328 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxxiii 



examined and identified ^ as undoubted examples of 

 Vacciniu7n interinediiim. 



V. interinediuni has since been reported from the follow- 

 ing localities : — 



Scorriclett Braes, near Watten, Caithness.- 

 (iorge of Achorn Burn, near Dunbeath, Caithness/^ 

 Coniston Old Man, Lake District, Lancashire.'* 

 Lonsdale, N.E. Yorkshire." 



Military duties, which kept nie stationed on Cannock 

 Chase during the greater part of the year 1919, have thus 

 given me good opportunities for observing the hybrid 

 Vaccinium and noting points of interest. 



Cannock Chase, the ancient hunting-ground of Norman 

 and Mercian kings, is an upland region from 300 to nearly 

 800 feet above sea-level, situated in the centre of Stafford- 

 shire. It consists of immense deposits of pebble and sand 

 resting upon beds of red sandstone and conglomerate, the 

 whole covered over by a layer of peat of variable depth. 

 Approaching the Chase from the north, we ascend through 

 woods of oak and birch with an undergrowth of Fferls 

 aquilina and Scilla nutans. Ericaceous plants gradually 

 appear as the trees become scarcer, until the open moor- 

 land is eventually reached where Cdlluna, Erica, Vaccinium 

 and, in places, Empetrum are seen to be the dominant 

 species. Locally, in certain areas, V. Vitis - Idaea is 

 present in great abundance, mixed with V. Myrtillus. It 

 is in such areas that Vaccinium intcrinedium occurs. 

 The preponderance of V. Vitis-Idaea, usually noted, might 

 suggest the probability of its being the male parent of 

 the hybrid. 



The hybrid, as seen on Cannock Chase, presents several 

 interesting features. In the upper part of the Sherbrook 

 Valley and neighbouring plateaux it is locally ver}' 

 abundant, occurring in patches which are often widely 



' Postscrijtt lo artirle " Vaccinium i/itermediuiu, RiiUie, a new Brilisli 

 Plant," by N. E. Brown, Journ. Linn. Soc, xxiv, 12.'>. 



- A. Bennett, Annals of Scottish Natural History (1904), 249. 



'■'■ C. B. ("rainpton, The Vegetation of Caithness considerx'd in Rela- 

 tion to the (ieology, 1911. 



* Bot. Soc. anil Exchange Club of Brit. Isles Report for 1915, 27.3. 



^ Ibid, for 1917, 116. 



