1862.] EXTINCT SPECIES. 337 



The rare Sonchus is likely to reappear in its old haunts near 

 Blackwall. The marshes about West Ham, Plaistow, and Bark- 

 ing, where it was seen not above twentj'^ years ago, may grow it 

 again. The ditches are of necessity cleared out now and then, 

 and the locality consequently must be utterly or temporarily 

 destroyed, but some roots, or young plants, or seeds, might lurk 

 for years in the debris of the rank vegetation, and in course of 

 time surmount all the obstacles to their development. 



Statice occidentalis is on the coast of Kent associated with the Sea 

 Cabbage, Brassica oleracea ; and as there are no chalk rocks on the 

 Essex coast, where both these associates find a congenial home, 

 they may be equally stragglers, and never were true natives of 

 Essex. The only real natives lost may be but two, Crambe and 

 Diotis. 



In the table of adjacent distribution, or lists of plants found in 

 the contiguous counties but not in Essex, why is not Middlesex 

 entered ? As much is known about its native plants as about those 

 of Kent. The following remarks are most respectfully submitted 

 to the learned authors : — 



1st. Sonchus 2)cilustris, Senecio paludosus, and S. palustris, are 

 enumerated in the recent ' Cambridge Flora' as among the plants 

 that are probably lost in the county of Cambridge ; also Ly thrum 

 hyssopifoUum, Scleranthus perennis, Cicuta virosa, (Enanlhe 

 silaifolia, Pyrola rotundifolia, etc., are problematical Kentish 

 plants : hence the botany of Essex, when compared with its 

 northern and southern neighbours, has no cause to be disconso- 

 late on account of her loss, nor to be ashamed of the small num- 

 ber of her vegetable offspring. 



2nd. Why is Salvia pratensis called a native in Kent, and an 

 alien in Suffolk? Again, where is the natural Kentish locality of 

 Buxus sempervirens ? Boxley, in Kent ? 



There is a fallacy in the syllogism which proves, or attempts 

 to prove, the growth of the Box about Boxley, in Kent, which 

 reminds the readers of Shakespeare of Captain Eluellin's famous 

 argument about Henry V. and Alexander. There is a hill at 

 Dorking, in" Surrey, and a hill at Boxley, in Kent, and there is a 

 river near both, and there are Box-trees near Dorking ; Imt alas ! 

 here the argument breaks down; the syllogism wants a loop: 

 there are no Box-trees on Boxley Hill, in Kent. 



Where do Py'imula fariiiosa and Orchis hircina grow in Suf- 



N.S. VOL. VI. 2 X 



