66 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
The Secretary then read the following Paper from Mr. A. 
Wallis, on the Genus Myostis : — 
There are but few of our British genera, that have received 
so many additions of late years, as that of the genus Myosotis. 
Linnaeus, in his great work on Natural History, has described 
but two species, and includes under them one or two varieties, 
which have since been established as species. The two indi- 
viduals which he has admitted into his work, are M. palustris 
and M. arvensis, these then may be taken as types of the 
genus, — the other species possessing a claim to that name 
only, from some slight variations in their respective charac- 
ters. I propose, in this paper, to confine my remarks to three 
of the newly-admitted species, viz. M. sylvatica, M. versi- 
color , § M. collina, and I do so with some degree of re- 
luctance, when I consider that they have been pronounced as 
specifically distinct, by some of the ablest and most ex- 
perienced Botanists in the land. But as objects in nature 
are at all times open to enquiry, I have deemed it not alto- 
gether presumptuous to state my individual views on this 
subject, conceiving that the observations of the many, will 
more effectually tend to elicit truth, than when made only by 
one or two. 
If then, we take M. arvensis as a type of the genus, we 
are led to consider what are the distinctive characters which 
separate the before-mentioned species from it. The M. ar- 
vensis we most usually find in corn-fields, or other highly 
cultivated land, where it sometimes reaches a considerable 
height. Now, the M. sylvatica is mostly found in shady 
places, where it assumes a stouter form than arvensis ; 
the bristles of the stem are shorter, and the leaves will 
generally be found larger than those of M. arvensis. But 
would not the difference of soil and situation account for the 
more luxuriant growth of the one than of the other ? There 
is another distinction, also, for which neither soil nor locality 
w r ould account ; it is that the calyx of M. sylvatica, is more 
deeply cleft then arvensis, and the tube of the corolla is longer 
in the former than in the latter; but I have been disposed 
to doubt, whether these are sufficient to justify a specific 
distinction, and the more particularly so, when we recollect 
that many plants are subject to slight variations in their struc- 
tural minutiae. Again, the M. collina is established as a 
species by modern Botanists ; and, indeed, on comparing it 
at first sight with M. versicolor, one would scarcely presume 
