Retrospective Criticism, 463 



/4vena pubescens, flavescens, and pratensis, the Festuca ovina and duri- 

 uscula, 7j?riza media, -Sromus erectus and mollis, i761cus avenaceus, Phleum 

 pratense, and Dactylis glomerata are the grasses which chiefly predominate 

 there ; and, instead of there being a want of the grasses on any moderately 

 good specimen of the chalk downs, the turf is closer and thicker, and 

 comprehends a greater number of gramineous plants within the compass 

 of a square foot, than almost any other pastures. 



The first, and I may say the only, objection which Mr. Thomson raises, 

 in order to combat it, is really not worth notice, viz. that the number and 

 variety of rocks are not in proportion to the number and variety of vege- 

 tables. To give any weight to this objection, we must involve in it the 

 term, that those who assert that plants have a geological predilection also 

 assert that only one, or a few, or a very limited number of plants, elect the 

 same stratum ; in short, that the whole number of native plants cannot find 

 strata which they affect ; a position which I do not understand Mr. Thom- 

 son to assert, nor any other observer of nature, and therefore it seems 

 needless to combat it. Suppose, for instance, there were only six strata, 

 and 10,000 plants : it is not asserted that 3000 may not elect one stratum, 

 2000 another, 1000 a third, 500 a fourth, 500 a fifth, and 800 the sixth; 

 that 1200 may not be common to three, 500 common to other three, 250 

 common to five, 50 common to six, and 200 common to four of the strata : 

 does the proportion in which the number of species surpasses the number 

 of strata at all forbrd such a scheme of election ? And yet is it not as much 

 an election, as if six plants chose each one stratum, and all the rest of the 

 10,000 species refused to grow at all ? To know why plants elect some 

 strata and refuse others, we must first collect our facts ; and let them be 

 sufficiently numerous before we attempt to generalise and theorise. I am, 

 Sir, yours, &c. — Causidicus. 



On Hares taking the Water. — I think I am enabled, by decisive facts, to 

 settle all doubts respecting the capability or inclination of hares for taking 

 the water j a curious point of natural history, which has drawn the attention 

 of some of your correspondents at various times, (p. 143. 274. and 382.) 

 Near my residence there is a large sheet of water, in which there is a small 

 island at no great distance from the shore. Conceiving that the spot might 

 be made a convenient receptacle for hares or rabbits, I at various times, as 

 opportunities of catching them occurred, turned out several of each species ; 

 but was surprised, on subsequent visits, never to meet with a single indi- 

 vidual. For a time I imagined that they had been either drowned in 

 attempting to escape, or been starved from a deficiency of proper food ; 

 though, as the island abounded in rich vegetation, untouched, of course, by 

 cattle, I could not so easily admit the latter supposition. One day, how- 

 ever, on landing, I was startled by a large hare bouncing up, which I knew 

 could not be one placed there by myself, as many months had elapsed since 

 I had repeated mj experiment of peopling the island. On seeing her rise, 

 I immediately returned to the boat for a dog which had accompanied me ; 

 when, to my surprise, I saw her in the act of swimming towards the main 

 land at a steady pace, and, before I could cut her off, she had effected a 

 landing, and, after shaking herself, went away at full speed. On exa- 

 mining the island, I found a regular hare track from the point whence she 

 started, through the rich grass, to her seat ; an evident proof that she 

 was in the habit of crossing the ferry, and reposing for the day in a situ- 

 ation which she had wisely selected, as removed from alarm of dogs, guns, 

 and sportsmen. This is not the only instance I have to offer : another 

 occurred in the case of a three-fourths-grown leveret, which accidentally 

 fell into my hands, and whose motions I determined to watch after land- 

 ing it on the island. For a time it ran about in a state of uneasiness, when, 

 as if aware that it was under restraint, it made for the nearest point to the 

 land, and without a moment's hesitation, as a matter of course, plunged 



