66 Not ices of Natural Objects 



partaking of some of the good things of the country, and 

 settling ourselves for a week's stay, we strolled into the neigh- 

 bourhood, with all the charms of novelty and a foreign land 

 before us. The aspect of the scene of our Arandal rambles 

 was that so beautifully expressed, in the fitting language for 

 such scenery, by our poet laureate, the immortal Southey : — 



Pine-cover'd rocks 



And mountain forests of eternal shade, 

 And glens, and vales, on whose green quietness 

 The lingering eye reposes, and fair lakes 

 That image the light foliage of the beech, 

 Or the grey glitter of the aspen leaves 

 On the still bough thin trembling." 



The rocks about Arandal, at the season we arrived, were 

 blushing with the showy .Lychnis Viscaria; whose purple 

 blossoms attracted the eye, to the disparagement of the no 

 less beautiful, but more humble, Silene rupestris; which flou- 

 rished in great abundance, intermingled with *Sedum annuum 

 and Scleranthus perennis : which latter plant is very distinct 

 from what I have been shown as British specimens of the 

 species. The beautiful little LinnseV, of all plants the most 

 loved of the botanist, trailed in profusion at the roots of the 

 pine trees, among the polished leaves and waxen flowers of 

 Faccinium ^itis idse^a; while, in the more shady places, Mai- 

 anthemum bifolium and Trientalis europae s a displayed their 

 chaste and maiden-like charms; mingled with the Cornus 

 suecica, a plant which abounds everywhere in Norway. More 

 rarely, a specimen of the lovely little Pyrola uniflora rejoiced 

 us ; and, occasionally, the tall and stately //ypochae^ris ma- 

 culata, so rare with us, lifted its golden head amidst thousands 

 of H ieracia. 



Here and there, amidst the hills, there were small patches 

 of grass, which bore some analogy to meadow's. These fur- 

 nished us with ifteracium dubium, A'juga pyramidalis, Poly- 

 gonum viviparum, £alix fusca, and Convallaria majalis. In 

 marshy places, Zysimachia thyrsiflora and the Calla palustris 

 abounded; while, on the margins of the woods, where Vibur- 

 num O'pulus and i^hamnus Frangula were frequent, we found 

 O'robus niger and ^ctse v a spicata, growing with O'robus ver- 

 nus, Vicia sylvatica, Aquilegia vulgaris, and Silene nutans. 

 We were too late for the blossoms of Hepatica triloba, but 

 found it in seed. 



Buzzing round the fern plants were great numbers of 

 Anomala hordeola ; and the flowers of the apple trees in the 

 gardens glowed with the brilliant Cetonia aurata, with an 

 occasional specimen of i^hagium inquisitor. Telephori and 



