1858,] THIRSK NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 503 



my collection by specimens from Mr. Syme, Hooker's variety 

 inflata has silicles about a quarter as long as the upper pedicels, 

 broadly elliptic in shape, and much inflated; seeds about 15 in 

 a cell ; and linear-lanceolate, subentire leaves, furnished with a 

 thick coating of hairs. 



" To sum up, then, T would, at any rate for the present, regard 

 these plants as varieties rather than species, and would state the 

 case of Draba verna, as a British plant, as under : — 



" a. vulgaris. E. vulgaris, DC. ; E. majuscula ! and glabres- 

 cens ?, Jord. Silicles oblong, elliptic, compressed, about half as 

 long as the upper pedicels. Seeds^ 20-40 J.n_a_celJ. Leaves ob- 

 loiig^obbvate, narrowed' gradually below, usually toothed. Com- 

 mon. 



" /3. prcBCox. D. prcBcox, Stev., Reich., etc. ; E. prcecox, DC. ; 

 D. spathulata, Lang. ; E. hrachycarpa, Jord. ! Silicles elliptico-^ 

 rotundate, compressed, half to a quarter as long_as the .uppe^^^ 

 E^!IcS[^~~'See3s2_l5-::2^^ cell. Leaves ovate-lanceolatCj en- 



tire or toothed. Habit of growth slender. Fifeshire, Yorkshire, 

 Somersetshire. 



'■' 7. inflata, Hook. Silicles about a jqua3^iex,.„as_Jsng as the 

 ugper pedicels, broadly elliptical, when cut presenting a roundish 

 transverse section. Seeds 15-20 in a cell. Leaves linear-lan- 

 ceolate sukejitire. Ben Lawers. 



" It may be worth while for our members to look over their 

 specimens and examine them.^^ 



Mr. J. H. Davies communicated the first part of a paper from 

 Dr. Carrington on the British Orthotriche<s . After an elaborate 

 analysis of the subordinate characteristics, it proceeded as fol- 

 lows : — 



" The genera of Orthotrichum and Zygodon resemble each 

 other very nearly, and form a most natural group of Mosses, 

 and yet no section has given more trouble to systematists. It 

 was impossible to make an arrangement which depended upon 

 the structure of the peristome apply in this instance, where it 

 was wanting, single, or double, composed indifferently of 8 or 16 

 teeth and cilia ; and equally impossible to distribute plants so 

 evidently alike in habit over nearly every section of the old 

 method. As Mr. Wilson justly observes, ' this genus affords a 

 striking example of the futility of any generic character derived 

 solely from the peristome. It is in fact a non-essential organ, and. 



