Holmesdale Natural History Club. 29 



species which now linger there. The existence of that most delicate of 

 flowers. Campanula hederacea, is already most precarious. This year pro- 

 bably not more than a dozen flowers of it bloomed. A few bushes which 

 formerly sheltered it have been cut down, exposing it to double danger. 

 Should it be driven from Keigate Heath we shall not find it nearer than 

 Tilgate Forest. The same may perhaps be said of Anagallis tenella ; and 

 we do not certainly know that Viola palustris, Drosera rotundifolia, Hyper- 

 icum elodes, Menyanthes trifoliata, and Blechnum boreale grow between 

 Keigate Heath and the Holmwood. Osmunda regalis and Comarum palustre 

 are said once to have grown in the bogs near Keigate Heath. No plant of 

 either species has, we believe, been seen there for many years. The clear- 

 ing out of hedge bottoms clears away such plants as Lathyrus Nissolia, 

 Allium ursinum, &c. Neither of these is gone yet, but both are likely to 

 go. Jn 1877 a few plants of L. Nissolia appeared to have a good chance of 

 surviving on the edge of a copss on CoUey Farm. In 1878 the owner of the 

 ground brought cultivation forward a few yards, and destroyed every 

 remnant of the Lathyrus. In the London Koad locality the Lathyrus is 

 yearly cut down when the roadside grass is cut, so that few pods ever ripen 

 now. We believe it is stili abundant around Outwood. Within the writer's 

 memory Allium ursinum flourished in the wood opposite the end of Bright- 

 lands Road. The wood is gone, and Allium ursinum must now be sought 

 for in copses on Keigate Hill, and in a few hedge-bottoms below the Hill. 

 Within the last fortnight the sides of the Croydon Road have been cleared 

 of weeds. This means the destruction of many plants of strawberry-beaded 

 Trefoil (Trifolium fragiferum). Within the last five years many Bee and 

 Man Orchises must have been destroyed through the rough land below 

 Wray Lane having been broken up and utilised. The spread of these 

 species is at the best so slow that we can ill afford any wholesale destruc- 

 tion of them. Ophrys apifera var. Trollii has been found sparingly in past 

 years on the slopes below the chullqMt on Keigate Hill. This year (1879) 

 sheep were fed over the bank in question, giving no chance to the orchises 

 of coming to perfection. Lathyrus sylvestris held its own till very recently on 

 the left hand bank of Wray Lane. The railway cutting at Merstham is now 

 one of its strongholds ; and it grovrs in profusion along the hillside eastward 

 from Merstham. Geranium pyrenaicum flourishes on the banks of the 

 Merstham cutting. In this case the work of man has been favourable to 

 the life of the plant. The tenacity with which some species cling to life in 

 spite of man's ill-usage is surprising. Salvia verbenaca may yet be found 

 amongst the well-trimmed turf in the Castle Grounds. Saponaria officinalis, 

 though a showy plant, still grows on the banks of the sandy lane at South 

 Park. Its flowers must be constantly gathered, but its roots; still retain 

 their hold upon the soil. Within the last five years, at any rate, Colchicum 

 autumnale has flowered in the field adjoining Wray Common. The number 

 of individual specimens of these species is so small that their presence and 

 survival suggest the question, were they once much more common than 

 now ? Or have chance causes brought a single living seed or plant to the 



