The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-30 00:00:00

BANK RETURNS.

The Bankers' Magazine furnishes the returns of the cir-
culation of the Private and Joint-Stock Banks in England
and Wales for the four weeks ending Jan. 9. These
returns, combined with the circulation of the Scotch and
Irish Banks for the same period, and the average circula-
tion of the Bank of England for the four weeks ending the
6th Jan. (the nearest date furnished by their returns)
will give the following results of the circulation of notes in
the United Kingdom, when compared with the previous
month:—

Dec. 12, Jan. 9,
1863. 1864. Increase. Decrease
Bank of England 20,704,586 20,075,403 £629,183
Private Banks 3,220,025 3,115,544 10 t,481
Joint-stock Banks 2,899,315 2,829,127 70,191
Total in England i 26,823,929 26,020,074 803,855
Scotland 4,634,6,4 4,301,431 338.233
Ireland I 5,940,253 5,664,140 i 276,113
----- -
United Kingdom. 37,403,846 35,985,615 1,418,201

And, as compared with the month ending the 10th Jan.,
1863, the above returns show an increase of £383,439
in the circulation of notes in England, and an increase of
£593,492 in the circulation of the United Kingdom.
On comparing the above with the fixed issues of the seve-
ral banks the following is the state of the circulation :
The English private banks aro below their fixed
issue
The English joint-stock banks are below their
fixed issue £445,231

Total below fixed issue in England.... £1,594,829
The Scotch banks are above their fixed issue .. £1,552,160
The Irish banks are below their fixed issue .... £690,354
The average stock of bullion held by the Bank of Eng-
land in both departments during the month ending the 6th
Jan. was £14,112,975, being an increase of £901,719 as
compared with the previous month, and a decrease of
£760,632 when compared with the same period last year.
The following are the amounts of specie held by the Scotch
and Irish banks during the month ending the 9th Jan. .:667
Gold and silver held by the Scotch banks L2,350,667
Gold and silver held by the Irish banks 2,007,210

£4,357,877
Being a decrease of £291,831 as compared with the
previous return, and a decrease of £224,901 when compared
with the corresponding period of last year•

THE FORGET ME-NOT.—The forget-me-not is a
applied to a
i
name which has, like the pansy, been
variety of plants. For more than 200 years t was given in
England, France, and the Netherlands to the ground pine,
Ajuga chammpitys. From the middle of the 15th century
until 1821 this plant was in all botanical books called forget-
me .not, on account of the nauseous taste which it leaves in
the mouth. Some of the old German botanists gave the
name Vergiss mein nicht to the ChamaArys vera fecnina
or Teucrium butrys. Forglemu mig icke, the correspond-
ing Danish name, was given to the Veronica charecedrys.
This plant was in English called the "speedwell," from
its blossoms falling off and flying away, and "speedwell"
being an old form of leave-taking, equivalent to " faro-
well " or " good-by." The ancient English name of
the Mysotis palustris was mouse-ear-scorpion-grass ; the
phrase mouse-ear describing the small oval leaves, and the
epithet scorpion the curve of the one-sided racime, like the
scorpion's tail. In the days of chivalry, a plant which has
not been ascertained, was called " Souveigno vous do racy,"
and woven into collars. In 1465 one of these collars was
the prim of a famous joust, fought between a French and
an English knight. Certain German botanists, as far back
as the sixteenth century, seem, however, to have given the
name forget-me. not to the Mysotig. palustris ; and borne on
the wings of the poetic legend of a lover losing his life while
gathering a pretty river-side flower for his sweetheart, and
throwing it to her, crying, "Forget me not !" with his last
drowning breath, this name is now inseparably connected
with the flower ; and certainly, the lovers are more plea-
santly associated with it than the mouse's car and the
scorpion's tail,—Dickens's 44 411 Ow Year .bound."