304 Addison : Effects of Dry Summer on Wild Mullein. 



were printed. The most extensive of these was an article on 

 * Some Additional West Riding- Plant Localities' (Dec. 1895), 

 treating- of 34 species. His other notes dealt with Cochlearia 

 anglica, Carduus acaulis, and Cuscuta europcea at Malham (Aug-. 

 1 891), Agrimonia odorata at Sedberg-h (Oct. 1891), Andromeda 

 at Oxenhope (Oct. 1892), Equisetum pratense in Teesdale (Sept. 

 1895), an d an early record (Tadcaster 1834) for Cephalanthera 

 ensifolia (Ap. 1897). From his pen also we had in June 1898 

 a review of Prof. Babington's Memorials Journal and Corre- 

 spondence. 



He also had several papers in the 'Journal of Botany.' 

 One treated of some new species of alg-ae which he described 

 from Plankton collected in the Atlantic ; another written jointly 

 with Dr. A. B. Rendle described a new species of Pithophora ; 

 and another dealt extensively with the plants of Cambridge.. 



But our friend was by no means wholly or exclusively 

 scientific, and his broad human interests included literary 

 tendencies, which led some of his friends to anticipate for him 

 a promising- career in literature as well as in science, and future 

 triumphs in various fields of human knowledg-e. 



His personal characteristics included not only extreme 

 accuracy and wide grasp, and the extraordinarily retentive 

 memcry which so greatly facilitated his botanical studies, but 

 a most amiable and lovable disposition which endeared him to 

 all who had the privilege of knowing- him, and who consequently 

 feel deeply and grievously the weig-ht of the affliction which the 

 untimely close of his career brings upon us. W. D. R. 



NOTE on YORKSHIRE FLOWERING PLANTS. 



Effects of the Dry Summer on the Wild Mullein at Thirsk.— 



As the present summer has been abnormally hot and dry it has produced an 

 unusual effect upon some of our native plants. A specimen of the Wild 

 Mullein ( Verbascum Thapsns), which grew in my garden without planting-, 

 has been an interesting- spectacle, so different in appearance from other 

 plants. It stands 7 feet 4 inches high, and has several flower stems. The 

 main central stem is 46 inches, without any leaves, and is as regular as 

 a wand and covered with flowers from top to bottom. The under part of 

 the plant is 42 inches, and has the usual large flannel-like leaves. It is 

 interesting to watch the influence of the sunshine on the plant; towards 

 evening the high stem is inclined to the setting sun, in the morning it 

 regains its usual position. To a naturalist such plants afford an evidence 

 of three several influences. The ascent of the sap to the summit shows 

 vital energy; the bending of the summit of the plant to the sun proclaims 

 the life-giving influence of that luminary ; and the falling of the seeds when 

 ripe shows the influence of attraction to the earth's centre, not that the seed 

 has lost its vital energy, because, in fact, the falling seed is as full of life as 

 the parent stem. — Fredc. Addison, Sutton Road, Thirsk, 6tli Sept. 1901. 



Naturalist, 



