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ALIENS, OR ADVENTIVES. 
Malcolmia maritima Mentha requiem (I. of Corsica) 
Arabis retrofracta Trifolium, allied to T. maritimum 
Silene linicola? from N. America 
Artemisia scoparia Verbascum pheeniceum 
FOREIGN GRASSES. 
Panicum ? Eragrostis verticillata 
From the above list, embracing as it does about ninety distinct 
species (exclusive of varieties), those not reputedly of exotic origin 
being all more or less rare in the north-west of England, it will be 
readily concluded that the task of identification would have 
exceeded my capacity, had it not been for the experienced aid 
already referred to in this paper. I can most fully endorse the 
following remarks by Dr. F. Arnold Lees, F.R.C.S., of Leeds, 
contained in a note in the appendix to his excellent and compre- 
hensive “Flora of the West Riding of Yorkshire” (1888) :—“ For 
those who want a downright good botanical puzzle, and a rousing 
lesson in plant character by the way, these foreign weeds answer 
admirably. It is only necessary to purchase a stone or two of 
hen-corn at different mills, strew it at intervals in spring on waste 
garden ground, allowing the fowls a few minutes to pick the wheat, 
and in a few short weeks—voila/ a parterre more bewildering to 
the lover of the botanically curious in its variety than it is possible 
to attain otherwise with so little trouble.” 
I may just notice in passing, that upon heaps clearly consisting 
of household rubbish or sweepings, I have found the following 
species associated. viz:—Linum usitatissimum, l’halaris canari- 
ensis, Cannabis sativa, and less commonly perhaps 4 maranthus 
retroflecus. At Flimby, Risehow, Maryport, and at the Derwent 
Tin Plate Works, Workington, they have been observed in con- 
junction—but the last mentioned was also seen upon the shoddy, 
and independent of home origin. I infer that such refuse came 
from dwellings where feathered pets were kept, and sprang from 
the sweepings of bird-cages. 
A remarkable illustration of the rapidity with which uncommon 
