283 
VARIATION IN THE LEAVES AND FLOWERS 
OF GOLDILOCKS. RANUNCULUS AURICOMUS L. 
W. P. WINTER. 
(PLATE XIV.). 
ON the occasion of the visit of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union 
to Kirkby Stephen there was ample opportunity for observa- 
tion of this interesting spring flower. The following notes 
mainly describe the results of examining flowers obtained on 
_/ GREEN 
a7 YELLOW 
RANUNCULUS 
AURICOMUS (L)CF 
MODIFIED 
PETALS 
NECTARIES 
PETAL 
(NECTARY) 
STAMINOID ad 
PETAL 
this excursion. The drawings are purposely diagrammatic, 
but the variations are easily found in all cases where there is 
access to a number of flowering specimens. At Kirkby Stephen 
Ranunculus ficaria L. was in full blossom, while R. bulbosus L. 
was beginning to flower and more.sparingly still R. repens L. 
R. acris was evidently later. Hence there was no marked 
display of yellow buttercups in the fields, what golden colour 
there was being furnished by the ever abundant dandelion. 
But in the hedgerows and partial shade of the edges of the wood- 
land Ranunculus auricomus L. held full sway. Specimens 
were obtained from a lane leading to Stenkrith and it was evi-’ 
dent that these represented a fairly average set. The two 
points worthy of note are the great variation in the corolla, 
Ig13 Aug. I. 
