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by himself, and that he had originally brought it many years ago from 

 the neighbouring fells. He was not aware of the rarity of the plant, 

 not having distinguished it from S. hypnoides, and he could not tell 

 precisely where he had found it ; but he had no recollection of bring- 

 ing any Saxifrage from any place but a ruined ancient wall, that tra- 

 verses the breast of the mountain, below the Rydal Pikes, for a mile 

 or more. I did not fail to search the wall thoroughly, and that twice, 

 through its whole length : but I found no Saxifrage of this group, 

 either on the wall or on the neighbouring rocks, but S. hypnoides, 

 which is common in this and other branches of Fairfield, and varies 

 much in size of flower and width of petals. S. platypetala itself, 

 which grows in plenty in the eastern precipices of Fairfield, is per- 

 haps but a variety. In justice to my respectable informant, I must 

 declare my confidence in his sincere belief that he brought the S. hirta 

 from a wild place in the mountains, although I had not the good for- 

 tune to find it. In several excursions in Fairfield I traversed almost 

 the whole of the main ridge, from the Red Screes above Kirkstone 

 to the opposite extremity above Grisedale, and all its southern 

 branches, distinguished as the Scandale, Rydal, and Grasmere Fells. 

 I clambered too among the eastern precipices in a few points, and 

 saw, 1 believe, all the scarcer plants found there by modern botanists, 

 except Saxifraga oppositifolia, which, by the way, I found in plenty 

 on Ingleborough ; but, except a moss or two, added nothing new. 

 Hieracia do not abound there. The most common are, perhaps, va- 

 rieties, some more, some less glaucous, of H. Schmidtii of Tausch. 

 The glaucous and spotted-leaved " H. murorum," so common in some 

 parts of Wales, which has been mistaken for H. maculatum [Smith), 

 I saw in the mountains, I think only in the Rydal Pikes, and there 

 sparingly. Another spotted-leaved plant, H. rigidum, y. pictum {Bab. 

 Man. Bot.), 1 did not observe here, but Mr. Thompson showed it me in 

 Tynedale, and I saw it and H. Lawsoni in some gills of the Great 

 End mountain towards Wastdale. H. Lawsoni was also very fine on 

 rocks due west of the inn at the head of Kirkstone Pass. Stockgill is 

 rich in Hieracia of the murorum group. Among them is one which I 

 fancy may be H. nudicaule of Edmondston. I gathered the same by 

 the Findhorn, and by some other Highland streams, in 1810 ; but I 

 have never satisfied myself about it. I hope now to study it under 

 cultivation. [See Phytol. ii. 184, Ed.] 



I see no reason to doubt that Hudson's " Dalehead, non longe a 

 Grassmere in IVesfmorelandia" is, as Mr. Otley suggested to me, 

 above Easedale, between the High Raise and Steel Fell mountains. 



