The worst perplexity is that well-known names, which one would think were securely appropriated, are often common property. Our authority for the above details—the Dictionary of English Plant-names, by James Britten and Robert Holland—tells us that Orchis mascula, the 'male orchis', is also called Cowslip, Crowsfoot, Ragwort, and Cuckoo-flower. This plant, however, seems to have suggested to the rustic mind the most varied fancies, similitudes of all kinds from 'Aaron's beard' to 'kettle-pad'.
The Committee of the S.P.E. invite the membership of all those who are genuinely interested in the objects of the Society and willing to assist in its work. The Secretary will be glad to receive donations of any amount, great or small, which will be duly acknowledged and credited in the Society's banking account.
Members who wish to have the tracts of the Society forwarded to them as they are issued, should ensure this by sending a subscription of 10s. to the Secretary, who will then supply them for the current year of their subscription. The four tracts published in the last year were thus sent to a number of subscribers; and it would greatly assist the Society if all these would renew their subscriptions, and if others would subscribe for our forthcoming publications in the same manner. All donations and subscriptions should be sent to the Hon. Secretary,
L. PEARSALL SMITH,
11 ST. LEONARD'S TERRACE,
S.W. 3.
The prospectus of the Society will be found in Tract I, and further details in Tracts III and IV.
Footnotes
1 No doubt all these variations of American from British usage will be duly discussed in Professor George Philip Krapp's forthcoming History of the English Language in America.