eh ee ie nt le 
45 
fern, Athyrium filix-femina. As Calder Campbell says : 
But not by burn, or wood, or dale, 
Grows anything so fair 
As the plumy crest of the emerald pale, 
That waves in the wood, or soughs in the gale, 
Of the Lady fern, when the sunbeams turn 
To gold her delicate hair. 
Fern collecting scarcely formed any part of the day’s proceedings, however, though, 
the suggestion was kindly given to the visitors by an amusing notice requesting 
them ‘‘ not to carry off all the ferns.” 
Many of the bog plants found were very interesting. The Sun-dew, Drosera 
rotundifolia, was plentifully seen. It derives its name from the fact that its small, 
round, green leaves are fringed with long red hairs, supporting at their ends small 
drops of a pellucid liquor, like dew. These drops continue in the hottest weather 
under full exposure to the sun, and in reality are the means by which the plant 
catches the small flies it feeds upon, for it is an insect eating plant, and on every 
leaf could be seen the vanishing remains of small flies. The poet who wrote the 
following lines could scarcely be aware of this fact : 
By the lone fountain’s secret bed, 
Where human footsteps rarely tread, 
’Mid the wild moor or silent glen, 
The Sun-dew blooms, unseen by men: 
Spreads there her leaf of rosy hue 
A chalice for the morning dew ; 
And ere the summer's sun can rise, 
Drinks the pure water from the skies. 
The Butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris; the Marsh Violet, Viola palustris; the 
Marsh Cinquefoil, Comarwm palustre ; and that most delicate and pretty of all 
bog plants, the Bog Pimpernel, Anagallis tenella, which always cheers the heart 
of a botanist to find. 
Of fairer form and brighter hue 
Than many a flower that drinks the dew 
Amid the garden's brilliant show. 
Amongst the more rare plants found, the rarest perhaps, of the day, was the Wood- 
bitter Vetch, Vicia orobus, the wood vetch, Vicia sylvatica, was brought to the 
meeting, though it was not observed at Cwm Elan. It is this elegant vetch which 
climbs so well, with its pale flowers beautifully veined and streaked with blue, 
which Scott describes :— 
And where profuse the wood vetch clings 
Round ash and elm in verdant rings, 
Its pale and azure-pencilled flower 
Should canopy Titania’s bower. 
The bell flowers, Campanula latifolia, and C. rotundifolia, were plentiful. Lina- 
ria minor, Jasione montana, and others too numerous to mention were also found. 
One more only can now be named, and that is the Viola lutea, the yellow mountain 
pansy, that was so prettily scattered amidst the short grass of the mountain sides. 
The time of the visitors was only too short to enjoy this lovely valley, and 
before half the explorations were over the whistle sounded, and carriages had to 
be regained as quickly as might be for the return train. 
The following gentlemen and ladies took part in the day’s proceedings :—The 
Rev. Augustin Ley, M.A. (president), Mr. J. Griffith Morris (vice-president), 
