747 



vensc, Cardamine amara, Dianthus Armeria, Hypericum AndrosEemuni, 

 Epilobium roseiim, Myriophyllum verticillatum, Sedum dasyphyllum, 

 Chrysospleniuni alternilblium, Tragopogon porrifolius, Anthemis ar- 

 vensis, Linaria spuria, A^eronica scutellata and Buxbaumii, Ophrys 

 apifera, Carex vesicaria, and Alopecurus fulvus. — Thomas Bentall ; 

 Halstead, Essex, September 8, 1843. 



376. Localities for Villarsia Nymphceoides. This rare plant, con- 

 fined to a few spots of our island, occurs pretty abundantly in the 

 river Thames, in the neighbourhood of Hampton Court and Hamp- 

 ton, Middlesex. The first locality that 1 shall mention is at the en- 

 trance to the village of Sunbury, where the river is open to the road 

 between that place and Hampton. It occurs again in another spot, a 

 field or two lower down the river ; and a third time near Hampton 

 Court, where the river is open to the Hampton road. A fourth loca- 

 lity is a little above Kingston Bridge. All of them are on the Mid- 

 dlesex side of the Thames, and the plant, especially in the first three 

 covers a considerable surface of the water. The locality above King- 

 ston bridge 1 have been acquainted with since the autumn of 1837- 

 the others I discovered a few days since. T have not had an oppor- 

 tunity of verifying the locality at Walton, as mentioned in Smith's 

 ' English Flora.' — Jas. E. Moxon ; Twickenham, September 11, 1843. 



377. Note on the Habits and mode of Growth of Villarsia Nym- 

 phceoides, in the above localities. The main root of the plant seems 

 to be firmly fixed in the muddy bottom of the river, from whence it 

 sends out numerous creeping stems of considerable length, from 

 which arise the floating leaves, placed singly at considerable intervals, 

 and furnished with a tuft of radicles at their point of junction. When 

 fully developed they are slightly sinuated, and wavy at their margins. 

 The flower stems, placed at irregular intervals along the creeping 

 stem above-mentioned, are from one to three feet long, mostly desti- 

 tute of leaves, excepting at the top, where they are collected into a 

 kind of tuft, from which arise the flower buds in considerable num- 

 bers. The flowers, which float just above the surface of the water 

 are extremely fugacious, the petals being thin and delicate, and only 

 opening fully in the sunshine. The plant, in all these localities, 

 grows in quiet nooks of the river, where it floats, undisturbed by the 

 current, and sheltered from the wind. — Id. 



378. Note on Equisetum umbrosum. As I read your article on 

 Equisetum umbrosum (E. Drummondii of British botanists) a few 

 evenings since, within little more than a hundred yards of where the 

 species grows, 1 resolved by the next post to send you some fresh- 



