184 



SHORT NOTES. 



ALES 





[The assertion that Orchis hircina has occurred on the Orme's 

 Head having found its way into various journals, it seems advis- 

 able to place on permanent record the result of an investigation 

 into the circumstances of the case, as recorded by Mr. C. W. 

 Dod in the ' Gardeners' Chronicle' for May 15 last. In connection 

 with this, it may be well to add that some at least of the North 

 Wales records, given in ' Topographical Botany' on the authority 

 of Mr. J. F. Robinson, require confirmation. I have given instances 

 of this in the chapter on the Botany of that region contributed to 

 Jenkinson's * Practical Guide to North Wales.' — Ed. Journ. Bot.] 



Within the last few months a statement has appeared 

 in several local newspapers and gardening journals, to the 

 effect that the Great Lizard Orchis (Orchis hircina) has been 

 found at Llandudno. Botanists at a distance will like to know on 

 what authority the statement has been made. The Llandudno 

 mountain, commonly called the Great Orme's Head, contains 

 about a thousand acres of rocky ground, the geological formation 

 being mountain limestone. Every part of it, with the exception 

 of a few steep cliffs on the north-east side, immediately over the 

 sea, is easily accessible. From the days of Pennant it has been 

 famed for its rare plants, and every yard of it has been ransacked 

 by botanists, and many lists of its plants have been published. 

 The list has hardly been added to of late years, but some plants 

 formerly found there have disappeared, through the frequent visits 

 of collectors. Last year, however, a dealer in plants, a native of 

 Kent, settled in Llandudno, and in due time announced that he 

 had discovered there Orchis hircina, Orchis fusca (syn. purpurea), 

 and Ophn/s aranifera. The last may have possibly been found in 

 Wales before, but the two former have hitherto been believed to 

 be confined to the south-east of England, and 0. hircina is 

 extremely rare even there. When I came to Llandudno last week, 

 I at once searched for the dealer, and made inquiries of him, and 

 I give the result. He told me that he had found many of Orchis 

 hircina, and knew of about twenty more in the same spot, which 

 he was going to dig up as soon as they were tall enough to move. 

 He had only three left. One of these I bought for a sovereign 

 the price he asked, and offered to pay two for another, if he would 

 show it to me growing wild. He would not do that. He was 

 watched ; and others would find them out, and exterminate the 

 whole stock, but as soon as he had dug them all up, he would 

 show me the place he had dug them up from, with which I ought 

 to be satisfied. He had not only found 0. fusca and 0. aranifera 

 besides^, but within the last few davs (ypriprdium Calceolus also. 

 I asked him to let me see it. He first showed me what appeared 

 to be an E/>i/>actis, and on my telling him it was not a Ctypri* 

 pedtum, he produced what certainly was a small Cypripedium of 

 some sort. He told me he was going to dig up some more in a 

 day or two, but would not allow me to go with him to see the 



