JUNE. 247 



from flowering on or about June 24th, the day of the 

 celebration of the feast of John the Baptist ;* at this 

 time, too, Griow-worms begin to be luminous, if the 

 weather is fine and warm,* and are seen by road sides 

 and under hedges, &c. whence their German name, 

 Johannis-wurchen, or St. John's worms. Facts like 

 these furnish an incentive for a botanist to " look-out," 

 and by examining the appearance of well-known 

 plants, he is soon able to know whether the season is 

 forward or backward, and even by how many days it 

 is so.f 



It must be recollected, however, that no deduction 

 of this kind can be drawn from the appearance of the 

 primaveral flowers, as such plants with a warm aspect 

 may flower in particular spots without the majority of 

 their brethren, as every body knows who has met with 

 a primrose or cowslip by the woodside, or on a south- 

 ern bank. In mild autumns, too, it is not uncommon 

 to find the primrose or dog-violet ante-dating its usual 

 period of flowering by a couple of months ; in these 

 cases the first frost of course destroys the too hasty 

 adventurers. But a reference to the solstitial flowers 

 is decisive as to the progress' Vegetation has actually 

 made. I have noticed for many years that the Yellow 

 Iris or Flag (Iris pseudacorus) almost always unfolds 



* In some parts of Wales this solstitial flower is placed upon door-posts 

 as a defence against evil spirits a custom, perhaps, derived from Druid- 

 ical times. Some of the early medical writers, who fancied that the St. 

 John's Wort was a specific in hypochondriacal disorders, gave it the 

 fanciful term of fuga damonum (devil's flight,) and this being literally 

 interpreted, caused the plant to be gathered on St. John's Day with great 

 ceremony in France and Germany, that the people might hang it up ia 

 their houses, as a charm against storms, thunder, and spirits. 



t The precise time of the flowering of plants from their first appearance 

 to their seeding, has been but little attended to by authors of systematic 

 floras, although as indicative of climate it is of considerable importance. 



