been added to the above long list. It seems undesirable to
rake up the errors of little-known authors. This species has
usually been confounded with either the V. canina (t. 2984)
or the V. lactea of Smith (t. 445); but those plants w7ant the
slender, far-creeping rhizome of V. stagnina, and have flowers
and leaves of a very different shape. V. lactea is now considered
as a form of V. canina, from which it only differs by
its narrower leaves and paler flower; for it is nearly certain
that the creeping character given to the stem on our tab. 445
is an error. V. lactea is the V. landfolia of Thore, V. pumila
of Fries, but apparently not of Yillars. The V. stricta found
at Garry Land, near Gort, in Ireland, by Mr. A. G. More, is
the V. Billotii of Schultz, but is certainly only a dwarf state
of V. stagnina.
The stems of our plant are erect, from 2 or 3 inches to a
foot high; stipules large, lanceolate, and always shorter than
the petioles. The petals are very short in proportion to their
w'idth, and are of a colour varying from what the artist calls
“ smalt ” to cream-coloured ; the spur is exceedingly short,
often scarcely extending beyond the rather large appendages
to the calyx. The rhizome or sobole is often very much more
slender than that which is represented on our plate, and, as it
is exceedingly brittle, specimens are rarely gathered with it in
a perfect state. In the fens of Cambridgeshire the plant was
once abundant, but has now become scarce from the drainage
of the county. There its rhizome ran for very long distances
in the peaty soil, throwing up stems bearing leaves and flowers
at intervals of an inch or two. On a specimen before us,
which was dug up with especial care, the horizontal rhizome
(although broken at both ends) is about seven inches long,
and scarcely the hundredth of an inch in thickness.
V. stagnina flowers in May and June, and grows in peaty
bogs. It has been found in England and Ireland, but not in
Scotland. It is probably less rare than is usually supposed,
but very few stations are recorded for it. The specimens
figured were gathered in Bottisham Fen, near Cambridge, on
June 5, 1852, by the present writer.—C. C. B.