74 BOTANY OF CHEADLE, STAFFORDSHIRE. 



not-indigenous plants, but no one who sees it in the locality 

 here given, will hesitate to pronounce it decidedly wild, or 

 at least perfectly naturalized. The vegetation generally in 

 this spot was particularly luxuriant ; Asplenium Filix-fcemi- 

 na was especially fine, and the leaves of the Arctium Lappa 

 were so large that I stood erect under them during a shower 

 of rain. Myrrhis odorata occurred in the same spot, but ra- 

 ther sparingly : where also I took Helix fusca and Scarbur- 

 gensis ; of the latter I found only four specimens, which were 

 among dead beech-leaves. 



Another very picturesque valley called Demon's Dale, or 

 Dimsdale, extending from Alton Towers, the seat of the Earl 

 of Shrewsbury, in the direction towards Cheadle, affords 

 Viola palustris, Chrysosplenium oppositifolium and alterni- 

 foliwn in great profusion ; also Adoxa moschatellina, which 

 indeed is much more abundant in many places in this neigh- 

 bourhood than I ever observed it elsewhere ; it abounds on 

 every moist, bushy bank. Angelica sylvestris, Lycopodium 

 inundatum, Polypodium Dryopteris, Pol. calcareum (one 

 specimen), Gnaphalium rectum, Empetrum nigrum, Pyrola 

 minor (by the side of the private coach-road), and Orobanche 

 elatior occur in the same locality, as does Circcea lutetiana, 

 but of so dwarf a stature, although growing in a damp situa- 

 tion, and with leaves so decidedly heart-shaped, as to be ea- 

 sily mistaken for, if indeed it be not, Cir. alpina. In the 

 woods which cover the sides of this valley I found several 

 colonies of Helix nitens, of a very large size, occupying 

 rounded excavations under stones, which in three instances 

 also contained a rather uncommon beetle {Cychrus rostratus). 

 Pupa edentula is very common, adhering to the back of the 

 barren fronds of Blechnum boreale ; and on the luxuriant 

 herbage which grows on the moist spots by the side of the 

 rivulet traversing the valley, Helix fusca is found sparingly. 



In the summer of 1837 I took many specimens of Hylobius 

 straminea ; indeed this beetle was abundantly met with in 

 many localities in the latter part of the summer of last year. 

 This insect afforded a singular instance of tenacity of life : I 

 plunged two specimens into a phial filled with spirits of wine, 

 at the bottom of which they lay apparently dead for three 

 days ; on the evening of the third day I transfixed them with 

 a pin, and stuck them on a setting -board ; the next day, to 

 my surprise, I found them alive, and as active as when I first 

 took them. 



In the barren pastures Gentiana Amarella grows plenti- 

 fully ; and in several localities, as about Wootton, Cheadle 

 Common, and Dilhorn, that elegant little fern Botrychium 



