BEECH 



109 



numerous, so that the leaf is literally spangled over 

 with them. 



Some fifteen hundred insects are supported by the 

 oak in one stage or other of their existence. To catalogue 

 these in our pages would be a work of supererogation, but 

 we may at least mention that glorious butterfly the Purple 

 Emperor and the Red-Underwing and Wood-Leopard 

 moths, and amongst beetles the well known Cockchafer. 



BEECH (Fagus Sylvatica) 



The Beech, perhaps the most beautiful of all our trees, 

 and second only in its grand proportions to the oak, is 

 freely distributed all over the South of England, sometimes 

 in association with other trees, often in solitary grandeur, 

 while in some districts forming magnificent forests, as at 

 Savernake, in Wiltshire. Evelyn, who is generally regarded 

 as no mean authority on trees, has yet the hardihood to 

 assert that " on the whole the massy full-grown luxuriant 

 beech is rather a displeasing tree." This is rank heresy. 

 Sir T. Dick Lauder, in editing Gilpin's Forest Scenery^ 

 refers, on the other hand, to " the pleasure arising from the 

 contemplation of a noble beech, as one of the most 

 magnificent objects of God's fair creation " ; while yet another 

 authority declares equally uncompromisingly that " the beech 

 must certainly rank as second only to the oak, for majesty 

 and picturesqueness ; while, for the union of grace and 

 nobility, it may claim precedence over every other member 

 of our Sylva." 



The beech is particularly common on ground of 

 calcareous nature, but is by no means confined to such 



