250 REVIEWS. [August, 



' dunes/ or sand-hills, lying immediately below St. Helen's, that 

 the principal harvest will be made. This small piece of ground, 

 not exceeding probably forty or fifty acres, has been ascertained 

 to yield no less (fewer) than two hundred and fifty species of 

 flowering plants, that (this?) being nearly one-third of the whole 

 Flora of the Isle of Wight; and among those, not the least interest- 

 ing are twelve out of the thirteen indigenous Trefoils. Indeed, the 

 abundance of Leguminosce and CaryophyUece is the most striking 

 feature of the sandhills, and brings to mind the use which has 

 been made of the prevalence of these two families of plants to 

 characterize a region warmer than our own. The two Stonecrops 

 also might suggest a resemblance to the arid sands of the deserts, 

 were it not for the Reindeer Moss, which is the next plant to 

 meet the eye." 



It may be observed that Quarr Copfee, near the ruins of Quarr 

 Abbey, can boast of the largest example of Pyrus torminalis in 

 the island, probably the largest in existence ; see ' Flora Vectensis,' 

 p. 167. And within the ruined walls of what was once a large 

 garden, orchard, or perhaps vineyard, there still flourish fine and 

 numerous examples of Inula Helenium, an example of the remains 

 of cultivation, not of an escape. Cultivation has long ceased in 

 this locality, and the Elecampane is a melancholy evidence that 

 on this now neglected spot there once grew better things, that 

 are not to be found on " cow-pasture " or " sheep-leas." 



Our author notices the curious fact that Serratula tinctoria 

 and Betonica officinalis may be seen growing in the open pasture 

 behind the fort (near Freshwater), a locality very different from 

 the sheltered woods they usually inhabit. These shady, sheltered 

 spots may be the usual localities of these plants in the Isle of 

 Wight ; but in Surrey it is not considered a great curiosity to 

 see them both on the extensive and open heaths of this heathery 

 county. 



It would not be fair dealing towards the author and publisher 

 of the ' New Guide to the Isle of Wight ' to skim off" the cream, 

 as they say, or publish in our pages a list of the rarest and most 

 interesting plants which appear in this summary of the Vectian 

 Flora. All that is desirable here is a mere statement that this 

 part of the work is most conscientiously performed. It is a 

 satisfactory condensation of the most elaborate work on local 

 botany ever published in this country ; and which is honourably 

 mentioned by the author of this botanical synopsis. 



