,552 Natural HisUny in the English Counties : — 



surrounded by mosses and decayed vegetable matter, support- 

 ing around its edge the growth of grasses or other species ; 

 its own fine leaves, as they wither, assisting abundantly in the 

 formation of an incipient soil. The holly (/4ex ^quifolium 

 Lin.) is more hardy, and faces the western blasts with a 

 somewhat more elevated front; but shows, by its knotted 

 stump and zigzag branches, the hard fare it has to thrive 

 upon. The oak is also, like the holly, able to rear its head 

 but a very few feet above the rock. 



Towards the upper part of this limestone declivity, bare 

 spaces are to be met with of many square yards in extent, as 

 yet imattacked by any but the cryptogamous tribe. The 

 variety of lichens, mosses, &c., is very great ; and to the lover 

 of this class of plants the whole ridge of hill would aflfbrd a rich 

 treat. Near the summit, the surface becomes more broken 

 up, perhaps by the action of frost on water lodging on a sur- 

 face but little inclined. 



Over the summit to the eastward, where the cropping out: 

 of the strata produces, as before described, short abrupt pre- 

 cipices, the power of vegetation is again very remarkable, both 

 in breaking down the projecting rock and in covering the 

 fallen fragments beneath. In this work of detachment the 

 ash tree (i^raxinus excelsior IJn.) takes the lead. Many 

 dwarf stumps or bushes of this tree are to be seen adhering 

 to the crest or sides of the crag, their roots swelled out to an 

 astonishing size, when compared with the very scanty foliage 

 vegetating from them. This scanty foliage has, however, 

 been sufficient to nourish the formation of a vegetable wedge 

 powerful enough, in time, to detach very large fragments of 

 the rock. This is to be seen very favourably at one spot, 

 where an ash root is fixed in a recess of the precipice, 

 whence a mass of rock (5 ft. by 5, and 7 ft. deep, weight about 

 10 tons) has been detached; the shape of the mass at once 

 proving its coincidence with the recess above. The ash root 

 is partly embedded within the fissure, but a very large portion 

 of it is seen projecting outwards, in girth 4 ft. across : rough, 

 thick, and massive, it carries above a few stunted boughs, 

 which must also have had a struggle to obtain sufficient light 

 to supply its growth. Along the foot of the precipice (which 

 varies from 10 to 20 or 30 ft. in height) are to be found frag- 

 ments of the rock, of different sizes, strewed about; some 

 have long been clothed with soft moss and grass, others are 

 half concealed in their grassy bed, and others, more recently 

 detached, lie about uncovered : it would be interesting to 

 know how scon they would become wrapped over by the 

 covering on which they fall. 



