io8 
NATURE NOTES. 
speak of the general destruction and disfigurement of scenery 
occasioned by the development of accommodating branch-lines, 
constructed on the cheapest principle, by the extension of build- 
ing operations in the vicinity of large towns, and by the erection 
of gas works, sewage “ farms,” and limekilns in the outskirts. 
There are but four pinks which are really native in this 
country ; they are all only very locally distributed, and one of these 
is threatened with immediate extinction. The plant here referred 
to is the Cheddar Pink, Dianthus ccesius. This species is men- 
tioned by Ray (1680) under the name of “ Armeriae species flore 
in summo caule singulari also by Dillenius (1732), who refers 
to it as “ Tunica rupestris folio caesio molli flore carneo.” Hud- 
son, in his “Flora Anglica ” (1762), calls it Dianthus glaucus, a 
name previously given by Linnaeus to a plant which is now con- 
sidered a form of D. deltoides. It is not, therefore, a Linnean 
species as stated in Sowerby’s “ English Botany ” (third edi- 
tion), but was given its present name and fully described by 
Smith in his “English Botany” (1792). The specific name 
casius refers to the gray-green appearance produced by the 
deposit of bloom on the leaves. Its geographical distribution 
is extremely limited, and the only British locality for the species 
is the Cheddar cliffs in Somerset. What is also remarkable is 
that this solitary station marks the northern as well, as the 
western limit of the plant in Europe. In a letter to the Daily 
News of July 15th, 1889, Mr. E. G. Aldridge, of Winscombe, 
says : — 
“ Kindly permit me to call attention to the ‘inexpressibly 
saddening thing ’ which is now in progress at Cheddar. I am 
aware that it is not long since an article appeared in your paper 
condemning the quarrying operations which were then being 
carried out upon the western side of that unparalleled gorge. 
Latterly, however, these works have been extended in a smaller 
degree to the eastern or perpendicular face, and, unless at once 
arrested, will do much to mar, if not in some measure to destroy, 
the noblest scene of its kind in England. Much might be written 
concerning the base use to which the cliffs and their surround- 
ings are put by ‘ cave men,’ and others. Loud, inartistic notice- 
boards and flaming handbills appear at every turn, while paint 
or whitewash proclaims from lofty heights the doom of the im- 
penitent or the superior attractions of the upper cave. The 
despicable traffic in the floral specialities of the district still con- 
tinues, and the beauteous Cheddar Pink has now well nigh dis- 
appeared from its accustomed haunts.” 
It grows at a height of fifty feet among jagged rocks, and is 
therefore not accessible to all comers : and in the case of the 
typical cockney excursionist, it is a matter for congratulation, 
that, after a preliminary meal of Cheddar cheese and native 
beer, the process of digestion would materially interfere with 
the comfort attending the extra exertion which any such act of 
spoliation would entail. 
