The Romance af a Wayside W£ed. 5 1 



a sailor introduced it by some ' chance ; ' a botanist 

 sowed it here for' an experiment Nay, perhaps a 

 .Romah settler at Aquse Solis brought it over with the 

 plants for his Italian garden. In sUch" or the! like 

 casual manner it got a footing on Claverton Down ; 

 and, as the climate suited it, it has gone on flourishinjj 

 ever since. Here, I say, would be an easy explana- 

 tion if the case of the hairy spurge were a solitary 

 one ; but, as a matter of fact, there are hundreds of 

 cases exactly like it. It is quite a common occur- 

 rence to find a plant extend all throiigh Europe from 

 the Caucasus to the Pyrenees, then stop suddenly 

 short, and turn up again once more incontinently 

 in Devon, Cornwall, Kerry, ind Connemara. This is 

 such a curious fact that it really seems to call for 

 some adequate explanation. 



Let me begin by noting a few of the most striking 

 instances. There is, in the Bristol Channel a solitary 

 rocky islet known, by the old Scandinavian title of 

 the Steep Holme— a name given to it, no doubt, by 

 the wickings of the ninth century, who made it their 

 headquarters for plundering the chapmen and slave- 

 mongers of wealthy BPfcgstow. Now the rocky clefts 

 of the Steep Holme are still crinisonin; May. and 

 June with the brilliant red blossonas of the • wild 

 pseony, a flower which does hot ejsewhere appear 



