220 THIRSK NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. \JuJy , 



promoter of science^ Sir William Jackson Hooker, Director of 

 the Royal Gardens, Kew. I had also favourable opportunities 

 of communicating with the celebrated Bory de St. Vincent, with 

 the desire of knowing the characters and obtaining specimens of 

 Trichomanes longisetum and of Hymenophyllum unilaterale dis- 

 covered by him in the isle of Bourbon. I give an extract of his 

 reply, dated Paris, 14th of February, 1845 : — "The plants which 

 interest you were discovered by me in the thick forests of the 

 island of Bourbon, and these were communicated at the time 

 to y/illdenow, to Ventanal, and to the old Jacquin of the neigh- 

 bourhood, who were then my correspondents of those countries. 

 They have not yet found them, no more than three or four other 

 rare species. ^^ There therefore does not really exist in any of 

 the herbaria in Britain an authentic specimen of the Hymeno- 

 phyllum unilaterale of Willdenow. Under these circumstances, 

 and with reference to the distinct habits of the two species of 

 this country, I would venture to suggest that the species Wil- 

 soni be retained in the list of our Irish Ferns, as a slight tribute 

 to the merit of so zealous an observer and so distinguished a 

 cryptogamic botanist as William Wilson, Esq., of Warrington, 

 who, in August, 1829, first drew attention to the distinction, in 

 the neighbourhood of Killarney, of the two species of Hymeno- 

 phyllum. 



THIRSK NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. - 

 Botanical Exchange Club. 



The monthly meeting of the Thirsk Natural History Society 

 was held on the evening of Wednesday, the 1st of June. W. F. 

 Eooke, M.D., Belvidere House, Scarborough, and John S. Ward, 

 School Hill, Lisburn, county Antrim, were admitted members 

 of the Exchange Club. Mr. J. G, Baker communicated the fol- 

 lowing notice : — 



" Muscari racemosimi. Mr. John Barton sends an example of 

 this from the Gogmagog Hills, Cambridgeshire. He writes: — 'I 

 had some conversation with Mr. Babington about it, and he said 

 that he had not the least doubt of its being truly wild. The 

 locality has been kuovvu from twenty to thirty years. Latterly it 

 has turned up in a great many new spots, and seems indeed as 



