250 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [October, 



artists of such designs are worthy of being classed with the painter no- 

 ticed by Horace, who painted a man's head on a horse's neck, and his in- 

 ference is just, Spectatum admissi, risum teneatis, aniici ! ! ! In charity, it may 

 be supposed that Alisma Plantago was a lapsus calami for Sagittaria sagit- 

 ■tifolia, the Water Plantain for the Arrow-head. But the impoiiance of 

 an accurate perception of the forms and arrangement of natiu'al objects 

 to artists of all ranks is so great, that we hope artists, connoisseui's, ama- 

 teui's, etc., ^vill not lose sight of it ; and the ' Phytologist ' will readily 

 give publicity to their strictui'es.] 



Species DEFUNCTiE. 



Plants supposed to have disappeared, or which have not recently been 

 observed grovping wild in England. 

 The author of the brief papers bearing the above-named inscription has 

 been over-hasty in enumerating SoncJms p>alu^tris among England's de- 

 funct plants. It was seen (only a single plant) in the Medway, near Ayles- 

 ford, a few miles above Hailing, where it was noticed many years ago, on 

 Friday, the 4th September last, by W. Pamplin and A. Irvine. The former 

 pointed it out to the latter, and stated that he was somewhat incredulous 

 of the statements about its disappearance. That it has existed in the 

 Medway for more than a quarter of a century after its supposed decease is 

 a fact. Semper fioreat ! May it continue to ornament the banks of this 

 lovely stream for ages to come ! 



Species Defunctji:. 



Sir, — Referring to your inquiries in your last number (p. 216) respect- 

 ing the so-called defunct plants, Senecio paludosus, Cineraria palustris, and 

 Sonclms pulustris, I beg to say that I have gathered them all in their wild 

 habitats in the eastern counties within the last few years ; the two former 

 about thirteen years ago, and the last about four. They are rapidly dis- 

 appearing before drainage ; but I believe I could still lay my hand upon 

 wild specimens of each of these rarities; to which I would add a foui-th,. 

 viz. Teiicriiim Scordium, growing within a hundred miles or less of this 

 city. W. Marshall. 



Mi/, Sept. 5, 1857. 



Disappointment. 



On revisiting, after a lapse of only a few years or even only months, in 

 this railroad-pace improving age, a spot where some favourite plant or bo- 

 tanical rarity had been noticed, one is often doomed to a vexatious kind 

 of disappointment ; for instance, the copse and ditch bordering upon a 

 portion of Bagshot Heath, where in former years I had been accustomed 

 to see that noble British Pern Osmuuda regalis by hundreds, have recently 

 been cleared, drained, and transformed into a wheatfield. K. K. 



Hypericum anglicum. 



I am sorry to be obliged to differ from the opinion of a lady, as ex- 

 pressed in the 'Phytologist,' vol. i. p. 518, but cannot agree that "the idea 

 of I£. anglicum being a Cornish plant is entirely set at rest." Unfortunately 



