264 
or possibly a cross with S. cinerea , although the summer leaves 
are unusually smooth and glabrous. The small catkins, with 
pale, rusty scales, and short subsessile stigmas, point to S. aurita, 
and a very wet habitat is not unusal. It occurs in some of the 
wettest ground of Wimbledon Common.— H. W. Pugsley. I 
have sent this as typical of a form frequently met with in 
Furness, in low-lying marshy situations which are submerged in 
winter. This shrub is about seven feet high, much branched, 
widely spreading, and very dark in colour. In the catkin stage, 
it bears a strong resemblance to S. aurita, with its very slender 
spreading young branches and small catkins. Its habitat, how- 
ever, is far too wet for that species, which always prefers a drier 
situation on our moors than S. cinerea. (Both S. aurita and S. 
repens are abundant on the higher ground in the immediate 
vicinity. S. cinerea is equally common in the ravine at the foot 
of the moor.) The leaves show little rugosity, are of very thin 
texture, and possess little pubescence. Many of them are widest 
near the middle, and gradually taper to each extremity. The stipules 
are very small, and variable in shape. At present I am inclined 
to think this is a ± starved form of S. cinerea, growing in an un- 
congenial situation, rather than a hybrid showing the influence 
of S. aurita . — W. H. Pearsall. This agrees with another sheet 
under the same number, and which I prefer to call a subglabrous 
form of S. aurita. This species is most at home, and most 
typical on dry ground, but sometimes occurs in swampy valleys 
in Surrey. I presume the situation in N. Lancs, is fully exposed 
to sun and wind. At first sight I took this other sheet to be 
aurita x cinerea ( lutescens Kerner), but with the exception of the 
shape of the larger leaves and their subglabrous character, I can 
find nothing but S. aurita in the specimens. The small catkins, 
their small, rounded glabrous bud scales, the ferugineous bracts, 
and the small, practically sessile stigmas all belong to S. aurita. 
The leaves are downy enough when they expand, but become 
calvate or bald. The reniform, stipitate stipules are those of S. 
aurita. Calvate leaves are frequent in S. cinerea, and occasionally 
occur in A caprea. I have seen a square foot of calvate leaves 
on typical S. caprea, and at present am waiting for flowers of a 
large bush, with perfectly glabrous leaves, which otherwise I 
think is pure S. caprea. Mr. Pearsall’s description of the sur- 
roundings is very interesting to me, because I have a form of S. 
aurita with pubescent flowering twigs from an oozy situation in 
Surrey, where, however, the bushes are sheltered and shaded by 
trees. The dark colour of the leaves of Mr. Pearsall’s specimen 
is due to aphides, and the presence of sooty fungus. — J. Fraser _ 
