1 82 J. CASH : EARLY BOTANICAL WORK OF WM. WILSON. 



tells US, as above quoted, that it was in Killarney in that year that 

 he had the gratification of ' clearing up his doubts ' respecting the 

 ' spurious kind ' (of Hymenophylhim tunbridgense)^ which afterwards 

 received from Hooker the name of H. wilsoni. 



I have evidence, however, of Mr. Wilson having visited Green- 

 field in 1832, for there is an entry in his journal of such a visit on 

 the 15th of June in that year. The fact is mentioned, too, of his 

 having seen ' Two species of Hy7ne?wphyllum — chiefly H. wilso7ii, fr.* 

 He was not accompanied by Mellor on that occasion. 



It was after writing the above that, in looking through some of 

 Mr. Wilson's papers, preserved in the W^arrington Museum, I came 

 upon some details, written by himself, concerning this very trip. 

 Those details have been jotted down on the back of a letter, dated 

 14th June 1832, received from Mr. William Christy ; and, as the 

 excursion took place on June 15th, Mr. Wilson appears to have lost 

 no time in recording his impressions. I was so interested in this 

 record that I copied it verbatim : — 



'Friday, June 15th, 1832. — At Greenfield, in Saddleworth, in 

 company with Mr. Crozier and Jethro Tinker. (Greenfield five miles 

 from Stalybridge. At bottom of the valley is a pretty good public- 

 house, " King William IV.") Ascending towards the pubHc-house 

 (called "Bill's o' Jacks") at the road side on left-hand, gathered J/jw^/Zx 

 repens^ Gnaphalium dioiciwi ; and, on fir-trees at the right-hand, a 

 yellow Peziza with a white border, profusely scattered on the trunks 

 and branches. From " Bill's o' Jacks " we crossed a wide tract of 

 peat-bog, swampy from the recent rains, to the narrow head of the 

 valley, where, on the left, we arrived at Seal Bark, the station for 

 Hymejiophyllum^ consisting of huge loose blocks of grit-stone piled 

 loosely upon each other into a hollow, which they have not com- 

 pletely filled. Above, there is a craggy rock, from which the masses 

 have been detached. In the vacancies underneath the loose blocks 

 was found Hymenophylluni wilsoni. We saw Hymenophylluni tun- 

 bridgense in a very small deep hole, at a greater elevation, under the 

 first rocky knoll. This station has been long known to Jethro ; and 

 this season we could find very little of either species, and it was 

 much withered and blackened. 



' In Seal Bark I saw Jungermannia taylori., J. reptmis (very 

 large), and trilobata ; Weissia reciirvata (ripe), Weissia striata 

 (over-ripe) ; Bryu7n marginatinn (over-ripe), Brywn elongatuni 

 (under-ripe) ; a Salix (male) like caprea, but more hoary ( = S. lanata). 

 Higher up the valley is a cascade : here Hypnum commutatum grew, 

 in fruit, ripening. Ascending the steep, towards our inn, gathered 

 fertile Didymodofi flexifolium, fine, but over-ripe ; thence to the high- 



Naturalist, 



