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BOTANY var. subh/stris. The raspberry R. idaus is local, but is found in all the larger districts and is common locally. Several other species are recorded in various works, but the specific limitations are now so different from what they were when the records were made that it is impossible, with accuracy, to determine what species (as we now understand them) they are identical with, and it is safer to ignore them, a course which has been followed in the Handbook of the British Rubi, by the Rev. W. Moyle Rogers. THE ROSES (Rosa) The roses, like the brambles, have been much neglected so far as critical study goes, and such records as have been made are in many cases unsatisfactory. The dog rose (Rosa canind) is widely distributed and shows more variation on clay soils. Among the modifications of it that the writer has met with are R. lutetiana, Leman, which is the commonest form, and is generally distributed, although less abundant, on the Greensand ; R. dumalis, Bechst., under which is placed the biserrata of English writers, is also very common. R. dumetorum, Thuill., with which is grouped R. urbica, Leman, is widely distributed and occurs about Salford (Ouzel) in many situations. R. verticillata, Merat, is local ; it occurs near Eaton Bray (Ouzel). The field-rose (R. arvensis, L.) is abundant in the woods and hedges on clay soils. The peduncles vary much as regards their armature of bristles ; an extreme form is var. gal/icoides, Baker. R. micrantha, Sm., is local, but is rather more frequent on the Chalk. The sweet brier (R. Eglanteria, L. = R. rubiginosa, L.) is rare and only scattered through the district, and is often only an escape from cultivation. The downy rose (R. mo//issima, Willd., R. tomentosa, Sm.) is rather rare ; it occurs in a few localities, chiefly on hilly ground, as near Aspley (Ouzel), and usually as the var. subglobosa (Sm.) CRYPTOGAMS THE CLUBMOSSES (Lycopodiacece) This order is probably extinct in Bedfordshire. According to Abbot, Lycopodium clavatum grew on Potton Heath, and L. inundatum at Ampthill, at the end of the eighteenth century, but there is no modern record of either. THE FERNS (Filices) 1 Although there are old-established woods in Bedfordshire, the ferns are not numerous. The hard fern (Lomaria Spicant) is frequent on sides of ditches at Aspley and Flitwick. The black maiden hair (Asp/euium Adiantum-nigrurri) was found on Stafford Bridge by Abbot, and is men- tioned as not uncommon in the South Beds list, 1 88 1 . Wall-rue (A. Ruta-muraria) has been frequent on walls in the north since Abbot's 1 By J. Hamson, Bedford. 55