1 50 Botany, 



ductlons it is not to be wondered at that observers placed in isolated situ- 

 ations, and reduced to the comparatively narrow compass of their own 

 resources, should occasionally describe, as new, individuals which have been 

 long known, or promulgate, as discoveries, facts with which naturalists have 

 been long familiarised. It is to be hoped that the fear of incurring this 

 censure will not discourage any from communicating to the world what 

 they may deem new or interesting; for it is certainly better to err in so doing, 

 than to run the risk of losing what may perhaps be found of the first 

 importance to the progress of natural knowledge. The great extent of nature 

 and limited resources will always be deemed a sufficient apology for mis- 

 takes of the kind alluded to, by the candid and considerate j those natural- 

 ists, however, who live in the midst of splendid collections and exten- 

 sive libraries, and have the means of direct communication with persons 

 skilled in the particular branch of the science to which any discovery may 

 appertain, can hardly expect to meet with the same indulgence. These 

 reflections apply to the description given by the before-named very zealous 

 and intelligent naturalist of an animal discovered in the Caribbean Seas, and 

 to which he has given the name of Polybrachion, without being aware of 

 its having been previously observed and described as a species of Porpita 

 viz. P. glandifera {F,ncyc. Meth. Pers.), and of which a very characteristic 

 figure is given in the volume of plates (pi. 90. fig. 6, 7.). We have gained, 

 however, a very beautiful and exact representation of this animal from the 

 pencil of the reverend gentleman, and some additional and important facts 

 relating to its mode of propagation. (See Zool. Journ.y vol.iii. p. 403. and 

 pi. 10.) — X. 



Art. III. Botany. 



Botanical Frauds. — Sir, Mr. Dovaston (Vol. II. p. 400.) very honestly 

 confesses the botanical fraud (if I may be allowed the expression without 

 offence) which he has committed, in having naturalised Antirrhinum Cym- 

 balaria in a variety of wild situations, thus candidly making this public ac- 

 knowledgment, lest botanists should be misled in imagining this elegant little 

 foreigner to be truly a native. Similar frauds equally innocent have been 

 practised, I apprehend, to a larger extent in various parts of the country. 

 I was informed, some years ago, that a party of botanists, making a tour in 

 the neighbourhood of Ingleborough, carried with them the seeds of several 

 exotics, such as they thought likely to become naturalised in this country, 

 and scattered them in suitable situations during their progress. A list (as 

 I was informed) of the species thus attempted to be introduced was kept, 

 to serve as a record of the fact. The only plant I recollect as being men- 

 tioned to me was (Scllla campanulata. Should this be observed by any 

 future botanist in the above apparently wild situation, he must not therefore 

 too hastily conclude it to be a native, since, in all probability, its claim to 

 British origin rests on no better grounds than Mr. Dovaston's Antirrhinum. 



Dr. Sibthorp, in the preface to his Flora Oxoniemis, speaks of several sus- 

 picious natives, of which he is doubtful whether or not to enumerate them 

 as indigenous. " Sub ipsis denique muris urbis rariores stirpes oculis oc- 

 currunt, quae tamen, cum peregrina sint facie, dubito utrum inter indigenas 

 enumerandae sint : e. g. JKeracium cerinthoides *, ^Senecionis species, et 

 Cymbalaria," &c. f This " Senecionis species, * I have no doubt, is S. squa- 



* Queri/^ ^ieracium amplexicaiile ? which grows on walls at Oxford, and, 

 being of foreign origin, is, probably, no more than " horti rejectamentum." 



f " Under the very city walls rarer plants meet our eyes, but, from their 

 foreign aspect, I doubt whether they should be enumerated as natives ; for 

 example, i/ieracium cerinthoides, a species of >S'enecio, and Cymbalaria," &c. 



