18-58] Death of Dr. Bell Safter/-\ J,., i j * -, - S ' ; i 1 



instance of his pertinacity in dogging a subject, the follow- 

 ing letter, elicited from Mr. Newbould in October, 1860, is 

 quoted here : 



MY DEAR MORE, I find in Herb. Kew ex Herb. Bromf. " Carex 

 boenninghauseniana ? sive C. axillaris, west part of Copse, Norton, 

 Freshwater, June 2Qth, 1849." The specimen is young, but it looks 

 like what I should have called C. axillaris if I had seen it with- 

 out a label. I also find from Bromfield's Herb. " C. axillaris, Parson- 

 age, Lynch, Newchurch, June 3rd, 1843." This is also young, but I 

 think C. boenninghauseniana. I do not speak positively, as I have not 

 very much acquaintance with these, and especially the latter Carex; but 

 if I had seen the plants named as you would name them, I should not 

 think of expressing the least doubt. [Perhaps Dr. Bromfield has paid 

 too much attention to the length of the bracts.] I find from the MS. 

 that Bromfield, when he first gathered the Quarr-wood plant, considered 

 it C. axillaris, and afterwards transferred it to C. Boenningh. I am 

 glad you have asked me to look into this matter, for the search has led 

 me to find an interleaved copy of Bromfield's papers in the '* Phytologist" 

 with his MS. notes, which I hope you will come and see. 



Meanwhile the catalogue of Vectian plants which, when 

 fairly sifted, comprised about 950 species, was completed in 

 the autumn, and printed by the beginning of the following 

 spring, forming the main part of the Report issued for 

 1858 by the Isle of Wight Philosophical Society. 



In the same Report, the Society had to record their 

 sense of the great loss sustained in the death of their late 

 Treasurer, Dr. T. Bell Salter : a loss acutely felt by many, 

 and not least, it may well be imagined, by one who from 

 the time of his earliest efforts in the study of plants had 

 owed so much to the kindly encouragement of that excellent 

 botanist and friend. 



