108 



plants, yet owing to the extraordinary mildness of the present winter, 

 a number I have thought worth recording have appeared in blossom 

 during the first month of the present year, which I think may un- 

 doubtedly be considered as usually the deadest of all. As many as 

 thirty-six species, belonging to nineteen natural orders, have been 

 noticed in this neighbourhood. Nine species were last year's plants, 

 which had lingered on since the autumn, and the rest were of this 

 spring's growth. Among the most interesting may be mentioned 

 Nasturtium officinale, Scleranthus annuus, Glechoma hederacea, Sta- 

 chys arvensis, Euphorbia peplus, Galanthus nivalis, and Ruscus acu- 



lealus. 



E. T. Bennett. 



Dorking, February 14, 1851. 



Note on Lastrea recurva. By Richard White, Esq. 



1 cannot refrain from expressing my sympathy with the feelings 

 expressed by Lastrea recurva (Phytol. iv. 48), and also my surprise at 

 hearing that such high botanical authorities as Sir W. Hooker and Dr. 

 Arnott should have expressed an opinion that that fern is not a per- 

 fectly distinct species from either spinosa or multiflora. I have given 

 my assiduous attention to ferns, particularly British, for many years, 

 both in observing them in their native localities and in cultivating 

 them out of doors, as well as under glass. The first time I saw L. 

 recurva, it was introduced to me as identical with those now named 

 spinosa and multiflora (all being then called dilatata), but it then 

 struck me as very remarkable that so great a difference in its appear- 

 ance could arise from a mere modification induced by external causes, 

 and this conviction induced me to test the question by growing seve- 

 ral plants of these ferns side by side under the same circumstances, as 

 I have tried many real varieties, particularly those of Cystopteris, 

 which when taken from a dry and a damp locality seem to be distinct 

 ferns ; but if thus treated, in a few years all the apparent varieties 

 become exactly alike, from being cultivated under the same influences. 

 For upwards of five years I have had this experiment in force as 

 regards recurva and its supposed allies, and T find that the distinctive 

 characters increasingly develope themselves, and are more marked 

 now than at first, and I will therefore proceed to state them in detail. 

 Observing, firstly, that the native habitats are dissimilar, recurva in 

 its Sussex habitats being found chiefly in the fissures of sand rocks, 



