GILBERT WHITE'S SELBORNE PLANTS. 21 1 
entitled his name to inclusion, although we certainly admitted 
other names who had no greater claim than such a letter gives. 
We had not then noted that Mr. Bell, in his edition of Selborne 
(ii. 369, 1877), said that he possessed a catalogue of Selborne 
plants ‘ in the handwriting of Gilbert White,’ which he em- 
bodied in the list which he gave. 
“ By the kindness of the Rev. Canon Gordon, its fortunate 
possessor, I have lately seen a copy of Hudson’s Flora Anglica 
(1762), which shows conclusively that White was well acquainted 
with the plants of his locality. The book has White’s autograph 
on the flyleaf, with the date 1765. Facing the title is the follow- 
ing note in White’s hand : ‘ The plants marked thus X have all 
been found within the parish of Selborne in the county of South- 
ampton.’ He evidently used the book a great deal, for there 
are several corrections of references, figures, &c., by him, which 
are not found in the printed list of errata. But the only MS. notes 
other than these are the words ‘ the candle rush ’ added to J miens 
conglonicratus (p. 129) ; an entry of Blackstonia on p. 88 — ‘ Gentiana 
corollis octofidis, foliis perfoliatis : vid. p. 146’; and the addi- 
tion to Pruniis Avium of the names ‘ vulg. mery : Fr. merise.’ 
“ The volume afterwards came into the possession of ‘ T. 
Rutger, Clowance,’ who employed it as White had done, indi- 
cating the plants he found by a circle. There is no entry of this 
in the book, but Miss Agnes Martelli infers it from the fact that 
Erica ciliaris is among the plants thus marked, and I find further 
confirmation in the marking of the ‘ naked oats or pilcorn,’ 
which are characteristic of Cornish cultivation. Rutger, as a 
later entry testifies, presented the book to Mr. Philip Beal in 
1846. It subsequently came into the hands ’of a Plymouth 
bookseller, from whom Canon Gordon purchased it shortly 
after the White centenary on June 24th. 
“ The enumeration contains 439 species, and is not therefore 
exhaustive, although it must be remembered that in 1762 our 
list was much less extensive than it is at present. One additional 
plant — V accinium Oxycoccos — I find in Mr. Bell’s list already re- 
ferred to on White’s authority, raising the number to 440.” 
James Britten. 
Dog“ and Moorhen. — A year or two .ago I witnessed a strange and curious 
sight at my country home by the side of the Thames. In the garden, on the lawn, 
I saw my brother’s little dog, a fox terrier, with all the sporting propensities of its 
race, playing with a moorhen ! Sometimes she jdayfully caught a wing, some- 
times a leg, in her mouth, sometime she pawed it and jumped towards it ; the 
moorhen seemed to be enjoying itself thoroughly, flying towards the dog and 
pecking at her. All this was genuine play without the shadow of a doubt ; for 
ten minutes the game went on, and it might have continued longer, only we 
called the dog away, and then the moorhen flew off and was no more seen. 
Have any of your readers ever experienced anything so remarkable ? 
C. R. 
