949 



nists, as he thought that by the aid of some of its country members 

 the Botanical Society might do much towards settling the question in 

 many cases. Regarding condition, such as aspect, climate, soil, &c, 

 as the usual cause of variation, he did not look upon cultivation of a 

 plant in artificially prepared land, in one place alone, as a satisfactory 

 test of the value of characters, as artificial culture has rather a ten- 

 dency to perpetuate varieties than to reduce them to their types. He 

 suggested that a few, say six to twelve, botanists residing in as distant 

 parts of the country as possible, should form an association for culti- 

 vating critical plants, all corresponding with a metropolitan botanist, 

 who might cultivate here also, and who should receive from any 

 source specimens of plants to be carefully preserved, together with 

 seeds to be distributed to all the cultivators ; these should make a re- 

 turn annually of specimens of the plants they have raised, with their 

 remarks, and when a change has taken place seeds also to be re-dis- 

 tributed. By the help of a certain number of co-operators, one resid- 

 ing in the West of England, another in the East, another in the 

 midland counties, others in the North and in the different climatal 

 regions of Scotland, or if it were possible, by the help of a member re- 

 siding in every one of the districts given in Mr. Watson's * Cybele,' 

 the doubtful forms might be exposed to every variety of condition, 

 while the preservation of the original type specimens would render all 

 the observations at once applicable as exact scientific evidence. If a 

 number of provincial botanists will agree to carry on these observa- 

 tions, Mr. Henfrey stated that he was willing to take charge of the 

 metropolitan part of the work, to receive and distribute the specimens 

 and seeds, and also to cultivate them for the London climate in 

 the garden of the Royal Botanic Society. — G. E. D. 



Note on the return of Corollas normally Irregular to a Regular 

 Form. By James Hussey, Esq. 



Believing the return of the corolla of irregular flowers to a regular 

 form, though occasionally observed, to be rare, the following instance 

 may not perhaps be unworthy of being recorded in the pages of the 

 ' Phytologist,' especially as the subject to which it relates, namely, the 

 normal state of the floral whorls, is one of very great interest and im- 

 portance in Botany. In a crimson and white garden variety, then, of 

 Antirrhinum majus, I observe the two uppermost flowers upon one of 



