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BOTANICAL NOTES. 



Cambrensis seven centuries ago, and the taste for horseflesh seems 

 to have descended from the old Northmen, though it may have been 

 fostered by local circumstances. The mind, like the body, is generally 

 very vigorous and energetic, and extremely well adapted to com- 

 mercial and industrial pursuits, as well as to the cultivation of the 

 exact sciences ; but a certain defect in imaginative power must be 

 admitted, and is probably one reason, though obviously not the only 

 one, why Yorkshire, until quite modern times, was generally behind- 

 hand in politics and religion.' 



It would be almost impertinent in me to criticise Dr. Beddoe's 

 conclusions, but I would point out that they are necessarily based on 

 a comparatively small number of observations. Bradford forms an 

 exception, as 1,400 persons were there observed. I do not wish it to 

 be inferred, however, that therefore the conclusions are not reliable. 

 My object in bringing them before the members of the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union is to lead some of them to follow in the path 

 Dr. Beddoe has marked out, and to supplement his observations by 

 others which will be equally valuable, if made according to his 

 method, whether they support his views or require them to be in any 

 way modified. 



NOTES— BOTANY. 



Botanical Notes from the Solway.— During the season of 1885 and 

 the spring of the present year, I have been fortunate enough to discover a number 

 of plants not generally reckoned as indigenous to the neighbourhood of Maryport 

 and Workington, on the Cumberland shore of the Solway Firth. The majority of 

 them were found growing upon heaps of household refuse ' shot ' upon the beach, 

 apparently from the workmen's cottages connected with the iron furnaces immedi- 

 ately to the south of Maryport Harbour. From the constant occurrence of hemp 

 and canary grass upon these mounds, I infer that the exotic plants have found their 

 way to their present stations among impure or mixed samples of the seeds in use 

 by bird fanciers. Among other and better-known plants I have found the following, 

 viz: — Adonis autumnalis, Fumaria confusa, Rap h anus maritimus, Sinapis alba, 

 Rapistrutn rugosum, Sisymbrium Sophia, S. pannonicum, Camelina saliva, Thlaspi 

 arvense, Lepidium draba, Senebiera Cordnopus, Saponaria Vaccaria, Chrysanthe- 

 mum coronaria, Anthemis cotula, Echium vulgare, Echinospermum lappula, 

 Asperugo prociwibens, Anagallis cosmlea, Cannabis saliva, Phalaris canariensis, 

 Tritiaun acutum, Lolium perenne v. ramosum (a splendid example) Hordeum 

 maritimum, and Avena fatua. In addition to these are two or three other plants 

 whose growth is hardly sufficiently matured for correct identification, but which 

 may be treated of hereafter. I may add that I have been indebted to Mr. J. G. 

 Baker, of the Herbarium, Kew, for the diagnosis of some of the above-mentioned 

 exotics that were entirely new to me, and acknowledge gratefully his courteous 

 help.— W. Hodgson, A.L.S., Flimby, July 5th, 1886. 



Impatiens noli-me-tangere at Stock Ghyll Force.— In Septem- 

 ber 1883, I found Impatiens noli-me-tangere growing in some profusion up the side 

 of the stream which forms Stock Ghyll Force, near Ambleside, Westmoreland. 

 Withering's Botany (1796) says: ' Near the footpath going from the Inn at Amble- 

 side up the brook, towards the cascade, Mrs. Watt.' I suppose it has grown there 

 ever since. Earuassia palustris—3.s might be expected — is found in profusion in 

 the Lake district. — Geo. W. Oldfield, London. 



Naturalist, 



