72 A Biographical Notice of Samuel Brewer, the Botanist. 



him to make frequent excursions in a morning, several miles from 

 home ; so he became well acquainted with the localites of the indi- 

 genous plants of the neighbourhood. His passion for English 

 botany, his skill and assiduity in collecting, soon brought him 

 into notice, and shortly afterwards Mr. Brewer made the acquaintance 

 of the celebrated Dillenius, to whom he afforded great assistance* 

 particularly in the subjects for his " History of Mosses/'' as in some 

 instances he had done in the synopsis of the plants for Mendip and 

 Cheddar. In the summer of 1726 he accompanied the Professor 

 into Wales, Anglesea, and the Isle of Man. These excursions 

 proved highly interesting, and being alluded to in the correspon- 

 dence of Dillenius with Dr. Richardson, of Yorkshire, they may not, 

 I think, prove unacceptable to our Wiltshire botanists by my quoting 

 them fully in this paper : — 



"Mr. Brewer and myself left Trowbridge the early part of July, 

 and went to the Mendip Hills, where we could not find the Muscus 

 denticulatus of Clausius, 1 mentioned by Lobel as growing there ; 

 but instead of it we saw the Muscus lanuginosus alpinus? and a new 

 mushroom, of the Fungoides kind, very tender, of a straw colour, 

 and ending in sharp points, not branched. 3 These hills are of great 

 extent, and at one end of them, near Cheddar, is a remarkable place, 

 as well for its singularity as for the plants there growing. We 

 saw there several Welsh plants, not known to grow in England, as 

 Papaver luteum perenne ; 4 Sedum alpinum irijido folio ; 5 and several 

 Welsh ferns ; also a new Lichen? with very delicate bright green 

 leaves. 



iC From hence we walked to Brent Down, a peninsula not noticed 

 by geographers, though as remarkable as any of the Holm's islands, 

 over against which it lies. Here we found in plenty, on the top, 



1 Or, rather, of Gerarde, Lycopodium denticulatum. Linn, Sp. PI. 1569. 

 2 Trichostomum lanuginosum. Fl. Brit., 1240. See Dill. Muse, 372. 

 3 Apparently Clavaria fastigiata. Linn. Sp. PI. 1652. Figured by Dill. 

 in Mail Syn. t. 24,/. 5. 



4 P. cambricum. 

 5 Saxifraga hypnoides. 

 6 This should be some Marchantia, Jungermannia or Riccia. 



