1859.] BOTANICAL ^fOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 285 



which I accomplished on the 8th of July last. Though I made few new 

 discoveries, I was able to note several new habitats for most of the alpine 

 rarities, and am quite sure that nothing short of an absolute raid of vo- 

 racious plant-coUectors could ever exterminate the rarest gems of Can- 

 lochan from their rocky fastnesses. I also made the important discovery 

 that the richest part of the rocks is not, as I supposed, midway along the 

 face of the precipices, so conspicuously veined with white quartz, but at 

 their base, immediately above the talus of debris. The rock on which the 

 best plants grow, seems to be a sort of mica-slate, very close in texture, and 

 dark in colour, in places slightly honeycombed, reminding me extremely 

 of the honeycombed rock on which the rare Snowdon plants grow {vide 

 ' Phytologist,' vol. ii. 145, 148). My delight was very gi-eat on turning an 

 angle of the precipice to see the whole surface of the rocks literally blue 

 with the exquisite petals of the rock Saxifrage {F. saxatilis), interspersed 

 pretty freely with Erigeron alpinus, and occasional plants of Gentiana 

 nivalis. Higher up were thick tufts of Dryas, Saxifraga oppositifolia, and 

 the rare Willows Salix reticulata and nigricans, and I also found several 

 tufts of Carex capillaris. Carex rariflora was very abundant in the bog 

 at the head of the glen. We returned by the corry of Loch Ceander and 

 Glen Callater to Castleton of Braemar, after being absent eight hours, two 

 of which were spent in the glen, and the other six in getting there and 

 back. J. Barton. 



Glaucium phceniceum. 



On June 14th I gathered a single specimen of Glaucium phoenieeum on 

 the seashore near the east end of Brighton. It was in flower, and a 

 tolerably good specimen. Only two instances seem to have occurred in 

 which the flower has been seen in England before : once in Norfolk, and once 

 in Portland Island. My specimen does not at all favour the idea that it was 

 an escape from cultivation. I have thought your readers might be in- 

 terested in healing of its occurrence. Gerard Burton. 



Cumbrian Lichen. 



Happening to observe in the last number of the ' Phytologist ' an in- 

 quiry concerning the name and use of a " Cumbrian Lichen," I believe 

 that the said Lichen may be referred to Roccella tinctoria, from which the 

 dyes orchil and cudbear are extracted (purple and brownish-red). That 

 this Lichen contains a certain amount of colouring matter is, I think, suffi- 

 ciently obvious from its name : it is also probably identical with the Fucus 

 mentioned by Virgd (Georg. iv. line 39) from which bees sometimes collect 

 the colouring matter of the "propolis," or substance used by them to narrow 

 the entrance of the hive. W. Bryant. 



Dtirham. 



Sempervivum TECTORUM. 



In ' Phytologist,' 1858, July, p. 491, there is this passage : — " The tes- 

 timony of botanists is uniform, viz. that the Houseleek grows exclusively 

 on walls." Koch, in his ' Synopsis,' p. 288, second edition, says, " In 

 mpibus Alpium (in der Schweitz, auf dem Gotthard und andeni hohen 

 Gebirgen)." He says also, " Commonly planted on walls." 



