581 



was tolerably plentiful on Blackheath, but I fear it is now well nigh 

 lost in that locality. Certainly it "has been far from abundant for ma- 

 ny years, owing to the heath having become a well-trodden promenade, 

 and the frequent resort of cricket-players &c., which formerly was not 

 the case. I noticed the plant, in small quantity, near the clump of 

 trees on the heath, near the highway to Eltham, a few autumns ago ; 

 last year not a single specimen appeared. I believe it may still be 

 met with in abundance at the Warren, at Shome in this county. — Id. 



284. Habitat for Tordylium officinale, Linn. (Eng. Bot. 1st edit. t. 

 2440). I used to meet with a plant which I believe to have been this 

 species, about Swanscombe, in bushy places between the church and 

 the entrance to Swanscombe wood, in passing from the village to the 

 wood. It was to be found there in 1839 ; not having visited the lo- 

 cality since that time, I cannot affirm that it yet exists there. This 

 station for it is not given in any list of localities with which I am ac- 

 quainted. The plant seems to be now erased from our Flora; it does 

 not appear in the Edinburgh Society's Catalogue. — Id. 



285. Note on Dicranum adiantoides and taxifolimn. Allow me, 

 through the medium of your valuable periodical, to offer a few remarks 

 on Dicranum adiantoides and taxifolium. Since the commencement 

 of the present season, my attention has been particularly directed to 

 the consideration of these two mosses, and every observation tends to 

 confirm my opinion that they are varieties of the same species, though 

 their extreme forms are widely different. The nearly allied species, 

 D. bryoides, is veiy variable in form and size. I have luxuriant spe- 

 cimens before me from one of our peat bogs, two inches high, which 

 preserve their character of terminal fruit-stalks, and render that spe- 

 cies truly distinct : but the characters of the lateral and radicular 

 fruit-stalks of D. adiantoides and D. taxifolium are not always to be 

 depended on as specific distinctions. A few days ago I gathered both 

 growing within a yard of each other ; D. taxifolium covered the bank 

 with its beautiful green foliage, and D. adiantoides flourished on the 

 stump of a tree, intermingled with several other mosses. Some spe- 

 cimens of the latter were very fine and characteristic, bearing several 

 lateral fruit-stalks, while others were small, producing them also from 

 the base. D. taxifolium occurred mostly with radicular footstalks, 

 but I detected several producing them also laterally, which differed 

 not materially from the smaller specimens of adiantoides. The 

 character of flexuose fruit-stalks is not peculiar to any of the species, 

 as I have observed it occasionally in all three. I hope these remarks 

 may elicit further information on the subject from those who arc more 



