ULLYETT : A WEEK ON THE COTSWOLDS. 



93 



directed me to Birley Quarry (I cannot answer for the orthograpliy of tMs 

 name), about lialf a mile further on, where one of the men, known as Silas 

 Cooper, had five or six thousand C?) that he had laid by for sale. After 

 j, considerable difficulty I found Silas but as his fossils (he did not confirm the 

 statement as to numbers) were at home and he could not get there till late, 

 I was no better off than before; he also said they were scarcer than formerly, 

 I So after a walk of about twenty miles I reached home with no fresh, and very few 

 I familiar ones. The scenery however was very delightful and repaid me for my 

 ramble. I took a fine large specimen of Cetonia auraia, the Eose Eeetle, flying 

 over the hill, and dislodged from beneath a stone Carabus violaceus. The Black 

 Mullein Verhascum nigrum was as plentiful among the debris of the quarries 

 as it is in the lanes and fields near "VYycombe, but I could not see any trace 

 of the larvae of the Shark Moth Cucullia verhasci^ that is there so plentiful. 

 One good sized plant of Ah^opa Belladonna, gj'ew on the hill ; the Hound's 

 Tongue, Cynoglossum officinale was rather abundant just outside a garden. 

 The Red Campion, Lychnis diurna which is unknown in our neighbourhood, 

 is there very common, while the White, L. vespertina, and the Bladder 

 Campion, Silene inflata, were sparingly distributed. The Yellow Water Lily 

 Nuphar lutea had taken complete possession of a large pond in the Cam 

 valley and in a stream close by was the Elowering Eush, Butomus umbellatus. 

 In the deep lanes and water courses the ferns luxuriated, particul arly the 

 Hart's Tongue, Lady Fern, Shield Fern, with the mural species Ceterach 

 officinarum and Asjplenium Ruta-muraria. The multifid varieties of Scolopen- 

 drium vulgare are not at all rare, many specimens may be seen divided 

 and sub-divided six or seven times. Game is very plentiful in all that part 

 of the country j as I walked along the summit of Long Down the rabbits 

 scampered down the slopes in little flocks, and in many spots they had made 

 the ground quite hollow by intricate burrowings j black specimens are occa- 

 sionally seen. " Eeynard" may frequently be seen stealthily creeping along 

 the hedges ; I once saw five in one morning's walk, and pheasants walk 

 along the road in front of your vehicle with the utmost unconcern, merely 

 turning through the hedge into the field as you get near them. I never saw 

 the Humming Bird Hawk Moth, Macroglossa stellatarum to such advantage 

 as in my walks along the slopes of these hills j they were there as common 

 as the little tortoishell, spinning up and down the stony banks, now darting 

 away to a fresh spot, and now hovering over the thistle flowers, as they 

 probed them for their sweets, and looking like stars as I watched them, — it 

 was a sight to be remembered. It is of no use attempting to net them as 



