246 NATURAL HISTORY OF SUNNINGHILL. 



kinds of heath found here, that is the Common Ling, (the Erica vulgaris 

 of Linnaeus, the Calluna of modern botanists,) the Bell-flowered Heath, 

 {Erica tetralix,) known as the Purple Heather, and the Maiden Heath. 

 The latter is found almost always where it is marshy, and where sedge 

 and Turfy-hair Grass is found, and is the first to flower in early summer. 

 With this also is found the Cotton Grass, (Eriophorum,) which is more 

 properly a rush, and grows in the marshy places; it is unnecessary to say 

 that the cotton is that to which the seed is attached, and when this is 

 shed, a windy day fills the air with these winged semince. I have heard 

 it said that old wives have manufactured pillows of this substance, but 

 how these experiments answered, I should think very doubtful, although it 

 is certainly a beautiful substance, and much resembles glazed cotton. Si- 

 multaneously with the Cotton Grass arise different kinds of the Orchis 

 tribe, known popularly as "Cuckoo Spits," merely from the fact that the 

 cuckoo-spit frog-hopper often chooses them as that whereon to deposit 

 his froth. Some of these are spotted lilac, some orange, some light yel- 

 low, and others dark purple; the last, however, grow almost exclusively in 

 the moist grass. The commonest are 0. morio, 0. mascula. 0. maculata, 

 0. pyramidalis, and 0. latifolia. 



The Brake, Bracken, or Common Fern, (Pteris aquilina^) grows very 

 luxuriantly, and I know of no prettier sight than the Purple Heath and 

 Green Fern intermingled beneath a bright sran; but these things soon 

 fade, and it is at all times difficult to get a perfect bloom of the Besom 

 Heath, (E. tetralix,} for the colour is so delicate that there are sure to be 

 some brown or faded bells amongst it. I suppose the name "Besom Heath" 

 had some origin, but assuredly the Ling, (C. or E. vulgaris,) is that 

 commonly used for making brooms. This is quite a business with us, and 

 there is a regular season for Heath-cutting, beginning after the flower is 

 just off, for, of course, all the soft shoots, if cut then, would be so much 

 waste. I have met with varieties in the Besom Heath, but those were 

 only in the colour, the structure being identical, and we all know that 

 white specimens of all are occasionally met with. 



Then there is that pretty little plant the Round-leaved Sundew, 

 (Drosem rotundi folia,) which is found everywhere just on the margin of 

 moist places. Does the plant subsist upon the little flies which it catches, 

 or is it meant for a trap at all? That the honey-like drops on the hairs 

 do catch small insects every one knows. The Harebell, {Campanula ro- 

 tundifolia,) that delicate flower, is very plentiful upon our banks, and I 

 have sometimes thought that we had two kinds, which, although identical 

 in structure, differ so much in size as to be hardly referable to mere 

 congeniality of soil. The Pasture Scabious, (Scabiosa succisa,) is very 

 common, as also the Common Snap-dragon, (Antirrhinum majus;) and 



