344 SHOKT NOTES. 



Silene Otites, Sm., in Essex. — I have recently gathered 

 Silene Otites on the Roman wall at Colchester, in a somewhat 

 exposed situation to the north of the town, by the footpath 

 to the river. I observed but very few plants, but had no time 

 to make any search. There is or was a "Botanic Garden" 

 at no very great distance, and adjoining another portion of the 

 wall ; I know nothing, however, of its present state, and the 

 Silene does not seem very likely to have been an escape. It is not 

 given for the county in 'Topographical Botany.' Among other 

 unrecorded stations in Essex may be noticed : — Pulicaria vulgaris, 

 in a green lane at High Wood Quarter, near Writ tie ; Calamintha 

 peta, very well marked, on the ruins of St. Botolph's Priory, 

 Colchester ; J uncus diffusm, by the road- side at Redmdike, near 

 the Lodge of Writtle Park; and Calamagrostis Epigeios, in the 

 neighbouring spring, and for some distance along the lane within 

 the gate. — R. A. Pryor. 



Trichomanes radio ans in France. — It may interest British 

 botanists to learn that the Irish fern, Trichomanes radicans, was 

 discovered for the first time in France during the session of 

 the Societe Botanique de France in the Basque country, last July. 

 It occurred sparingly on the Rhune mountains, near St. Jean de Luz. 

 The Western Pyrenees appear to be remarkably poor in plants, but 

 some species peculiar to Ireland and the West of England were 



gathered, such as Dabeocia pulifolia, Erica vagans and ciliaris, and 

 a moss, Fissidens pulyphyllus. — T. Howse. 



Ranunculus confervoides ? in Britain. — To this species Dr. 

 Boswell is inclined to refer a Batrachian Ranunculus found this 

 summer in Rescobie Loch, Forfarshire, by Mr. Abram Sturrock, 

 who gives the following description of his discovery in the ' Scottish 

 Naturalist' for October (pp. 350, 351) :— "On the 27th of July last 

 a small party of us, consisting of Mr. J. Knox, Mr. W. Graham, 

 and myself, paid a visit to the loch, when Mr. Graham observed a 

 number of small star-like flowers at a considerable depth in the 

 water. This proved to be a Batrachian Ranunculus. Though there 

 was a depth of water of from two and a half to three and a half feet, 

 we found to our surprise not only buds and flowers, but well- 

 matured fruit ! As several eminent botanists seem to doubt the 

 possibility of any Ranunculus fertilising under water, I insist that 

 it is an impossibility that any of these flow ers could ever have been 

 near the surface of the water. The whole plant does not exceed a 

 foot in length ; it is procumbent in habit, and roots at the nodes ; 

 the peduncles do not stand an inch in length ; it was found in 

 three feet and upwards of water; and at the time the loch stood at 

 its lowest summer leveL" Mr. Sturrock gives the following 

 diagnosis of the species: — "Stems about a foot long, slender 

 rooting at the nod i. Leaves all submersed, shortly stalked, 

 mostly twice trifurcate, with (multiplied) segments collapsing. 

 Stipules adnate, not auricled. Buds globose, sub-pentagonal. 



