1858.] THE FLORA OF PORTLAND. 607 



from living on the spot we have had the best opportunities for 

 inquiry, the so-called arrowroot has never been so extensively 

 manufactured as to admit of its being sent to London for sale, 

 as it Avas disposed of in the immediate neighbourhood, conse- 

 quently Londoners could "only obtain it through some friend re- 

 siding in the locality. At the present time, there are only one or 

 two persons who make it, and the aggregate quantity is so small 

 that we were unable to obtain any for ourself in 1857. It may 

 not be uninteresting to describe the mode of manufacturing this 

 arrowroot. The corms, which are dug up in June, are well 

 washed, then bruised, and well stirred in a vessel of water ; the 

 coarser particles are then strained off, and the fecula, after re- 

 peated subsidence and washings, is finally dried in the sun, and 

 the result is a starch well known as being one of the smaller 

 varieties, yielding a jelly which, although inferior to Bermuda, 

 is superior or equal to ordinary arrowroots. Although the new 

 system has in a measure destroyed the Arum maculatum, it has 

 failed to injure other plants of greater rarity, so that we still 

 find a great abundance of Lathyrus Aphacd, together with some 

 Vicia gracilisy The Euphorbias occurring in the cornfields are 

 E. helioscopia, exigua, and Peplus, and on rubbish-heaps both 

 Mercurialis annuus and perennis. Ranunculacece have good 

 representatives in Ranunculus arvemi/ and parviflorus, besides 

 the common species, as Ficaria, repens, bulbosus, etc., but its 

 chief member is Adonis autumnalis'^ which is not uncommon in 

 some parts, thanks to the fact that some of its seed ripens 

 before the corn is cut. Other plants that occur in the cornfields 

 and cultivated land generally are Cichorium Intybus, Valerianella 

 olitoria and auricula', Galeopsis Ladanum, Papaver dubium, 

 Rhceas, and more rarely Argemone, with the somewhat scarce 

 Specularia hybrida. The Umbelliferce present many worthy 

 features : besides the species already mentioned, they number 

 Pastinaca saliva, Torilis nodosa, Petroselinum segetum, Pim- 

 pinella Saxifraga, with other unimportant species, and it is 

 highly probable that the rare (Enanthe pimpinelloides, L., is 

 to be found here, for although we do not find it set down in 

 our notes, jet it occurs so frequently in the neighbourhood of 

 Weymouth that we should be liable to pass it by unrecorded. 

 Solanacea, of course, are few, but they number Hyoscyamus 

 niger, which seems to love a seaside habitat, and in such places 



