31 8 Hill. — On Variation in the Flowers 
different localities, in order to ascertain whether there ob- 
tained years of maximum and minimum variation, and also 
to see whether it would be possible to acquire data which 
would afford any indications as to the laws, if any, which 
govern variation. 
This somewhat ambitious but excellent intention, like so 
many others, was not carried out, chiefly owing to the lack 
of time and the writer’s attentions being occupied by other 
branches of botanical science. 
But although the original scheme was practically abandoned, 
still several interesting facts were ascertained : so that it was 
resolved to tabulate and publish the somewhat fragmentary 
results in the hope that some interested in this line of research, 
and having the necessary time at their disposal, might find it 
possible to carry further the results embodied in this paper. 
The plants used were the primrose and cowslip. The 
majority of the former were collected in the woods, &c., 
around Stone Street, a small hamlet situated on the Lower 
Greensand, some four and a half miles east of Sevenoaks 
in Kent. Flowers were also obtained from the top of Polhill. 
a few miles east of Knockholt on the North Downs in the 
same county. The cowslips, the only other species examined 
in quantity, were gathered in the meadows at the foot of the 
North Downs, quite close to the village of Kemsing, which 
is again situated in Kent. Here the soil is argillaceous in 
character (Gault). It is almost unnecessary to add that the 
flowers were picked quite indiscriminately ; no attempt being 
made to select those showing variations more than others. 
The numerical variations of the outer whorls — calyx, corolla, 
and androecium — proved disappointing, inasmuch as they lead 
to no definite conclusion ; hence it is proposed merely to 
draw attention to the more important features as briefly as 
possible. 
Observations on the cowslips only extended over one 
season (1898), so that it will be as well to deal with this plant 
first. 
Primula veris, Linn., 1898. Of this plant 1,250 flowers were 
