462 Miscellaneous. 



it is true, as the season is late or early, but yet each retaining its 

 general place in the succession, and each appearing at the same time. 



The banks of the railway-cuttings, which some condemn as 

 being ugly, are the flower-gardens that gladden the eyes, especially 

 in early spring, of thousands who have been pent up in the smoke 

 of London for months. When first the golden coltsfoot spangles the 

 banks, I can scarcely resist the desire to be moving along the lines. 

 These flowers come and go in a day, almost as if by magic. They are 

 followed, at least near London, by the lilac lady-smock ; then come 

 the cowslips, and in the copses which are often to be seen at the bot- 

 tom of the banks, and in the hedges by the field-sides, the primrose and 

 the wood-anemone, and, more obscure, but easily seen by sharp, 

 eyes, the wood-sorrel ; and the hyacinth forms a blue carpet in the 

 distance, and the beautiful golden broom and furze on the bank 

 itself. Then come the large white beds of the wild chervil (Jnthris- 

 cus sylvestris) ; and these are followed by the ox-eye daisy, ail 

 nearly of the same height, and each turning its little star-flower to- 

 wards the great luminary as the world moves. The plants of the 

 same kind being all nearly of the same height add much to the 

 beauty of their appearance. This is especially seen in the fields of 

 clover, which form a purple carpet ; but I was especially struck with 

 it in an alpine meadow that was just about to be cut down near the 

 hospital on the Via Mala : there the flowers showed four beautifully 

 even carpets, each to be seen through the other. Just above the 

 pale green herbage, chiefly composed of the alpine dandelion, came 

 the purple gentian, then the blue Phyteuma, and above all was the 

 beautiful golden Trollius, or globe-flower. It was a sight never to be 

 forgotten. 



Planorbis crista. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — Will you permit me to withdraw that portion of 

 my letter in your last Number which states that I followed M. 

 Moquin-Tandon in adopting the Linnean name Planorbis crista ? 

 Having adopted it, as any reader of my book may see, in opposition 

 to the views of that author, it only remains for me to apologize to 

 you for my carelessness in making the statement. 



I am. Gentlemen, 



Your obedient Servant, 

 May 1, 1863. Lovell Reeve. 



On the Occurrence of Lymnsea stagnalis in Scotland. 

 By Robert O. Cunningham, Esq., Prestonpans. 



Mr. Lovell Reeve, in his recently published valuable work on 

 the Land and Freshwater Mollusks of Great Britain, says, with 

 respect to LymncBa stagnalis, " This fine species stands alone among 

 the Lymnaeacea of the Eastern hemisphere for the conspicuous pro- 

 minence of its size. In the Western hemisphere it is represented in 

 a remarkable degree of parallelism by the Lymnoea jugularis of 



