239 



rarities. We accordingly gave up all idea of passing over to Aspa- 

 ragus Island, and calling at the post-office and other departments be- 

 longing to his Satanic majesty at that spot. Geranium sylvaticum, 

 Cladium mariscus, &c. we allowed to remain immolested ; and having 

 found ourselves too early for Orobanche rubra and Achyrophorus raacu- 

 latus ? which we had gathered on a former occasion, and of each of 

 which we now only met with a single plant in bud, we proceeded on 

 to another locality for Asparagus officinalis and Allium Schoenoprasum. 

 Night, however, overtook us and we were compelled to forego our in- 

 tentions and return to Landewednack, which we left about 10 o'clock 

 for Helston, where we found ourselves at 12, after a pleasant drive 

 on one of the most delightful nights of the present season. I need 

 not say that we were highly satisfied with the result of the day's 

 excursion. 



W. S. HORE. 

 Trafalgar Place, Stoke, Devonport, 

 June 27, 1845. 



Description of a species of Orohanche new to Great Britain, probably 

 Orobanche amethystea, Thuillier. By the Rev. W. S. Hore, 

 M.A., F.L.S. 



The plants from which the following description was taken were 

 collected by the Rev. C. A. Johns, Mr. Thomas Edmondston, Jun. 

 and myself, in a farewell botanical excursion to Whitsand Bay, a few 

 days before Edmondston's departure on the Californian expedition. 

 His friends will be glad to learn that he quitted England in excellent 

 health and spirits, anticipating with delight an investigation into the 

 botanical and zoological riches of an almost unknown country. 



Orobanche amethystea, Th. 



Bracts rather shorter than the corolla ; sepals bifid, with two strong 

 nerves and several rather indistinct ones, ovate at the base, with the 

 laciniae subulate and shorter than the tube of the corolla. Corolla 

 tubular, curved immediately from the base and subsequently straight ; 

 lips unequally toothed, undulate, with branched veins ; upper lip 

 hooded, emarginate, the border recurved ; lower lip three-lobed, the 

 lateral ones smaller than the intermediate one ; between the lobes on 

 each side is a convex process, caused by the sudden expansion of the 

 substance of the corolla on leaving the tube. Stamens inserted near 

 the base of the corolla, glabrous externally, but furnished with nume- 

 rous hairs internally at the base, which gradually disappear about the 



