168 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [July. 



Plants collected near Parson's Green, October 14tli, 1856, by A. I., 

 Clielsea : — 



Melissa officinalis between Little Chelsea and Parson's Green. Anagallis 

 arvensis, var. rubra. Hyoscyamus niger. Verbascwm Thapsus. Medicago denti- 

 culata. Mercurialis ambigua, Linn. fil. A variety of M. annua: Dr. Brom- 

 field, in ' Flora Vectensis,' remarks that this " is a common form in the 

 south of Europe, and has been noticed gTowing plentifully in the Channel 

 Islands by Messrs. Babington and Christy. The younger Linnaeus consi- 

 dered it a distinct species ; but though very different in appearance, in 

 some respects, it is certainly, as De CandoUe remarks, but a variety — and 

 not a very pennanent one either — of M. annua." Reseda Luteola. R. alba 

 occurs here and there about Brompton and Chelsea. Potentilla hirta, a 

 foreign species, is spreading in a waste part, where rubbish is laid down 

 at Parson's Green. 



SCABIOSA SUCCISA. 



The first appearance of this plant in flower is the earliest but surest 

 token that, whilst nature wears yet an aspect green and fair, the noontide 

 prime of the year has departed, and that ere long the " sere and yellow 

 leaf" will give true but timely warning of the " dim, declining days " that 

 must succeed its fall, etc. — De. Buomfield, in M. Vect. 



Caeduus lanceolatus. 



To none of the genus is the motto " Nemo me impune lacessit " more 

 applicable than to this species, from the extreme pungency of its long and 

 formidable prickles. — Dr. Bromfield, in Fl. Fed. 



Viburnum Opulus. 

 " Torrey and Gray reduce the North American Vibiirnum edule and V. 

 Oxycocctis to varieties of our European V. Opulus, yet it seems hardly 

 credible that the same species should produce in one country an agreeably- 

 flavoured, and in another a nauseously-tasting fruit." (Dr. Bromfield, in 

 ' Flora Vectensis.') Botanists believe that the Crab and the Eibstone 

 Pippin are produced on trees of the same species ; but the latter is deli- 

 cious, the former uneatable. Censor. 



Communications have been received from 



Maxwell T. Masters; S. W. ; G. ; Eev. W. L. Williams; E. K. ; 

 Ignoramus ; James Backhouse, jun. ; B. G. B. ; Geo. B. Wollaston ; James 

 Porbes Young, P.L.S. ; W. P.; George Hunt; William Mitten, A.L.S. ; 

 M. T. M. ; Sydney Beisly; George Jordan; E. M. Stark; J. F. Y. ; 

 Geo. Lawson, F.B.S.E. 



BOOKS EECEIYED FOE EEYIEW. 



Stark's Management of the Marine Aquarium.. 

 Moore s Index Filicum, Part III. 



EEEATUM. 



' Phytologist,' vol. ii. new series, p. 124, line 6 from bottom, omit 'inches long.' 



