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EAMBLE IN THE K. OF SPAIN. 



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5ri;2ra maccima also invite our attention. Continuing my walk, I 

 found in a cornfield Cephalaria syriaca. The almost sessie heads, 

 and those on long stalks, on which DeCandolle founds two va- 

 rieties, sometimes occur in the same plant ; and he does not notice 

 the very prolonged receptacle, which is a striking character. Sedum 

 Cep<ea also occurs in this walk, Tolpis harhata^ Picridium vulgwte^ 

 and Adiantum Capilltis Veneris^ which however I did not see. 

 The land forming the north side of the harbour of Santander 



4 



terminates in a peninsula, and an island on which they are now 

 building a lighthouse. The peninsula is composed of limestone 

 rock, a large portion of which is covered by sand-hills. I expected 

 to find here the plants which abound on the sand-hills at Biarritz, 

 but the best are wanting. Those observed there which I have 

 not already noticed were Dianthus galUcuSy Medicago striata^ Her- 

 niaria glabra^ Pulicaria odora, lAnaria supina^ Scrophularia 

 canina, Veronica prostrata, and Sclerochloa Triticvm. Another 

 set of sand-hills between this peninsula and the present light- 

 house affords Artemisia crithmifolia and its parasite Orohanche 

 arenaria^ and Allium sphcerocephalvm. There is a large extent of 

 sand-hills on the opposite side of the mouth of the harbour, which 

 are heaped up to a considerable height above the limestone rock ; ' 

 they offer every step of the progress from loose blowing sand to 

 a close covermg of turf, but I found hardly anything which I had 

 not previously noticed. There was one bush of Cistus salvifoliua. 

 I had expected to find Spain full of dstus ; but this plant, another 

 at Las Caldas, and one or two others, all of the same species, at 

 Bilbao, were all that I saw of the genus, Juncm acutus is very 

 abundant on these sands, and I got AraUs ciliata, Medicago ma- 

 rina, JEtheorUza bullosa, Cymglossvm pictum^ Plantago montana, 

 and in a moist spot Lastrcea Theh/pteris. 



I have still a few gleanings of the country near Santander. On 

 the shores of the Bay of Biscay I found Linaria graca. On the 

 road towards Burgos, which sets off westward instead of eastward 

 from Santander to get round the head of the harbour, there is a 

 range of hills on a base of limestone : I visited it twice. They 

 present a remarkable feature, which also prevails among those 

 towards the lighthouse : it is the frequent occurrence of conical 

 depressions or craters, which one might fancy to be volcanic, did 

 the nature of the soil permit such a supposition. They are of 

 different sizes, mostly filed up with trees or brushwood, and often 

 ranging in lines, which seem to occupy the position of a con- 

 tinuous valley. The woods on these hills abound in Arbutus, 



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