426 



narrow membranous margin, which, toicards the extremities, is deeply serrated." These 

 remarks apply only to the perichaetial leaves (for the others are without serratures), and 

 the term " deeply serrated " is somewhat too strong, even when thus limited. I have 

 no doubt whatever that the same meaning was intended to be conveyed in the ' Brit- 

 ish Flora;' but that through an error of the transcriber (in the attempt perhaps to ab- 

 breviate the passage) the language there used has a quite different import. I have 

 examined all the specimens in the herbarium of the author, and can therefore assure 

 Mr. Gibson that two species have not been confounded under this name. Bryum py- 

 liforme is indeed a peculiar species ; the moss most resembling it is B. gracile (Wil- 

 son). In a barren state it has considerable affinity with Phascum alternifolium of 

 Schweegrichen ; but when in fruit, I know of no moss, whether British or foreign, 

 which is likely to be mistaken for it. It is moreover one of the very few mosses which 

 produce " anthers and pistils '' within the same envelope ; a circumstance which has 

 not escaped the notice of Bruch and Schimper in their elaborate ' Bryologia Europaea.' 

 In case this work should not be in Mr, Gibson's possession, I may mention that seve- 

 ral new species, allied to B. casspitilium, have been introduced into it; and it may 

 be worth while for those who have the opportunity, carefully to examine and compare 

 such mosses as generally pass for B. capillare, B. tnrbinatum &c., in their various as- 

 pects and localities, with a view to ascertain the validity of the distinctions insisted 

 upon in that work. — W. Wilson ; Warrington, November 7, 1842. 



[The following note may be interesting to some of our readers ; it is in reply to an 

 enquiry respecting the beautiful Hierochloe borealis. — Ed-I 



229. Note on Hierochloe borealis. I fear it will be a veiy difficult matter to get a 

 British specimen of Hierochloe borealis ; and I think I run no risk of contradiction 

 when I say there is not a living botanist who has gathered it. For several years when 

 residing in Angus-shire (my native county), my attention was directed to its discovery, 

 but without success. The locality given in Hooker's 'British Flora,' — "a narrow 

 mountain valley called Kella, in Angus-shire,'' I was never able to find. There is, 

 about three miles from Arbroath, a place called Kelly-glen, that is a narrow valley but 

 not a mountain one ; neither do I think the plant in question is to be found there, at 

 any rate I was never so fortunate as to find it, nor have Professors Graham and Bal- 

 four, nor any of the numerous parties which almost annually proceed from Edinburgh 

 to the mountains of Angus-shire, ever met with it. — James Cruickshank ; Crichton 

 Institution, Dumfries, November 7, 1842. 



230. Potentilla tridentata. There are several others of the late Mr. G. Don's disco- 

 veries which have never been found except by himself, such as Potentilla tridentata ; 

 of which very rare plant I possess an original specimen, given me by Mr. James Reid, 

 gardener to Sir James Carnegie, of Southesk. There is no locality attached to the 

 specimen ; and Mr. Reid informed me that although an intimate friend of Mr. Don, 

 he knew the localities of very few of his rare plants. — Id. 



231. Phascum axillare and patens. About a fortnight since I found Phascum ax- 

 illare in fruit, in great profusion, on the bank of a newly made ditch near the Reigate 

 station of the Dover Railway, where the soil is particularly light. It appeared to me 

 so very early for the fruiting of this moss (March being the time given in Hooker's 

 Flora) that I thought the fact worth recording. The axillary capsule renders this spe- 

 cies particularly interesting, and indeed I think it the most beautiful of our Phasca. 

 At the same time I found Phascum patens in fruit : this was also growing on the side 

 of a newly made ditch, near the above-named spot, the soil a stiff' clay ; it was by no 



