1854] From Bembridge to Brighstone. 33 



\vay through a beautiful hollow lane thickly fringed with 

 most luxuriant ferns to the top of the furze-clad hill over 

 the village. From this, looking down, we have an excel- 

 lent view of the village, placed, as most others at this side 

 of the Island, close under the ridge formed by the Lower 

 Greensand, while this, again, is backed by the far higher 

 Chalk Down, so as to be most comfortably sheltered from 

 the north winds. A still more extensive view is to be 

 gained from the summit of Brighstone Down, whence we 

 discerned the tall white cliffs almost to the very Needles, and 

 the opposite coast of Hants, Lymington, and Christchurch, 

 the inlets of the sea at the former, and Southampton water 

 especially conspicuous. Yarmouth, also, and Newtown 

 lay still close beneath us, while on the other side the open 

 sea seemed still more extended. On the top of the Chalk 

 furze grows in abundance, as well as Erica cinerea and 

 Calluna ; in one spot Anthemis nobilis. In these I found 

 the chief difference from Bembridge Down. The common 

 Chalk plants, of course, are the same." 



It did not take him long to find further difference 

 between the Bembridge and Brighstone floras. Thanks to 

 the remarkable mildness and dryness of the season, he 

 could botanize, almost daily, thoughout November, with 

 as much complacency as if it had been summer. During 

 this time no fewer than 180 species of plants were observed 

 in flower, out of which number, 9 are distinguished in the 

 diary as hitherto unknown to himself, and one (Filago 

 spathulata, first gathered, Nov. i2th), as new to the Isle 

 of Wight." This he originally discovered at a spot between 

 Gatcombe and Brighstone, but afterwards found to be 

 plentiful on many places on the Greensand. 



On November 2nd, he writes: "We drove through 

 Shorwell, Kingston, Chale, and Blackgang to Niton, our 

 object being to visit Cyperus longus. We had no diffi- 

 culty in finding it, although, except one specimen, it was 

 quite dried up and withered ; the greater part, too, had 

 been mowed down. From the Buddie Inn a very steep 

 descent leads you right to the spot, and the square patch 

 of rushes, fenced off in the centre of the field, may be 

 discerned almost from the Inn itself. Not far from it 



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