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I 



distinct, all passing into each other without any fixed assignable 

 limit — and theoretically^ from a consideration of what is requisite to 

 constitute a difference between the other European species of Ruhns, 

 that all of the present section are mere varieties approaching on the 

 one side to li. Idieus, on the other to R. saxatilis, with both of which 

 many fertile and permanent hybrids may have been formed, and are 

 still forming." If this be the case, and we are not disposed to gain- 

 say it, we see small chance of finding our way out of the already im- 

 permeable thicket, with all the assistance to be derived from the 

 labours of " Weihe and Nees in Germany, and of Babington, Leigh- 

 ton, Lees, and, above all. Dr. Thomas Bell Salter, in this country," 

 whose views the editors regret they are prevented by limited space 

 from giving at length. 



The genus Hieracium is another bone of contention among bota- 

 nists. In the fifth edition of the ' British Flora' tltirteen species were 

 given ; in the second of the Manual we have twenty-one ; and in the 

 sixth of the Flora eighteen : not quite so great a discrepancy as in the 

 brambles, but still sufficiently puzzling. The latest work on the 

 genus, Fries's ' Symbolae ad Historiara Hieraceorum,' is referred to, 

 though the arrangement of that author is not adopted, since the edi- 

 tors observe they " cannot retain entire either his principal groups or 

 subdivisions, not being able to satisfy [themselves] of the validity of 

 the characters proposed." Nor indeed can we wonder at this, for we 

 see but little use in giving characters at all, if Fries himself is to be 

 credited, since he observes that " characteres nullo modo sunt specie- 

 rum criteria, tantum ad species discernandas adminicula." Nor is he 

 far wrong in this remark, if applied to many of the so-called charac- 

 ters given in other modern botanical works besides his own ; and some 

 idea may be formed of the value of those given by himself, when we 

 mention that out of the thirty-two species enumerated by Fries as 

 natives of Britain (thus beating Babington by eleven), the editors of 

 the Floi'a confess their inability to identify but few, in the absence of 

 authentic specimens. 



We give an enumeration of the species of Hieracium as they stand 

 in the Flora, for the purpose of comparison with the analysis of Fries's 

 Symbolae in a previous number of the ' Phytologist.' 



1. Plants producing scions. Ligiiles glabrous at the apex. Ache- 

 nes minute, striated. Hairs of the pappus equal, very slender. 

 \. H. Pilosella, L. : 2. *aurantiacum, L. 



Vol. IV. 2 a 



