much trouble as they may choose to the dis- 

 tributors in London, and to make a valueless donation for the good 

 specimens they obtain through the attentive exertions of the former 

 class of good contributors. The Society musters near two hundred 

 and fifty members. For my own part, I wish heartily that it had 

 only the fifty, and was without the two hundred. But far the greatest 

 ' desideratum ' in the Society is that of a Curator, qualified for his 

 work by a competent knowledge of species, who would wholly relieve 

 Mr. Dennes from the duties of that office, which are unfairly, and not 

 wisely and profitably, added to those of the over-tasked Secretaryship. 

 Three qualities are required in a Curator for a distributing Botanical 

 Society ; namely, clear knowledge of species, — methodical arrange- 



