3G2 



THE NATURALIST. 



consumed by tlie poorer classes, is 

 usually found from four to five feet 

 below the surface, the supersoil being 

 chiefly of a light porous nature. The 

 coast consists chiefly of marl and clay, 

 the soft shaly nature of which is con- 

 tinually crumbling under the action 

 of the air and tides, and thus are 

 revealed solid concrete masses, that 

 often assume grotesque and curious 

 shai')es ! The formation of these solid 

 isolated masses would seem to be 

 this : — Water, charged with carbonate 

 of lime, as it Alters through the soil 

 converts those portions with which 

 it has affinity into concretions, which 

 take the shape of the substances so 

 percolated by the petrifying quality 

 of the water. These conglomerates 

 are frequently used as rock-v\^ork in 

 the gardens of the lodging-houses. 

 The coast north and south of Black- 

 pool is far from interesting in the 

 spring of the year, still we may find 

 even then something that may be 

 thought worthy of attention. In 

 rambling towards Tleetwood, I ob- 

 served on the sand-hills, pretty little 

 plants in full flower of Cerastium 

 teirandrum with its tetramerous ar- 

 rangement of inflorescence. Bota- 

 nists usually consider this jilant 

 entitled to specific distinction, though 

 it may prove after all only one of the 

 forms of the protean C triviale. 

 "Witli it, and growing like it, imbed- 

 ded in the sand, was the Scurvy-grass 

 ( Cochlearea DanicaJ, with its cruci- 



form flowers tinged with pink. The 

 same remark may perhaps apply to 

 the claim of this latter plant, to be 

 ranked as a species, since the reputed 

 normal plant, fC. officinalis J is un- 

 doubtedly very apt to be influenced 

 by soil and situation. Still it is so 

 named in many of our best text- 

 books on British botany. I heard 

 and saw the Wheatear, (Saxicola 

 (Enantlie) that had come to us thus 

 early from the South of Eiu^ope. It 

 is a lonely bird that usually takes up 

 its summer quarters on our downs or 

 moorlands. Its very retiring habits 

 cause it to be often regarded with 

 superstition by our rural jDopulation 

 in the ]N"orth. The Mat-grass, ( Am- 

 mopldla arundinacea) one of the true 

 grasses, is of essential service in 

 binding together the shifting sands 

 on the coast. When the matted roots 

 are bared by the tide, the economy is 

 at once apparent. Fine canes of the 

 Raspberry, as strong as those in garden 

 cultivation, were growing imbedded 

 in sand above tide-mark. The Pewit, 

 already returned to his nesting- 

 place, was giving out that strange, wild, 

 and dreamy cry, that he chiefly utters 

 in the breeding season, as he sails in 

 wheeling, flapping flight over the 

 fallows, where his mate is busily 

 engaged in plainiing the future duties 

 of incubation. The distance from 

 Blackpool to Lytham by the coast 

 is about ten miles. The coast I 

 found even less interesting than that 



