4 THE GE:NUS FUMAEIA in BRITAIN 



The form of the corolla-tube and the wings or margins of the 

 outer petals, as well as the fleshy base or neck of the fruit, should 

 always be noted before specimens are dried, as these features 

 become obscured in the process of pressing. And a screw-press 

 should be used with caution, as, with too great pressure, the form 

 of the whole flower is easily destroyed and the fruit smashed. It 

 is also desirable, when mounting specimens, to collect those fruits 

 which inevitably become detached within a cardboard frame en- 

 closed in a small envelope. If the fruits are not collected they 

 will certainly break away from the pedicels by degrees and dis- 

 appear, and if they are simply placed in an envelope with no 

 protection, they are often crushed in the herbarium in the course 

 of a few years by the w^eight of the superincumbent sheets ; and 

 for want of these precautions many valuable specimens have been 

 ruined. 



In Britain all the species of Fumaria are primarily weeds of 

 cultivated ground. Owing to our moist climate they are not 

 especially flowers of spring, as in the Mediterranean region, but 

 may be found in suitable localities at any time from April till 

 October, according to the tillage of the ground. Early in the 

 season cornfields often produce good specimens, and in the 

 autumn the most likely places are fields of potatoes and other 

 root-crops. 



With regard to the comital distribution of these plants in 

 Britain, an attempt has been made to revise the lists in the case 

 of the large-flowered species, as it became evident, on the exami- 

 nation of herbarium material, that little reliance could be placed 

 on the records whereon the lists in Toioograijliical Botany and its 

 Supplement have been founded. I have therefore drawn up fresh 

 lists taken from specimens that have actually come under my 

 notice. These lists were utilized for the tenth edition of the 

 London Catalogue of British Plants ; they have since been supple- 

 mented, and, although they are undoubtedly still incomplete, the 

 additions are not likely to be numerous. 



In perusing these lists it cannot fail to be observed that very 

 many of the records are from the same districts, particularly 

 Cornwall and Devonshire, North Wales, Mid Scotland, and the 

 Orkneys. The prevalent geological formation of these regions — 

 where the large-flowered Fumitories have their headquarters with 

 us and the different species are often seen growing intermingled 

 or in close proximity — is the old Eed Sandstone ; and I believe that 

 in Great Britain these plants are as characteristic of that for- 

 mation as F. imrviflora and F. Vaillantii are of the chalk. 

 The affection of the large-flowered Fumitories for the old Eed 

 Sandstone in this country does not appear to have hitherto been 

 remarked. 



The distribution of the Fumaria^ in Ireland has been carefully 

 revised by Mr. Lloyd Praeger in the Irish Naturalist, vol. xiv. 

 pp. 156 sqq. (1905). 



As the different species of the large and small flowered groups 

 are often met with in company in the old Eed Sandstone and 



