259 



an increase of charges to make np the deficiency occasioned by the 

 rail-roads. I have no objection to paying a moderate sum for the 

 sitting-room. I prefer having and paying for the accommodations I 

 really wish, to being expected to call and pay for things which I do 

 not want, but then it seems but fair that the charges which were 

 added to what we eat and drink, as a compensation for the use of the 

 room, should be reduced. As far as my experience goes, however, 

 where we have to pay for the sitting-room we have to pay higher for 

 everything else. Thus, to compare my expenses at the White Horse 

 here with those at the Ship, at Swanage, where the mode of life was 

 the same, and the accommodations as nearly equal as possible, I find 

 that at the latter they amounted to 7s. 3d. $• day, and at Rumsey to 

 15s., almost every article being charged higher at the latter place, be- 

 sides the charge for the sitting-room. 



After attending church at Lyndhurst I took a walk on the forest. 

 There is a fine, high, heathy table-land, not devoid of trees, affording 

 a magnificent view, which embraces both ranges of chalk hills, the 

 Isle of Wight and the blue hills of Dorsetshire. The ascent is steep 

 and bold, but this higher land is very little seen from other parts of 

 the Forest, which I confess I rather complain of as tame and mono- 

 tonous. There is, however, some very pleasant and well varied 

 country immediately about Lyndhurst. Of plants I saw nothing rare 

 for this part of the world. Carex pulicaris, Osmunda regalis and 

 Pinguicula lusitanica occur in the bogs. Agrostis setacea is the 

 grass of the dryer sandy and gravelly heaths, and Festuca tenuifolia 

 is also not unfrequent. Babington says of F. ovina (in which he in- 

 cludes duriuscula) " Root not truly creeping," which seems to indi- 

 cate that he perceived traces which approached to a creeping root. 

 Smith says of ovina, " Root of long fibres ;" of duriuscula, " Root 

 scarcely creeping." Koch attributes a fibrous root to ovina and he- 

 terophylla, which, as he often puts fibrous in opposition to creeping, 

 seems to imply that in these plants he considers it as not creeping. 

 Cosson and Germain, who distinguish duriuscula both from ovina 

 and heterophylla, say nothing of the root. Bertoloni says that the 

 root of duriuscula (including F. ovina) sometimes emits short runners. 

 I find in the usual form of ovina and duriuscula, as well as in the 

 foreign heterophylla, which is perhaps only a variety of duriuscula, a 

 slender, creeping rhizoma, which seems to be generally wanting in 

 tenuifolia. It is brittle, and I believe never comes up with the plant 

 when the latter is pulled up. 



The 12th was again wet, and my walk along the Christchurch 



