I860.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES^ AND QUERIES. 159 



commercial and exhibitionary objects does not rest upon his col- 

 lection of British Ferns, excellent and varied though these be. 

 His exotic examples are of wonderful beauty, marvellous for their 

 exquisite symmetry, delicacy in form, and many for the luxuri- 

 ance of their growth. 



A visit to Foot's Cray and to its nursery is a treat which will 

 be enjoyed by every genuine lover of the graceful and lovely in 

 the vegetable creation ; it Avill not speedily be forgotten by those 

 who have had the rare happiness of seeing so superb a collection. 

 Some of the Australian, New Zealand, and Philippine-Island 

 Ferns are of matchless interest, extreme rarity, and of fabulous 

 value. The prices are not fabulous to their owner, nor to those 

 fortunate possessors of Avealth who can afford to buy such costly 

 commodities, but the prices would appear fabulous to those v>^ho 

 are uninitiated or who cannot indulge in such expensive gratifica- 

 tions. 



Ferns are desirable luxuries, and those who cultivate a taste 

 for them and similar objects seldom indulge in vulgar degrading 

 enjoyments. The indulgence of refined taste may be expensive ; 

 it physics the purse, but it has a considerable influence upon the 

 higher qualities of humanity : it is rarely combined with ignoble 

 or unworthy pursuits. 



This Catalogue is strongly recommended as a model to all com- 

 pilers of Nursery lists. Its arrangement is systematic, the de- 

 scriptions are very intelligible with but slight traces of technica- 

 lity, and the remarks on culture, general treatment, preservation, 

 etc., are highly valuable, being the result of many years' success- 

 ful cultivation. 



P. 



BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 



SCILLA AUTUMNALI3 AND S. VERNA. 



The different season for flowering, and the absence of bracteas to the 

 pedicels, will readily distinguish the former from the latter of these two 

 species. Unlike the latter, the former is a southern plant, neither restricted 

 to the seacoast nor to the western side of the kingdom. Carnarvonshire 

 seems to be its limit to the north, on the authority of Bay alone, and it 

 lias not yet been detected in Ireland. 



Scilla venia, though common enough on most of our western and 

 north-western shores, from Cornwall to the Slietland Islands, is rarely 

 found on our eastern coasts, except towards the north, where, as at 

 Dunstanboro' Castle, in Northumberland, it has been discovered in abund- 

 ance (Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. p. 19). Hence it may be expected to 



