1861.] ARENARIA BALEARICA. 59 



believes to be native in Scotland. Some of our readers under- 

 stand that Mr. Watson^s sense of " native" is not universally ac- 

 cepted by botanists, but surely the testimony of more than a 

 hundred personal observers is not to be refuted by the opinion 

 of one would-be plant-geographer. 



As this article has already exceeded the limits within which 

 the Editor wishes to confine such discussions, it must be con- 

 cluded with a few brief but not trivial remarks on the subject 

 of Arenaria balearica. 



1st. The little plant itself, the innocent cause of this conten- 

 tion, is not W'orth one-hundredth part of the expense incurred in 

 the denial and justification of its claims to appear in a phytolo- 

 gical record of the occurrences of a season, or among the pro- 

 ductions of a country. The plant, economically, is of no value 

 Avliatever; it is neither fit for food, nor for physic, nor orna- 

 ment. Nobody but a botanist would go out of his way to pluck 

 it, and by all botanists, except Mr. Watson, it will be utterly 

 forgotten in a short time. The latter-named individual may 

 have cause to remember it. 



Again, in the 2nd place, the little plant is not only worthless, 

 and will speedily be forgotten, and, consequently, is not de- 

 serving of so large a space in the annals of science, a matter to 

 be regretted by economists, by the disciples of Adam Smith, but 

 in addition to this, it has been made a subject of cavil and of 

 uncharitable remarks ; much envy, and no little hatred and un- 

 charitableness, have been elicited by or through its instrumen- 

 tality. This is very much to be deplored. The property wasted 

 in the controversy, foolishly thrown away, is not so precious as 

 the time, the temper, the patience, and the charity, which are 

 recklessly squandered on such foolish disputes, which will cer- 

 tainly never be settled, because their settlement is impossible, 

 and if it were, it would be of no practical use to any human 

 creature. 



The only excuse the ' Phytologist' can ofier to its indulgent 

 readers, for trespassing so far on their property and their pa- 

 tience, is, that the controversy was unsought, and would have 

 been gladly shunned ; even after it was decided that our pacific 

 tactics were to be abandoned for a brief period, a flag of truce 

 was transmitted to the enemy, and was treated with disdainful 

 contempt. Hence we had no alternative but to enter the arena 



