94' BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [Marck, 



" Gently dip, but not too deep, 

 For fear you make the golden-beard to weep. 

 Fair maiden, white and red, 

 Stroke me smooth, and comb my head, 

 And thou shalt have some cockle bread." 



It is well to inquire what this early MS. is, that one might refer to it 

 I find, however, in Ash's Dictionary, the following : — " Cocket-bread, 

 from Cocket and Bread, the finest sort of wheaten bread." If th( 

 monks of the Wormwood Valley ate Cockle Bread, or Cocket Bread 

 alias fi)ie wheaten bread, as well as barley bread, they did not fare amiss 

 and we are at once relieved from the necessity of supposing it was mad 

 from the " English plant Cockle" or " any of its tribe." S. B. 



BlDENS TRIPARTITA AND B. CERNUA. 



With reference to a remark at page 33, it may be worth mentionin 

 that in the Isle of Wight both species of Bidens are to be seen growin 

 side by side, as in the marsh ditches a little above Yar bridge, etc. ; an 

 a remark of Dr. Bromfield's seems to imply that the fact of the tw 

 species being thus associated is with us rather the rule than the ex- 

 ception. (See ' Phytologist,' Old Series, vol. iii. p. 433.) 



A Vectisian. 



On the Extirpation of Eare Plants. 



A few days ago a man came to sell me some indigenous Ferns. H( 

 had a bag fidl of various species ; amongst others, Aspidium ngidiim 

 Cryptogramma crispa, Cystopteris fraglUs, etc. His account to me was. 

 that he travelled aU over the United Kingdom collecting them, and sell- 

 ing them in the larger towns. He was then coming from Settle, in 

 Yorkshire, where he had been to gather the A. riyldum, of which he had 

 a great quantity, and I am not aware that any other locality has yet been 

 quoted for it. Now if the man goes and collects Ferns in that wholesale 

 manner, he will soon eradicate aU our rare species from the county ; and 

 I wish to give this slight caution to botanists who delight in the Flora of 

 their county, not to encourage him by buying any of his stock. More- 

 over, it is quite a wonder to me that people who have the means will 

 purchase from them when they may derive such intellectual pleasure and 

 health from botanizing themselves ; and by his not obtaining any sale for 

 his stock, and no encouragement from any one, he would no doubt relin- 

 quish the trade for one more honourable. J. F. Eobinson. 



Warrington, January 17, 1859. 



Insane Boot of Shakespeare. 



" That takes the reason prisoner." 



In the 'Phytologist' for November, 1858, the writer begins his article 

 by saying — " If the Potato be unmentioned in Shakespeare's plays, the 

 whole modern genus Solanum may be dismissed as not comprehending the 

 insane root." 



