103 



Galeopsis versicolor. Occurring sometimes in the marshy parts, 

 but more especially where cultivation had commenced. 



Lathyrus paliistris. In Sowerby's ' English Botany ' it is stated 

 that this plant " thrives in a garden in good soil, even if not wet, and 

 is very ornamental." Some roots virhich I brought away did not suc- 

 ceed with me, though planted in a pot of bog-soil, and kept moist. 

 It is certainly a rare species, though not uncommon in the Fens : I 

 had never met with it before, and was well pleased with the elegance 

 of the plant and the beauty of its blue flowers. 



What we considered as the prize of the day was the discovery of a 

 little colony or two of the rare 



Malaxis Loeselii. In one or two places growing among Sphagnum. 

 On first setting about to get up a plant for a specimen, I dug round it 

 as deep as I well could with my pocket-spud, in order to obtain the 

 entire root ; a labour which I soon found to be quite unnecessary, as 

 a slight application of the thumb and finger to the stalk readily dis- 

 engaged the whole plant, root and all. I do not think the fibres 

 could have had any immediate connexion with the ground. May not 

 the plant be considered as an epiphyte on the Sphagnum } In proof 

 of the undisturbed quiet and entire security in which this interesting 

 little orchidean here reposed on its carpet of Sphagnum,. I may state 

 that the flower- stalks of two, and sometimes of three, successive years 

 were found still remaining on the same plant. First, there was the 

 flower of the current year in full perfection ; next, the dried stalk of 

 the year previous, with its emptied seed-vessels ; and lastly, in seve- 

 ral instances the evident remains, — the skeleton, — of a still older 

 flower-stalk. 



Myrica Gale. If my memory does not fail me, I think I am cor- 

 rect in saying that this fragrant shrub occurred in several parts of the 

 Fens. In spite of its odoriferous scent, perfuming the air as it does, 

 to my senses at least, I have known this species go by the ordinary 

 name of " stinking willow " among the common people in some parts 

 of the country where it occurs abundantly. But concerning scents it 

 seems men diff'er, as well as tastes, about which we are taught " not to 

 dispute." 



Lastrea Tlielypteris. In great abundance, thinly scattered over 

 acres of the Fens, but of unusually small size, the fronds on an ave- 

 rage not being larger than those of Cystopteris fragilis. I could not 

 find a single specimen in fructification. On a subsequent visit I met 

 with it both in fructification and of the ordinary stature. This spe- 

 cies, if I rightly remember, was almost the only fern, certainly the only 



