aes 



THE NATURALIST. 



glad to see its fruit so abundant in 

 the hedges, as in other parts it is 

 only sparingly matured. The leaves 

 and berries are certainly a great 

 ornament to the bare hawthorn 

 hedges. On approaching St. Lau- 

 rence, in the south of the Island, I 

 gathered a cowslip, (Primula veris) 

 in flower, and saw others in bud. 

 Here too the tamarisk, [Tamanx 

 Gallica) with boles of tree-like 

 growth, was still lingering in bud. 

 The foliage of this shrub is exceed- 

 ingly light and feathery. I gathered 

 quite a spring bouquet of flowers in 

 one sunny nook; periwinkles, sweet 

 coltsfoot, tamarisk, snowdrops — all 

 contributed to my store. As we ap- 

 proached the Sandrock Hotel the 

 tufts of snowdrops in the plantations 

 were in abundance. The Missel 

 thrush was shouting his merry 

 song, which I always love, though 

 it may be rather monotonous ! I 

 always think he sings in a key in- 

 termediate between the blackbird 

 and thrush. Black Gang Chine 

 gave us some Ammonites and sun- 

 dry other fossils characteristic of the 

 greensand formation. Near Kings- 

 ton I saw the flowers of the Stitch- 

 wort, (Stellaria Holostea) notwith- 

 standing the late intense frosts. We 

 were pleased with the noble myrtles 

 covering the cottages at Mottestone, 

 and still in bud, though they had 

 suffered from the weather. The 

 scarlet peziza-cup {Peziza coccinea) 



was growing on moss-covered sticks, 

 and gave beauty even to death and 

 decay. Another Peziza, (P. scutel- 

 lata) with its convex orange thallus 

 and fringe of black, was growing on 

 the ground, and, though smaller, 

 was nearly as beautiful as its more 

 pretending neighbour the dryad's- 

 cup, as it is sometimes called. We 

 were now approaching Alum Bay, 

 and were charmed with the well 

 defined belts of colour of its rocks, 

 which glistened in the sun like 

 stripes in some gay riband. We 

 procured several fossil shells from 

 the chalk, such as Ditriipa, Chenop- 

 sis, Cerithium, and Planorbis. Im- 

 pressions of tropical leaves on pipe- 

 clay were exceedingly vivid, the 

 veins and articulations being dis- 

 tinctly defined, as though the cast 

 had only been taken a few days 

 previously ! We saw a fine speci- 

 men of the Goosander, [Mergus mer- 

 ganser) that had been lately shot 

 at the Needles, doubtless a passing 

 visitor from the Arctic regions. — 

 Peter Inchbald, Storthes Hall, 

 January 2nd, 1865. 



LejndojJtera. — In my offer for 

 Exchange in the last number of 

 " The Naturalist," an error has been 

 made by putting my address Barlby 

 Bank, Sheflield, instead of Barlby 

 Bank, Selby. — Eichard Hebson. 



