7. VIOLACEiE. 179 



among the living plants, on the commons in SuiTey, I have 

 never experienced difficulty or doubt in distinguishing the 

 ti-ue flavicornis {Smith) from the dwarf examples of cani- 

 na (pusilla, Bab.) . But I must acknowledge that I have 

 collected specimens on the sandy coasts of England, and 

 on sterile gravel, by Castletown, in Aberdeenshke, which I 

 could not satisfactorily assign to either, m the absence of 

 flowers ; and that by cultivation in my garden, the real V. 

 flavicornis, of Surrey, becomes so like these doubtful coast 

 and Scottish plants, that, late in the summer, there is diffi- 

 culty in saying in what respect it differs from some exam- 

 ples of V. canina. I am disposed, with Mr. Babington, to 

 combine all into one species ; but if there are two species, 

 V. canina (including 'pusilla') must stand for one, and V. 

 flavicornis {Smith, — not Eng. Bot., 2376) and V. lactea 

 {Smith) go together for the other species. In this confu- 

 sion and uncertainty the distribution of the second species 

 (flavicornis and lactea) must be imperfectly understood. 

 The specimens in my herbarium, wliich I refer to one or 

 other of Smith's two species, here joined as one, are from 

 Sussex, Kent, Sun-ey, Norfolk, Cambridge, Peebles and 

 Edinburgh ; those more doubtfully so referred, are from 

 Devon, Somerset, Isle of Man, Forfar, Aberdeen, and also 

 some of the counties from which other specimens are con- 

 fidently so referred. I am indebted to Sir W. J. Hooker 

 for a specimen with numerous long branches, lanceolate 

 leaves, and rather small flowers, collected by Mr. Nichol- 

 son, in Boultham Lane, near Lincoln, and labelled "V. 

 montana, var. stricta." This comes very near the " Fig. 

 12, V. stagnina flaccida elongata," of Kii-schleger's 'Notice 

 sur les Violettes de la Vallee du Rhin.' The figures of 

 that valuable essay, which come nearest to Smith's V. fla- 

 vicornis, ai-e " Fig. 5, V. intermedia (sylvatico lucorum) " 

 and " Fig. 9, V. Ilcichenbachii (iricetorum fructifera." If 



