HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS I P. 



211 



BOTANY. 



A Ramble over the Cotswolds. — It was a 

 lovely morning at the latter end of August that I 

 started from Cheltenham for a walk over that part of 

 the Cotswold Hills called Leckhampton Hill. Having 

 for the last two years botanised only in tlie south of 

 Herefordshire, I was not long before meeting with 

 plants entirely fresh to me. Climbing over the 

 hedgerows, and hanging in graceful festoons, were 

 Clematis vitalba and Bryonia dioica (traveller's joy 

 and red bryony) ; and soon after leaving the road 

 for the steep hill lane, I found Centaiirea Scabiosa 

 among the loose, rolling stones. A wild, waste field 

 looked so tempting that I became a trespasser, in 

 order to become acquainted with its botanical 

 treasures. I was well repaid, for the bee orchis 

 {Opkiys apifera) soon greeted me, and sharing the 

 same field the yellow-wort [Chiora perfoliata) over 

 an old stone wall, and then the steep hillside with 

 its floral beauties rose before me. I had not climbed 

 far before I found Orchis pyramidalis plentifully. 

 Something blue growing from the side of the cliff 

 attracted my attention, and after a hazardous climb 

 among loose falling stones, I found that it was the 

 handsome viper's bugloss (Ecliiu/n viilgarc) growing 

 profusely on the face of the precipitous rocks. I had 

 now gained the top, and looked on the wild moor- 

 land tract that stretched so invitingly before me. At 

 my feet was the beautiful Gcntiana amarella, and not 

 far off Ca?npanula rapunculiis, while, gracefully bend- 

 ing to every breeze, the Scabiosa columbaria. The 

 carline thistle {Carlina vulgaris) and the musk 

 thistle {Carduus nutans) were both frequent. Al- 

 though no conchologist, I could not pass by some very 

 large snail shells that I found frequently among the 

 rocks, and which, from the woodcut in Dr. Taylor's 

 *' Green Lanes," I had no difficulty in recognising as 

 the apple snail {Helix pomatia). Growing every- 

 where, creeping over the grey rocks and expanding 

 its beautiful yellow corollas in the sunshine, was the 

 rock-rose {Heliantheinum vulgare), and not far off 

 some fine heads of Anthyllis Viilneraria. Far away in 

 the distance was the long range of the Malvern Hills ; 

 on my right hand Cleeve Hill, with its downs and 

 Roman encampment, and at my feet Cheltenham and 

 its avenues of trees. I left the wind-swept hill-top 

 and commenced my journey home. Half-way down 

 the hill I turned aside into a fir-wood and gathered 

 some magnificent specimens of Epipactis latifolia. 

 Habenaria viridis (the frog orchis) was my last 

 " bag " that day. — Thos. G. Harris. 



Query about Elm-trees. — For the last few 

 days I have been in Bedfordshire, where I have 

 observed in all directions a remarkable phenomenon 

 amongst the elm-trees, which I do not remember to 

 have seen before. Many of them, and those by no 



means the weaker or more sickly trees, have sundry- 

 smaller boughs already withered, and embrowned. 

 Their otherwise rich and flourishing foliage is 

 frequently relieved by these small brown patches, 

 often a foot or two in diameter, and scattered 

 irregularly over the tree. I do not think I anywhere 

 remarked a single one of them undergoing the usual 

 golden process of early decay; but the work was 

 completely and effectually done. I should be glad to 

 know in what way this unusual change is to be ac- 

 counted for.— C y. Bingham, Athcncvum Club. 



Plant Names. — The following names for wild- 

 flowers are used in this part of Kent. The cowslip 

 {Primula veris) is called " Lady-Keys ;" wild hyacinth 

 {Hyacinthus iion-scriptus) " Blue-bottle ; " water fig- 

 wort [Scrophulari aquatica) " Water Betony ; " pansy 

 ox\xQzx\^ %•&&%& {Viola tricolor) " Kitty-run-the-street ;" 

 early purple orchis {Orchis mascula) " Poor man's 

 blood ;" red campion (Lychnis diurna) " Bachelor's 

 button;" oyi-eyedaisy {Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum) 

 "horse-daisy." — Henry Lamb, Maidstone. 



Anacharis Alsinastrum. — The male plants of 

 this species that I discovered in a pond on the Braid 

 Hills in August, i8So, began to flower about the end 

 of July this season, and as the ^flowers are far more 

 plentiful than they were last year, I hope to dry a few 

 for distribution. The pistil is extremely variable, no 

 two specimens being alike, but I may point out that 

 the enlarged figures illustrate description of the plant 

 in SciENCE-Gossir for October, 1880. Fig. 142, page 

 229, is hardly correct, and apt to mislead. The surface 

 of the lower part of the pistil is merely rugose, without 

 the scale-like appearance shown in the figure. The 

 figure also showing a top view of the flower (fig. 

 141 a) has too many anthers, as twelve may be seen, 

 while in reality the flowers have but nine. The 

 others fairly represent the plant. — D. Douglas. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Geologists' Association had a capital tour 

 in the Lake District, commencing on July iSth and 

 extending to July 23rd. All the chief sections and 

 fossil-collecting localities were visited. 



Notes on the Southern Drift of England- 

 AND Wales.— Mr. Mellard Reade, C.E., F.G.S., 

 has published a paper on the above subject. As 

 the result of his observations in various places, all of 

 which are given, he arrives at the conclusion that the 

 apparently diluvial deposits of the middle and south 

 of England are the result of subaerial rearrangement, 

 denudation, and attrition of the deposits laid down, 

 during the same period that produced our marine 

 boulder clay and the Scotch fossiliferous and un- 

 fossiliferous till. 



