phyllum cuneifolium var. Saxifragafolium Sternbg. Here we have whorls of bracts and sporangia arranged very much as in our spike, and there is also a general similarity between the form and appearance of the whole spike. But, and this is an important point, Zeiller's spike has the bracts connate for a short portion of their length at the base, a feature which cannot be made out in our specimen.

It will be seen, then, that the most that can be said with regard to the affinities of the spike is that in its general structure and appearance it strongly resembles the spikes of Spenophyllum. To advance beyond this we should require clear evidence of the absence or presence of sporangiophores, as well as of cohesion or the want of cohesion at the base of the bracts, and this evidence the specimen does not supply.

The figure on the accompanying plate (Plate III.) shows the general features of the spike. It is a little longer than the natural size of the specimen in the ratio of II to 10.

Notes on
(Kunth).

the Distribution

of Simethis Bicolor

By James Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S.

(Received January 7th, 1896.)

I was conducted by the Rev. Edward F. Linton towards the end of June last summer (1895) to the isolated spot, just within the boundaries of Dorsetshire, where this local plant occurs. It is abundant for the space of some 12 to 15 yards square, nestling in the soft, dry, peaty turf, at the foot of the pine trees (Pinus Pinaster Aiton), with which the town of Bournemouth is very extensively planted. Heather and Agrostis Setacea Curtis, a grass almost confined, so far as England is concerned, to the S.-W. counties, also occur in plenty. Simethis belongs to the section Anthericea, of the order Liliacea, and is the sole representative in this country of a section which has several fine European representatives, notably the St. Bruno's Lily, Paradisea Liliastrum, L. so common on the Riviera; and the two Antherica, A. ramosum L. and Liliago L. It is far more inconspicuous than these, being weak-stemmed, the star-like perianth, internally white, externally lilac tinged, almost reposing on the moss and heather which surround them. The leaves are all radical, gramineous or grass-like, and the branches corymbose, diffuse, furnished with leaf-like bracts on the lower branches of the panicle. The root is fibrous, very deep-seated. The capsules are globular, three-celled; seeds black and arillated; stamens six, with the filaments woolly below.

The following is the synonymy of the species :SIMETHIS Kunth, 1843. Enum. Pt. IV., p. 618.

Syn.:

PUBILARIA Rafinesque. Fl. Tellur. II., 27 (1836).
MORGAGNIA Bubani in Nouv. Ann. Soc. Nat. Bologn.
IX., 1842-3.

SIEBOLDIA Heynh. Nom II., 664 (1846).
ANTHERICUM Linn. in parte.

PHALANGIUM Tournefort in parte.

BULBINE Linn. in parte.

SIMETHIS bicolor Kunth, 1843.

Syn.

Anthericum planifolium Linn. Mantissa Plantarum.
Ed. II. (1771).

Phalangium planifolium. Pers. syn., Vol. I., p. 367.
Bulbine planifolia. Köm. and Sch. cf. Bertolini. Fl.

Ital.

Phalangium bicolor D.C. Fl. Fr. (1805 - 1813).
Vol. III., p. 209.

Anthericum bicolor Desf. Fl. Atlantica (1798-99).
Morgagnia bicolor Bubani cf. Parlatore.-Fl. Ital.,
Vol. II., p. 606.

Simethis planifolia. Wood's Eng. Bot. Suppl., No.

2,952.

From the foregoing synonymy it would appear, if the law of strict priority be followed, that Rafinesque's name of Pubilaria has precedence, and the Linnæan specific name of planifolia, 1771, must surely come in vogue instead of Desfontaine's name, given 17 years later.

Granted, however, that Pubilaria planifolia be correct, we prefer to use the old familiar titles at present, and one cannot help cherishing a hope, however dim, that the present rage of name-revolution so especially rife in America and Germany, but not altogether without its followers in this country, as the last edition of the London