THE LOWER SANDGATE ROAD. 5 



themselves are all gone, they are a vanished race. 



" The old order changeth, giving place to the new." 

 They probably disappeared before the advances of 

 the half naked but more sagacious Celt, or even his 

 predecessors, who with their flint-tipped arrows 

 forced on their destruction. Now they are gone too, 

 and we have the nineteenth century with railroads 

 and telegraphs, electric lights and microphones. 

 Tempora mutantur. 



And now, what of the botany of the Lower Eoad ? 

 It is truly a storehouse of treasures. From the tune 

 when the banks are yellow with Furze blossoms in 

 January to the appearance of the orange berries on 

 the Sea Buckthorn the slopes are a blaze of colour. 

 And chiefly it it is golden. The Furze blossoms 

 have not disappeared before the Kingcups or Butter- 

 cups (whichever name you prefer) spread themselves 

 luxuriantly in all directions. Not one or two species 

 only, for Ranunculus acris is there, though sparingly; 

 Pi. bulbosus as usual, is without limit, and R. repens 

 rears its head crowned with a corolla an inch and a 

 quarter across, two feet and more above its lowlier 

 neighbours. Then in June, mixing with the dying 

 blossoms of the Ranunculacece comes the glorious hue 

 of the Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus ) and a 

 host of its relatives. In no one spot have I ever seen 

 gathered together so many representatives of the 

 Lefjuminosce, and among them such good things. I 

 give at the end of this ramble a list of the species 

 found on this road. The botanist will notice par- 

 ticularly Lathyrus Xissolia, and L. pratrnsis, Vicia 

 bithynica, Tri/olium suffocatum, and T. arvense, He 

 will, I know, want to start at once for 



