OBSr.PvVATIONS. 



57 



plucked and thrown down to wither 

 on the bank. The bulbs of this 

 plant grow remarkably near to the 

 surface of the ground, and an " ex- 

 terminator " would find but little 

 difficulty in destroying it entirely, 

 as far as this locality is concerned. 

 Let us hope that such an one will 

 never visit the spot ! In the mea- 

 dow on the other side of the railway, 

 Valeriana dioicaandCardamine amara 

 grow sparingly ; in the drier parts of 

 this, and in most other meadows, 

 Camimnula glomerata was flowering 

 profusely; its time of blossoming, as 

 usually recorded, is July and August. 

 To return now into Buckingham- 

 shire, which, in strict conformity to 

 the title of these notes, I ought not 

 to have left. In a walk from Little 

 Marlow to Well End, several good 

 plants were noticed. Ranunculus 

 parvijlorus covered the bank on one 

 side of the road near the latter place, 

 and was counterbalanced on the other 

 by Geranium lucidum. The bright 

 red stems and rosy flowers, in union 

 with the glossy leaves, render this 

 plant, though small, one of no or- 

 dinary beauty. Close by was G. colum- 

 hinum, the delicately cut leaves and 

 lilac-purple flowers of which almost 

 rival in \o\ aimers ihoseoiG. lucid am. 

 I found in a cornfield, near the 

 hedge, two fine specimens of Hyo- 

 scrjamus nigcr, just opening their 

 delicately veined blossoms ; in the 

 evening the plant leans to one side, 



and the leaves close round the flow- 

 er-head. Its extremely fetid smell 

 and clammy touch almost counteract 

 the admiration with which one must 

 regard it. In the same field Thlaspi 

 arvense was very abundant. I have 

 never seen it in so great profusion 

 elsewhere. Is it quite definitely 

 ascertained that Lychnis diurna and 

 L. vespertina are not forms of one 

 species ? In this neighbourhood the 

 latter is the common plant ; indeed, 

 I never noticed L. diurna during my 

 stay here : while in some parts of 

 Essex, L. diurna abounds, where 

 L. vespertina is but rarely seen. The 

 latter is called " Bull-rattle " in this 

 vicinity. In a grassy field just before 

 entering Well End, the common 

 gravel plants were noticed, with 

 Trifolium subterraneum and T. stria- 

 tum, both in great abundance. By 

 the roadside close to ths village were 

 several fine plants of the Blessed 

 Thistle (Car duns Marianus), which 

 were showing well for flower. In 

 returning to Little Marlow^, in a 

 cornfield near the new and handsome 

 school, Myosurus minim us, out of flow- 

 er, was very abundant ; this I had 

 previously gathered on the Berkshire 

 side of the river. By a curious mal- 

 formation, the spikes on some of the 

 specimens were forked, and this oc- 

 currence was by no means unfrequent. 

 In the same field were Specularia 

 Jnjbrida and Anthemis arvensis, the 

 former with both purple and white 



