8 
mouth of this stream, in the still waters of the loch, the normal form 
abounds. I visited the locality in the end of May this year, and found 
the Ranunculus had disappeared from the stream, no doubt washed 
into the loch by the winter Hoods ; and at the mouth of the stream I 
could find nothing but the ordinary R. peltatus. 
Ranunculus replans, L. Of this plant I collected on the shore of 
Loch Leven sufficient specimens to supply all the members who asked 
for it, where it grows in company with Littorella, Scirpus acicularis, 
and S. palustris. In this situation it is very constant in appearance, 
but my faith in its distinctness, even as a subspecies, is considerably 
shaken by the following circumstances : — 
In the sandy pastures by the side of the loch R. Flammula, var. 
pseudu-reptans, abounds ; and in ditches by the side of cultivated fields 
the normal form of R. Flammula. At the end of May in the present 
year I find that the whole of the ground where R. replans grows is 
under water. Can it be that R. pseudo-replans is a depauperate, and 
R. reptans an inundatal form of R. Flammula ? I have several pots of 
R. reptans subjected to different treatment, but hitherto the plant has 
not appeared, although, on disturbing the earth, I find the roots still 
alive,— the only exception being a pot submerged in a tank, in which 
case a few tufts of small radical leaves have appeared. 
Ranunculus acris, var. vulgalus. A large supply of this plant has 
been sent from Wiltshire by the Rev. T. A. Preston ; from Somerset 
and Gloucester, by Mr. J. F. Duthie ; and from Cheshire, by the Hon. 
J. L. Warren. These specimens exhibit a complete transition from a 
horizontal rhizome, 4 or 5 inches long, to a nearly perpendicular one, 
of less than half an inch in length ; and as in the leaves, flowers, and 
carpels they present no tangible nor constant difference, it seems im- 
possible to separate R. Steveni, with a creeping rhizome (to which the 
form R. vultjalus, .lord., must be referred), from R. Borceanus, Jord., 
to which R. tomophjllus belongs. In R. acris, therefore, we have the 
very unusual feature of some forms possessing a distinctly creeping 
rhizome, while in others the rhizome does not creep, and dies rapidly 
off towards the base. Both Mr. Preston and Mr. Duthie have been 
good enough to send me living plants with creeping rhizomes, by ob- 
serving which I hope to ascertain whether or no the direction and per- 
sistent vitality of the rhizome continues permanent under cultivation, 
or whether it be a feature depending on peculiarity of soil or on cer- 
tain conditions of climate. 
