46 Alexander Goodman More. [i854 



company seemed to us rather unusual. There were a 

 goodish few plants, but apparently confined to one spot. 

 In some instances the corollas of theburnet rose were quite 

 rosy, and even blotched with red. This I had never heard 

 of. Viola tricolor (pansy), with unusually large flowers, 

 perhaps the same as V. curtisii of Mackay, grows here ; 

 Cynoglossom (hound's tongue) in immense profusion; Hon- 

 keneja (sea purslane) ; Festuca rubra ; but we missed the 

 various species of trefoil that used to be so characteristic 

 in the Isle of Wight. Ascending now the hill ... I 

 stumbled on some seeds of Scilla verna (vernal squill), 

 Aira flexuosa (wavy hair-grass), Kceleria cristata (crested 

 hair-grass), Cerastium arvense (large mouse-ear), and Silene 

 maritima (sea campion) ; but it. was only on reaching 

 almost the highest point that we came (on the north slope) 

 upon a whole bank of Scilla verna in beautiful flower, and 

 quite a treat as a novelty.* Here we sat down with the 

 fresh sea-breeze, and took a most delightful rest. Another 

 liliaceous plant, Endymion nutans (blue-bell), was growing 

 in the open pasture along with its relative, and plenty of 

 the pretty Lotus corniculatus (bird's-foot trefoil). A herd 

 of deer were feeding in the hollow at our feet, while the 

 anxious wheatear was flitting around, settling every now 

 and then on some bare rock, with ever-repeated * chack- 

 chack.' There were but few Herring-Gulls about, a little 

 band of Puffins, and we found a nest of the Rock Pipit, with 

 its very dark eggs : one which I tasted had a very bitter 

 taste. The north and east sides are very precipitous, with 

 some caves, but we had no time to explore these; they 

 did not look very likely, but might produce Asplenium 

 marinum (sea spleenwort). The view from the top was 

 very fine, something like yesterday's (from the Hill of 

 Howth), but from being closer above the sea still pre- 

 ferable." 



"June 10. Made an excursion to Portmarnock sands, 

 starting on a car at 10 o'clock, with a high N. W. breeze, 

 which made the weather appear quite cold compared with 

 what we had felt it the last fortnight. Along the road we 



* One of his favourite botanical localities at Bemb ridge, St. Helen's Spit, 

 produced the autumnal squill (Scilla autumnalis). 



