THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY, BRITISH AND FOREIGN. EDITED BY BERTHOLD SEEMANN, PH.D., F.L.S., ADJUNCT OF THE IMPERIAL L. C. ACADEMY NATURE CURIOSORUM. TAYLOR AND CO., 10, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. ANDREW ELLIOT, 15, Princes Street, Edinburgh; J. ROTHSCHILD, Paris; 1870. QKI STATZ OIHO NIMIAERBILA PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND CO., LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS ΤΟ VOLUMES I. TO VIII. OF THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY.' T. Addison. T. Anderson, M.D., F.L.S. C. C. Babington, F.R.S., F.L.S. J. Backhouse. Charles Bailey. J. G. Baker, F.L.S. J. H. Balfour, M.D., H. Ball, M.D. F.R.S. J. Ball, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. Rev. M. J. Barrington-Ward, B.A. H. Beigel, M.D. A. W. Bennett, M.A., B.Sc., F L.S. J. J. Bennett, F.R.S., F.L.S. Rev. A. Bloxam, M.A. Charles Bolle, M.D. R. Braithwaite, M.D., F.L.S. A. Braun, Ph.D. T. R. A. Briggs. J. Britten, F.L.S. Alphonse de Candolle, D.C.L. W. Carruthers, F.L.S. J. Cherry. 223386 BY THE HON. J. B. LEICESTER WARREN, M.A., F.L.S. BOTANISTS are not held in over-reverence by the outer world, and collectors of Brambles are often rated very low even by botanists. The puzzle of getting Rubus fruticosus into order, even as regards its forms occurring in this island, is neither a pleasant nor a remunerative task. Yet R. fruticosus may have its side-light or two to throw on the vexed question of species. It is a creature requiring a study to itself, and one that even great authorities have dismissed in a somewhat perfunctory manner. One school says, " R. cæsius, L., is a good species, R. discolor, W. and N., is a better; but when it comes to naming every other bush like certain French friends of ours, the matter grows serious, and we ought to intervene." By no means, it is the better excess of the two, as long as you bear in mind that you are cataloguing merely forms or varieties. R. discolor is no better a species than R. Sprengelii, Weihe (excluding R. Borreri, Bell-Salt.), than R. fissus, Lind. (excluding R. suberectus, Anders.); that is to say, if, by conceding the name of species to R. discolor, we deny the possibility of its having ever had a common ancestor with any other Rubus. "No," will be the reply, "when VOL. VIII. [MARCH 1, 1870.] B www |