HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



103 



found. I ought here to mention that no one who | 

 wishes to visit the Lizard, should do so without 

 procuring Mr. John's charming little book, entitled 

 " A Week at the Lizard," published by the Christian 

 Knowledge Society : I found it of great assistance to 

 me; and I should have missed obtaining many plants 

 had I trusted to my own powers of vision only. A 

 card-table in our room at the hotel served as a 

 capital press ; but I am afraid the use of it for this 

 purpose, although perhaps in one sense more harm- 

 less than its ordinary one, was very trying to its 

 hinges. 



Helston itself is a pleasantly-situated country 

 town, about equidistant from Penzance, Falmouth, 

 and the Lizard, and is therefore much used as a 

 halting-place by visitors to any of these places. 

 The High-street presents a busy scene on the arrival 

 of the coaches, which during the summer months, 

 and at all events when we were there, were crowded 

 with passengers. 



Our next expedition was to Gunwalloc, a little 

 hamlet a few miles south of Helston and close to 

 the sea. My friend had preceded me to sketch, and 

 I followed him in the course of the morning. I was 

 anxious to visit Gunwalloc, as, from the description 

 of it and its botanical rarities in Mr. John's book, 

 I expected to make many additions to my her- 

 barium ; and in this, as will be seen, I was not dis- 

 appointed. I found my friend seated in a delight- 

 ful little hollow in the cliff, sketching Gunwalloc 

 church and headland. The steep banks near us 

 were covered with masses of the Sea Aster (Aster 

 Tripolium), its lilac corymbs lighting up the dark- 

 green stems of that rare, but to my mind ugly plant, 

 the common Herniary (Hemiaria glabra) ; on the 

 beach I found Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and 

 Prickly Saltwort (Salsola Kali) in great abundance ; 

 neither of them rare plants, but of sufficient interest 

 to me to add several specimens to my collection. 

 In Gunwalloc churchyard were numerous plants of 

 the dark Mullein (Ferbascum nigrum) in all stages 

 of growth, from plants three or four feet high in 

 full flower, to little seedlings scarcely showing above 

 the ground. After a ramble in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Gunwalloc, my friend and I, 

 towards the middle of the day, began to think of 

 luncheon, and to that end made our way towards 

 Mullion Church town, about a mile distant ; and a 

 most pleasant walk we had. It was a lovely day, 

 and the views were very extensive. On the right 

 hand we could trace the coast almost to the Land's 

 End ; on the left were Mullion Island and the cliffs 

 near the Lizard Head, with numerous ships passing 

 up and down Channel. The short turf on which we 

 were walking was almost blue with the Autumnal 

 Squill (Scilla autumnalis) intermixed with Lady's 

 Tresses (Spiranthus autunmalis). These plants 

 were in great abundance throughout the Lizard 

 district, the one remarkable for its bright colour, 



the other for its fragrance. I was told that the 

 Vernal Squill {Scilla verna) was in even greater 

 abundance in the early part of the year, and that the 

 flowers were more striking and larger than the 

 Autumnal Squill ; but of this I was unable to judge. 

 After luncheon at Mullion, we again turned our 

 steps to the sea, following the course of a little 

 stream to Pollunan Cove. My only botanical dis- 

 covery on the way was a plant of the Viscid Bartsia 

 (Bartsia viscosa), growing in a small swamp with 

 Spiked Lythrum and other aquatic plants. It has, 

 as its name imports, a sticky, gummy flower and 

 stem ; the flower is of a bright yellow, and is very 

 pretty when freshly gathered, but of a most un- 

 satisfactory appearance when dried. Leaving my 

 friend to make another sketch, I returned to Gun- 

 walloc to hunt up the stream and marsh for aquatic 

 rarities. On the way I gathered specimens of the 

 Sea Convolvulus (Convolvulus Soldanella), a pretty 

 trailing plant with light pink flowers ; Brookweed 

 Samolus (Samolus Falerandi), and Dyers' Genista 

 {Genista tinctoria), which I was not acquainted with 

 in its stunted form. There were other stunted 

 forms of plants on the storm-beaten cliffs of the 

 Lizard ; amongst these I particularly noticed the 

 Meadow Spiraea. My search up the stream at Gun- 

 walloc was principally directed to obtaining speci- 

 mens and roots if possible of the large Spear 

 Ranunculus (Ranunculus Flammula). After walking 

 some distance up the stream, I saw a bright yellow 

 flower upon a stem about four feet high, which I at 

 once recognized as belonging to the plant I was in 

 quest of ; but to secure my prize was easier said 

 than done, for it was growing in the middle of a 

 deep swamp surrounded by reeds and rushes. 

 After a great deal of trouble, I managed to make a 

 sort of raft of rubbish to step on, and with the help 

 of a stick I dragged the plant near enough to me to 

 cut off the flower. I returned to Helston loaded 

 with plants, and well satisfied with the day's ex- 

 cursion. 



The next day we left Helston to take up our 

 quarters at Lizard Town. "We drove over to 

 Mullion, and then walked along the coast by way 

 of Kynance Cove. Unfortunately, the cove was 

 invaded by a steamer with excursionists from 

 Penzance, a great many of whom landed ; so we 

 could not enjoy the beautiful coast scenery as we 

 should otherwise have done. On arriving at the 

 Lizard Lights, we found a sale going on of the 

 cargo, spars, and rigging of an Italian ship, which 

 had run on shore in a fog a few days before. The 

 hull was sold as it lay on the rocks, and a steam tug 

 had been at work for some days trying to get her 

 off. During the night after the sale, after the tug 

 had left her, she took herself off, and went calmly 

 floating away towards the Land's End. Had not 

 one of the Lizard fishermen seen her early the 

 next morning, the purchaser would have lost his 



