112 Field Notes. 



in the hill-side. I saw the animal when it was about 20 

 yards to my left, and at first took it for a Stoat in the thick 

 undergrowth. It moved leisurely towards me, and then 

 suddenly commenced to climb the bole of an Oak. When 

 about 6 feet from the ground it seemed to change its mind, 

 and jumped down again. Its general colour was bright 

 russet brown, the extremity of the tail was black, or a very 

 dark brown, and it appeared to be about 2 feet in length. I 

 have never seen a wild Marten before, but I have no doubt 

 that I am correct in identifying the animal as such. Although 

 at one moment I got a good view of the face and muzzle, it 

 appeared to me that the animal was without the lighter 

 coloured patch of fur on the chest and throat. I had just 

 previously fired a couple of shots within a few yards of where 

 the Marten was seen, but these did not appear to have in- 

 timidated him in any way.' The Levisham Valley is in 

 every respect a suitable harbourage for a Marten. In a 

 subsequent note, Mr. Tomlinson says : ' I have no doubt at 

 all of the identity of the animal which I saw, although I 

 grant that I could not distinguish the light markings on the 

 chest. My keepers, etc., are on the look-out, but nothing 

 further has been seen of the animal. As we have not heard 

 of any casualty we hope that it is still at large.' — R. Fortune. 



— : o : — - 

 BOTANY. 

 Potamogeton panormitanus Ber. Biv. in South 

 Lincolnshire. — In looking through a series of specimens of 

 Potamogeton ptisillus L. to determine as far as possible the 

 distribution of the above species, I found that examples 

 collected b}' my late friend Mr. H. Beeby from 'Deeping 

 Fen, S. Lincoln, July, 1883,' must be referred to Bivoni's 

 species. Dr. Hagstrom, in his ' Critical Researches in Potam- 

 ogeton ' (1916), p. 98-103, shows by an excellent account of 

 the plant that it is a distinct species from pusillus ; although 

 the Italian botanists have alwa^'s regarded it as merelv a 

 synonym of pusillus. The principal one of its differences, 

 and one that can be easily seen in fresh specimens, is that the 

 stipules (called ligules by Hagstrom) are connate, not split, 

 as in pusillus ; its growth also is different, and the winter- 

 buds (called turios by Hagstrom) are much smaller and 

 more gracile,' and these are produced more plentifully in 

 the basal portion of the plant, not at the top as in pusillus. 

 Hagstrom refers the P. gracilis Fries, to Bivoni's plant, and 

 this I named P. Noltei [Joiirn. Hot., 1890, 300), as there was 

 a previous gracilis of Wolfgang. What is now wanted is 

 that all specimens of P. pusillus L. should be examined to 

 decide to which they belong, i.e., pusillus or panormitanus. — 

 A. Bennett. ,::,;;- 



N.ituralist 



