606 



stories, of which we neither knew nor sought to know the beginning 

 of one nor the end of the other. 



Teesdale Plants. 



The Secretary read the following interesting letter from Mr. James 

 Backhouse, Jun., of York, dated June 7, 1852 : — 



A week or two ago I spent several days in Teesdale, with my father. 

 We were rather unusually fortunate in botanical discoveries, showing 

 the importance of visiting good ground at various seasons of the year. 

 On Cronckley Fell we found two banks covered over with Primula 

 farinosa-acaulis, a beautiful little variety, evidently propagated by seed. 

 The heads of flowers were entirely stemless, and of course so closely 

 seated upon the leaves as to present a very curious and interesting ap- 

 pearance. Our next find was Polygala uliginosa, Reich., a species new 

 to the British Flora. On a high limestone (!) ridge, at an elevation of 

 about 2500 feet, we discovered the rare and very beautiful Myosotis sua- 

 veolens (M. alpestris), previously known on the Bredalbane range, in 

 Perthshire. Alsine stricta (Arenaria uliginosa) is safe and healthy on 

 Widdy Bank Fell, but so difficult to find as to be perfectly (?) secure. 

 Pyrola secunda may be looked at by a steady head, but that is about 

 all. Gentiana verna was beautifully in blossom, studding the margins 

 of the streamlets and high limestone pastures with its brilliant blue 

 flowers in all directions. Its range of altitude is 1100 — 2600 feet. 

 The meadows were literally pink with Primula farinosa, or yellow with 

 Trollius europsBus, in many parts ; sometimes finely intermingled with 

 Orchis mascula and primroses. How many more rarities will turn up 

 in this rich district it is impossible to say ; but I firmly believe that 

 more are yet to be found. 



Fritillaria Meleagris. 



The President made the following observations on the unusual 

 abundance of Fritillaria Meleagris : — 



I know not whether any botanist has recorded the observation that 

 the natural geographical distribution of this beautiful plant in Bri- 

 tain is almost exclusively confined to the Valley of the Thames and 

 its various tributaries. Some of the recorded localities are so impro- 

 bable, or so entirely unconfirmed, as to be worthy of no credit ; 

 others are almost certainly garden escapes ; but the Thames loca- 

 lities, reaching up to the very source of that river, present every 

 appearance of being strictly native. The unusual dryness of the past 

 spring has been extremely favourable to the flowering of the snake's- 



