358 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [February, 



on the pedicel and more considerable in amount of flexure ; petals much 

 narrower, wedge- rather than heart-shaped, with longer, more slender claws, 

 simply three- (not, as in the last, sub-five-) nerved, appearing from their 

 greater narrowness to stand widely apart, usually about the length of the 

 calyx, rarely considerably (nearly twice) longer ; sepals somewhat less 

 obtuse ; anthers five, the others (always ?) abortive ; styles pale, erect, not 

 (as in G. molle) spreading, scarcely so long as the stamens ; capsule very 

 downy, not wrinkled, when unripe with a broad, conspicuous green keel 

 down the centre, not found in O. molle; seeds oblong, subreniform, 

 slightly compressed, dull brown, smooth. 



" The herbage is destitute of the faint, musky smeU of G. molle when 

 fresh gathered." — Fl. Vect. 



From ' The Times.'' 



Sir,— I beg to send a list of those flowers in bloom I gathered in my 

 garden on the 39th of December: — Eoses, Scarlet Greranium, Sweet- 

 scented Geranium, Fuclisia coralUna, Yellow Coronilla, Yellow Jasmine 

 {nndiflora), Italian Honeysuckle, Myrtle (in bud), Gentianella, Atiricula, 

 Polyanthus, Polygala buxifoUa, Chrysanthemum, Stock, A'^iolets, Migno- 

 nette, Heath, E,ed Pheasant's-eye, Coriopsis {Berberis Darwinii), Laurus- 

 tinus, Arbutus (in flower and berry). A few days earlier I might have 

 had a double Lilac Primrose in my nosegay ; and I must add that my 

 Camellias are covered with buds, which are swelling rapidly and promise 

 abundance of flower, and the pretty little shrub Pernettya mucronata is 

 in great beauty, with its numerous bright lilac berries. 



In gardens near mine the pui|Dle Veronica solifolia is in fuU flower. I 

 saw a large orange-butterfly in the garden twice last week, and so mild is 

 the season that a Summer Eose (Boursault) is in bud. E. M. 



Bournemouth, Foole, Dec. 2. 



Plora of the Pyrenees. 



From the ' Dublin Natural History Revieio.' 



" The season was getting too late for general botany, and the neigh- 

 bourhood of St. Sauveur did not supply me with many novelties. One 

 species of Pern however, the Aspleniumfontanum, grew in abundance within 

 a few hundi'ed yards of the hotel, and the beauty and rarity of this elegant 

 Cryptogam woidd well repay the collector who visited St. Sauvem- with 

 no other object than to procure it from its native haunts. It is a doubtful 

 native of Britain, and is omitted by Newman in his last edition of the 

 British Penis. Other authors have admitted it, but with hesitation, into 

 the British Plora ; and young specimens of several of our ordinary As- 

 plenia bear so close a resemblance in general form to the present plant, 

 which in its native state fruits in profusion, and has a very characteristic 

 habit, that it is probable that the specimens said to be collected in a few 

 English and Irish localities were only immature fronds of larger species. 

 Specimens thus referred to A. fontanum, have been collected in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of Cork, but, not presenting any appearance of fruc- 

 tification, their claim to be admitted under this species must, for the pre- 

 sent, be rejected. 



