18 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST 



parts of this curious plant are in fours. The flower springs from 

 a slender stem that rises in the centre of a whorl of four leaves. 

 It consists of a calyx of four green sepals, a coralla of four narrow 

 yellowish petals, eight stamens, and a bluish-black germen of four 

 cells terminating in four stigmas. Without doubt it is poisonous, 

 as are nearly all green flowers. The dark centre is supposed to 

 serve the purpose of attracting insects, as the flower has neither 

 scent nor bright colour. In the same woods I found the fern 

 Polypodium calcareum (limestone polypody), by some botanists 

 regarded as a distinct species, by others a mere variety of P. 

 dryopteris, commonly called the oak fern. It is generally of a 

 stouter growth than this last ; the rhizome is stronger and the 

 whole plant more rigid, while the frond is expanded instead of 

 drooping. Scolope7idi-ium vulgare is also found near Nailsworth, 

 with several other of the commoner representatives of that tribe 

 which so long ago abdicated the throne of the vegetable kingdom. 

 Yes, the ferns that nestle in the shade among moss-covered stones, 

 or droop over our streams with blue-eyed forget-me-nots and sweet- 

 scented rushes, are links connecting the solemn periods of geology 

 with our busy utilitarian age. How much we owe to their ancestors ! 

 Age after age those giant tree-ferns grew up, flourished, and died, 

 to be locked up securely under immense rock-pressure, that they 

 might give to us one day the treasure it was foreseen we should 

 require. Foreseen, not by a blind force, that cannot foresee, but 

 by One whose ever present will upholds and directs all things 

 towards that end planned from the very beginning. 



One day I noticed a curious appearance on an Anemone leaf. 

 It appeared covered with tiny punctures like those made by the 

 gall-fly, and yet I could see no decided signs of insect life. I 

 solved this puzzle, as I had done many a one before, by the aid of 

 the microscope, and could not prevent an involuntary exclamation 

 of surprise and dehght at the fairy scene which filled the field 

 under my inch objective, and which proved to be the lovely 

 fungus^ ^cidhwi quadrijidiwi. I can most heartily recommend 

 the study of these lower forms of vegetable life under the micro- 

 scope. Whether it be the lichens that paint our old walls with 

 their many-hued frescoes, or the deUcate mosses, or tiny fungi 

 found clinging to dead leaves and decaying fruit, all are very 



