264 



which is strikingly the case in the present plant. The observations 

 of Messrs. Cosson and Germain are abundantly sufficient to stamp it 

 as a good species. Passing over Ballard Down, I observed several 

 of the corn plants of a chalky soil, as Linaria Elatine and spuria, and 

 all these occur, not only on the chalk and limestone, but also on the 

 intervening clay and loam of the Wealden formation. 



After church on Sunday I walked along the shore to the foot of 

 Ballard Down, and then turned inland along the foot of the down. 

 In one of the little drains that trickle from the cliff I got Scirpus Sa- 

 vii, and at the foot of the downs Rubia peregrina. 



On the Monday morning I walked up Nine-barrow Down, one of the 

 highest of these chalk hills. Just before reaching the open country I 

 fell in with two tufts of Iris fcetidissima, with yellow flowers. 1 was 

 the more struck with this, as Mr. Borrer had just been mentioning 

 that he thought he had seen such a thing in the gardens at Hampton 

 Court. 



My chief object at Swanage was the Phalaris paradoxa, but the 

 discoverer, Mr. Hussey, was not at Swanage. However, I found that 

 Mr. Willcox, a surgeon of the place, was well acquainted with the 

 plant and its habitat, and he kindly undertook to conduct me to the 

 spot, premising, however, that the field had become a potato-ground, 

 and that none of the plant was to be found. We of course looked in 

 vain. It seems to have been pretty abundant in a space of about 

 thirty or forty yards square, in one coiner of a corn-field, and there 

 w r as no account of any foreign seed having been sown there at any 

 time. The soil seemed rather a stiff loam on the Wealden beds, 

 some of which on the Isle of Purbeck are very sandy, but that is not 

 the case in this field. Leaving this field and crossing a lane we 

 came on the yellow variety of Iris fcetidissima, which may therefore 

 be presumed to be not very uncommon in this neighbourhood. A 

 Daucus abounds here, which I take to be the maritimus of Withering 

 and hispidus of De C, at least as far as regards the French plant, 

 but of course the fruit was not yet formed. Mr. Willcox informs me 

 that the poor employ it as a diuretic. Mr. Willcox possesses a very 

 interesting collection of the fossils of the neighbourhood, particularly 

 of the fishes found in the Purbeck beds, and also some leaves from 

 the plastic clay. 



On Tuesday I proceeded by stage to Wareham, and thence by rail- 

 road to Wool. There 1 engaged a lad to take my luggage to West 

 Lulworth, and proceeded myself on foot, but the walk is not interest- 

 ing ; yet had the day been fine I should probably have found amuse- 



