746 



The names dilatata and spinulosa are apparently synonymous, and 

 boih apply to a small group of species rather than to a single one. — 

 Edward Newman ; Peckham, September 8, 1843. 



374. Mr. Gihson^s query on Carex distans. As no one has yet 

 given a reply, I beg to make some remarks, in order that a question 

 which the editor has thought worth insertion ( Phytol. 680 ) may 

 not be altogether ban'en and unprofitable. It certainly was not 

 to be expected that a botanist who, by his frequent contributions to 

 this journal, would be regarded as an adept in Carices, should find 

 himself at fault in reference to the subject of his enquiry. Perhaps 

 the fact of his not having yet received an answer may be regarded by 

 some as a proof of the great obscurity of the passage alluded to ; I, 

 however, have formed a different conclusion. Whenever the honest 

 desire to acquire useful knowledge is the motive for putting a ques- 

 tion, and then only, I think it the duty of every one who is able to 

 do it to fiimish the desired information. The querist, however, should 

 endeavour to ask those who are most lil^ely to afford it. In this case, 

 I think the person who has remodelled the specific characters of C. 

 distans and the allied species, in the ' British Flora,' is most compe- 

 tent to clear up the difficulty. If Mr. Gibson cannot do it himself, 

 and if he will assure me in the next Phytologist that he does not know 

 the meaning of the writer in the passage alluded to, I will undertake 

 to procure the desired information for him from the fountain head. 

 Of course my own conjectures on the subject, were I to express them, 

 would be open to further question ; and remembering what Seneca 

 says, " Many would attain knowledge if they did not fancy that they 

 already had it," I shall make no pretensions to superior skill in a 

 matter which seems so dark and difficult to the enquirer. — W. Wil- 

 son ; September 8, 1843. 



375. Note on Lathyrns Aphaca and other Plants in the vicinity 

 of Halstead, Essex. The rare and curious Lathyrus Aphaca occurs 

 in several places in this immediate neighbourhood. I have lately no- 

 ticed it in what I imagine to be an unusual situation, viz. near the 

 edge of a pool in an old marl-pit, where it appeared to thrive remark- 

 ably well, and is now ripening its seeds copiously. A short distance 

 from the same spot L. Nissolia occurs, and is by no means an un- 

 common plant here, confining itself however entirely to calcareous 

 soils, and associating with such jilants as Trifolium ochroleucum and 

 Senecio tenuifolius. As interesting plants of this locality, in addition 

 to the above, 1 may mention the following as having come under my 

 own observation : — Ranuncidus hirsutus and parviflorus, Thlas])i ar- 



