BOTANY 
var. sublustris. The raspberry R. ideus is local, but is found in all the 
larger districts and is common locally. 
Several other species are recorded in various works, but the specific 
limitations are now so different from what they were when the records 
were made that it is impossible, with accuracy, to determine what species 
(as we now understand them) they are identical with, and it is safer to 
ignore them, a course which has been followed in the Handbook of the 
British Rubi, by the Rev. W. Moyle Rogers. 
THE ROSES (Rosa) 
The roses, like the brambles, have been much neglected so far as 
critical study goes, and such records as have been made are in many cases 
unsatisfactory. 
The dog rose (Rosa canina) is widely distributed and shows more 
variation on clay soils. Among the modifications of it that the writer 
has met with are R. /utetrana, Leman, which is the commonest form, 
and is generally distributed, although less abundant, on the Greensand ; 
R. dumals, Bechst., under which is placed the Jdzserrata of English 
writers, is also very common. R. dumetorum, Thuill., with which is 
grouped R. urbica, Leman, is widely distributed and occurs about Salford 
(Ouzel) in many situations. R. verticillata, Mérat, is local ; it occurs 
near Eaton Bray (Ouzel). The field-rose (R. arvensis, L.) is abundant 
in the woods and hedges on clay soils. ‘The peduncles vary much as 
regards their armature of bristles; an extreme form is var. ga/licoides, 
Baker. R. micrantha, Sm., is local, but is rather more frequent on the 
Chalk. The sweet brier (R. Eglanteria, L.=R. rubiginosa, L.) is rare and 
only scattered through the district, and is often only an escape from 
cultivation. The downy rose (R. mollissima, Willd., R. tomentosa, Sm.) 
is rather rare ; it occurs in a few localities, chiefly on hilly ground, as 
near Aspley (Ouzel), and usually as the var. subg/obosa (Sm.) 
CRYPTOGAMS 
THE CLUBMOSSES (Lycopodiacee) 
This order is probably extinct in Bedfordshire. According to 
Abbot, Lycopodium clavatum grew on Potton Heath, and L. znundatum at 
Ampthill, at the end of the eighteenth century, but there is no modern 
record of either. 
THE FERNS (Filices)' 
Although there are old-established woods in Bedfordshire, the ferns 
are not numerous. The hard fern (Lomaria Spicant) is frequent on sides 
of ditches at Aspley and Flitwick. The black maiden hair (Asplenium 
Adiantum-nigrum) was found on Stafford Bridge by Abbot, and is men- 
tioned as not uncommon in the South Beds list, 1881. Wall-rue (4. 
Ruta-muraria) has been frequent on walls in the north since Abbot’s 
1 By J. Hamson, Bedford. 
55 
