324 BOTANY OF THE KINGDOM OP FIFE. [November, 



Buxbaumii, Fedia olitoria, Scandix Pecten-Veneris, Trifolium pro- 

 cumbens, Galeopsis Ladamim, Agrostemma Githago, Ononis ar- 

 vensis, and several other species^ were plentiful in some of the 

 fields, and in one field I found Centaurea Cyanus. I think this 

 plant is becoming much more uncommon than it used to be. In 

 the neighbourhood of Preston, in Lancashire, it is nearly, if not 

 quite, extirpated. Among the short grass on the brow of the 

 hill, overlooking the vale of Aylesbury, grew plentifully Cnicus 

 acaulis, Gentiana Amarella, Helianthemum viilgare, and Thymus 

 Serpyllimi ; and in the same locality I observed numerous speci- 

 mens of Juniperus communis. My time was now getting limited, 

 as I had to walk to Aylesbury ; so, after duly admiring the view 

 over the celebrated vale of that name, I began to descend the 

 hill. I did not find this quite so arduous an undertaking as I 

 had found the descent of Pendle Hill, in Lancashire, some weeks 

 before, but it was very steep and slippery for some distance. The 

 descent of a steep hill is not so long an operation as the ascent 

 of it, but I am not at all sure that it is not as laborious a one. 

 Arrived at the bottom of the hills, I struck across the fields to- 

 wards my destination, continuing to botanize in all the likely 

 spots I passed. At the edge of one of the cornfields I observed 

 Cichorium Intybus in some quantity, and in a pasture-field Pim- 

 pinella magna and P. Saxifraga. Sison Amomum and Dijjsacus 

 sylvestris grew plentifully in many of the ditches, and Clematis 

 Vitalba and Humidus Lupulus profusely adorned many of the 

 hedges. In a ditch on the right-hand side of the road, just be- 

 fore reaching the outskirts of Aylesbury, I found a considerable 

 quantity of Helminthia echioides. 



During my walk, I bore in mind the plants inquired for in 

 the ' Phytologist,' vol. i. p. 108, viz. Habenaria chlorantha, Bu- 

 pleurum rotundi folium, Ajvga Chamapitys, and Spiranthes autum- 

 nalis, but did not find any of them. It was probably too late'in 

 the season for some of them. 



BOTANY OF THE KINGDOM OF FIFE. 



A Walk along the Seashore from St. Andreiv's to Craig, or what is 

 locally knovm as the "East Nook of Fife," in the Summer o/1862. 



Early in the morning of the 7th of July we examined the baro- 



