II. Pan. usually without stalked glands, or with comparatively few (in the typical plant) : SILVATICI. St. bearing patent hairs. All the prickles equal, or nearly so, of moderate size. See p. 204 (1892 vol.). III. Pan. with stalked glands. 1. St. eglandular, or with scattered stalked glands :EGREGII. Prickles subequal, chiefly on angles. Pan. with some nearly equal stalked glands. See p. 266 (1892 vol.). 2. St. rough with crowded acicles and stalked glands:— RADULE.-Prickles unequal-the larger ones nearly confined to angles, and less unequal or subequal. Pan. side branches almost cymose. Stalked glands nearly equal. See p. 299 (1892 vol.). b. Prickles conspicuously unequal the larger and smaller irregularly mixed : KOEHLERIANI. Large prickles strong. Pan. side branches almost cymose. Stalked glands mostly very unequal. See p. 335 (1892 vol.). BELLARDIANI. Prickles mostly weak. Pan. usually racemose above, and with racemose side branches. St. frequently glaucous. See p. 3 (1893 vol.). C. St. low-arching or trailing, glaucous, rooting at the end in autumn. Stip. broadened in the middle. Bas. lts. hardly stalked :— CÆSII. Prickles mostly aciculate. Stalked glands thinly scattered or numerous, rarely wanting. Pan. usually short, and nearly simple. See p. 8 (1893 vol.). ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. In this "Key" I have thought it best to make no attempt to deal exhaustively with county distribution. I have merely, in the case of some of the less-known forms, given within brackets the names of such counties as I knew for them at the time of writing. Already in several instances I could add to these, but abstain from doing so as a rule. p. 111 (1892). R. Cariensis Rip. & Genev.-I have now reason to believe the plant referred to under this name to be rather widely spread in N. Devon. I have also seen it (or a very nearly allied form) in one Dors. locality; but a closer acquaintance with the Somers. plant. mentioned shows it to be different. p. 112. R. Dumnoniensis Bab. The lts., I find, are not unfrequently quite green and only thinly hairy beneath. p. 113. R. nemoralis P. J. Muell.-There is reason to fear that this has been too hastily adopted as the right name for our old aggregate, "R. umbrosus Arrh." Dr. Focke has recently placed nemoralis as a subordinate form nearly allied to R. macrophyllus, and described it as having "lts. green on both sides, . . . . inflorescence drawn out, with many flowered branches, large bracts, and falcate prickles; fl. handsome, pink." This will hardly suit our aggregate. Probably our best course at present would be to put aside the names nemoralis and umbrosus, and make dumosus our ... type, with pulcherrimus and Lindebergii as closely allied forms or vars. p. 148. R. villicaulis Koehl. The character, "concave 1.," though reliable, I believe, as applied generally to this species, is not true of the strongly marked "Midlands calvatus," the 1. of which are, I am assured, conspicuously convex. p. 201. The plant referred to as "the usual ramosus of the Midlands" is the R. Mercicus Bagnall, since described in this Journal (1892, p. 372). p. 203. R. thyrsoideus Wimm. - Quite recently Dr. Focke has thus named a Heref. plant of the Rev. A. Ley's, and I have seen Notts and Linc. specimens, gathered by Mr. H. Fisher, that I should also refer to it. The following is a translation of Dr. Focke's lately published description of this aggregate species:-" Lts. medium-sized, glabrous above, with appressed white felt beneath, unequally and coarsely often incise-serrate; term. narrow when young, later narrowly ovate to broadly elliptic. Inflorescence long, narrow, scarcely narrowed upwards, rather loose, with long branchlets and ped. Fl. showy, white or light pink. Tall handsome plants with striking beautiful pan." The "species" is marked off from R. pubescens by its very high-arching glabrous furrowed st. and lts. often incised, and with more closely appressed white felt beneath. p. 230. R. Salteri Bab. The Aconbury plant gathered by Mr. Ley "in the open" in 1892 has lts. rounder, much thicker, and in some cases even grey-felted beneath. R. festivus Muell. & Wirtg. Dr. Focke writes that specimens I sent him of a plant which grows in some quantity on Crowell Hill, Oxon, "match the dried original plants" of this "species," except (so far as he can see) in having white instead of pink pet.— not, I think, a material point of difference, as the pet. of the Crowell plant are not of a dead white. By his latest arrangement he places festivus after R. gymnostachys, distinguishing it only in the following terms ::-"Lts. green beneath, as a rule narrower than in R. gymnostachys; term. generally obovate. Inflorescence as in the preceding species; rather less hairy. More like R. Lejeunei and R. Fuckelii." The Crowell plant is, however, much more strongly armed and more glandular than any ordinary gymnostachys, while its long pyramidal panicles, though very similar, are broader, and its 1. much thinner and greener. p. 5 (1893). "R. Bellardi W. & N. ?” The "?" here is wrongly placed, as it belongs to the name that follows-R. dentatus Blox. R. acutifrons Ley, Journ. Bot. 1893, pp. 13, 14. This newly described and strongly marked plant may be readily distinguished from its ally, R. viridis, by the more nearly equal and deflexed stemprickles, the longer pointed and more variable 1., and (above all) by the more interrupted pan. with remarkably aggregated and smaller fl. R. ochrodermis Ley, Journ. Bot. 1893, p. 15.-My knowledge of this is too slight to enable me to form any very decided opinion as to where in our list it should come. But if I am right in my impression that its place will prove to be with R. tereticaulis and R. oigocladus (among the BELLARDIANI, Sect. B), it may at once be marked off from those two plants by the more unequal prickles and acicles, the curious ochreous colouring which those organs share with the st., and the almost exclusively 3-nate 1. harsh to the touch beneath. INDEX. The names printed in small capitals are those adopted for species, groups, and sections. The names in italics are of those treated as vars. The others are synonyms or species noticed as doubtfully British. The numbers refer to pages in the 1892 vol. of the Journal, except those under 46, which are in the 1893 vol. arvensis Wallr. 42 atro-rubens Wirtg. BABINGTONII Bell Salt. Bagnalli Blox. BALFOURIANUS Blox. 338 dumosus Lefv.? DURESCENS W. R. Linton ECHINATUS Lindl.. 113 266 ALISMA RANUNCULOIDES VAR. ZOSTERIFOLIUM FRIES IN BRITAIN. BY THE REV. E. S. MARSHALL, M.A., F.L.S. On August 5th of last year, when botanising along the Beauly river, E. Inverness, opposite the village, I came across a number of small pits full of water, about 1 to 4 ft. deep, formed by digging out peat or earthy matter. These were occupied by a very remarkable growth, which made me suspect the presence of Alisma natans Buchenau, until the discovery of flowers settled the question of specific identity. Having only once gathered var. repens (Davies) in W. France, several years ago, I thought that the form might perhaps be a "drowned-out" state of that; but after-study did not favour this view, the habit and manner of flowering being so different. For the most part the plants grew entirely submerged, the root-leaves generally having a small lanceolate or linear-lanceolate blade, but many of them tapering gradually to a point, so as to resemble deep-water forms of Littorella lacustris. The most striking peculiarity, however, was the presence of long, arching, subaqueous stems, from which, at intervals of three or four inches, sprang roots bearing linear leaves from 2 to 6 inches long. These floated freely about, but in no case did I find them rooting in the soil, which I suspect that they would only do quite late in the year. In very shallow water, leaves approaching the usual form of ditches were to be met with, but the tendency to throw off these free-floating, plant-bearing stems remained; nor could I find normal A. ranunculoides anywhere around. Very few specimens were in flower, and those only at the water's edge; the |