428 



to have observed it in any station so near the metropolis as the one just given. — Ed- 

 ward Edwards ; Bexley Heath, Kent, November 12, 1842. 



236. Cyperus fmcus, L. It may be interesting to the readers of ' The Phytologist ' 

 to be informed that this exceedingly scarce species still exists in its only recorded Brit- 

 ish locality, where it was first noticed by the late Mr. Haworth, namely, Eel-brook 

 meadow, a marshy pasture situate between Walham Green and Parson's Green, be- 

 yond Little Chelsea, Middlesex. On a visit to the spot in September, 1841, 1 was so 

 fortunate as to obtain several good specimens, although it required some patience and 

 diligence in order to detect them, the entire plant being of inconspicuons appearance, 

 and only a few inches in height. — Id. 



237. Note on Pyrola uniflora, L. I am not aware if any of our hand-books men- 

 tion that this species seems to possess a similar property with that appertaining to our 

 three Droseras, as observed by Sir W. J. Hooker and Mr, Wilson, (Brit. Flora, 132, 

 4th ed.) At least, judging from specimens in my own possession, labelled as having 

 been collected in the woods at Scone, Perthshire, by Mr. W. Gardiner, jun. of Dun- 

 dee, the single-flowered winter-green, like the British species of Drosera, retains the 

 property of staining the paper that lies next to it in the herbarium, of a deep rusty rose 

 colour, so that the form of the plant is distinctly represented through to the back of 

 the sheet on which it is fastened, and also upon the backs of several others which, at 

 different times, may have lain above it, and this although the specimens are perfectly 

 dry. — Id. 



[We can confirm our correspondent's observations on this plant ; other species of 

 Pyrola appear to possess the same property. — Ed^ 



238. Habitats for Petroselinum segetum, Koch, and Carex Pseudo -Cyperus, L. For 

 the use of the youthful botanists resident in or near the " great metropolis," to whom 

 information of the whereabouts of any of the rarer species is a desideratum, I would 

 mention that of Petroselinum segetum. Of this plant I gathered specimens a sum- 

 mer or two ago from Charlton lane, and about the church-yard wall, Charlton, Kent, 

 which, if I mistake not, is an unpublished station for this pretty species. And of the 

 beautiful Carex Pseudo-Cyperus, in June, 1842, I noticed several large tufts growing 

 by the margins of some shallow pools, near where excavations for brick-earth were in 

 operation, at the Highgate end of Maiden lane, HoUoway, Middlesex, a short distance 

 from the Highgate cemetery. — Id. 



[Petroselinum segetum is not uncommon in some of the marshy ground near Lon- 

 don, as between the Thames and the lower road to Deptford, where it sometimes grows 

 to a considerable size. — Ed."} 



239. Enquiry respecting Byssus harbata, Eng. Bot. I enclose you a specimen of a 

 byssoid substance, or fungus, gathered by myself last week from a mass of decaying 

 timber supporting the roof of a drift-way in an iron-mine at Clurewell Meend, Forest 

 of Dean, Gloucestershire, 318 feet below the surface of the ground. When I first 

 saw it in the mine by candle-light, it presented a very beautiful appearance, looking 

 like a golden fleece with every hair glistening with moisture. It extended over a con- 

 siderable surface of the roof of the drift-way, and on its sides, as far as the decaying 

 timber extended. It no doubt belongs to the old genus Byssus of authors, which, hav- 

 ing been abolished for sheltering too many outcasts of other genera, our present species 

 has been turned out of doors, and from the glorious uncertainty of modern botanical 

 nomenclature, especially in the fungoid tribes, I do not know where to find it. It 

 certainly appears to me to bear a close resemblance to, if indeed it be not absolutely 



