462 Retrospective Criticism. 



" E'en the slight hare-bell raised its head. 

 Elastic, from her airy tread,'* 



is writing, I may remark, in English, and more attentive, probably, to the 

 harmony of his verse than to the local name of his flower. — George John- 

 ston. Berivick tipon Tweed, March 17. 



Y'lcla lath^roides. — In the review of the. Flora of Berwick, Vol. II. p. 237., 

 it is asserted that Ticia /athyroides " has hitherto been found only on the 

 sands of the eastern counties ;" and, therefore, that our plant is probably 

 either L. angustifolia or some variety of V. sativa. The assertion of the 

 reviewer is at variance with the testimony of the best authorities. Sir J. 

 E. Smith appears to have found F. /athyroides in the King's Park at Edin- 

 burgh iE7ig. Fl.y iii. p. 223.), where it was originally detected by Dr. Par- 

 sons. Dr. Greville, we infer, has gathered it in the same station (Fl. Edin.y 

 p. 157.); and Hooker, and Borrer, and Arnott, botanists of the very first 

 rank, have each of them found it in Scotland. {Hook. Fl. Scot., p. 215.) 

 From Smith's account we must, I think, consider the character drawn 

 from the seeds as the most important and discriminative, and in the speci- 

 mens which we examined for the purpose of ascertaining the species, the 

 seeds were very plainly square ajid gramdated. In other respects our plant 

 very closely resembles small varieties of V. sativa, from which it is, how- 

 ever, readily distinguished by its small, inconspicuous, bluish-purple flowers ; 

 a character not perhaps of much consequence, but which may call the 

 attention of the young botanist to it. In all the wild varieties of V. sativa 

 the flowers are large, reddish purple, and very pretty ; not merely evident 

 to the practised eye, but showing bravely among the short thick herbage in 

 which they delight to grow. — Id. 



Shining Moss. — Sir, My remarks on this singularly brilliant vegetable, 

 in your Magazine for September last (Vol. II. p. 407.), being made from 

 imperfect specimens, and under some degree of uncertainty whether the 

 figure I gave was that of the true luminous object, it may be satisfactory to 

 state, that a recent examination of fresh specimens, made under more 

 favourable circumstances, and with a compound microscope, on the spot, 

 has enabled me to speak with certainty, both as to its form and the cause 

 of its extraordinary brilliancy. This is the more necessary, as a corre- 

 spondent in your Number for March last (p. 152.) has suggested whether 

 the light might not proceed from minute plants of Dicranum /axifolium. I 

 have no doubt that " the phosphorescent brilliancy" he describes is the 

 same I have observed in Derbyshire; but it certainly could not proceed 

 from this common moss, as its leaves are not reticulated. Has he not mis- 

 taken for it the more rare Gymndstomum osmwndlxceum (Schistostega 

 pennata Hooker), which I have found accompanying the shining moss in 

 several neighbouring stations in Derbyshire ? 



The drawing which accompanied my former remarks is undoubtedly that 

 of the true plant; but, being made from dried specimens subsequently 

 moistened, the articulations of the fronds and innotations have too much 

 of an oval or oblong shape. When examined fresh, they appear, under the 

 microscope, perfectly globular, like so many minute beads threaded over 

 every part of the plant, or like particles of spherical pollen linearly arranged 

 into the form it bears, and their size is precisely that of the seeds of Gym- 

 nostomum pyriforme, which I had under the microscope at the same time. 

 The innotations are occasionally cylindrical, without articulations, near the 

 summit, such being, perhaps, in an early unformed state. The base, or cen- 

 tral part of the plant, adheres horizontally to the loose sand, and consists 

 of a flat layer of closely congregated globules, from the outer edges of which 

 issue the sprig-like divaricating branches. The central frondose mass of 

 spherules escaped my observation last year in the dried specimens ; but the 

 annexed sketches {fig. 115), taken v/ith the microscope from fresh plants, 

 show their perfect form : a, an entire plant, highly magnified ; b, a detached 

 portion ; c, a separate branch, more highly magnified. 



