39 
very deciduous character has caused the contrary to be stated (vide- 
‘ Eng. Bot.,’ ed. 3, vol. ix., p. 4). Also two specimens from a pond 
between Landrake and Tideford Cross, East Cornwall, each with three 
foliaceous bracts, and having the male and female portions of the spike 
contiguous, or very nearly so. In this latter plant the spikes are 
remarkably long.” — T. R. Archer Briggs. 
Potamogeton polygonifo liu s , Poir, var. linearis. “In the ‘Long 
Range,’ between the upper and middle lakes of Killarney, Co. Kerry.” 
— R. M. Barrington, June, 1874. “Two years ago Mr. A. G. More 
sent me a specimen of a Potamogeton gathered by him at Ballina- 
hinch, Co. Galway, which he ‘ had labelled polygonifolius, var., but 
afterwards came to think that it came very near indeed to P. spargani- 
folius, though slighter and more slender than the Maam plant.* 
The specimens were without flower or fruit, without which it is im- 
possible to be certain about Potamogetons , but as far as it went I was 
inclined to agree with him. In 1873 he sent me some fresh speci- 
mens from Killarney, which were apparently the same as the Ballina- 
hinch plant, but had the leaves shorter and narrower ; it also was 
without flower or fruit. In looking over the Potamogetons of the 
Edinburgh University Herbarium I found a specimen of the same 
plant collected by Colonel Madden : this also was without flowers or 
fruit, and, bore considerable resemblance to the P. variifolius of Thore. 
In June, 1874, Mr. More asked Mr, Richard M. Barrington, who was at 
Killarney, to send me fresh specimens of the plant, if possible in flower ; 
and in answer to this request I received from him a tinful of the 
plants in afresh state, with a letter, from which I extract the follow- 
ing : — ‘ June 27, 1875. The water it grows in is from four to ten feet 
deep, and is in motion. The motion is, however, very slight, as might 
be expected ; the phyllodes are longer and more thread-like where 
the water moves quickest ; the plant is very abundant, interfering with 
the motion of the boat in some places. It does not seem to flower 
very extensively, as there were many patches quite barren. There 
are two or three pieces at the bottom of the canister which I obtained 
near Oak Island. They are not quite the same.’ These specimens 
were quite sufficient to settle that the plant was a form of 'polygoni- 
folius. The peduncles and flowers were quite similar, and the stems 
unbranched. The floating leaves were mostly one to two inches long 
on the plants from the long reach, but some of those on Oak Island 
exceeded three inches. They were regularly elliptical or oblong-ellip- 
tical, and had a red tint, which however became a brilliant green 
when placed in an aquarium. The point in which they differ from 
the ordinary deep-water form of P. polygonifolius (the var. pseudo- 
