36 ADDRESS OF THE EDITOR. [^January, 



unfulfilled, through the goodness of an overruling Providence. 

 The harvest, though late, was completed before the beginning of 

 that harvest in the Cheviots, recorded by the late genial historian 

 of the 'Botany of the Eastern Borders,' who tells us that the 

 earliest hairst that ever was seen, was seen at Benty Dod. This 

 inauspicious harvest did not begin till the first day of the new 

 year, viz. on January 1st (year unknown) . 



During the past anomalous season, fears were frequently ex- 

 pressed that there would be no harvest at all worth gathering in. 

 Happily these gloomy forebodings have not been realized ; our 

 barns may not be, like our shops, "^ filled with all manner of 

 stores," but there is as yet no scarcity of the staff of life, and 

 there is no valid cause for " complaint in our streets." The 

 necessitous poor will be provided for by the generosity of the 

 charitable, or from the public purse ; and all should remember 

 that we are dependent on the Almighty, on Him " who feedeth 

 the young ravens when they cry." 



Chelsea, Jaimarif 1, 1861. 



Supplemental Notes on Orthotrichum anomalum. 



By J. B. Wood, M.D., F.R.C.S., etc. 



Since my previous observations on O. anomalum were sent to 

 the press, I have received from Dr. W. P. Schimper his more 

 mature opinions with regard to the Moss gathered at Aberdour, 

 referred by me to O. anomalum, Bry. Eur , but which he at first 

 considered to possess claims sufficient to entitle it to rank as a 

 distinct species. He has, however, subsequently satisfied himself 

 of the correctness of the original name under which it was sent, 

 and now considers it as a modified form only of the true 0. anoma- 

 lum,, Bry. Eur., difiiering only from it in the firmer capsule and 

 peristome, which are much more highly coloured than in its 

 normal state. Under these circumstances, I consider it my duty 

 to ofiFer to Dr. Schimper the best and most ample apology in my 

 power, for having thus hastily given to the readers of the ' Phy- 

 tologist' his first and immature impressions respecting it, de- 

 rived from a merely cursory examination of the specimens sent to 

 him for reference, instead of waiting, as would have been much 

 better, until he had more thoroughly completed those arduous 

 and extensive researches on which he was still occupied, and 



