23 



has several sequences where the plants are so near that it requires 



a very practised eye to distinguish them apart, and yet they are 



recorded as species, and suffered to remain so. I wish to state that 



1 fear L. uliginosa is eradicated at Oxton, the bog having been 



inclosed and appropriated as a preserve for wild-fowl. The spot 



from which I procured the plant in 1846 is now so overgrown with 



underwood that not only L. uliginosa, but also L. cristala, has been 



eradicated. I had the kind permission of Mr. Sherbrook, of Oxton 



Hall, to examine the bog in June last, but after six hours diligent 



search I was unable to find a single plant of L. uliginosa; I saw 



plenty of L. cristata and L. spinosa upon other parts of it; I brought 



some of each, and shall be most happy to give any gentleman who 



may be growing L. uliginosa a plant of each, that they may be grown 



by the side of each other. 



John Lloyd. 



East Hall, Wandsworth, 

 January 17, 1851. 



[It is perhaps worthy of a passing record, that after the publication 

 of my description of this species every series of British ferns exhibited 

 last year in London contained one or more plants of Lastrea uliginosa, 

 correctly named, besides the usual spinosa and cristata, the only others 

 with which it can be confounded. Hence it does appear that whether 

 called a form, variety or species, it is a something which cultivators 

 can recognize. — E. Newman.] 



Extracts from the * Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London.'' 



(Coutiuued from Vol. iii. p. 816). 



On the Development of the Spores and Elaters of Marchantia poly- 

 morpha. By Arthur Henfrey, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



Mr. Henfrey commences by referring to the memoirs of M. Mirbel 

 on Marchantia, &c., and the accompanying note of Mr. Griffith ; to 

 M. Lindenberg's Monograph of Riccieae ; and to the several publica- 

 tions of BischofF, Von Mhol, Gottsche and Fitt on the development 

 of the spores of various cryptogamic plants. He briefly describes the 



