342 Mr. J, Ball on the Botany of Sicily. 



of the last species be not subject to variation. Of the vege- 

 tation of Etna much has been written, yet I am satisfied that 

 a more lengthened examination than has yet been given, espe- 

 cially to its western slopes, would amply reward the botanist 

 Avho would undertake it. Upon the Monte Rosso, the lowest 

 of the long line of craters which have been opened by the suc- 

 cessive eruptions, many of the species of the lower I'egion 

 will be found, amongst them Sedum amplexicaule, DeC. {Sem- 

 pervivinu tenuifolium, Fl. Gr.). The extent of snow at the 

 period of my ascent prevented my examination of the upper 

 region ; the last plants which I saw in flower were Viola ^t- 

 nens'is, Psl. (which is doubtless, as DeCandolle has placed it, 

 a variet}' of V. calcarafa), and Erophila prascox , DeC, scarcely 

 an inch in height; this most of the foreign botanists consider 

 distinct : I presume that the £. verna, /3. of Hookei-'s ' British 

 Flora' is this species. The limestone tract round Lentini is 

 covered with beautiful plants, such as Ononis ramosissirna, 

 Dsf., Phlomis Herba-venti,lj., Lonicera implexa, Bert., Eryn- 

 gium triquetrum, Vahl., and E. jnisillwn, L. 



In wandering over the barren rocks where once stood Sy- 

 racuse, the mind is so prepossessed by the thousand confused 

 memories of former days as to forget its accustomed occupa- 

 tions, and at first even the most hardened botanist will hesi- 

 tate lest in pursuing his vocation he sacrilegiously disturb the 

 ashes of some of that illustrious race who once made this spot 

 celebrated ; he will however speedily overcome his scruples 

 on noticing several scarce species, such as Origanum heracleo- 

 iicum, Marrubium hispanicuni and Pteris cretica ; these grow 

 in different parts of the Latomie, the enormous quarries which 

 alone attest the extent of the ancient city ; in the same place 

 I found the Melica mimita of Bertoloni, ' Fl. It.' Kunth seems 

 not to have well understood this group, as the M. ramosa,\i\\. 

 of Bertoloni seems certainly distinct from its allies ; it is a 

 scarce plant ; I have seen it only in the Roman stations men- 

 tioned in the ' Fl. It.' The Melia Azedarach, a quite tropical 

 tree, has become naturalized about Syracuse. As the guides 

 conduct all travellers up the stream of the Anapus, where the 

 Papyrus grows in great luxuriance to a height of eight or ten 

 feet, no one can avoid remarking this, the king of the Cype- 

 raceous tribe ; as it grows in several other similar situations, I 

 see no reason to doubt Gussone's correctness in supposing it 

 a native of Sicily. At or near the mouth of the Anapus I 

 noticed Rot t bo el Ha cylindrica and fascicidata} ; a large Glyce- 

 ria near to G.fluitans in character, but approaching G. aqua- 

 tlca in habit, probably a new species of the genus ; two spe- 



