Proceedings. 61 



these, and very similar in appearance, were plants of the 

 compact dwarfed variety of the Common Centaury. Another 

 rare plant, Viola Curtisii, is also so plentiful that it covers 

 large tracts of the sand-flats with its yellow flowers, con- 

 spicuous enough, when occurring in masses, to be seen easily 

 from the railway. Earlier in the season we should have seen 

 the little Early Sand-grass {Mibora verna), which grows close 

 to the lake. We boated a good deal on the lake, and dredged 

 several Charas ; C. aspera was the most plentiful, and formed 

 large beds at the bottom of the water. 



From the South Stack we had a fine view of a ceaseless 

 procession of Guillemots and Razorbills, with a Pufiin now 

 and then, flying to and from the sea, from the cliflfs opposite, 

 where thousands of these birds sat, covering the ledges so 

 thickly that one wondered where each new arrival could find 

 a place. The Gulls breed close to the Lighthouse, which is 

 built on the top of the rock, and the men protect the colony 

 partially, that is to say, they never take all the eggs for 

 eating. We photographed some of the nests, and a few 

 young Gulls— beautiful soft little creatures— as they tried to 

 hide themselves in the chinks of the rock. The old birds. 

 Herring Gulls, shrieked very angrily over us, and one even 

 struck with its wing a man from the Lighthouse who was 

 with us. 



On June 30th Mr. Griffith again very kindly had a day's 

 botanizing with us. Potamogetnn lanceolatus, a Pondweed 

 found only here and in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, was the 

 chief object of this excursion; this grew in the river at 

 Lligwy, in dark green masses waving to and fro in the 

 current, and looking very much like some sea-weed. On the 

 extensive moors near, Schcenus nigricans and Carex filiformis 

 (not in fruit) grew, and in many of the marshes we saw the 

 rich-coloured Orchis incamata. 



We now proceeded to Llandudno, and epent the last two 

 days of our holidays there. The huge promontory of the 

 Great Orme's Head, composed of carboniferous limestone, 

 abounds in rare plants. On the part of the hill close to 

 Llandudno we saw Hypocharis maculata amid masses of 



