540 Alexander Goodman More Scientific Papers. 



The nature of the British stations (heaths and open woods) agrees 

 perfectly with what is known of the place of growth of G. illyricus in the 

 north-west of France. 



If G. illyricus appears to belong to the south and west of Europe, its 

 position in Britain is not unlike that of several other species which, 

 though absent from North and Middle Germany, extend along the 

 shores of the Atlantic as far as the British Isles. Arum italicum, Rubia 

 peregrina, Cyperus longus, Agrostis setacea, &c., will readily occur as 

 examples of this, and no doubt all these plants are influenced by the 

 comparative mildness of the maritime climate of the west of Europe. 



If very rare in Hampshire and in the Isle of Wight, G. illyricus is 

 also said to be exceedingly scarce in the Loire district of France, as 

 indeed might be expected from its outlying position in both countries, 

 where we might suppose it to be at the extreme limit of its range. 



It is hoped that any botanist who may succeed in discovering other 

 plants at Shanklin will not fail to publish the details, since, however 

 great the geographical probabilities of its wildness, it would be very 

 desirable to have more than a single root to vouch for Gladiolus illyricus 

 being indigenous to the Isle of Wight. 



ON THE ALLEGED FORMER EXISTENCE OF THE 

 PTARMIGAN IN CUMBERLAND AND WALES. 



["ZOOLOGIST," February, 1881.] 



I HAVE been lately endeavouring to trace back the record, so often 

 repeated, of the former existence of the Ptarmigan in Cumberland and 

 Wales ; but hitherto with very unsatisfactory results. I am therefore 

 led to ask the readers of '*The Zoologist' if any one can help me with 

 a reference to any writer contemporaneous with, or earlier than, Pennant, 

 who appears to have been the first to publish the locality of Keswick, 

 which, with the addition of Wales, is repeated a few years later by 

 Latham in his "General Synopsis." 



It will not be uninteresting to follow, from the first, the variations and 

 additions which have been made by subsequent authors. 



Pennant (1776), in the fourth edition of his ' British Zoology,' says 

 of the Ptarmigan, "A few still inhabit the lofty hills near Keswick, in 

 Cumberland." 



Latham (1783) copies these words verbatim, adding, " as well as in 

 Wales " ; and here it is well to observe that Pennant, himself a Welsh- 

 man, and taking particular interest in the fauna of the principality, 

 makes no mention of Wales as a locality for the Ptarmigan, either in 

 his ' British Zoology ' or in his ' Tour in Wales.' 



Dr. Heysham (1794), in his account of Cumberland animals, given 



