82 
species will sometimes multiply and extend themselves under 
peculiar circumstances, is afforded by the open beach between the 
West Cumberland Iron Works and the sea. Here, upon a wide 
expanse of shingle, consisting entirely of triturated slag from the 
neighbouring furnaces, the great Yellow Horned Poppy ( Glaucium 
Iutewm ) has found a congenial home, and multiplied amazingly. 
In 1884, probably half-a-dozen examples might have been seen ; 
now the entire area of nearly two acres in extent is thickly over- 
spread with plants, and their beautiful silver-grey foliage has a 
most charming appearance even during the depth of winter. It is 
interesting further to notice the manner in which the plants are 
gradually creeping up the sloping bank of slag on the north side 
of the main station; and it is obvious that the whole shore will 
soon be occupied. No mention of the plant in connection with 
the North Shore occurs in the notes of my immediate botanical 
predecessors—W. Dickinson, Esq., F.L.S., of Thorncroft, or his 
equally observant colleague, the late Mr. David Tweddle, bank 
manager, of Workington. Of soil in the ordinary sense of the 
word there is practically none—bare grey shingle is alone visible. 
Towards the northern extremity a fine colony of Hchiwm vulgare 
is noticeable, the brilliant azure flowers of which must be familiar 
to all summer strollers over Silloth banks. 
A singular find occurred at Parton during the summer of 1889. 
On the strip of ground separating the railway from the sea, and in 
close proximity to the railway station, within a distance of about 
one hundred yards in length, I noticed in early summer some fifty 
or sixty plants, at about equal distances apart, with potato-like 
foliage. When the yellow blossoms appeared, they too seemed to 
connect the plants with the Nightshade family. Not, however, 
until the fruit developed to considerable size, did it dawn upon me 
that the plants were veritable Tomatoes (Lycopersicum esculentum). 
How the plants came there remains unexplained. I have men- 
tioned elsewhere that a solitary Tomato plant was seen on the 
shoddy bank at Derwent Tin Plate Works during the same season. 
In bringing these remarks to a conclusion, allow me briefly to 
refer to a singular side issue which has been raised in connection 
