174 TEANSACTIONS LIVEKPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Surrey, and (on the authority of C. C. Babington) Car- 

 narvonshire. He subsequently, in the " Compendium," 

 (1870) added the Eastern Counties. Babington (1856) 

 simply gives " Limestone districts " as its habitat, 

 which they certainly are not exclusively. Sir J. D. 

 Hooker (" Students' Flora," 1878) gives " dry banks and 

 chalky pastures in S.E. England, local, from Yorkshire 

 to Surrey and Devon, and in Carnarvon. Finally, Mr. 

 J. E. Griffith, in his excellent "Flora of Anglesea and 

 Carnarvon," published 1895,* calls it "rare and local," 

 and gives only one locality for it (at Bangor), where, 

 however, it seems to occur "plentifully." It would 

 therefore appear that though known to occur in Carnar- 

 vonshire nearly, if not quite, fifty years ago, it remained 

 "rare and local" down to two years ago, while in 

 Denbighshire it has suddenly become a weed so abundant 

 that were it not fortunately not distasteful to cattle, it 

 would be a very serious nuisance to farmers. As it is an 

 annual, and generally seeds before the hay crop is ready 

 to cut, it is not easy to see how it can be destroyed, but 

 in all probability it will soon disappear from the effect of 

 adverse climatic influences. 



The only possible cause that I can suggest for the 

 sudden appearance of the plant in the neighbourhood of 

 Colwyn Bay is that, in the three years 1895 — 97, the 

 month of May has been exceptionally dry, the rainfalls 

 having been respectively 046 in., 0'39 in., and 0"99 in. 

 The average rainfall for this month for the fifteen years 

 before 1895 is 2*26 in. These figures are from my own 

 recorded observations. 



Mr. F. W. Moore, A.L.S., Director of the Eoyal 



* Mr. Griffith informs me (Nov. 24th, 1897) that he has still "never 

 seen C. taraxacifolia except in one field near Bangor," though it has 

 increased there and spread into the next field. 



