1861.] KKNTISH BOTANY. 209 



All along on the brink of the river, and especially on the 

 margin of the ditches inside the river-wall, large masses of Juncus 

 acutus appeared at intervals, a welcome sight to inland botanists. 

 AVhen passing over the meadow, and not far from the houses of 

 the coastguard above mentioned, we were so fortunate as to light 

 upon several fine specimens of Polypogon monspeliensis, a plant 

 unrecorded in the list of the plants of South Kent. Is this a 

 recent importation ? 



We had now reached the famous sandhills which lie between 

 Sandwich and Deal, along which we were told was a painful and 

 very dreary walk. It happily proved most agreeable, interesting, 

 and instructive to us.^ 



On the sand appeared Eryngium maritimum, one of the most 

 attractive of our seaside plants, not to handle, but to look at and 

 admire. 



It is very much to be wished that decorative artists, those who 

 devise and execute the patterns for our paper-hangings, our 

 draperies, furniture, and such-like, would now and then take a 

 walk by the seashore and study the multifarious forms exhibited 

 by our maritime vegetation. This would probably improve their 

 taste ; at the very least, it would have a tendency to enlarge their 

 minds, and ultimately be the means of introducing more variety 

 into their productions. 



The Rose and the Convolvulus, the Trefoil and the Lily, are 

 all beautiful, but they are repeated till they become tiresome. 

 Toujours perdrix, said the facetious Frenchman, mais toujours 

 perdrix. Too much of one dish palls the appetite ; the constant 



* Johnson's notice of the results of herborizing in this locaUty, viz. the sandhills 

 about Sandown Castle, should not be passed over in silence. His list of plants 

 seen in this locality is very brief. See Ralph's edition, 4to, 1847, pp. 25, 26 : — 

 Malva vulgaris fiorihus albis ; Anaffallis aquatica, 3 J^ohel ; Cotyledon aquatica, seu 

 Acris septentrionalmm. Lob.; Buglossum si/lvestre, Dod. ; Tithymalus Paralius. 

 The cultivated specunens are omitted. 



Wc saw no marine monsters of any sort, not so much as a sea-serpent ; yet 

 we are curious about the snake fifteen feet long, formerly kdled here, the stuffed 

 skin of which was in the possession of Charles Duke or Duck (Carolus Anas), 

 the learned pharmacist of Sandwich. 



This fine specimen of a sea-snake was as thick as a boa constrictor, and it coni 

 tained in its capacious stomach a large portion of the population of the rabbit- 

 warren. Are there any notices of the capture of this marine monster extant in any 

 of our local histories of South Kent ? 



N.S. VOL. V. 2 E 



