HARD WICKE } S S CIENCE- G O SSIP. 



there can be no reason for pronouncing them as such, 

 even if it were not sometimes impossible to do so. I feel 

 sure every botanist, meeting with one of these strange- 

 looking words, would rather give it the proper sound 

 than attempt to pronounce it according to English 

 rules, with a result which, he is painfully conscious, 

 is absurd. What is wanted, is a compendious and 

 handy guide to the sound of the letters in the chief 

 foreign tongues, such as French, German, Italian, 

 Swedish, etc., and even Russian. It will be found 

 that the sounds which do not exist in English are 

 very few, and plain directions can be given for the 

 attainment of most of those. Were such information 

 commonly disseminated among scientific men (and 

 perhaps Science-Gossip would be a good place for 

 it to appear in), we should cease to hear such 

 barbarisms as Hypniun Swartzii, with the w pro- 

 nounced as in English, and Veronica Buxbaiimii, with 

 the ait as in the English haul. It would be found, 

 too, that the trouble required would not be great. 

 Merely to learn how certain consonants and vowels 

 are sounded in a language, is a very different thing 

 from learning the language itself. 



W. B. Grove, B.A. 



A DOMINIE'S BOTANICAL HOLIDAY. 



WHAT a grand thing it is to have a holiday, 

 and how refreshing to live almost out of doors 

 for a whole month ; to wander hither and thither fancy 

 free, by the brookside, or amid the tangled mazes of 

 the wood, to ascend to the top of yonder hill, or to 

 find out a path for ourselves through the glen — to 

 climb the rock by the sea-side, or to lie on one's back 

 on the thyme-covered bank above ! With some 

 such thoughts did I awake one morning in the 

 summer-time of last year. My holiday I intended 

 this year to spend in the west of Scotland, and once 

 on board the Marmion, with the "guid braid" 

 Scotch tongue all around me, I fancied myself there 

 at once. The weather was beautiful, and the good 

 ship Marmion steamed away right merrily for the 

 North. As we reached Flamborough Head we had 

 a good view of the land, and all the way from this 

 point the objects of interest were noted by tourist 

 passengers. 



All this time I am on the sea, and as I cannot do 

 much in a botanical way on board of a steamer, I 

 live in a sort of poetical dream, in which the cha- 

 racters in "Marmion" are all chasing each other 

 through my brain. At length we arrive at our 

 destination, and saying good-bye to the steamer, 

 I pay a short visit to " Auld Reekie," my Alma 

 Mater, and in a short time find myself en route for 

 the west. 



On arriving at A , my botanical rambles at 



length begin, and I am soon in the full enjoyment of 

 the pleasures I had looked forward to. Over most 



of the ground I had already made excursions as a 

 boy. Then my pursuit savoured somewhat of orni- 

 thology, now in manhood's day I was a humble 

 student of the beauties of Flora's domain. 



Several of my rambles on this occasion I shall 

 always remember with pleasure, and one of those in 

 the foremost rank would be that visit to the Carrick 

 country. Who does not admire the purple heather 

 of our Scottish hills ? Now I was able to make a 

 distinction between the commonest kind of all — 

 Ling or Calluna vulgaris, and the different kinds o 

 Erica which grow together on the hill-side, and a 

 new pleasure seemed to be mixed with my boyish 

 love for the "dark purple heather." The Blue-bell 

 {Campanula rotundifolia) is to be found gracefully 

 nodding its head to every little breeze, and seeming 

 to bring up memories of "auld lang syne," and, 

 although I can remember it as one of the most 

 delightfully common of little flowers of my boyhood, 

 I can also remember the words of Ellen, the " Lady 

 of the Lake," that— 



" It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as rose 

 That in the king's own garden grows." 



A wealth of hillside flowers is to be found around 

 me, such as the pretty little Eyebright and the 

 Creeping Cinquefoil, with its relative the common 

 Tormentil. Moving on a little on one side I come 

 across two of Our Lady's flowers — the Lady's Mantle 

 (Alchemilla vulgaris), and the Galium verum, or 

 Lady's Bedstraw, or Beadstraw. Getting into a 

 part where the ground is somewhat moist and boggy, 

 the lovely Parnassia palustris soon rivets attention. 

 What a splendid view from the top'of the hill ! Right 

 away to the Irish coast almost, on one side, and 

 around me I can survey the whole extent of country 

 where 



" Bruce he shook his Carrick spear." 



Another very enjoyable ramble was the one paid to 

 Loch Doon, the birth-place of the " bonnie Doon." 

 This was accomplished by going by rail to Dal- 

 mellington and walking to the loch. The walk by 

 the side of the Doon is a magnificent one, and as the 

 glen gets narrower and the rocks higher I am fairly 

 enraptured with nature's works. At length I emerge 

 from the glen with pleasant thoughts of the beauty of 

 the ferns and mosses which I have seen peeping out 

 from the crevices of the rocks and adorning every 

 spot of vantage. Keeping company with the Crypto- 

 gamia I had also observed quantities of that pretty 

 saxifrage the London Pride, or " None-so-pretty,'" 

 and the Crow Garlic, with its beautiful star-like 

 blossoms, and its leaves somewhat resembling those 

 of the Lily of the Valley. Having got safely through 

 the glen, I find myself on the borders of a wild high- 

 land lake, studded here and there with islets. Being 

 desirous to change the walk, I reach Dalmellington 

 by a different route, and as I have to pass through 



many acres of bog-land, my old friend the Parnassia, 



B 2 



