1039 



mens which were sent to Mr. Babington* by Dr. Wood, marked 

 " Seaman's Moss-pits, Cheshire,"t and those referred to by our editor 

 (Phytol. 811), as he tells us he received them from the Dr. I confine 

 myself to these specimens, because Mr. Luxford's history of the plants 

 in question is a very unsatisfactory one, inasmuch as it alludes to his 

 having received the plants from persons who have not been very par- 

 ticular in sending the disputed plant when they have been asked for it. 



Mr. King, of Lane-house, near Halifax, asked Mr. Sidebotham (one 

 of the parties referred to) for my C. pseudo-paradoxa, and he sent him 

 specimens under that name. Mr. King, on receiving them, finding 

 them not to agree with the description I had given of it (Phytol. 778), 

 came and desired me to show him my specimens ; this 1 did with 

 pleasure, and he, the moment I opened the paper, pronounced them 

 very different from those he had received from Mr. Sidebotham. Ano- 

 ther instance of this gentleman's negligence will be exemplified by 

 the following quotation, which is from one of his letters to me, dated 

 January 11, 1844 : — " Mr. Babington wrote to me for ripe fruit of the 

 Carex, and I sent him some of the teretiuscula by mistake." 



I will now turn to our editor's note, (Phytol. 811); and the first 

 thing I shall notice is the following passage. " We have now before 

 us under the microscope, the fruit of the disputed plant, of C. tereti- 

 uscula, and of C. paniculata, all in a mature state." By this and what 

 follows, I understand the reference to be to the perigynium only. Al- 

 lowing then that there is a striking difference in the fruit (perigynium) 

 of these two plants, I hope that I shall not be thought presumptuous 

 if I just see how these differences have been pointed out by persons 

 who have written on the subject, and attempted to describe them. Sir 

 W. J. Hooker (British Flora, ed. 5), speaks of the fruit of these two 

 plants as having their beaks bidentate, he says nothing of the one be- 

 ing more so than the other. He also says, on the authority of Dr. 

 Boott, that the winged margins of the fruit of the teretiuscula are ser- 

 rulate, and that those of the paniculata are serrated; and he speaks 

 of them hotli as having a central, and sometimes winged line along 

 their beaks, on the convex side of the perigynia. Our editor tells us 

 (Phytol. 812) that the paniculata has a fringed membrane upon the 



* At my request, that gentleman favoured me with the specimens now alluded to ; 

 and I now lake this opportunity of thanking him for the kindness. 



f If there he " no such thing as secresy " in the case, I now say with candour, that 

 I should take it as one of the greatest of favours if some of the parties who are acquaint- 

 ed with the locality, would give in 'The Phytologist' such a direction as would enable 

 a stranger in that neighbourhood to find the above mentioned place. 



