499 



nation as effectually as exalting them to species, with this advantage, 

 that should their claims to the higher distinction be proved unten- 

 able, no violence is done to Nature, or additions made to the vast 

 heap of discarded synonyms which now burden the books ; indelible 

 memorials, too often, of haste, vanity, or prepossession. 



Onopordofi Acanthium. In dry waste places, by road-sides, on 

 hedge-banks and amongst rubbish. Extremely rare, if not now quite 

 extinct, in the Isle of Wight. Sparingly on Ryde Dover prior to 

 1842, since then completely extirpated by building. A solitary 

 stunted specimen in the middle of a clover lay at Thorley, September 

 12th, 1842, most likely brought in with the seed. I have not met 

 with it since in any part of the island. Apparently scarce in the 

 county generally, as I have only the few following stations on record. 

 A single specimen picked by myself by the road-side near Weyhill, 

 June 26th, 1848. Near Southampton ; Rev. Messrs. Garnier and 

 Poulter in Hamp. Repos. Breamore Downs ; Miss May. 



Carduas nutans. In dry waste ground, rough, barren fields, pas- 

 tures and fallows ; plentiful in calcareous soils in most parts of the 

 county. Abundant on the sides and summits of most of the high 

 Downs in the Isle of Wight, and in old chalk-pits. The elegantly 

 drooping heads of flowers of deepest crimson, from their size and 

 stellately spreading involucral scales, are peculiarly handsome and 

 conspicuous. Their scent is agreeable, but to my perceptions not 

 exactly such as to entitle this species to the name of musk thistle. 



acanthoides. In woods, thickets and on hedge-banks, 



also (but more rarely with us) in dry, open waste places, fields and 

 pastures. Not very general in the Isle of Wight. Near Ashey farm, 

 and about Arreton. Betwixt Shanklin and Bonchurch. Plentiful in 

 woods at Swainston. About Knighton,* and near Cowes, &c. ; usu- 

 ally in quantity where it occurs, but certainly quite local here. I 

 have no mainland station as yet to give for this species, which never- 

 theless I cannot think is likely to be uncommon in that part of the 

 county. Unfortunately there are certain natural orders and genera, 

 such as Cyperacese, grasses, some Composita? and others, which col- 

 lectors and observers are too apt to pass unnoticed ; hence my 

 county list is partially deficient in these tribes for want of that infor- 



* An old manorial residence near Newchurch, now in ruins, sometimes called E 

 Knighton, in contradistinction to Niton or Crab Niton, at the back of the island, which 

 sobriquet this last has gained from the gigantic crustaceous fishes on the coast, the 

 admiration of all gastronomic tourists. 



