Mr. C. C. Babington on the Cerastium pumilum of Curtis. 21 



in the petals. Those of the latter have a considerable number 

 of parallel longitudinal furrows on their upper surface ; and the 

 substance of the petal is thickened under each furrow, so as to 

 form a series of ribs beneath. C. pumilum totally wants these 

 furrows and ribs, and has petals of equal thickness throughout. 

 In Hooker's 'Botanical Miscellany' (iii. 117), Mr. W. Wilson 

 remarks that the petals of C. semidecandrum ai-e " striated or 

 furrowed." Unfortunately, I have not the means of examining 

 fresh specimens of that plant, which, singular to say, is not 

 common near Cambridge. Should this remark be confirmed, 

 which his great accuracy renders probable, we are furnished 

 with another valuable character for the distinction of C. pumilum 

 from C. semidecandrum. 



It is only when a fragment of C. ti'iviale is compared with a 

 similarly imperfect specimen of C. pumilum that they have much 

 resemblance. In that case, the C. triviale has not the declining 

 peduncles, nor usually (if ever) the glandular pubescence of C. 

 pumilum. 



In the year 1851 (Bot. Gaz. iii. 1) I made a few remarks upon 

 the C. pumilum, and requested botanists to look for it. As no 

 communication on the subject has reached me, I venture to con- 

 clude that no one has found the plant. Before that date, I 

 received from Mr. H. 0. Stephens of Bristol (a most observant 

 botanist) a specimen of what he believed to be the C. pumilum, 

 but which I then mistook for C. tetrandrum. He has continued 

 to think that it is C. pumilum, and having lately obtained, 

 through his kindness, a supply of living specimens gathered on 

 St. Vincent's Rocks near Bristol, I now concujr with him ; for, 

 with the aid of them, my acquaintance with the plant has become 

 tolerably complete. 



On receiving these specimens, I took occasion to request my 

 friend Mr. F. Townsend, a temporary resident at Torquay, to 

 endeavour to discover the same species on the dry limestone 

 hills of Devonshire. His success was almost immediate ; for in 

 the course of a few days I received an abundance of excellent 

 specimens from him. It there grows in company with Cerastium 

 triviale, C. glomeratum, C. tetrandrum, and C. semidecandrum. 

 By the mid^e of May, most of the plants of C. pumilum have 

 ceased flowering, many have shed their seeds, and all will very 

 soon dry up and disappear. I have also received undoubted 

 specimens of C. pumilum, which were gathered on Bembridge 

 Down, in the Isle of Wight, by Mr. A. G. More. 



As this plant is frequently met with on the opposite coast of 

 Brittany, we may reasonably expect to find many stations for it 

 in the south of England. It inhabits dry sandy and calcareous 

 places. 



