758 



" I beg to enclose a specimen of the cowslip {Primula veris), ga- 

 thered yesterday, the 15th of 10th mo., in fulljlower, in a disused 

 chalk-pit in the Betchworth range of hills. One might go a long way 

 before finding a more remarkable instance of the waywardness plants 

 sometimes exhibit in their time of flowering. The primrose is some- 

 times met with on a sheltered hedge-bank, even during the most 

 inclement winter's frost ; but the cowslip we look upon as a more 

 transient visitor of warm spring weather. The period assigned it in 

 Babington's Manual is ' iv., v. ;' and we should never expect to meet 

 with it earlier than perhaps a few stray specimens in the beginning of 

 the 4th, or a few still lingering till the end of the 5th, month. Is it 

 early, or is it late ? is a question on which opinions might be divided. 

 Its locality, too, was most unusual for so peculiarly a meadow plant. 

 The stony character of the ground in which it was growing is shown 

 by the nature of the roots." 



Melampyrum pratense y., Brit. Fl. 



The President read the following note, from Mr. Wardale, dated 

 October 19, 1852 :— 



" Having seen a notice, in the last edition of the ' British Flora,' p. 

 296, of the above-named variety of plant, and the locality therein 

 mentioned, and perceiving that it has been entirely passed over in the 

 third edition of the ' London Catalogue of British Plants,' may I beg 

 the insertion of it in a page of the ' Phytologist,' as having another 

 locality besides the ' Banks of the Wye below Monmouth.' On the 

 29th of June, 1849, on a visit to Hastings, it was proposed to make 

 an excursion, as a morning's amusement, to Hollington, distant about 

 four miles, to view the church there, which of itself possesses no other 

 particular attraction beyond that of its unusual situation, being in the 

 midst of a wood, and accompanied by a cemetery surrounded by a 

 hedge and bank. The pathway immediately leading to the situation 

 is between hedge-banks, presenting at the time a profusion of wild 

 plants, including Melica uniflora and the Melampyrum. After passing 

 the stile at the entrance, some hundreds of Melampyrum pratense y. 

 are instantly seen distributed throughout the place, and give a consi- 

 derable degree of gaiety and cheerfulness to the scene. Young 

 oaks and hazels form the wood, the former of which the proprietors 

 had already began to cut down, which, being denuded of their bark, 

 did not exceed the diameter of seven or eight inches. The hazels 

 are intended as a nursery for hurdles as they may be wanted, or 

 according to their states of growth. The Melampyrum here gene- 



