98 BOTANICAL EXCURSION. 



suited to the growth of oak timber, which, in consequence of its slow 

 growth, is remarkably hard and durable, and oak trees of great size are 

 met with throughout this tract of forest land, two of which, called 

 Gog and Magog, stand close to the Chase Park Farm. Nor is 

 the soil, though poor, destitute of botanical interest, nay, perhaps, 

 from that very reason its flora may be more abundant. It is a 

 well ascertained fact that a rich soil and high cultivation are 

 unfavourable to a great variety in the fl >ra, and I remember 

 seeing a retnai-kable instance of this in Mr. Lawes' experimental plots 

 at Rothamsted, where the unmanured plot bore a small crop containing 

 a great number of different species, while in the highly manured portions, 

 though the crop was increased ten-fold, the number of species had sunk 

 to some half dozen. These woods contain most of the plants commonly 

 mat with in similar woodland districts, together with a few plants now 

 strictly indigenous to the chalk formation such as Chlora perfoliata, which 

 I hive found in a few places ; and in the adjoining fields Linaria spuria 

 and Elatine, and Litlio<permum officinale and arvense. One curious 

 plant, which is not found except in similar situations, the herb Paris, 

 P. qwidrifolia, is tolerably abundant, while near it, in a part of the Chase 

 which will be visited by the members of the excursion, is the only locality 

 I know in this district for the common garlic, Allium urrinum. The 

 OrchidacesB are fairly represented, among the more common being the 

 Butterfly orchis, Habenaria bifolia. Orchis M irio, mascula, and maculata, 

 and Listera ovata. The common wild Hyacinth, Agraphis nutans, and 

 the Wood Anemone cover large tracts of ground, as does also the common 

 Mercurialis perennis. The wild Honeysuckle and the Clematis vitalba are 

 abundant, though the latter is rather local. Of Ferns the number is 

 very limitad, comprising only the male fern, Aspidium Filix-mas, the 

 Crested Fern, A. cristatum, the Lady Fern, Aspleaium Filix-fuemina, the 

 Hart's Tongue, the Common Polypody, and the Bracken. A great 

 number of interesting plants are also found in the open ridings and 

 grassy glades in the Chase, among the more prominent of which are the 

 Eyebright Euphrasia officinalis, the pretty little Centaury Erythraza 

 centaurium, Polyjala vulgaris in three colours, the Woodsorrel Oxalis 

 Acetotella, two or three varieties of Hi/pericum, Carex, and Equisetum. Of 

 coursa, in the limited space allowed me it would be impossible to give 

 anything like a complete list of the plants to be found in so large an 

 area, and I have, therefore, only given a few of the more common, 

 hoping in this way to give some indication as to the general character of 

 the flora of the locality. 



The excursionists will leave the Deer Park about four o'clock in 

 the afternoon, and will proceed direct to Northampton by the road 

 leading through Denton and Brafield. The Leopard's Bane, Doronicum 

 pardalianches, grows in a hedge bank by the roadside, just outside the 

 village of Denton, probably escaped from some garden. 



It is most likely that this excursion will be chosen by many of the 

 students of Entomology, and I should like, therefore, to have added a few 

 notes for their benefit, I have been unable, however, to get any assist- 



