204 



A BOTANICAL TOUR IN HEREFORDSHIRE, MONMOUTHSHIRE, 

 AND SOUTH WALES; 



WITH INCIDENTAL NOTICES OF THE SCENERY, ANTIQUITIES-, &C. 



By Edwin Lees, F. L. S., &c 

 (Continued from p. 122*) 



t left Swansea early in the morning, to visit Cromlyn Bog, a locality 

 celebrated in insect-hunting history, and situated three miles to the eastward 

 of the town. As I crossed the ferry over the Tawe, formidable masses of 

 vapour appeared brooding over the nearest mountains, shrouding the distant 

 view, and offering a demonstration of no very inviting nature. I moved for- 

 ward rather hesitatingly, pondering upon the probabilities of becoming a walking 

 bog-plant, and the differences that might be perceptible in my habit from such 

 an occurrence, when contrasted with a drier and more congenial seat beside a 

 comfortable breakfast-table at the Mackworth Arms. But my attention soon 

 became engrossed with the " stars of earth," and as I rambled on by the sea- 

 shore, and thence along the road towards Cromlyn, I took no note of the 

 descending vapours till, they at once overwhelmed me in their watery embrace, 

 and forced me to remain for some time an unwilling prisoner beneath the arch of 

 a bridge, bestriding the canal that skirts the edge of the morass. But at length 

 the cloudy welkin ceased to pour its watery stores upon the plain — the 

 vapours, slowly retiring to the hills, veiled them for a moment in pearly 

 gossamer — and then sailing into mid heaven, a flood of light burst upon the 

 sparkling inland prospect, the broad expanse of yellow sand, and the retiring 

 waters of the scarcely heard terminating ocean. 



The extensive sandy flats that stretch along the margin of the sea in South 

 Wales are termed " Burrows," I presume entirely from the circumstance of their 

 affording a retreat to multitudes of Rabbits ; they are generally overgrown with 

 a rough and unornamental vegetation, though producing a pretty fair pasturage 

 in spots where a land rill trickles along, or marshy pools of fresh water moisten 

 the thirsty soil. The sun of course often pours excessive radiance upon these 

 sands, rendering them a favourite locality for the insect race, and at this time I 

 observed several specimens cf the Cicindela syhatica, running with extreme 

 swiftness over the sand. Here, on the Cromlyn Burrows, and on the ground 

 intermediate between them and Swansea, I observed the following plants. I 

 place the asterisk, as usual, to indicate where it occurs that the plant has been 

 previously unrecorded, so far as I know, as a denizen of the spot, and at all 



