WCP3917

[1]

Hurstpierpoint

13^th Oct[obe]^r 1867

My dear Spruce,

I have left your letter a great deal longer unreplied to than I had intended first because I was at the time of its arrival just about to start for Wales and thought I might have more time when I returned and after that I have had a spell of being busy which I am only now getting over, and then the chief contents of your letter respecting the alteration you had made in the names I had put to some of the species of the mosses so far from there being any need of excuse for your so doing I only wished you had helped me more so that there was no need of anything more being said upon that[.]

After you departed this life nothing very particularly unusual happened until I went to Wales on the 17^th of August[.] Starting from here at six in the [2] morning, I arrived at Corwen at ten in the evening seeing nothing particular in the plant way on my journey except the great abundance of some Hieracium Pirius or Crepis on the borders of the black country[.] Next morning after our arrival we went before breakfast up a high hill-side close to Corwen this clothed with scattered trees and being full of rocks & stones supplied me with a heap of mosses in a few minutes[.] The most interesting for me to see in a live state were Didymodon Bruntoni and abundance of Rhacomitria Jung[ermanni]^a barbata in a different form from our slender Sussex state and on the top of the hill[,] I should say mountain[,] I flaked off some thin cartes de visite of Licidea geographica[.] After breakfast we walked some 3 miles to Pont-y-Glyn where there is a stream deeply sunk between steep rocky banks overgrown with trees, this turned out to be the best plant ground I saw whilst in Wales, immediately on getting down to the edge of the [3] water I came upon Trollius, Crepis paludosa, Meconopsis, and Polypodium Phegop[teri]s and P[olypodium]. dryopteris accompanied by Rubus saxatilis and the yellow flowered state of Melampyrum very unlike what we have here [.] I saw only miserable bits of Hymenophyllum probably Wilsoni but expecting to find more I took none away, on the rocks and stones here I found Grimmia apocarpa, the aquatic state and some states also aquatic Hyp[num]. myosuroides and H[ypnum]. praclongum this last just the form that comes from S. America, having the leaves less attenuated to the point than in the hedge-row state we have here, a morsel of Hyp[num]. eugyrium and plenty of Hyp[num] [one illeg. word] also H[ypnum] irrugum[?] on the wet sides of very shaded rocks I found Lejeunia homatifolia [Lejeunea homatifolia] and Jung[ermanni]^a riparia with a little Saccogyna viticulosa also I got here a few stems of that Mnium which you found on tufa near York and I by a streamlet here I did not notice this at the time thinking I was only gathering M[nium]. serratum amongst the rocks in deep shade [4] both on the rocks and still finer on fallen and decaying branches was Hypnum callichroum in old and young fruit — no doubt this place has many good things which I did not see for after we had got off again into the road which overlooks this deep ravine I saw that we had only explored a very small portion of what appeared to me to be the side facing the North and the steep rocky side which faced the S[outh]. and was covered with shorter trees we knew nothing about [.] On rocks and walls everywhere I saw Ptychomitrium polyphyllum and on the way back I found some good specimen of Tortula vinealis β. with fruit which I had not before gathered myself[.] I saw [one illeg. word] T[ortula] fallax] everywhere both the above named vinealis most abundant [one illeg. word] and accompanied by Encalypta streptocarpa. The next day we started to walk over the Berwin mountains [Berwyn range] to Pistyl Rhaidr [Pistyll Rhaedr]. Taking a short ride by rail[wa]y to shorten the journey we gradually crept up the side of the Mt in the lanes at the foot and ascending the [5] sides of the Mt I found Corydalis claviculata and Fumaria I suppose muralis with Teesdalia nudicaulis when up about 2000 feet I found Dicranum squarrosum and Fontinalis squamosa a few scraps of Andreaea petrophila, Rubus chamaemorus, Empetrum nigrum and Vaccinium vitis idaea arrived at the summit of Cader Berwin [Cadair Berwyn] and the closely neighbouring top about 50 yards off Moel Sech [Moel Sych] which is the corner stone of three counties we were according to the Ord[nance]. map 2700 feet — the highest altitude we attained there was a dim and misty view of Cader Idris [Cadair Idris] to the East a great apparently isolated mass of mountains: immediately over Cader Berwin is a broken precipice with a lake of a circular form at the base this is Llyn-Llyn Caws [Llyn Lluncaws] in the crevices on the face of this precipice I picked Oedipodium barren Rhabdoweisia Fugax also Gymnomitrium concinnatum deep in the furrows I found Hypnum elegans which I fully supposed to be some thing else when I gathered it[.] I gave up the exploration [6] of this spot I think to the satisfaction of Wallace who was looking on expecting me to slip where I saw and felt no danger[.] I saw no ferns at this spot which faced the south proceeding there we walked down a long descending valley in which about some broken rocky place I found Fissidens osmundoides[,] Bartramia arcuata and B[artramia]. ithyphylla thence to the waterfall called Pistyl Rhaidr [Pistyll Rhaeadr] we came first upon it at the top and looked over[.] Thence wound down the Mount[ai]ⁿ side to the single house which we had falsely been informed was an inn where our informant told us was kept a book in which were a hundred million names[.] We went into the cottage got some refreshment and after much parley prevailed on the Widow Jones¹ (no doubt) to take us in for the night it being too late to go back to Corwen[.] Then having refreshed ourselves by drinking the only bottle of beer in the house we went to look up this fall[,] it is stated to be 230 - 240 feet high[.] It faces [7] the East and next morning the sun shining upon it disclosed a small rainbow spanning the torrent about half way down where spray was first produced there is a fir wood on the debris under the steep cliff and in this a path which is hard to get as near as possible to the falling water but I found nothing here abouts except Blindia acuta which I had not already seen in mosses and a Hieracium[,] Saxifraga and Sedum — probably rupestre which I did not find elsewhere[.] Next morning after sleeping in the roar of the cataract &c (there is no great volume of water) we ascended again to the top of the fall[.] In the stream I picked Jung[ermanni]^a hyalina from thence we walked some miles along the mountains without finding anything beyond Hyp[num] falcatum over the ridge to a steep declivity facing southwards with a great quantity of projecting rocks & stones known as Millter Cerig [Milltir Cerrig] it must be [8] near upon 2000 feet in alt. on these stones were Andreaea petrophila and Rothia, Grimmia Donniana & G[rimmia]. trichophylla in the crevices beautiful specimens of Webera elongata, Diphyscium foliosum, and plenty of barren Oligotrichum hercynicum, here also was Cryptogramma crispa but not much of it also Sarcoseyphus Funkii crossing this mountain side there is a good road leading over the mountain going up this near the summit[.] I found in a small part of a rivulet a fine tuft of Jung[ermanni]^a cordifolia and close to it another of Tortela tortuosa [Tortella tortuosa] about here were also better specimens of Polytrichum alpinum[.] From here we walked on to Llandrillo to catch the train which we were too late for, about 3 o'clock, so it being back five miles to Corwen we walked on making it about 17 miles since morning[.] This completed my Welsh botanology all the time I entirely forgot that I had a stiff knee and remembered it not untill² I was half way to London. I picked in all 113 mosses [and] a very few Hepat[ic]s. All the rocks I examined were of slate or [9] slaty-limestone[.] I brought home bits of all the plants and Ferns that I had not before seen alive and so far have them all growing— I returned to Hurst on the following Thursday morning by earliest train[,] Flora³ having managed to get on pretty well during my absence. Since my trip I have been very busy for I found when I came back my Father⁴ had been taken suddenly with some [one illeg. word] and had been considered dead by D^r Holman⁵ but he came too again and is still as well as usual[.] My mother⁶ too has been ill for the past six weeks probably less really ill than my father but full of imaginary disorders and occasionally wandering in her mind— Sof So far as I now call to mind no more remarkable event has happened since you left them[.] The marriage yesterday of Sally Davey⁷ to Capt[ai]ⁿ Hollingdale⁸ with her mothers consent &c but I am told against the wishes of her father however this may be [10] my information is from Annie⁹ who had a whole budget of news concerning it from the neighbouring bakers wife — it is also satisfactory to reflect that M^r. Boner¹⁰ will now be at peace for some time ago he was in a great fix about Sally and went to her mother to talk to her about her walking about with you for he said to me — "what young man will propose to her whilst she is walking about with Mr. S[pruce]. who of course will never marry her" see how this vigilant shepherd was taking care of his lambs! Sally's brother I do not know which one is to be married in a fortnight.—

I have been looking over my Tortulas — vinealis &c and find there has been a whole lot of blunders among them Wilson's¹¹ T[ortula] vinealis is = to your T[ortula] vinealis β[.] T[ortula]. vinealis β Bryol. Europ. is T[ortula]. insulana De Not and I think sufficiently distinct. Trichost[omum] rigidulum Bryol. Europ. is not that of Hedwig¹² but an overlooked new sp[ecies]. perfectly distinct[.]

Ever Yours | W. Mitten [signature]