xlviii. THE FLORA OF HALIFAX. 



parish, lived only three miles across the border at Bierley 

 Hall, near Bradford, so that it is natural that some of his 

 material should be drawn from it. One, Senecio saracenius, has 

 never been reported again, being a denizen which has gone 

 out of use, another, Mcum Atliamanticum, has become extinct 

 in recent years, but the others, Mountain Pansy, Wood-sorrel, 

 Tooth wort, Daffodil, and Andromeda Poll folia still remain, the 

 daffodils in particular nourishing in the same station — Coley 

 Hall — as in 1724. Golden-rod, a typical Halifax plant, also 

 finds a place in this list though on a different authority. The 

 lists of rarer plants at the end of T. Martyn's Planta 

 Cantabrigienses (1763) also include a few from Halifax, but the 

 only additional one is Bistort. So far, therefore, in the course 

 of two centuries only fourteen plants have been enumerated, 

 and these chiefly on account of their rarity, the commoner 

 wood-sorrel only being mentioned to call attention to its being 

 found with purple flowers. But we now reach the period of 

 local activity inaugurated by James Bolton, " of Stannary 

 near Halifax." 



Apart from his botanical work very little is known about 

 James Bolton. The period of his activity is usually stated 



to range from 1775 to 1795, but as he himself 

 James states that he knew of and saw the Killarney 



Bolton. Fern at Bingley as early as 1758, it is evident 



that he must have turned his attention to 

 botany some thirty years before he published a work under his 

 own name. A fortunate incident has enabled me to ascertain 

 the date of his death, though at present his age, his birth- 

 place, and his grave all remain unknown. One of the 

 predecessors of the Rev. Fr. E. Millson at Northgate End 

 Chapel, Halifax, was the Rev. John Ralph, and a small 

 house-keeping book of Mrs. Ralph, used by her as a kind of 

 diary, and now belonging to her descendant Mrs. Millson, 

 contains the following entry in January, 1799 : — 



" On Monday the 7th inst., died of a rapid decline the self- 

 taught Painter and Naturalist, Mr. James Bolton, much 

 regretted by all who knew his modest worth, and particularly 

 by those of his friends who had the most frequent opportunities 

 of enjoying his conversation and were best acquainted with his 

 merit. His kind notice of my Sophia and wish to improve her 

 in drawing I shall never forget, and the valuable paintings 

 given to me by him, I shall ever value and keep as Memorials 

 of him." 



