MAY. 183 



a dwarf state, and has done for many years past, 

 the pretty fern Asplenium viride, generally only to be 

 gathered from moist alpine rocks. 



In the open country, as May closes its flowery 

 reign, all is verdant and beautiful, and the meadows 

 rustle with luxuriant rising grass and golden crow- 

 foots, for the silver cuckoo-flowers have faded away, 

 and in their place various docks and the characteristic 

 large Summer Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), 

 and other composites begin to appear. On a brilliant 

 sunny afternoon, a float down the sleepy glazy stream 

 of some glittering river, as the Medway or " Sabrina 

 fair," whose shallows are brilliant with the large 

 silvery flowers close clustered together of the Eiver 

 Crowfoot (Ranunculus fluitans, Lam)* is particularly 

 delightful; while, as the dewy evening approaches, 

 and the sun's fiery orb rests upon the horizon, the 

 Corn-Crake, newly arrived from his migration, com- 

 mences his harsh note till, amidst the gloom of night, 

 an incessant and reiterated creek creek-ing resounds 

 through every field. On the tranquil bosom of the 

 silent stream the young May moon trembles in tran- 

 scendent lustre. 



* The Rev. W. A. LEIOHTON, in his instructive Flora of Shropshire, 

 very pleasingly alludes to this floating plant, as constituting the " tresses 

 fair" of Sahrina, in MILTON'S Comus. 



