I5S 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



perhaps, as its geolog}-, for the latter is unusually 

 rich. Anyone wanting to work it out had best refer 

 to the papers by Mr. Davis in the Proceedings of the 

 Geologists' Association, and to Mr, G, H, Morton's 

 handsome and useful little volume (with maps, 

 photographs, &c.), which deals chiefly with the 

 Carboniferous series. 



All the way up the valley to Corwen, whether by 

 the high-road or the river, nothing can surpass the 

 loveliness of the scenery. There is a peacefulness 

 about the spot which gets hold of the tired and 



river rushing past us, its banks fringed with forests 

 of foxgloves, nettle-leaved campanulas, and brake 

 ferns ! The rich alluvial soil forms margins of meadow- 

 land which border the river alternately on this side 

 or that, and which are usually the sites of old 

 country houses, and the retreats of many a rare plant. 

 Among others, not uncommon, may be mentioned 

 Inula hdeniuni, woodrufife {Asperula odorata, abun- 

 dant just now in places) ; TroUiits Europaiis is common 

 in sheltered localities by the river, and Paris quadri- 

 folia in the woods. The very beautiful AltJuza qffi.- 



Fig. 94. — Productus p-itfictaiiis, 

 Carb. limestone. 



Fig. g6. — Rynchonclla pleii- 

 todon, Carb. limestone. 



Fig. 95. — Prodicctus giga7iteus, Carb. limestone. 



Fig. 97. — Terebratula hasiala, 

 Carb. limestone. 



Fig. 99. — Fossil bryozoan {R etepora plebeia), Carb. limestone, 

 Hafod. 



Fig. 98. — Fossil Coral 



{Ainplexus coralloidcs) 



Carb. limestone. 



weary brain at once ; and the atmosphere, heather- 

 scented from the hills, produces that delightful 

 drowsiness which reminds us of the grounds round 

 about Thomson's " Castle of Indolence," This 

 gorge of the Dee, now looking so inexpressibly lovely 

 in its midsummer dress, was once fdled with moving 

 ice, as the moraines lining the present river abun- 

 dantly testify in their scratched stones. What a 

 contrast between the slow-moving glacier which once 

 filled this defile, perhaps up to the shoulders of these 

 rounded hills, and the brawling salmon and trout 



cinalis is abundant by the water both of the river and 

 the canal (the latter one of the oldest in the country) 

 and its clusters of flowers never look so pretty as when 

 reflected in the water they love to linger by. Among 

 other characteristic plants of the neighbourhood are 

 the Welsh poppy [Alcxonopsis Cambrica), dwarf elder 

 [Sambucus Ebulus), etc. 



The Eglwyseg rocks and the gorges which here 

 and there run up into them, — notably that beautiful 

 ail-de-sac called " The World's End,'' — are very rich 

 in various plants and ferns. Here may be found 



