754 



of the opposite chalk-cliffs of Alum Bay and the Needles, rising boldly 

 out of the water at the extremity of the island. 



From this point we struck directly into the Forest, to Brockenhurst, 

 meeting with plain but comfortable accommodation at one of the little 

 inns in the village. Half-past six o'clock the next morning found us 

 in a beautiful autumn fog, through which the rays of the sun were just 

 penetrating, searching the neighbourhood of Brockenhurst Bridge for 

 its two special plants — Leersia oryzoides and Isnardia palustris. In 

 a boggy piece of ground on the left, by the road-side about fifty yards 

 before reaching the bridge itself, we soon found the grass, but much 

 smaller and poorer than in its Surrey locality, at Brockham Bridge, 

 After a much longer search, we also succeeded in detecting a few 

 plants of the Isnardia, close by an open ditch recently cut through the 

 bog, and which seems not unlikely to threaten the destruction, at no 

 distant period, of both these plants in this particular locality. The 

 Leersia has been noticed in various other spots, both up and down 

 the River Boldre ; and no doubt a diligent search would be rewarded 

 by the discovery of other stations for the inconspicuous Isnardia. 

 To Lyndhurst, a splendid walk of four miles, is considered the finest 

 bit of road in the Forest, and for sylvan beauty can scarcely be sur- 

 passed, illumined, as we saw it, by the brilliant rays of the morning 

 sun. 



Having booked a bed, and despatched a comfortable breakfast, at 

 the " Crown," we proceeded in quest of the plant of the Forest — Spi- 

 ranthes aestivalis. Following the Christchurch road for two miles, as 

 far as a toll-gate, we turned off to the right for about a hundred yards, 

 and had no difficulty in identifying the bog where we expected at 

 once to find the plant ; but the best part of an hour was spent indus- 

 triously, in both the driest and wettest parts, before the silence of the 

 surrounding woods was broken by the shout of " hurrah I" which an- 

 nounced the discovery of the object of our search. A further long- 

 continued examination of the bog was rewarded by only four or five 

 additional specimens, distributed over a considerable extent of ground. 

 They were past full flower ; but, if the plant had been plentiful this 

 season, the withered stalks would not have escaped our observation. 

 It is very possible that, like its congener, Spiranthes autumnalis, it 

 may vary in abundance in different years. This station does not cor- 

 respond in many respects with that described by Dr. Bromfield (Phy- 

 tol. iii. 909) ; and, as he mentions its having been found in other spots 

 in the same neighbourhood, by Wm. Borrer, it is probable it may be 

 a different one. The direction to the locality where we met with it 



