SS6 Short Commiinicatiuns : — ■ 



of the whole neighbourhood ; but it is traversed by innumer- 

 able little rivulets, v^^hose valleys are formed of the alluvium 

 which they bring down. Again, some of the eminences 

 which divide these valleys are evidently formed of diluvial 

 gravel, bearing indubitable traces of having been transported 

 to their present positions from the rock that overlies the coal. 

 Then we have abundance of cold, wet, spongy bog, which 

 lies upon a yellow, sandy, stiff, and, as the Tarmers argue, 

 poisonous clay : and, finally, we have considerable quantities 

 of peat. Now, in arranging a flora of my neighbourhood 

 according to its geological strata, I should find some dif- 

 ficulty; for, surely, I am not to reckon all those flowers which 

 grow in the bogs, on the peat, upon the gravel, and in the 

 rich alluvial meadows, as belonging to the old red sandstone 

 formation. Bog plants, peat plants, and meadow plants are, 

 I presume, nearly the same, whatever may be the substratum 

 upon which those bogs, meadows,. or peat districts may rest; 

 and if this be the case, then it is the superincumbent soil, 

 more than the substratum of rock upon which that soil rests 

 (modified, of course, and considerably affected, by elevation 

 and climate), that gives the character to the botanical pro- 

 ductions of any district. The old red sandstone also forms 

 considerable hills, in fact, mountains. Am I, therefore, be- 

 cause these mountains are formed of the old red sandstone, 

 to call the alpine plants, which grow upon them, the pro- 

 ductions of the old red sandstone ? 



As I am upon the subject of plants, I would say a few 

 words upon 



Plants with White Flowers, lists of which have been given 

 in many parts of this Magazine [I. 392, 393.; II. 268.; 

 III. 161. 190.]? and which lists I could augment, by the 

 account of the like productions in this locality. Mr. Edwin 

 Lees (III. 190.) endeavours to account for the deviation in 

 colour, from a variety of soil or shade, or from accidental 

 manuring of the root of the plant. That these circumstances 

 may affect the colour of flowers, I will not deny; but I think 

 they are not sufficient to account for the white blossoms which 

 sometimes appear. Last year, for instance, I found but one 

 hyacinth (»Scilla nutans) with white blossoms ; this year I found 

 twenty-four specimens, in less than half an hour, without 

 scarcely giving myself the trouble of looking for them. In- 

 deed, the present season, as far as it has already advanced, 

 has been unusually rich in flowers with white blossoms. The 

 hyacinths of which I have spoken were, in every instance, sur- 

 rounded with a profusion of others of the usual colour. But 

 what has decided me in rejecting the explanation offered, as 



