51ISCELLAJIE0US NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
143 
Mr. Arthur Beimott reports ; — 
Statice limonium var. pyramidalis, Syme, near Cloy, found 
by LIr. llanbury. 
Potamogeton pra-xongus, Wulfen, at Welney, found by Mr. Fryer. 
Mr. F. J. Hanbury reports : — 
Atriple.y littoralis var. mari.na, Cley. 
Mr. F. Long has sent from Wells an interesting variety of 
SonchuN arvmsis, not referable to any named variety, but new to 
botli Mr. Bennett and myself ; and 
Trifolium piutexse var. parviflorum, Bab., a curious variety 
from the common form of tliat species. — H. D. Geld art. 
Thrincia tuiierosa, D.C. Is a small Ilawk-bit not uncommon 
in the south of Europe, growing mostly in very dry situations, and 
consequently liable to bo scorched up in the summer. To guard 
against extinction before its seeds are matured, it sends forth 
long thread-like suckers in a circle of nearly three feet from the 
plant. On these threads round tubers are produced at intervals. 
While amusing myself on the sloping shore at Biarritz last summer, 
my fingers came in contact with one of these bright yellow tubers ; 
and I traced its fibre to the starting-point, a Thrincia growing the 
length of my umbrella distant. Further search showed similar 
threads passing in every direction which made it extremely 
difficult to follow any particular thread ; also these suckers were so 
brittle at the point of junction with the tubers, that I was often 
puzzled as to which fibre I ought to follow. The largest tuber was 
about the size of a marble, nearly round, with an “ eye ” near the 
connecting-point, and filled with starch. These tubers evidently 
act as a means of preservation against the intense heat, as I never 
found them on the plant during the winter months at Cannes. — 
A. ]\[. Barnard. 
Additional Specimens of tue “ Hairy ” variety of the 
Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). A female of this variety of the 
^loorhen was taken at Garstang in Lancashire, on 1 3th of October, 
18y4, and is in the possession of ^Ir. W. F. Brockholes, by whom it 
is recorded in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1885 (p. 31). IMr. H. Langton, a 
competent authority, Avho e.xamined its anatomy, thinks it an oldish ’ 
bird, as the processes at the side of the sternum were ossified down 
