174 



THE KATUEALIST. 



and would like to ask, is this a 

 unique phenomenon, or has aDy- 

 thing of the kind been observed be- 

 fore ? It is certainly remarkable, 

 yet not less strange than true. — 

 T.G.P., Clifton, Bristol, Sept. 1864. 

 [The twig mentioned above has 

 four secondary branches springing 

 from it, and bears eight elm leaves 

 on the lower two branchlets, and ten 

 oak leaves on the upper two. Can 

 any of our readers state whether a 

 similar occurrence has previously 

 come under their notice.— Eds. Nat.] 



Tree Sparrow. — I should be greatly 

 obliged if any reader of the " Natur- 

 alist " would inform me where the 

 Tree Sparrow occurs in Western 

 Yorkshire or Lancashire. — G. Eo- 



EEETS. 



Linaria imrpurea. — In answer to 

 Mr. Britten's enquiry respecting the 

 locality of the above plant, which was 

 exhibited by Mr. John Armitage at 

 a meeting of the Huddersfield Natu- 

 ralists' Society, it gives me pleasure 

 to inform him that the place is about 

 two miles from Huddersfield, on the 

 Bradford Road, on apiece of ground 

 called Longwood House, and previ- 

 ously broken up by quarrying opera- 

 tions. Here the remains of shale, 

 clay and loose stones form large 

 mounds of some acres in extent, of 

 some portions of which the plant 

 has taken undisputed possession, 



growing luxuriantly to the height of 

 three feet or more. The flowers are 

 not very conspicuous, their purple 

 colour approaching to that of the 

 shale in which they grow. They 

 were first found there by Mr. Thos. 

 Bartlam, about three years ago, 

 and although they have taken 

 such firm hold of the ground, I am 

 inclined to think they are not in- 

 digenous to the locality, but owe 

 their origin to the gardens of some 

 cottages which stood there before 

 the quarrying operations were car- 

 ried on. — R. Jessop, Lascelles Hall, 

 September 15, 1864. 



Linaria purpurea. — In looking 

 over No. 9 of the " Naturalist," I 

 observed a query by Mr. Britten as 

 to the habitat oi Linaria purpurea in 

 the neighbourhood of Huddersfield. 

 It is well known to botanists that 

 this is not admitted into any of our 

 principal British floras, on account 

 of its being met with as an outcast 

 from gardens. Its native place 

 appears to be the South of Europe, 

 but it has been cultivated in botanic 

 and private gardens in England 

 since the year 1683, under the 

 following names : — Linaria pur- 

 purea, Toad Flax ; Linaria pur- 

 purascens, Linaria major odorata, 

 Great Purple Sweet Smelling Toad 

 Flax ; Antirrhinum purpureum, Pur- 

 ple Snapdragon. The Huddersfield 

 locality of this plant is about a 

 mile and a quarter from the town, 



