380 



THE NATURALIST. 



British Association, in 1860. I 

 found the larva of a weevil beetle, 

 Hypena Polygoni, busily feeding on 

 the seeds of this catchfly, and half 

 buried within the capsule, and on a 

 nearer inspection, I saw the pretty 

 pea-green cases attached to the axils 

 of the stem. From these I 'hatched 

 the weevil. Thus I had the pleasure 

 of making acquaintance with the 

 beetle in all its stages of develo23- 

 ment. Mr. Westwood remarks that 

 the chief interest of the genus Hy- 

 pera exists in the texture of the co- 

 coon. Another plant, one of the 

 Compositae, that probably attains at 

 Llandudno its most northern limit, 

 occurs in the utmost profusion on 

 various parts of the Orme. It is the 

 Goldilocks, Chrysocoma Linosyris. 

 This plant loves to grow amongst 

 coarse grasses, and is mostly un- 

 branched, though branching stems do 

 occasionally occur. It is a great or- 

 nament to the sea-cliffs in autumn. 

 Near the Little Orme were fine tall 

 plants of the Yernal Figwort, Scro- 

 phularia vernalis, with its yellow 

 flowers ; which, as Babington ob- 

 serves, are apt to remind one of the 

 Calceolaria. The slimy larva of Clo- 

 nus Scrophularim had completely 

 stripped it of its leaves, and many of 

 the brown granulated cases were 

 sticking to the cajDSules. From these, 

 in; a few weeks, appeared my old 

 acquaintance Clonus, I had thus 



another opportunity of witnessing 

 the successive transformations of 

 another beetle. And now for another 

 particularly local plant, mentioned, I 

 see, by Mr. Miall, in his plants of 

 Malham. This is the Hoary Eock- 

 rose, Heliantliemum canum. Mr. 

 Miall is very particular in pointing 

 out the difference between H. vulgare 

 and H. canum. I am glad he is 

 so : undoubtedly they are distinct ! 

 Probably he will allow me to add a 

 few particulars to his diagnosis. The 

 two plants grow intermixed at the 

 Orme, so that I had abundant oppor- 

 tunity of comparing them. I found 

 that H. canum was earlier in flower 

 by three weeks than H. vulgare. 

 The foliage, too, has the appearance 

 of being dotted on the upper surface, 

 from the pores showing darker through 

 the pile with which the leaf of H. 

 canum is covered. The flowers are 

 much smaller than those of ^. vulgare , 

 and never open so widely. I have 

 met with the rarer Rock-rose at 

 Whitbarrow, in the Lake District, 

 on the mountain limestone. A 

 curious parasite {Orohanche Hederce) 

 occurs on the roots of the Ivy, re- 

 minding one, in the earlier stage of 

 development, of a head of Asparagus. 

 I have met with it on the Orme, and 

 also at Conway Castle. The stem is 

 considerably swollen at the base, so 

 as to resemble a bulb. — Peter Inch- 

 bald, Storthes Hall, April 2, 1865. 



•end of the first volume. 



Geo. Tindall. Printer. 12. New-Street. Huddersfield. 



