NOTES BOTANY. 



of a new star-fish from the Yorkshire Lias ' (Prof. Wilhamson doubted 

 if this was a new discovery, being inclined to think this fish was a 

 perfect specimen of the class one of which, imperfect, was found in 

 the same locality many years ago, and by him placed in the Scar- 

 borough Museum) ; Prof. Otto Torell, on ' The Extension of the 

 Scandinavian Ice to Eastern England in the Glacial Period'; Prof. 

 Carvell Lewis, on ' The Terminal Moraine of the Irish Sea Glacier 

 near ^Manchester ' (this consisted of special and explanatory remarks 

 upon an excursion which was immediately setting off).— S. A. A. 



NOTES— BOTANY. 

 Linaria minor in Northumberland. — In the September number, 



p. 280, Mr. F. Arnold Lees records this little species as ^ plentiftil amid the 

 cinders of the railway track from Iw^leton onwards.'' What is the connection 

 between this Linaria and railway tracks ? Two or three years ago it appeared, 

 and still flourishes, on a similar place among cinders at Beab Station, eight miles 

 south from this town ; and last year I found it in exactly similar locations at 

 Velvet Hall, on the Kelso Branch, and at Marshall Meadows, on the North 

 British line, where the track had been broken up on the formation of a short 

 deviation. There is only one recorded station in this neighbourhood, and there it 

 cannot now be found. — P. W. ]^Iaclagax, Berwick-on-Tweed, Sept. 7th, 1887. 



Threatened extinction of Sisymbrium Irio at Berwick-on- 

 Tweed. — As I have my pen in hand, I may mention that Sisynibriuni Irio., 

 found on the walls of this town by Mr. John Ray, in 1 671, has been almost 

 eradicated by the zeal of the authorities, who, three years ago, scraped and pointed 

 the outer side of the ramparts. Last year I went with Prof. Babington to the spot 

 where he and I gathered the plant in abundance half a century ago, but could not 

 find a single specimen. This year there is one strong plant seeding as usual in 

 profusion, so I hope to save it from extinction by scattering the seed in likely 

 localities where it used to flourish. — P. W. Maclagan, Berwick-on-Tweed, 

 September 7th, 1887. 



A Mythical Moss.— Correction of Error.— Though scarcely sur- 

 prised, indeed prepared to find it to be so, I regret to have to state that the 

 supposed discovery of Grivwiia comniiitata Hueb. at Cautley (see Naturalist, 

 September, p. 281) is all a mistake. The error, however, is not mine, and for 

 reputation's sake I am glad that I allowed doubt to be read plainly ' between the 

 lines' in publishing the MS. record. The error must be set down to an inad- 

 vertence — a lapsus calami of Mr. M. B. Slater's. Mr. G. Stabler writes disclaiming 

 any knowledge of the Grimmia ; as, indeed, did Mr. West from the first. What 

 makes the error more singular is that on receiving from Mr. Slater the list of the 

 mosses found in the Sedbergh district, on August 1st — in which list the name 

 Grimmio. coinnmtata JIueb. appears as 'plain as a pikestaff' following G. apocarpa 

 — Mr. Slater replied that ]\Ir. Stabler had given him the name as that of a moss 

 gathered by Mr. West and his informant ; and although I feared some error even 

 then, it did not strike me that that other Cautley moss, in a quite different genus 

 — viz., Barhula curvirostris ^ VAR. comviutata Braith. was what Mr. Stabler had 

 intended to give to Mr. Slater. Mr. Slater did not venture to suggest to me the 

 omission of the reported ' find ' altogether from my list, and I dare not do so ' on 

 speculation ' alone seeing that the authorities were in every way above suspicion. 

 The matter carries a lesson with it, which must be my apology for detailing so 

 minutely the facts of what must of course be held to be a simple but curious 

 psychologic inadvertence. The error was not mine, and I did all I could to verify 

 the record before publishing it. Having unfortunately appeared, a full explanation 

 in the matter becomes imperative. — F. A. Lees, September loth, 1887. 



Naturalist 



