1863.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 603 



at amongst themselves. V, sylvatica comprehends two well-marked forms, 

 viz. V. Reichenbachiana, Boreau, ^, V. Riviniana, Eeich. 



" Both are plants of our district, the latter very common, and the 

 first probably either frequent or common, but on this point we want 

 information. The distinctive characters will be found in Babington's 

 ' Manual,' ed. 5, p. 38. V. flavicornis of Forster, E. B. S. 2736 (not of 

 Smith) a dwarf form with large flowers — it is hardly worth mentioning. 

 V. canlna, L., (Fries,) known from the preceding species by the absence 

 of the short central barren rosette of leaves, occurs with us in a wide 

 range of forms upon the sand-hills bordering the Mersey and Dee, and 

 very rarely upon sandy ground inland. It is the V. pumila of Hooker 

 and Arnott (but not of Villars), and is given under this name in Dr. 

 Dickinson's Flora; it is also the plant there meant by V. ladea. 

 Smith, as a specimen I possess from Mr. Sansom clearly proves. The 

 typical form is described with cordate-oblong leaves, roundedly acute ; the 

 forms v. Montana, L., and V. Ruppii, Auct., are here included, and we 

 have also the form V. flavicornis of Smith, which is of smaller growth 

 with cordate leaves : more of these are worth separating as varieties. We 

 have not the variety V. ladea, Sm., which is now better known as 

 V. lancifolia, Thor. 



" V. tricolor. — Those who have paid any attention to this species will 

 have noticed the great diversity of appearances it presents, varying in 

 the wild state from the plant with the corolla an inch in length to that 

 with the petals considerably less than the calyx {V. arvensis) ; and be- 

 tween these two extremes connecting links (in this respect) ai-e fre- 

 quently found in our district. The large-flowered form is rare with us, 

 the smaller is common. The species is usually annual, but plants are 

 occasionally found of two or more years' duration." 



F. M. Webb. 



BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 



Eetrospective Criticism. 



The following lively and graphic morsels of criticism have pleased us so 

 much, that we are induced to submit them to the readers of our periodical. 

 The fair authoress, it is humbly hoped, will graciously condone our publi- 

 cation of what was written for private or personal perusal. 



" I hope you will tell the Editor, with the compliments of an IrisJi 

 native, that I do not believe that my countrymen ever fed on ' Wood 

 Sorrel' (or on each other either), as that learned author of the sixteenth 

 century states. During the famine of 1846 I was staying for some 

 months at Dingle, on the south-west coast, and in that neighbourhood 

 the people icere reduced by starvation to eat seaweed ; but Wood Sorrel 

 grows so scantdy in our island, it would have never been worth gathering. 

 By the way, if the Editor and his botanical confreres have not yet visited 



