276 lee: senecio viscosus near dewsburv. 



well tumbled about by the old monarch : they had been put through 

 a civilising process until all their corners were rubbed oft' and they 

 had gained much polish. Portions of old lava were there — rocks 

 melted in the fell chaldron of a monarch who ruled long ages before 

 him of the ice and long arms, and who, judging from the known 

 characteristics of the two, could not well have been his ancestor,, 

 that is if the ' principle of heredity ' applied in those remote ages. 

 He belonged to the period of the Lower Old Red and ruled in the 

 region of the Cheviot hills. 



A little further up another heap of spinatus- rubbish was 

 inspected, containing most of the fossils observed at Kildale, the 

 principal additional one being Lima hermaiuii. On the return to 

 Great Ayton station a visit was paid to the 'Whinstone' quarries 

 in its vicinity. This stone is very extensively used for road-making. 

 It has been well described as 'a bluish-grey augite-andesite, con- 

 sisting of a ground mass apparently made up of augitic and felsitic 

 matter, with small crystals of felspar and augite. Scattered through 

 this are glassy ci"ystals of triclinic felspar of much larger size, 

 very distinctly visible to the unaided eye, and which give the 

 rock a distinctive cii.aracter by which it can be easily recognised.' 

 The ' Cleveland Dyke ' which is thus being carved up to be trodden 

 underfoot extends from near Whitby to the neighbourhood of 

 Armathwaite in Cumberland. 



A vote of thanks to Dr. Veitch for presiding, which was proposed 

 by Mr. J. M. Meek of Redcar, seconded by Mr. Thomas F. Ward 

 of Middlesbrough, and cordially adopted, brought to a close one of 

 the most enjoyable and successful days the Union has had for some 

 time.— W.D.R. 



NOTE— BOTANY. 



Senecio viscosus L. at Savile Town near Dewsbury. — As there are 

 very few records of this uncommon species of Seuccio in West Yorkshire, I ami 

 pleased to be able to report an additional one. On July 30th I saw about a score 

 plants, varying in size from 6 in. to iS in., on a hedgebank at the foot of ihe 

 railway embankment at Savile Town. They occurred not on the rail-bank, but on 

 the dry grassy meadow side of the hedge, which was bordered by a ditch— not a bad 

 place for the development of plant life. The range of distribution of 6". viscosus, 

 as given in 'The Student's Flora,' is from Banff and Dumbarton to Kent and 

 Sussex ; Wales (not in W. or Midland Counties) ; antl rare in Ireland. It is very 

 local, too, yet I think this must only be considered as casual where I discovered it. 

 The author, at p. 291, of ' The Flora of West Yorkshire ' (who has seen my plant 

 and confirmed its name) states that S. viscosus is often misnamed or confounded 

 with robust S. sylvaiicus. There is no mistake of name in this instance, however, 

 the whole plant being viscid or ' clammy,' as old writers put it, very fcetid, and the 

 flower heads few, campanulate and erect, with revolute ray florets. The census 

 number in the 8th edition of the Lend. Cat. is as low as 28, therefore it is a plant 

 worth a pas'^ino- notice, and is n good addition to our local flora. — P. Fox Lkk, 



Dewsbury, 12th August, 1890. 



Naturalist, 



