In the department of Natural History, this district possesses but little
which is deserving of particular notice. Of birds there are none which
can now be considered peculiar to this part, the drainage of the fen
lands having entirely banished the great variety of aquatic birds which
used, previous to that event, to be found here.
A variety of plants, many of which are of rare occurrence in other parts,
are indigenous to this neighbourhood: a list of them is given in the
following table.
Names of the Plants. Where found.
Achillea ptarmica Bridle road to Hemingby
Agrimonia eupatoria Ditto.
Alchemilla vulgaris Ditto.
Alisma plantago Ditto, wet ditches.
Allium ursinum Tetford Wood.
Anemone nemorosa Tetford and Thornton Woods.
Antirrhinum linaria Horncastle, dry banks.
Arabis thaliana Ditto, sandy grounds.
Artemisia vulgaris Ditto, long hedge.
Artemisia absinthium Tetford.
Arum maculatum West Ashby.
Asperula odorata Tetford, Stovin, and Whitehall
Woods
Asplenium adiantum Tattershall.
Berberis vulgaris Scrivelsby, Horncastle,
Betonica officinalis Tetford and Stovin Woods,
Bryonia dioica Horncastle, West Ashby.
Campanula trachelium Tetford Wood, Revesby.
Cardamine hirsuta Bridle road to Hemingby.
Carduus marianus Stovin Wood, Kirkstead.
Centaurea scabiosa Horncastle, long hedge.
Chironia pulchella Ditto, Blind lane, Scrivelsby
road.
Cichorium intybus Revesby.
Cineraria palustris Sturton.
Comarum palustre West Ashby furze-hill.
Cornus sanguinea Horncastle, woodcock-lane.
Convallaria majalis Bardney.
Cynoglossum officinali Martin, Thornton.
Crepis biennis Thornton, West Ashby.
Digitalis purpurea Holbeck, Salmonby.
Dipsacus sylvestris Horncastle.
Drosera longifolia Tattershall.
Drosera rolundifolia Ditto.
Echium vulgare West Ashby.
Erica vulgaris Moor.
Erysimum alliaria Poolham.
Eriophorum angustifolium Bridle road to Hemingby.
Eupatorium cannabinum Tetford.
Frugaria vesca Somersby.
Galeobdolon luteum. Tetford and Stovin Woods.
Genista anglica Horncastle.
Gentiana amarella Greetham, Hemingby.
Gentiana pneumonanthe Tattershall Park.
Geum rivale Horncastle, wet meadows.
Geum urbanum Ditto, banks of the Old Bane.
Galium saxatile Moor.
Hedysarum onobrychis Golceby.
Hottonia palustris Thornton Mill.
Hydrocotyle vulgaris Bridle road to Hemingby.
Hyosciamus nigrum Hemingby, Baumber, Roughton.
Hypericum audrosæmum Tattersall.
Hypericum perfoliatum Ditto.
Hypericum pulchrum Tattershall.
Hypericum elodes Bridle road to Hemingby.
Hydrocharis morsus ranæ Ditto.
Iris pseudacorus Bridle road to Hemingby.
Jasione montana Horncastle.
Ligustrum vulgare Edlington, West Ashby.
Linum perenne High Tointon.
Lonicera periclymenum Holbeck, Roughton.
Lycopsis europæus Horncastle.
Lysimachia nemorum Roughton.
Lythrum salicaria Thornton mill.
Lychnis flos cuculi, var. flor. West Ashby furze-hill.
alb.
Malaxis paludoso Moor.
Melampyrum pratense Tetford and Stovin Woods.
Menyanthes trifoliata Horncastle.
Myrica gali Moor.
Ophyris apifera Mareham-le-fen.
Ophrys ovato Thornton Wood.
Oxalis acetosella Tetford Wood.
Ophioglossum Langton, Stixwold.
Ononis arvensis Horncastle.
Orchis mascula Tetford and Thornton Woods.
Orchis maculata Ditto.
Orobus tuberosus Daw-Wood.
Parietaria officinalis Horncastle Church, Kirkstead
Abbey.
Paris quadrifolia Tetford Wood.
Parnassia palustres Horncastle.
Pedicnlaris palustris Ditto.
Pinguicula vulgaris Tattershall.
Polygonum bistorta Horncastle.
Poterium sanguisorba Ditto.
Primula elatior Thornton Wood.
Pyrethrum parthenium Wilksby.
Ranunculus flammula Ditto.
Ranunculus lingua Woodhall wharf.
Reseda luteola Tetford Wood.
Rhamnus catharticus Thimbleby.
Rubus idæus Wood at Somersby.
Sagittaria sagittifolia Thornton Mill.
Salvia verbenaca Horncastle.
Sanicula europea Stovin and Tetford Woods.
Saponaria officinalis Baumber, West Ashby, Horncastle.
Scandix pecten veneris Hemingby.
Scilla bifolia Thornton Wood.
Scrophularia aquatica Bridle road to Hemingby.
Serratula tinctoria Thornton, Stovin and Tetford
Woods
Solanum dulcamara Horncastle, Golceby.
Solidago virga aurea Tattershall.
Spartium scoparium West Ashby, Harrington.
Spirea fillipendula Bridle road to Hemingby.
Tamus communis West Ashby.
Tanacetum vulgare Salmonby, Golceby.
Teucrium scorodonia Holbeck, Salmonby.
Tormentilla repens Bridle road to Hemingby,
Scrivelsby.
Trachelium majus Revesby.
Tussilago farfara Horncastle.
Tussilago hybrida Horncastle, Hemingby.
Tussilago petasites Horncastle.
Typha latifolia Tetford.
Vaccinium oxycoccum Moor.
Valeriana sylvestris Horncastle, Tattershall.
Verbascum Tetford Wood.
Verbena officinales West Ashby.
Vinca major Salmonby.
Viola albus Edlington.
Viola canina Tetford Wood.
Viola hirta Ditto.
Viola tricolor Holbeck, Salmonby, Tetford.
Minerals occur rarely in this part, and in very small quantities. Lumps
of sulphuret of iron in the oolite stratum, earthy oxide of iron and
prussiate of iron in a valley at Salmonby, and a stalactitic oxide of
iron in the ferruginous gravel, comprise all the varieties which have yet
been found.
Although organic remains are to be found in some parts of this district
in considerable quantities, yet they do not include many varieties. The
following list of those now in the collection of the author, comprises
one of almost every species which has yet been found.
_From the Chalk Stratum_. No. 2.
A cast within some bivalve Venus.
A cast within Terebratula semiglobosus. _Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology_,
15 _and_ 59.
_From the Sand Stone Stratum_. No. 5.
An Ammonites, curious and not named. It is without a keel; else like
Ammonites inflatus.
A Cardita. _Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology_, 197.
An Inoceramus.
An Unio.
A Terebratula approaching glaber.
A Terebratula approaching acerminatus.
A cast within a bivalve, not named.
A cast within a Trochus.
_From the Shale or Clunch Clay_. No. 6.
An Os Femoris of some large quadruped.
Part of a large Vertebræ.
Part of a small Vertebræ.
An Ammonites, not named.
A Venus equales. _Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology_, 21.
An Ostrea crista galli. _Linnæus_.
A Cardita.
An Unio hybrida. _Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology_, 154, _fig._ 2.
An Ostrea under valve, with a cast of the inside of the upper valve.
A Griphites incurva. _Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology_, 112, 1 _and_ 2.
An Ammonites seratus. _Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology_, 24.
An Inoceramus Cuvierii hinge.
Several Unios.
A piece composed entirely of shells, the chief part of which are the
Serpula auricula. It also contains an inside cast of a small turretted
shell.
_From the beds of Ferruginous Gravel in Alluvium of Shale_. No. 8.
A Madrepore.
An Alcyonium, or Spongites.
An Astarte.
A cast of Shell, not named.
An Echinus.
A cast of an Unio indistinct.
A part of a Spongites.
An Ostrea, with a cast of the upper valve.
An impression of a Cactus, or an Euphorbia, or some other Oriental plant.
_Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology_, 40.
* * * * *
In the valley at Salmonby, near to the spot where the earthy oxide of
iron is found, is a chalybeate spring, the water of which is of the same
nature as that of Tunbridge, but much stronger.