1861.] KENTISH BOTANY. 179 



tral (wall or rock) species. Verbascum Lychnitis also appeared 

 on the chalk cutting between Erith and Greenhithe. We sub- 

 sequently saw this rare plant on a wall, a very unusual habitat (?). 

 (The } eilow Foxglove, Digitalis lutea, is well established on an 

 old wall in Garret Lane, Wandsworth.) Centranthus ruber is 

 well established in the sides of the deep cutting between North- 

 fleet and Gravesend. This plant abounds on several chalk rocks 

 in this vicinity. We subsequently observed this introduced (?) 

 plant in a still more unexceptionable station, see infra. It may, 

 however, be confidently asserted, that the examples which were 

 seen about the railway on the London side of Gravesend were not 

 indebted to human agency for their introduction into either this 

 locality or into the one to be hereafter recorded. 



We reached Canterbury in time to look at only a few of the 

 antiquities of this most ancient town, to an antiquary, histo- 

 rian, or devotee, one of the most interesting of British cities. 

 The plants observed on the walls were repetitions of some seen 

 and already recorded as Faversham plants. See ' Phytologist' for 

 April, 1861, p. 108. 



Before breakfast, while at Canterbury, we walked up to Har- 

 bledown on the London road, about a mile from the city. From 

 this elevation, which is not great, there is a good view of the 

 cathedral, the churches, gates, and other objects of interest in 

 the ecclesiastical metropolis of the realm. This hill was notable 

 for its antiquities when Erasmus visited England, more than 

 three centuries ago. We did not see much of the remains even 

 of the hospitals, lazar -houses, and chapels which once crowned 

 this well-known spot. We did not see clearly the city and its 

 notabilities, because the atmosphere was hazy ; yet it was plea- 

 sant to walk over this hill, and to look down into the deep hollow 

 road, trodden by myriads of pilgrims in bygone times, and to 

 muse upon the scenes and circumstances of days long past. 

 Solemn inferences and sentimental reflections might be indulged 

 in on the contrast between the state of this city three or four 

 centuries ago and its present condition ; but these would be out 

 of place here, as much so as the old shoe of St. Thomas, kissed by 

 devotees, would have been out of place in the exhibition of 

 farming implements which was held this year, 1860, in the agri- 

 cultural capital of England. The present charitable foundations 

 are of a rather more utilitarian kind than those were that existed 



