466 TRANS. OF THE ACAD. OF SCIENCE. 
Berlandier 1571 and 2556 in part) have few (3-8) large glo- 
bose 20-50-flowered heads. Capsule rarely exceeding the 
calyx, and then approaching var. 3. Seeds variable within 
the limits of the species, slender, or sometimes thick. Hb. 
n. 56 is a taller and 57 a slenderer form with fewer flowered 
named J. paradoxus, the former a smaller-flowered form from 
S. Carolina, Ravenel, the latter a larger-flowered one from 
Delaware, Commons. 
Var. £. debilis is ee by the mostly very weak 
stem, iin feet hig metimes reclining, an even decum- 
protruding beyond the calyx; seeds the smallest in the spe- 
rather small but ri wid form comes from South Caroli- 
na, Hb. n. 60, Ravenel, sat a similar autumnal one, in which 
the head ‘by renewed vegetation of their axis degenerate into 
spikes, has been sent by the same botanist, ib. 61. 
Var. y. diffusissimus, stouter, 2-24 feet high, with a pene 
8 or 9 inches long and fully as wide; fruit-heads 5 lines 
diameter; flowers 1} lines, or, with the ‘straw-colored etatoe 
capsules, ally 25 lines long; seeds as in 
r. ustu s is a very different lookin g plant, which in 
of the pe agen panicle 6-10 inches long and a little less 
pict with fruit-heads only 2 lines in diamet ter; flowers 
smaller than in : the other forms, 1.1—1.2 lines long, and cap- 
sules more obtuse than in the others, with a short mucro; 
seeds among the larger ones.—The specimens distributed in 
Hb. n. 62 are, owing to the very dry season, not so well de- 
veloped as the pla ant is often seen, nor did the fruit mature at 
all in that or the following year. It is an interesting fact ob- 
served es me for many years, tha’ at, if not in the whole Mis- 
alley, at least in this neighborhood, our ponds and 
ee ecome rss revery year, their rich vegetation is be- 
ming extinct, and many have dried up altogether. Our 
beautifal Nelunibinm, which twenty and ten years ago was 
an ornament to many sheets of water on hill as well as low- 
land in this vicinity, hiding them under their broad velvety 
leaves, and from the end of June to the middle of August dot- 
ting them with their splendid cream-white flowers, is fast dis- 
sppeering. in consequence of the retrocession of those waters, 
and with it its companions the Sagittariw, the Spargania, the 
J Fane) the gal the MBit ee many of their minor attend- 
t botany a auty loses, cultivation gains, 
sat ‘sbone aly the health of ey, neighborhood. 
