THE BOTANY OF AYRSHIRE. 435 /3. borealis Almq. f. discolor (F. Nyl.). C. salina * mutica Wahlenb. a. siibsjmthacea (Drej.). f. curvata Drej. t f. nardifolia Wahlenb. p. Jiavicans (F. Nyl.). C. rigida x salina '•"^ cuspidata var. hcematolepis [= C. rigida var. longlpes Laest.] C. rigida x salina * mutica vnr. flavicans [=C. arctophila F. Nyl.] C. salina X vulgaris jimcella [= C. spiculosa F. Nyl.] C aquatilis X salina * cuspidata [= C. halophila F. Nyl.] Whether this treatment of C. saZwa simplifies matters I much doubt ; it is brimful of long written combinations that might be made, with the opportunity of appending one's name to each. I hope that Mr. C. B. Clarke will see his way to some simple way of expressing these different forms under subspecies. The work of having to notify a correspondent of having received or found a single specimen with five long names in combination is too much for this short life. That mythical plant C. stygia Fries is disposed of thus : —
- F. Nylander's example in Fries's herbarium of C. stygia from
Hibina is C. jmlla (Th. Fries, laktt. 200). An example in Fischer's herbarium is 0. limosa, according to Treviranus in Moscow Bull. 1863, 642." A curious commentary on this is found in a series of Carex limosa kindly sent me by Mr. Duncan from the Outer Hebrides (Harris). I was surprised at the amount of variability these speci- mens exhibited, and among them were two examples from which the drawing of C. stygia in Andersson's Scandinavian Cyperacea (t. 7, fig. 71 (1849)) might well have been made. I have before remarlied the likeness of some limosa forms to C. pulla Good. No doubt the Carices show a large amount of work on the part of Dr. Almquist, but I think that there is considerable need among such species as salina for cultivating the forms. I have noted that C. kattegatensis Fries grown almost submerged in water varies greatly in the glumes, so much so that isolated examples might be taken and referred to C. mutica; and I find that, if kept in a pot, the stems are shortened, and the leaves are lengthened, the colour also becoming greener than in the native Caithness form. Arthur Bennett. The Botany of Ayrshire (by Parishes), from original investigation. Ardrossan : A. Guthrie & Sons. 1896. Under this title Mr. John Smith, of Monkredding, Ayr, has published an interleaved list of Ayrshire plants. Some of the species recorded are not to be found in the second edition of Topo- graphical Botany^ although also given for Ayrshire in Mr. P. t This is an error. I have seen an original specimen from Wahlenberg in the Boott Herbarium at Kew, and that specimen is certainly G.juncella Th. Fr. — G. vulgaris var. juncella Fr.
