47 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
SCIENCE. 
On the Ballast Floras of the Coasts of Durham and 
Northumbekland. By John Hogg, Esq. 
The author, in his account of the plants which have "been imported 
with ballast by ships on the coast of Durham and Northumberland, 
limited himself to the seacoast, and more especially to the banks of the 
rivers Tees, Wear, and Tyne. Of the latter are the great ballast-deposits 
at Port Clarence and those at West Hartlepool, at East Hartlepool, 
and the embankment of the railway to the north of the latter town, 
the mounds of ballast at Sealvam, at Sunderland, and near Wearmouth, 
as well as those at South and North Shields, and others along the Tyne 
nearer to Newcastle. The ballast of the localities specified is chiefly 
chalk with flints ; and, consequently, a great number of plants which 
grow naturally in cretaceous formations is there found. But several 
Orders of plants that might be expected are wanting; for example, 
there are no Orchidece nor Ranunctilacece, nor has Mr. Hogg met with 
any Saxifrage, Sedums, Rubi, or Roses. 
The lists of the species found were divided into two heads, viz. 
1. Exotics, or plants foreign to our island ; and, 2. The rarer indige- 
nous, or naturalized, species of Great Britain, which were rarely, if 
ever, seen in the before-named districts. 
The list of exotic plants consists of 7+ species, and of these 47 had 
been published by Mr. Winch in the Transactions of the Natural 
History Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne; 7 by Mr. Norman, and 10 by 
Mr. Lawson, in the same Transactions. The author adds the follow- 
ing 10 species, which had not been before recorded : 
Scolymua maculatus. North of Old Hartlepool. 
Iberis umbellata. Port Clarence. 
Astragalus sp. A beautiful species, probably from Spain or Portugal, found 
grown 
years, and perfects its seeds. 
Blitum virgatum. West Hartlepool. 
Galega officinalis. 
Trifolium Michelianum, SavL West 
Coronilla Taria. 
Calendula officinalis. Port Clarence. 
Lepidium Draba. West Hartlepool. 
Centaurea orientalis. West Hartlepc 
