FRESHWATER PLANKTON ALGJE FROM CEYLON 
171 
Spondylosium Breb. 
S. papillosum Schmidle. Loc. 27. Distr. Europe. 
Onyciionema Wallich. 
O. LJEYiE Nordst. Loc. 56, Distr. S. America. 
Hyalo theca Ehrenb. 
H. neolecta Racib. Loc. 11. Distr. Europe. 
A NOTE ON PRIMULA SINENSIS. 
By James Britten, F.L.S. 
The interesting paper (Kew Bull. 1923, 97-102) in which 
Mr. Hutchinson figures and describes as a new species (P. calcipliila) 
a plant identified by Hance in this Journal (1880, 262) as a wild 
form of P. sinensis (wherein he has been followed by numerous 
authors), reminded me of a note which I published (Journ. Bot. 
1897, 426) which, quite naturally, seems to have escaped Mr. Hut¬ 
chinson’s notice. It may be noted that Watters’s specimen in the 
National Herbarium from Hance’s own Herbarium (where it was 
labelled P. sinensis ), although from the same locality as that at 
Kew cited by Mr. Hutchinson for P. calciphila , is not that species, 
but is identified by Mr. Hutchinson with P. obconica. One or two 
details regarding P. sinensis may be worth reproducing, with one 
which has not previously been printed and is, I think, of interest. 
In my published note 1 bad mentioned a specimen sent to Robert 
Brown a year earlier than the date usually associated with its intro¬ 
duction, and endorsed by him : “ China, Mr. Reeves, 1818 ” ; this is 
named by Brown “ Primula chinensis MSS.” It did not then 
occur to me to follow the indication thus given ; this I have now 
done, and find in Brown’s MSS. two full descriptions of the species— 
one based on Reeves’s specimen “ rec d - Nov. 1818”; the other on 
“Horticult. Soc. sp. no. 42, Oct. 1820.” The Reevesian specimen is 
a fine one, with three whorls of flowers. To one of the descriptions 
Brown adds a note: “ Obs. A Primula characteri recedit tantum 
modo calyce pluridento fructifero ventricoso.” 
Mr. Hutchinson’s reference to “ one John Reeves ” suggests that 
he is not acquainted with the valuable collection of drawings made in 
China under Reeves’s superintendence, now in the Department of 
Botany, nor with the tribute paid to him by Bindley when naming in 
his honour the genus Peevesia (Bot. Reg. 1236). Among these 
drawings is that of P. sinensis referred to as having been received 
by the Horticultural Society in 1819 ; its identity is established by 
the fact that it bears the native name in Chinese characters and has 
at its foot a note in Lindley’s hand “ Specimens at Hort. Soc.” ; 
there is also on the sheet the number “42,” which, it will be remem¬ 
bered, is associated with the plant and the Society in Brown’s MSS. 
Among the numerous original drawings for the Collectanea which 
