Pickard : Utidcscn'bed British I'tiriidv of Cis/its. 45 



With few exceptions, tlie t'oregoing- notes relate to that part 

 of Holderness which lies to the south of the Hull and Hornsea 

 line, and merely place on record observations made chiefly 

 during; vacation visits extending over a period of ten years. 

 No attempt has been made to include all the records relating; 

 to this area, nor would this be desirable, even if space per- 

 mitted, since the ' Birds of Yorkshire,' shortly to be published 

 bv the \'orkshire Naturalists' Union, will deal exhaustively with 

 the enormous mass of literature which has accumulated through 

 the labours of Cordeaux and others. My desire has been rather 

 to supplement the observations made at Spurn by a brief account 

 of the bird life oi its hinterland. 



UiNDESCRIBED BRITISH VARIETY OF CISTUS. 



JOSEPH FRY PICKARD, 

 Leeiis. 



"The ^-ilclcHl Cistiis of the sun-kissed rocks, 



The pale Prunrose's gayer heir 'tis said, 

 That, with rose-petal cheeks and golden locks. 



Looks in July to cheat the heart and head 

 With thoug-hts of bygone springs and bleating flocks ; 



And which when o'er we know the summer fled.' 



When naturalists are on the field path even versified botanv if 

 true to fact — being- the result of observation — is spoil for their 

 cranial vascula. The ' Rock-Rose,' for its gay frailty, somehow 

 always holds the eye on down or roadside bank, from its first 

 crumpled and creased petal to the last expiring' star oi autumn.' 

 I adopt the foregoing" from my friend, Mr. F. Arnold Lees, 

 to whom and to Mr. Arthur Bennett I am indebted for informa- 

 tion, and by whom I am encourag-ed to add to the British P'lora 

 what seems to be an as well-marked as it is a striking- varietv 

 o^ the Rock-Rose, and one of which no English handbook or 

 manual g-ives any description. Mr. Bennett informs me that he 

 has looked into some twenty Continental Floras and finds no 

 mention of my red-spotted form, except in the 1890 ' Flora 

 Schleswig- Holstein ' of Dr. Prahl. The vars. given in our 

 British Floras are — 



a. genuina (the usual plant). 



b. itlbnm (white flowered). 



c. I'oscitDi (rose flowered). 



d. siin-ciiniiis (petals and sepals lanceolate and leaves dotted). 



1903 February i. 



