Jflora of i\t 
By jmES W. WHITE. 
T he occasion must indeed be rare on which the naturalist 
discovers an object of interest in one of those Avon-side 
limestone quarries which so detestably disfigure our lovely 
scenery. This narrative of such an improbable occurrence will 
tend to support the adage concerning the happening of the 
unexpected. 
One of the largest of the eyesores alluded to is that known as 
the Black Kock Quarry, on whose verge runs the fence and the 
promenade called the Sea Walls, on the most elevated part of 
Durdham Down. At this point stone has been removed from the 
side of the gorge until the excavation resulted in a perpendicular 
cliff nearly four hundred feet high. When a continuance of 
blasting bid fair to endanger the security of the wall and road 
on the Down above, and the depressed floor of the quarry had 
become deeply flooded in wet seasons, stone-getting proved 
hazardous, and was finally discontinued at this spot four or five 
years ago. 
About that time the Dock and Harbour authorities bestirred 
themselves vigorously to improve the navigation at the port by 
deepening the water-way at various points, and a large quantity 
of accumulated deposit was dredged up both from the bed of the 
Avon and from the floors of the Basins. It no doubt was a 
difficult problem how to dispose of the dredgings, but the idea 
occurred to some one that the disused quarry was just the place 
