646 



Athyrium latifolium. 



The President read a note intituled ' Reply to Mr. Newman's Ob- 

 servations on Athyrium latifolium,' (Phytol. iv. 618) from the pen of 

 Mr. Hort, dated Trinity College, Cambridge, July 21, 1852 : — 



Some kind friend, it would appear, has half persuaded Mr. New- 

 man that I have been taking foul advantage of his unsuspecting inno- 

 cence, and indulging the readers of the ' Phytologist ' in the rare treat 

 of a laugh at its Editor behind his own back. The guile must have 

 been infused into my paper with truly exquisite skill, for it has been 

 till now imperceptible to myself, as it was to Mr. Newman's own good 

 sense in the first instance. 1 have only to say that I (rightly) sup- 

 posed him not to be aware how extremely few roots of the Athyrium 

 were known to exist, but wished to give both him and other botanists 

 such materials for a right judgment as I could supply. 



It is surely not usual in matters of science, whether in the ' Phyto- 

 logist' or elsewhere, to accept unauthenticated statements j so that at 

 present I must demur to our anonymous friend's theory of a plurality 

 of roots. I examined hundreds of Athyria in various parts of the 

 Lake district during a stay of some weeks, but saw nothing like A. 

 latifolium ; and Miss Wright, the discoverer, had met with no better 

 success in several years. The identity of the continental plants with 

 our own must be somewhat more securely established than it is at pre- 

 sent, before the supposed abundance of the former can be allowed to 

 make up for the scantiness of the latter. My friend Mr. Carter has in 

 his possession two fronds of the var. niolle which show a considerable 

 approach towards A. latifolium, but are much smaller and weaker. 



Mr. Newman may possibly be right in disallowing my suggestion 

 as to the plane of the pinnaj in Lastrea cristata &c. ; but the theory 

 which he substitutes is hardly likely, 1 should think, to meet with 

 much favour. 



Narcissus aurantius '^ 



The President read the following note, from Mr. Thomas Clarke, of 

 Bridgewater, dated Halesleigh, July 14, 1852 : — 



The notice in the ' Phytologist' for June (Phytol. iv. 600) of Nar- 

 cissus incomparabilis having been found wild in Yorkshire, has re- 

 minded me of the finding of a nearly-allied species in Somersetshire, 

 and in a situation very like that described for the Yorkshire plant. 

 In the spring of this year, while walking through a field on the west- 

 ern side of the village of Churchill, near Axbiidge, in which N. 



