56 



The Naturalist. 



Whilst fishing for trout in the 

 Dysynni river, near Towyn, North 

 Wales, on the 21st Sept. last, I 

 encountered what Mr. Hobkirk 

 would describe as "an apparent 

 anomaly in natural history." I was 

 wandering about the path bordering 

 the river, with rod in hand, chat- 

 ting to the fisherman, when we 

 observed two very large fungi in a 

 very conspicuous position on the 

 ground. Upon the top of one was 

 situated a large chrysalis, which 

 Mr. Geo. T. Porritt, F.L.S. (at 

 the meeting of the Huddersfield 

 Naturalists' Society) named Chcero- 

 campa Elpenor. The pupa was in a 

 most lively condition, and appa- 

 rently did not realise the insecurity 

 of its peculiar position. The fun- 

 gus must (from the wet, foggy con- 

 dition of the day) either have 

 speedily sprung up, and by degrees 

 pushed the pupa from its earthy 

 dormitory to the top, or the larva 

 must have crawled up the stem to 

 the summit, and there undergone 

 its metamorphosis. What appears 

 singular is the fact that wind and 

 rain were very turbulent, but 

 neither succeeded in severing it 

 from its exalted situation. No 

 silken thread or binding whatever 

 was apparent. The pupa is still 

 in my possession. — S. Bairstow, 



Huddersfield^ Oct. 3rd, 1875. 



Yorkshire Plants. — Has it 

 been decided what is the Bubus 

 exhibited by Mr. Mosley at the 

 Huddersfield meeting on Aug. 30, 

 and commented upon by Mr. Bart- 



lam on Sept. 11th 1 [See pp. 43- 

 44.] Its hybridity was suggested, 

 I see, by Mr. Hobkirk, and Mr. 

 Bartlam is reported as having said 

 it might possibly be a hybrid 

 " between a bramble and Samhucus 

 nigra, var. dissectum.''^ The last 

 suggested hybridity is simply im- 

 possible, and against all natural 

 laws ; but the fact stated by Mr. 

 Bartlam that the cut-leaved variety 

 of elder " was growing close beside 

 the bramble in question," suggests 

 another and much simpler solution 

 of what seems to have been ac- 

 counted somewhat of a vegetable 

 mystery. The cut-leaved elder is 

 an introduced plant, a favourite 

 with shrubbery planters, &c., and 

 probably the true agency that 

 accounts for its presence in the 

 locality explains the occurrence of 

 the bramble. I enclose a bramble 

 leaf : is it at all like Mr. Mosley 's ?* 

 if so, his plant is the Buhus lacinia- 

 tus, Willd., also an introduced 

 species, which, coming from the 

 northern east, fruits well in our 

 gardens, and is not unfrequently 

 placed in ornamental grounds, the 

 leaf being peculiarly bizarre, and 

 the lilac-pink cloven petals very 

 pretty. A few years back, there 

 were two or three plants of this 

 cut-leaved bramble on a rough 

 hedge bank near the Benrhydding 

 Sanitarium at Ilkley, appearing 

 semi-naturalised, but of course 

 planted. I brought one root home, 

 and it has thriven and still thrives 

 amazingly amongst raspberry canes 

 in my father's garden, near Leeds. 



* The plant enclosed is the exact counterpart of Mr, Mosley's, and Dr. Lees' 

 suggestion as to its origin may be the true one, as there is a garden near the hedge, 

 but it contains no plant of this Euhiis at present. — Eds. Nat. 



