532 THIRSK NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. [AugUSt, 



,it is never noticed on walls. It is a mural plant in some coun- 

 tries. Probably it may become mural here when it finds no more 

 suitable habitat amongst us, Sinapis arvensis is a rare mural 

 plant, but it is occasionally noticed on walls. Meconopsis cam- 

 brica grows on walls and roofs in Yorkshire, as well as by way- 

 sides. Does it grow on cottage walls and roofs in North Wales, 

 where it profusely ornaments the steep ledges of rocks, and al- 

 most every place which is beyond the reach of the mountain 

 sheep ? Chelidonium majus is found both on walls and in shady 

 places near habitations. The mural state is less common than 

 the other is. The Wallflower is the last example we shall quote. 

 In its wild state this plant is exclusively confined to walls, roofs, 

 or ruins ; we believe it is never seen in this island in any other 

 situation. It is a mural plant in the north, the middle and south of 

 Europe. And it is only known as a wall plant in Asia and Africa? 

 It agrees exactly with the Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) 

 and with the two Wall-Pinks (D. plumarius and D. Caryophyllus) 

 in being both a wild and a cultivated flower. It differs from all 

 three in having a larger area of distribution in Britain, and in 

 being more plentiful where it is found. It is no assumption that 

 the plant in question originated somewhere, it is a fact. Every- 

 thing that is, began to be at some period and in some place or 

 places. Was this one of the plants originally created in the 

 Garden of Eden ? Who can answer this in the affirmative ? It 

 would be safer to doubt this fact than to deny it. 



THIESK NATUEAL HISTOEY SOCIETY. 

 Botanical Exchange Club. 



The monthly meeting of the Thirsk Natural History Society 

 was held on the evening of Wednesday, the 7th instant. Mr. 

 Peter Davidson, of Thirsk, was admitted a resident, and the Rev. 

 W. M. Hind, of Bayswater, and Mr. H. Ibbotson, of Dundee, 

 corresponding, members of the Society. 



Mr. J. G. Baker gave an account of an excursion to Halnaby 

 Carr, in search of Eriophorum gracile. The locality is a boggy, 

 moory piece of ground, thickly covered with trees and brushwood, 

 perhaps a couple of acres in extent, that lies on the left-hand 

 side of the road, about a mile from Croft, on the way to Rich- 



