riMri:RNEL. 277 



in Devonshire than in any other part of England ; 

 but we have occasionally found it growing on the 

 corn lands of the South Downs near Brighton, in 

 Sussex. 



The petals of the Blue-flowered Pimpernel have 

 a spot of carmine colour at the base of each, in the 

 same manner as the scarlet kind is marked by purple. 

 Old writers, after the ancient authors, distinguish 

 these two kinds of Anagallis, by calling the blue- 

 flowered the female, and the red the male Imperial. 



Pliny remarks that sheep avoid the Blue Pim- 

 pernel, but eat the scarlet kind, which he considers 

 as extraordinary, since the difference of the plants 

 can only be perceived by the colour of the flowers. 

 He adds, that when a sheep has by accident eaten 

 of the Blue Pimpernel, the animal goes by instinct 

 to a plant, which he calls Ferns ocidus. Schreber 

 says, that the sheep eat Pimpernel readily ; by the 

 experiments in Amoen. acad., it appears, that kine 

 and goats feed on it, but that sheep refuse it. If 

 Phny is correct in his observation, both these op- 

 posite statements may be also accurate, since neither 

 of them mention whether the experiments were 

 made with the blue or the scarlet kinds. 



Etymologists differ materially respecting the 

 derivation of the name of this plant. Dr. Martyn 

 says the generic name is from AvayaXXts-, of Dios- 

 xorides, from avayeXaw, to laugh ; because by cur- 



