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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



dium alpestre, &c. ; but I can plainly see that at the 

 present day those who wish to find rarities must 

 go quite out of the beaten track. — T. W. 



The " Tea-tree." — It is interesting to record 

 that this autumn a tree of the above kind, at 

 Lincoln, has produced a large number of berries, 

 many of which have come to maturity. Some of 

 these are now lying before me ; they are m point 

 of size intermediate between the fruit of the haw- 

 thorn and that of the dog-rose, and in colour they 

 nearly approach the latter. I shall be glad to know 

 if this i-ipeniug is really of so rare occurrence as has 

 been stated.— /F., Oxford. 



A Plea. roR our Grasses.— I quite agree with 

 the remarks of Mr. J. Harrison, in a late number 

 of Science-Gossip, upon the subject of our native 

 grasses. Considering their elegance and the ease 

 with which they can be preserved, it seems to me 

 most wonderful that they should be so much 

 neglected. It surely cannot be on account of the 

 difficulty attending upon their study ; if so I would 

 assure the student of our interesting Plora, that I 

 have had pupils who have been exceedingly critical 

 upon this tribe of plants simply by being introduced 

 to them infield explorations; and with a little teach- 

 ng we find that very young people can well appre- 

 ciate their differences. My old agricultural class 

 was always fond of them, as their practical teachings 

 appeal with especial force to the farmer, as no other 

 class of plants is so capable of teaching us the 

 different qualities and capabilities of soils with 

 equal exactitude. — /. B., Bradford Abbas. 



Plants of Castle Eden Dene, Durham.— I 

 frequently read with pleasure notes by the corre- 

 spondents of Science-Gossip, telling of their visits 

 to some particular locality in search of plants or 

 insects, &c. ; and I regret that there are not more 

 of these : they give most valuable information to 

 the entomologist and botanist, and frequently are 

 the means of guiding him to favoured localities, 

 which otherwise he might overlook, although in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. To show what I mean, 

 I will copy from my notes for the last week in July, 

 memorandum of an excursion I made to Castle 

 Eden Dene : it is situated about midway between 

 Eerryhill and Hartlepool, is easily reached by rail- 

 way, and has been long noted for its many botanical 

 treasures. The most conspicuous plant, as we 

 strolled in the upper parts of the Dene, was the 

 elegant Hart's-tongue fern, growing in the greatest 

 abundance by the road-side ; the Melica nutans was 

 plentiful, also the Lily of the Valley, the Rubus 

 sa.vaiilis, and the Faris quadrifolia, the latter two 

 in fruit ; in one spot we saw the CepJialaiithera eiisi- 

 folia in seed. By the wayside was the Epipadis 

 latifolia, and in one place near the mouth of the 

 Dene, JEpipadis palustris in flower ; in many parts 



the Hemp Agrimony {Eupatorium cannabinum), 

 Orchis compsea, and the Comfrey {Symphytum 

 offidnale). As we approached the wider parts of 

 the Dene, near the sea, we found the Geranium 

 sangunieum, and on the sea-banks the beautiful 

 Pariiassia palustris and the Orchis pyramidalis. 

 There is a vague rumour that the rare Lady's 

 Slipper (C calceolus) is still to be found in the 

 Dene, but as the time of flowering was long past, 

 to search for it would have been a hopeless task. 

 Another plant I searched for in vain, the sweet- 

 scexited and elegant Pyrola rotundifolia, although 

 I examined well the spot where I had seen it 

 growing in profusion some years ago ; it had com- 

 pletely disappeared, the site being monopolized by 

 the perennial Mercury and other dense-growing 

 plants. The end of May or beginning of June 

 would have been a much more favourable time to 

 find most of these plants in their greatest per- 

 fection, and I certainly should recommend botanists 

 to select that time to visit the Dene. — T. I. B., 

 Ferry hill, Durham. 



Sudden Appearance of Plants, &c. — I am 

 able to confirm much which your correspondent 

 Mr. Edwin Lees has communicated in your Sep- 

 tember number, and add my experience of the 

 same. Some twelve or fourteen years since a new 

 basin was formed in the river Lea, and the earth 

 deposited on a waste piece of ground alongside, 

 which produced the next year many of the varieties 

 of Chenopodium and Atriplex, especially C. rubrum, 

 hybridum, and ///ct/o/?«;;;, whilst in the year follow- 

 ing 1 could not find ten plants altogether. Again 

 last year the other parts of the river were dredged, 

 and the muddy gravel produced again quantities of 

 Chenopodium andJtripilex, with Nasturtium terrestre. 

 Erysimum cheiranthoides, Saponaria vaccaria : these 

 have this year given way almost entirely to several 

 of the Polygonum, Sinapis, Camelina, and grasses. 

 The sand scraped from our roads has this year pro- 

 duced a large crop of Camelina saliva and Limtm 

 usitatissimum. When the branch line of the Great 

 Northern Railway was cut from Hatfield to Hert- 

 ford, Centaurea calcitrapa made its appearance the 

 first year, and has not been seen since. Scrophu- 

 laria vernalis also visited us six years ago with 

 about twenty plants, and only one has been seen 

 since, viz. last year. — Robert G. Andrews. 



Sudden Appearance of Plants, &c. — In con- 

 nection with the paper in last month's Science- 

 Gossip, page 190, by Mr. Lees, on the above 

 subject, I have noticed a curious circumstance 

 respecting Fyrola secunda (serrate winter-green). 

 I had known a patch of Pyrola minor for several 

 years, and frequently seen the plants both in flower 

 and in seed. One season I found intermixed with 

 minor a few specimens of P. secunda. I could 

 scarcely have overlooked them had they been there 



