520- MB. H. GROVES ON THE 



to 18 per cent, of alcohol, thus rendering it capable of transport 

 by sea. Two French firms have erected establishments where 

 the different wines of the Province are blended so as to found a 

 type, the want of which has always militated against the intro- . 

 duction of Italian wines in the European market. In the large 

 marsh near the town one meets with Alisma ranunculoides, L., 

 which bears from two to three whorls or umbels, thus differing 

 very decidedly from our smaller specimens in the north. 



Walking along the sandy shores of Italy, one cannot fail to 

 observe the number of felt balls of a light-brown colour scattered 

 or heaped about those parts removed from the influence of the 

 waves. These are produced by the action of the waves and wind 

 on the fibres of the Posidonia caulinia, Keen., which are so plen- 

 tifully strewn on the coast after a gale. On account of the 

 nature of the fibre, they have a tendency to agglomerate round 

 some nucleus, until finally they form a natural felt, which, by 

 constant rolling, either by the waves or wind, assumes a sphe- 

 rical shape; and although one observes sometimes other forms 

 more or less elliptic, the far greater number are round, and would 

 be speedily utilized as playballs by British children if perchance 

 they were to be found on their coasts. 



One of the most widely distributed plants in the Terra d' 

 Otranto is the medicinal squill, which abounds from the coast-line 

 to a distance of ten or fifteen miles inland ; and in some parts 

 during summer the leafless spikes are so numerous that, when 

 young, one can imagine oneself in a vast Asparagus-bed. The 

 bulbs, when confined between rocks, which are plentiful enough in 

 these bushy plains, assume all kinds of polygonal forms, reminding 

 one of coarse tessellated pavement, this being brought about by 

 mutual pressure exerted during growth in a confined space. At 

 Otranto, where the tendency of the people is to consume vegetable 

 food, the leaves and roots of chicory being a staple product, the 

 bulbs of Bellevallia comosa, Kunth, are eaten in different ways 

 as a salad, for which purpose they hardly seem suitable on account 

 of their being so gelatiuous ; but the natives of Japygia are 

 enterprising, and some of the poorer classes flavour their meal of 

 bread by using the leaves of Hdosciadum nodiflorum, L., which 

 are reputed poisonous by most people. In the same way several 

 species of poisonous Fungi are used as articles of food by the 

 natives of Tosi in Tuscany ; but in this case not before repeated 

 maceration in strong brine, which has the effect of destroying 



