136 Botanical Notes. 



The appearances presented by the alimentary mass in its progress 

 are the same as in the Golden Eagle. The mouth, oesophagus, and 

 stomach, are plentifully lined with mucus. The food undergoes no 

 change in the crop, but begins to be dissolved in the proventriculus. 

 Digestion is accomplished in the stomach and duodenum ; the chyle 

 is absorbed in the small intestine, and the refuse passes into the rec- 

 tum, whence, diluted Avith the urine, it is ejected in a mass, and 

 thrown to a distance. 



III. — Botanical Notes. By Charles C. Babington, M. A. 

 F. L. S. &c. 



Callitriche .pedunculata. — A common form of this plant having 

 been often mistaken for C. autumnalis, I give the following short ac- 

 count of such of its varieties as have been noticed by me. In a spe- 

 cimen sheet of the second (inedited) edition of Bluff" and Finger- 

 huth's Compendium Flora? Germanicce, which has accidentally fallen 

 into my hands, a very detailed account is given of the German spe- 

 cies and varieties of this most variable genus. It is extracted from 

 Kutzing's monograph in Reich, pi. crit. ix. p. 31-42, J". 1179-1220- 

 I suspect that our plant is not included, but from not having access 

 to those plates, I cannot be quite certain, and have therefore named 

 my varieties. 



C. pedunculata. — " Fructiferous peduncles more or less elongat- 

 ed, without bractese at their base ; fruit regularly tetragonal, each 

 portion obtusely carinate at the back." — Arnott. 



a. vera. Fruit stalked. 



a. lineata. Leaves linear. 



b. spathulata. Leaves ovate or oblong-spathulate. 



c. verna, caespitosa, dc ? 



j3. sessilis. Fruit not stalked, leaves all linear, or a few of the up- 

 per ones subspathulate elongated. 



This plant under all its forms may be at once known by the ap- 

 parently constant absence of bractese, which, together with its very 

 slender, elegant, and pellucid appearance, (except in subvar. spa- 

 thulata,) distinguishes it from C. verna. Its obtusely keeled fruit, 

 about equal in size to that of C. verna, also points out its difference 

 from C. autumnalis, which has fruit of full twice that size, and strik- 

 ingly contrasted with the dark-green foliage by its much paler co- 

 lour. 



