786 



On the IStli we proceeded to Rouen by a diligence, which took us 

 there in four hours and a half: some years ago this journey occupied 

 seven hours. The rain almost confined us to the city for that and the 

 two following days. Bromus tectorum and Linaria supina are com- 

 mon on the walls, and on the slopes of the hills there is abundance 

 of Sesleria cserulea. It is curious to see a plant which is common on 

 the limestone of the north of England, but which does not occur on 

 our chalk hills, so plentiful in such a situation. Barkhausia taraxa- 

 cifolia is plentiful on the hill meadows. Two forms of Polygala oc- 

 cur on these hills ; one, which is the P. amara of the ' Flore de la 

 Normandie,' P. amarella of Cosson et Germain, ^Plantes Critiques des 

 Environs de Paris,' forms a rosette of larger leaves at the base of the 

 flowering branch. This rosette, however, consists only in an approx- 

 imation of a certain number of the leaves, and takes place in a greater 

 or less degree, so that we sometimes find it difficult to decide whether 

 it exists or not. 



On the 18th Mr. Janson was obliged to leave me, and I walked, af- 

 ter his departure, to the woods and chalky banks beyond Canteleu. 

 The forest of Roumare here stretches over the wide summit of a range 

 of hills, generally on a soil of flint and clay ; and offered to me Mes- 

 pilus germanica, Monotropa Hypopitys, Colchicum officinale, Melittis 

 Melissophyllum, Convallaria multiflora and Viola lactea. On the im- 

 mediate crest of the hills, where the soil is almost wholly composed 

 of flints, I observed Cornus mascula, Prunus Mahaleb, Aquilegia vul- 

 garis, Helleborus fcEtidus and Convallaria Polygonatum. Upon the 

 rough chalky banks below the wood, grow Verbascum Blattaria, Teu- 

 crium Chamaedrys and Veronica Teucrium, whose compact masses of 

 bright blue flowers render it a much more conspicuous plant than V. 

 Chamaedrys. Here also we meet with Anemone Pulsatilla, Euphorbia 

 Gerardiana, Globularia communis, Satyrium hircinum and Orchis fus- 

 ca. I had expected to find several of the Orchises allied to this latter 

 species in the neighbourhood of Rouen, and I was desirous of observ- 

 ing the variations in the form of the lip; in this walk, however, I met 

 only with O. fusca, and that but in one spot. They ajipear to grow 

 in patches of small extent, which are scattered here and there in or 

 below the woods, and a botanist who does not hit exactly upon the 

 place, may be within a hundred yards of a considerable number of 

 them without being aware of it. I have given (Phytol 789) an outline 

 of the three principal forms which occurred to me, in the lip of Orchis 

 fusca ; the narrowest I believe to be the O. militaris, and O. galeata 



