The [mail Spear-Wort is one of thofe plants which is fubjeft to great variation; Dodonsjus has observed, that 
Holland Xere it grows luxuriantly, it acqmres the height of two cub.ts ; m the cold barren foils of moun- 
tainoS countries^ it islltogether as diminutive ; in proportion to its llrength appears to be the npnghtnefs of 
h Xv on he Cy margins of lakes, Halle£ obferved it to be fmall ani creeping, with linear leaves; 
as ifrXde’d from fuch ’fituatLs, it became taller, and finally affumed its ufual appearance ; m this fmall and 
creeping ftate authors have confidered it as a fpecies ; as fuch Linn asus has adopted it under t ie name o 
retuns and Mr. Lighteoot figured it on the frontifpiece to the fecond volume of the Flora Scotica, but 
wL the one defcribed, and the other figured it as a fpecies, they expreffed their doubts of '“being fuch . 
Scopoli alfo is of opinion that the repuns, is no other than a variety, anting from foil and fituation. 
The leaves are ufually toothed, efpecially the upper ones; fometimes they may be found entire, and fome- 
times more deeply indented, or ferrated on their edges ; the variety in this latter Hate the old authors defcnbe, 
and figure as a fpecies. 
Inftina rarely fails in direfling graminivorous animals to rejea fuch herbs as would prove injurious to than, 
hence we feldom find this and?h? other acrid fpecies of Crow-Foot eaten by cattle, tint we know 'that under 
certain circumfiances they will fometimes err, and become poifoned or dileafed : Ge R a rd fays, this plant s 
called Banewort by forne, bicaufe it is dangerous and deadly for Iheepe, and that if they feede of the fame it 
inflameth their livers, fretteth and bliffereth their guts, and entrailes : Dodon-eus from whom Gerard probably 
borrows this account, reports the fame, and that the plant takes its name in the Netherlands, from its P™ c ious 
effeas on this harmlefs and ufeful race : Haller quotes an author (Le Noble !a£t p. 12.) who fays, that the 
livers of horfes which had fed on this Ranunculus became rotten, and full of little bladders of water, as well as 
fmall animals refembling flounders; if the rot in Iheep be occafioned by their feeding on any particular plant 
and authors be not miflaken in what they fay of this, none appears more likely to occafion it than the prefent 
one. Kine* are faid to feed on it without injury. 
Acrid as this Ranunculus is, and injurious as it may be to the larger animals, we obferved on the 9th of daft July, 
1701 fmall black larv<e feeding on its flower buds and flamina, in thofe little kind of dells on Barnes-Common, 
where the water had been dried up, and where grew Callitriche, Peplis, &c. we fufpeft they were the larvae of 
fome coleopterous infeft ; and on the under fide of a leaf of another plant of the fame fpecies, we difeovered 
a duller of eo-gs, fixty-four in number, depofited mofl probably by fome fpecies of moth ; the leaves of this 
and of every other fpecies of Ranunculus growing wild, or in our gardens are yearly disfigured and in iome 
feafons deflroyed by a very minute intercutaneous larva or maggot, producing a fmall fly, which we have 
named Mufca ranunculi, and of whofe hiflory it is our intention to give an account elfewhere; we have repre- 
fented one of the leaves on the plant as it appears marked by this infe£l. 
Mr Lightfoot informs us, that the Ranunculus Flammula is ufed in many parts of the highlands to raife 
bliflers ; for this purpofe, in the ifland of Jura, and other parts on the coaft, the leaves are well bruifed m a 
mortar, and applied in one or more limpet fhells to the parts where the bliflers are to be railed. 
Boves autem licet magnam comedunt hujus copiam ab hac affici non obfervavi. Brugm. 
