634 



the tunnel. Near here is dug the material known as hearth-stone, 

 belonging to the upper green-sand formation. 



Immediately below the chalk, stretching east and west, in a sort of 

 valley, is the gault formation, forming one of the richest wheat-growing 

 lands in the country. A short ride onward, and we pass the lower 

 green sand, known by the cutting at Red Hill Junction. This being 

 a dry soil, the beech flourishes here also. Lotus corniculatus was 

 making its appearance on the edges of the cutting. We are now on 

 a totally different formation, — the wealden clay, — presenting low, wet 

 lands, marked, as a distinctive feature, by the almost exclusive ap- 

 pearance of the oak in the hedge-rows and coppices. Numerous pits 

 of stone are seen, of a far harder texture than the red sandstone, and 

 of some portions containing large quantities of small shells, known as 

 the Sussex marble. Another vegetation appears in the distance : it 

 is Tilgate Forest, situate upon the formation known as the Hastings 

 sand, where large tracts of spruce and larch fir, encircled by an under- 

 growth of birch and heath, occur. Leaving the rail at Three Bridges, 

 we proceeded over Pound Hill, into the Balcombe and Cuckfield 

 roads. The wind was still, and the trees and underwood still covered 

 with abundance of drops of water from the recent rain. A copse half 

 a mile distant from Pound Hill, on the right hand side of the road, 

 looked inviting. On entering we were soon attracted to Luzula Fors- 

 teri, L. pilosa, and L. campestris, 0. congesta. Hook., (but which Ba- 

 bington, in the first edition of his Maimal, calls L. multiflora), Carex 

 glauca, C. sylvatica, C. vesicaria, C. remota, C. flava, C. vulpina, and C. 

 stellulata. Good states of Galium palustre, /3. Wiiheri?igii, Habenaria 

 bifolia (plentiful), Juncus bufonius and J. effusus were among the most 

 conspicuous. Aira caespitosa and some other grasses were advancing ; 

 but vegetation, upon the whole, seemed more backward than usual at 

 this period of the year. Nearer to Balcombe we noticed Ranunculus he- 

 deraceus, 0. grandr^orns, and R. circinatus. In water by the sides of 

 the roads, and at the edge of the forest, we observed several specimens 

 of Aquilegia vulgaris. On proceeding up the first hill, on the road 

 towards the * Norfolk Arms,' we found Epipactis purpurata very 

 fine and abundant. Orchis maculata very large, Listera ovata, and 

 Gymnadenia albida abundant. To the right of the road, in pools 

 of water, was growing abundance of a species of Myosotis, apparently 

 totally different from any described species. It is about six or nine 

 inches in height, producing remarkably large blossoms, and certainly 

 an annual ; and, what is peculiar, the majority of the plants produced 

 white blossoms. Few ferns presented themselves previous to entering 



