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The Weald of to-day is rapidly getting prosaic: the iron horse and the jerry builder are penetrating into its depths, the primroses and ferns are fast vanishing from its hedgerows, the traction engine is replacing the labouring team, hedgerows themselves are giving way to iron fences, barbed as often as not, copses are being "grubbed," wayside trees cut down, strips of turf quietly absorbed into the nearest field, thrashing and ploughing, and milling done by steam, instead of by homely and slower methods, the smockfrock and the village curtsey are things of the past along the main roads—or at least wherever the rail has crossed them. It is worth while, therefore, to leave the land of transition, and see what remains of the old ways and the old places.

Anyone who visits the county town on a marketday will see drawn up in lines in the broad High Street carriers' vans and omnibuses of all sizes and degrees of gentility. In the course of the afternoon these will be labouring out of the town, laden with marketing folk and their baggage, and with many a parcel to be dropped at wayside inn or cottage.

Suppose we take an outside seat on one of these bound some fifteen miles or more into the heart of the Weald, where Tenterden, Biddenden, Hawkhurst, and all the other dens and hursts remind one of its former forests and bosky dells.

Slowly, slowly the pair of horses-hardly a pairtoil up the long ascent to the top of the limestone ridge. We travel south by east, and the keen northeast wind cuts across the fields, now faintly green with springing wheat, and raises clouds of dust, till the hedges are whitened as in July, though they are barely green enough for March.

The broad, flat-topped hill is crossed, the road winds down the steeper side, and we are soon on the level. We have passed one village well placed on the slope and grouped round its pretty church, whose stone spire is a land-mark for many miles. Our conveyance has stopped to refresh " man and beast" at a low-browed, timber-fronted inn; many a greeting has been exchanged with passers-by, and now we set off with quicker pace to cross the flat valley, through which the railway runs straight as an arrow from Tonbridge to Ashford. Sycamores and horsechestnuts are just budding, meadows are getting "a bite" on them for the numerous lambkins, and here and there starry anemones or celandines grace shaw or bank. In cottage-gardens the "lent lilies "-all out of date-are nodding in the breeze; the characteristic cottages, steep in front and sloping low behind, like the hills, show budding pear and plum-trees; over a wayside-pond are the first swallows skimming; and our onward movement is impeded here and there by those of sheep and cattle from a country-market. One frightened little calf slips between our horses.

"Three abreast," jocularly remarks the driver; but he pulls up in time to save it a blow or scratch. All this is commonplace enough; but the level fields, the winding road, the luxuriant hedgerows, the leisurely movements of everybody give a sense of peace and rest not always easy to find nowadays.

We have crossed the railway, exchanged inside passengers and parcels, and off we go again, due south now, leaving the valley behind, and mounting one after another the sandstone slopes which lead gently up to the South Downs.

Corn-fields, hop-gardens, and “oast-houses," grow fewer, meadows and woods and heather-covered banks more numerous, till at last a tall windmill, a solid, square church-tower, and many brown-tiled roofs betoken our destination-a little old-fashioned town, innocent of railway, and living its life of gentle measured bustle with a grace that is quite charming.

Next morning, as we sally forth from our comfortable quarters at a real old-fashioned inn there is a choice of many roads. We take one which leads southward, and find with delight that though Primrose Day has come and gone, the primroses in hot, damp, wayside copses and hedgerows are still waiting to be picked, that wood-sorrel and moschatel peep from the shady nooks, and milkmaids, violets, and celandines deck the sunny stretches.

We stop towards noon at a trim farmhouse, all red brick and tile, with ample store of hay still in its rick-yard. The ponderous knocker brings out the farmer himself, in working clothes. He is pleased to tell the way; but a request for milk brings the goodhumoured explanation that it is all in the creamingpans. "If you'd 'a come in the morning or evening milking-time now—” But the laws of the dairy are those of the Medes and Persians, and we turn thirsty away. We have noted, however, the bees humming in and out of chinks in the weather-tiles. "Yes," he says; 66 we took out more 'n a hundredweight o' comb last year." We wonder to ourselves what it must be like to live in such close quarters with the busy little folk.

Up hill, down dale, over field and stile and fivebarred gate we make our way. A labourer taking his nooning under a haystack shows us a cross-cut, and we feel that we have lighted upon a land where nature still has a good deal of her own way.

For our evening stroll there are the wide woods, where thrush and cuckoo and pheasant greet us with their songs and calls, and where the moor-hen splashes in a lonely pond.

When the last red sunset-gleams have glorified the fir-trees a clear moon shines over the gabled houses, fewer and fewer footsteps echo on the rough pavements, soon they cease; and at old-fashioned hours the old-fashioned folk seek their (doubtless) wellearned slumbers.

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Fig. 120.-Abnormal Tubercules of Orchis maculata. of several adventitious fibrous roots which have cohered at their bases, and left their extremities free, which forms the divisions of this kind of tubercule; those adventitious roots which ascend from the junction of the tubercules with the stem have slightly enlarged, but otherwise preserved their primary form; this may be ascertained by a specimen I found in Sussex in 1890, which had no perfect tubercules, but had in their place several adventitious fibrous roots which should have cohered and formed the two tubercules; all these fibres were a little swollen at their upper ends.

The ovoid tubercules of Herminium, Ophrys, and Aceras, etc., are formed by complete cohesion of several fibres, or by the enlarging of a single one. In the fasciculated roots of Ranunculus ficaria, this same enlarging of some of the adventitious roots is obvious; on a single plant may be found all the modifications from a fibrous adventitious root to a fasciculated, or even ovoid tubercule. The dahlia exhibits another form of adventitious fasciculated

Fig. 122.-Palmate Tubercules of Orchis maculata. which must have been the primary of those of E. pimpinelloides.

It seems that the stem was the primary form of roots, since all roots have more or less the structure of stems; those roots so different from the stem modifications, may only have lost their structure with time.

HENRY E. GRISET.

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BOTANICAL RAMBLES NEAR ROUNDSTONE, COUNTY GALWAY,

THE

HE district I am about to describe is situated near Roundstone, a small town on the southwest coast of Connemara, about fifty miles by road from Galway. Immediately to the west of the town is Urrisbeg, a hill of nine hundred and eighty-seven feet in height, the slopes of which, and the lakes and bogs about its base, are all very rich in rare plants.

The hill is composed of granite, and is rather remarkable for the number of metallic ores it contains, viz.-gold, silver, copper, lead, and molybdenite. But I think some of them are in too small quantities and too much diffused to pay for extensive mining operations.

I visited this locality last June in company with my friend, Mr. J. G. Wells. We arrived there on the 29th, from the Aran Islands.

The next morning we started botanising, and were much struck with the profusion of Osmunda regalis growing on the banks of all the streams and ditches. It was of all sizes from a few inches to three or four feet in height; very fine indeed it looks, with the light green fronds topped with a large brown spike of of sporangia. This seems to be one of the commonest ferns in Connemara; I noticed it in most of the ditches along the roadsides.

Soon after we started to ascend the hill, we found the lovely Dabaocia polifolia in flower. This plant is confined to the west of Ireland, and is one of the most gorgeous of our Ericaceæ, its crimson flowers are in some cases nearly three-quarters of an inch long. There is also a white variety to be found about here, but we were not fortunate enough to see it.

Pinguicula lusitanica was found growing on boggy ground a short distance up. It is a most delicate little plant, the leaves are very pale with darker veins; the flower is lilac, also with darker veins. The whole plant is very fragile, and much smaller than P. vulgaris, which we found growing with it. The plants of this genus are very interesting from the fact that they are insectivorous.

Other plants worth mention are Schanus nigricans, which is very conspicuous, with angular-looking heads of black glumes; Eriophorum angustifolium (the cotton-grass); Scirpus pauciflorus, and Carex

limosa.

We also found a thistle which, I think, is a hybrid between Carduus palustris and pratensis; but we did not see either of these species anywhere in the locality.

All the above were growing on the boggy slopes of the hill.

On reaching the top of Urrisbeg a very striking view meets the eye. Looking north we could see nearly three hundred lakes, both large and small, all

clustered together in the space of a few square miles; houses and cultivation are conspicuous by their absence. To the westward stretches Slyne Head with the two lighthouses on the island at its extremity. To the southward we could see Deer Island and numerous others, further out to sea the three islands of Aran; along the coast of these latter could be seen the smoke arising from the numerous fires of the kelp-burners.

The next day (July 1st) we took a route around the base of Urrisbeg.

In some small pools on a peat bog we found Utricularia minor and U. intermedia growing in abundance. The former was in flower; they are supported on a very fine stalk, and stand a few inches out of the water; the bladders and leaves are on the same stem. In the latter species the bladders are very large and on separate stems from the leaves; it is very distinct from all the other species of the genus.

Both these plants are insectivorous, and in the bladders of intermedia I found numerous minute. fresh-water crustaceans, etc.

Growing with the above was Chara fragilis in full fruit.

On the peat of these bogs were found all three species of Drosera, viz., rotundifolia, anglica, and intermedia. This is also a most interesting genus, from the fact that all the species are insectivorous, and I found some plants with two or three of the leaves each making a meal off an insect. Some of the plants of anglica were very fine, the leaves of this species are more erect than those of rotundifolia, and are therefore very conspicuous among the bog-moss. After leaving this boggy ground we went over a spur of the hill and down into a little valley, on the slopes of which was growing Erica mediterranea. This spot and one in County Mayo are its only British habitats; we were unfortunately too late for the the flower. I only found one small sprig with two or three flowers on it; but when in full bloom it must be a beautiful sight, judging from the large quantity of withered flowers we saw. Growing about this place was Saxifraga umbrosa (London pride); this is only found truly wild in Ireland.

From here we went on to Lake Bollard, one of the larger ones seen from the top of Urrisbeg. There is a spot near here where the true British maiden-hair fern (Adiantum Capillus-Veneris) grows, and I should think out in this wild part, nearly fifty miles from a railway station, it will be out of the reach of the Vandal tourist for many years to come. It does not grow very large here; the specimens we saw were only a few inches high.

At the place we first struck the lake is a little cove with a sandy strand; here we started dragging for aquatic plants, and were very well rewarded for our trouble, almost the first haul brought to land a specimen of the rare Eriocaulon septangulare, a most curious

little plant with awl-shaped leaves, of a peculiar cellular structure; these arise from a crown on a creeping rootstock; the roots also exhibit an annular structure very distinctly. We were not fortunate enough to find it in flower. Growing with the above was Lobelia dortmanna; this is a rather curious plant, all the leaves are under water; the flower-stalks stand up several inches above the surface, bearing a few lilac flowers. At a distance they have the appearance of dead straws standing in the water.

Another plant the drag brought up was Scirpus fluitans. This varies very much with the depth of the water; in some specimens I found the branches were as thin as horsehair, and others, in shallower water, considerably thicker.

Arctostaphylos ura-ursi, was found trailing along the ground close to the edge of the lake. On our way back to Roundstone across the bogs, we came to a small stream of deep water, which was covered with Nymphæa alba; between twenty and thirty of its beautiful white flowers were floating in the space of a few square yards. It abounds on most of the lakes, &c., in this part of Connemara.

Samolus valerandi, Habenaria chloroleuca, and Carex stricta, were also observed.

July 2nd. We went along the heaths and bogs by the side of the road that runs from Roundstone to Clifden. On a slightly elevated heath about five miles along, we found the rare Erica Mackayi, growing in fair quantity. It is easily distinguished from E. Tetralix, by the reddish tips of the branches and the more ovate leaves. I found some forms of Tetralix that come very near to this species. While speaking of heaths I may say that we found white varieties of Tetralix and cinerea.

Cladium germanicum was found growing by the side of a small lake near this spot.

July 3rd. This day we drove from Roundstone to the picturesque group of mountains known as the Twelve Pins, a distance of about eight miles. On arriving there we at once started to ascend the nearest, which is rather steep all the way up. The only plants worth notice we found on the lower part were Thalictrum minus and Carex pulicaris. The flora of these mountains is most scanty; we went to the top of three of them, and the only plant we thought worth taking was Saxifraga umbrosa; this was very various in form and size, some plants only about 1 inches in height, and others as much as I foot. Our labours were rewarded in another way this time, for on reaching the top (over 2,000 ft.) there was a most splendid view of the whole coast-line from Achil Head on the north to Loop Head on the south.

As the day was perfectly clear and bright we could make out, with the aid of our map the islands of Clare, Inishturk, Inishbofin, Inishark and Aran besides numerous smaller ones.

On the descent we followed the course of a small stream flowing in a deep bed with very steep banks.

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Alulæ large (Calypterata).

Fourth longitudinal vein (from just beyond external trans-
verse vein) bent up towards tip of third.

Arista bare (in some genera pubescent): Tachininæ.
Arista pubescent.

Arista bare from the middle to the tip: Sar-
cophagina.

Arista pubescent to the tip.

Abdomen conical, covered with long spineslegs rather long: Dexina.

Abdomen rounded, no spines, legs rather short: Muscina.

Fourth longitudinal vein not bent up towards the third, and diverging from it towards the tip: Anthomyina. Alulæ small or absent (Acalypterata).

The arista is the antennal style-usually long, and seated on the upper side at the base of the third joint.

The antennæ in the calypterate Muscida are usually pendent, lying close together in the centre of the face-the arista being generally horizontal.

A very slight acquaintance with the Muscida is sufficient for the student to recognise at a glance the sub-family to which any specimen belongs.

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