86 The Distribution of Simethis Bicolor. 



an opinion — viz., the Rev. E. F. Linton, of Bournemouth, 

 one of our leading critical botanists; the Rev. H. M. 

 Wilkinson, Rector of Milford-on-Sea, Hants, who has paid 

 much attention to the flora of the locality under discus- 

 sion; and Mr. Charles Packe, of Stretton Hall, Leicester, 

 the proprietor of the Branksome Estate at the time of 

 the discovery, — all are inclined to believe the Simethis 

 was brought with young pines from the Landes district, 

 and so introduced; but there is no direct evidence to 

 prove this. I may add that Mr. Hewitt C. Watson 

 considered it to be an alien or denizen in our islands. 



Arrhenatherum Thorei Desm. and A grostis Setacea Curtis 

 are the grasses associated with it in the Landes district. 

 The latter occurs plentifully at Bournemouth; but Mr. 

 Linton informs me that there is no probability of the 

 former having been overlooked as the common A. avena- 

 ceum, for this grass does not occur there. 



Mr. Charles Packe writes me, in a letter dated Novem- 

 ber 28, 1895, that he " removed several large patches 

 from the original Branksome locality, and planted them 

 in the neighbourhood of the mausoleum (at Branksome). 

 They flourished there for several years, but now have 

 probably all died out, for the fibrous-rooted lilies have 

 not the vitality of the bulbous ones. Bentham states 

 the Simethis was introduced with the P. Pinaster from 

 the Landes, and I am inclined to agree with him, 

 though, as it is stated to occur in Kerry, and is a 

 common occidental European plant, it may be indi- 

 genous." 



This slight element of doubt, we are afraid, will 

 always cling round the plant; but, at all events, it has 

 been admitted for years to our native list, and no one 

 seeing it for the first time in its Bournemouth haunt 

 would consider it otherwise than as wild there as it is 

 at Dax or other localities in Europe. 



