92 



the presence there of the new species, connecting the colonies 

 in adjoining states. 



Specimens representing the new finds have been deposited 

 in the U. S. National Herbarium. The distribution oi Silene 

 Wherryi can now be summarized as follows: 



On thinly wooded rocky or gravelly slopes, in neutral to 

 moderately acid soils, in the inner part of the Coastal Plain 

 and in various other physiographic provinces, Alabama to 

 central Missouri, northern Kentuck}^ and western North Caro- 

 lina. 



Washington, D. C. 



Notes on the Distribution of Dionaea 



Roland M. Harper 



In the July number of the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell 

 Scientific Society (43: 221-228, pi. 33) Dr. W. C. Coker dis- 

 cusses the distribution of Dionaea muscipida (Venus's fly-trap), 

 and shows the known localities (in about 14 counties in North 

 Carolina and two in South Carolina) on a map. He also men- 

 tions several unverified and presumably erroneous reports of 

 its occurrence outside of its present known range. To the list 

 of unverified stations should be added one much more remote 

 than any mentioned by Dr. Coker. 



Philip Henry Gosse, an English naturalist (father of Ed- 

 mund Gosse, the poet), spent the greater part of the year 

 1839(?) teaching at Pleasant Hill, Alabama, which is in the 

 eastern edge of Dallas County, and near the southern edge of 

 the black belt, the most fertile region in the state. After re- 

 turning to England he published a small illustrated volume of 

 318 pages, entitled "Letters from Alabama, (U. S.) chiefly 

 relating to natural history" (London, 1859), containing obser- 

 vations on plants, animals and people that he saw, in the form 

 of a diary. On page 192, under date of July 5, he mentions 

 Dionaea, and describes it in such a way as to show that he did 

 not mistake a Drosera or Sarracenia for it (as some ot the 

 writers quoted by Dr. Coker may have done). 



The average reader would naturally infer from this that he 

 found the plant growing in the neighborhood; but he gives no 

 locality or habitat for it, and he may have seen it cultivated 

 in England and described it from memory, or even copied a 



