330 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxxiii 



hybrid, and tliese have tended to confirm Vevers's observa- 

 tion. Thus, one afternoon and evening in August I collected 

 specimens from thirty separate patches, noting any peculi- 

 arities of site in each case. The patches were situated 

 as follows : — 



On artificial banks of cut peat . . . . • ^\ 



Aloni;- old cart tracks ....... 7 



Along edges of drains cut on moorland or roadside . 4 



On edges of trenches . . . . . . . 1 ^ 24 



About bomb holes ....... 1 



On old gun position . . ' . . . .1 



On moorland path ....... 1 



Where no obvious evidence of disturbance was noted 



Total 

 30 



Of the six latter sites, two were near mining villages 

 where the common is well patronised, the other four being 

 near camps, on ground long used for purposes of military 

 training. On one roadside bank, built of peats, birclies 

 of considerable size were growing, and the h^'brid had 

 spread out from this bank over the neighbouring moor- 

 land to the extent of about a quarter of an acre. (The 

 exact area, however, was difficult to determine owing to 

 recent obliterating action of a moorland tire which had 

 left here and there isolated portions only of the hybrid 

 patch. These scattered portions maj^ not, as at first 

 supposed, have all been parts of the one large patch.) 

 On a natural bank, near a hut constructed during the 

 war, I found a single hybrid plant of two or three years' 

 growth. An artificial bank often harbours several patches 

 of the hybrid, while near it Bilberry and Cowberry grow 

 intermingled, but with the hybrid absent. The places in 

 Great Britain and Ireland where Bilberry and Cow- 

 berry grow together are usually wild and comparatively 

 unfrcipiented. Though wild, (yannock Chase is much 

 frequented. 



Several groups of fruit-gathering children, on interroga- 

 tion, pointed out " Bilberry " and " Bunchberry " (local name 

 for r. Viti^-Idaea), but failed to distinguish the hybrid 

 from Bilberry. 



'I'hough Vdceinium inter inediuin is thus apt to be 

 mistaken for V. Myrtillu.s rather than for V. Vltls-Idaea, 

 it resembles the latter in its evergreen leaves and almost 

 cylindrical stem. The leaves, howevei,-, are usually less 



