138 RANUNCULUS HETEROPHYLLUS. [.May, 



rigida ; subsequently lie elevated it to the position of a species ; 

 and now considers it to be a variety of L. Filix-mas. This is 

 bad data to form any judgment upon, and the only conclusion 

 which I can come to is, that it is a plant which the learned Pro- 

 fessor himself cannot properly define. It has not, to my know- 

 ledge, been introduced in a living state into any of the Botanic 

 Gardens of this country; and until it is, we cannot see it and the 

 Windermere plant grown together under the same treatment, 

 which is, I believe, now acknowledged to be the truest criterion 

 for distinguishing nearly allied forms. 



With regard to the Windermere plant, I cannot help suspect- 

 ing that we may have got an old acquaintance with a new alias 

 attached to it (and it had certainly quite its share before). The 

 oblong-lanceolate, subtripinnate, glabrous frond, the acuminate, 

 distant pinnae, the ovate-oblong, acute, pinnatifid pinnules, the 

 blunt, serrated, mucronulate lobes, the sori upon the whole frond, 

 biserial next the costa, and the reniform, persistent indusium, 

 are all of them prominent characteristics of L. uliginosa. The 

 question as to the identity of the Windermere plant will be pro- 

 bably set at rest in the ensuing summer ; and I have to oliserve 

 that I shall feel great pleasure in presenting a strong, healthy 

 plant of L. uliginosa to any botanist who may feel disposed to 

 visit Windermere in search of the supposed new Fern. I have 

 three which I can spare, and I would recommend an early appli- 

 cation. 



French Horn, Womdsworth,, Marth 27. 



WHICH IS EANUNCULUS HETEROPHYLLUS? 



Mr. Babington, at the date of his important paper upon the 

 Batrachian Ranunculi of Britain (1855), claimed as found in 

 England all the French species except R. ololeucos. 



Little seems to have been done since that time to increase our 

 knowledge of the group ; nor is it believed that botanists have 

 altogether acquiesced even in the estimate of 128 (?) as the 

 number of British species. 



But as there appear to be several more forms (now described 

 in the continental Floras) of the ancient R. aquatilis, and as we 



