Chit-chat. 503 



woodcocks in the night dashed against the glass frame wherein 

 the lights revolved, and killed themselves ; and that, in the 

 morning, he frequently picked up several brace in the outer 

 gallery. 



Von Os. So you have at last succeeded in getting the 

 toothwort (Lathrae'a Squamaria) to grow on the roots of the 

 hazel ? 



Dov. Not until I had utterly despaired. It was four years, 

 and some five, before it came up visibly. I gathered the seeds 

 in Erddig woods, where, you may remember, we saw it in 

 profuse luxuriance. It will, however, turn pink or purple 

 when very much exposed to the light, notwithstanding the 

 remark of our learned friend, in his scientific and elaborate 

 essay ; for having cut away some of the hazel branches, to bring 

 it more in view of the walk, the sunbeams in a few days turned 

 it so very pinky and purple, that some ladies were very much 

 struck with the beauty and delicacy of its colours, though the 

 plant itself is rather of a repulsive and cadaverous aspect. 



Fo?i Os. On how many sorts of trees did you get the missel- 

 toe to vegetate ? 



Dov. Twenty-three : but on most of them it soon died, 

 particularly on the gummy and resinous; and only throve 

 well on its usual habitats, the apple and hawthorn. 



Von Os. Did you ever see it grow well upon the oak ? 



Dov. Never but once; and that, singular to say, in Anglesea, 

 in the park of (then) Lord Uxbridge : and, what is more sin- 

 gular, hanging almost over a very grand druidical cromlech. 



Von Os. Orobanche ? 



Dov. Major : freely raised on the broom roots ; but this was 

 also four years before it appeared. 



Von Os. And the dodder? 



Dov. Cuscuta P — never ; though repeatedly tried on the 

 nettle, hemp, and flax. I once saw it in such tangled pro- 

 fusion at Liphook, in Sussex, that it absolutely pulled down 

 and killed the nettles. 



Von Os. Did you observe the transit of Mercury over the 

 sun on the fifth of this month ? 



Dov. No ; though Bloxam, I, and others amply prepared 

 the telescopes and chronometers the day previous. We even 

 hoisted the great one. Old Galileo, and cleaned my long 

 Sidrophel : but, though on the very threshold of May, the 

 '" civil-suited Morn" appeared 



" Not trick'd and flounced as she was woat 

 With the Attic boy to hunt ; 

 But kerchief d in a comely cloud. 

 While rocking winds were piping loud, 

 K K -l? 



