555 



and Wyatt's 'Algse Danmonienses,' iii. No. 108. Mem.- " Sidmoutli, 

 1827. Turner's description of this plant is better than the figure^ 

 which is evidently from a bleached specimen. It has been abundant 

 here from June to October, often twelve inches high, in fine fructifica- 

 tion, capsules and granular imbedded seeds on distinct plants. The 

 substance when fresh is cartilaginous but tender, full of moisture and 

 brittle, breaking with the slightest touch, and shrinking to less than 

 half its size in drying, and does not recover on subsequent immersion. 

 It is cylindrical in the upper, compressed in the lower branches. When 

 most plentiftil I tried several experiments with it. Boiled in water it 

 became of a most beautiful semitransparent green colour, and ate like 

 delicate French beans, with a peculiar crispness and very agreeable 

 taste. It did not dissolve after boiling seven hours, but lost much of 

 its size. Vinegar nearly dissolved it, and changed the colour to yel- 

 lowish brown. Boiled in syrup of preserved apricots it became a lit- 

 tle yellowish, but retained its crispness and was extremely good : and 

 having but little flavour of its own it might be made to taste of lemon, 

 ginger, &c." I enclose part of two plants in the different modes of 

 fructification. As a British species I would remark that its nearest 

 affinity on the one hand is with Gigartina confervoides, on the other 

 with Rhodomenia polycarpa of Greville (the Fucus Sarniensis of Tur- 

 ner). This last species has a much more compressed, nearly flat and 

 broader frond, but the structure and fi-uit ai-e the same, and on this ac- 

 count, in a future arrangement, it will doubtless be referred to its pro- • 

 per genus. — Amelia W. Griffiths ; Torquay, March 1, 1843. 



274. Enquiry respecting Orchis hircina, Scop., and Orchis macra^ 

 Lindl. May T enquire if any kind friend can favour me by mention- 

 ing any recently verified locality for either of these remarkable spe- 

 cies ? The first-named is said to occur in the neighbourhood of 

 Dartford, but 1 am not aware of any living botanist having gathered 

 it. Both species are noted in the books as Kentish plants. — Edward 

 Edwards ; Bexley Heath, Kent, March 4, 1843. 



275. Warwickshire locality for Equisetum jiuviatile. I fully ex- 

 pected some correspondent would have given a locality for Equisetum 

 fluviatile, and am sorry I did not send a solitary station for the War- 

 wickshire list of ferns. It was discovered in a damp copse near Elm- 

 don, by James Clift ; and when out there last autumn I was told of it, 

 and saw the decaying fronds. It was scattered rather sparingly, but 

 I should snspect it to be growing in other similar situations in that 

 neighbourhood. Equisetum sylvaticum and palustre were growing 

 sparingly near the same spot ; and in a meadow close by, a new habi- 



