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plant, so common at the present day in gardens and houses. 
Originally from N. America, it has become quite naturalised on 
the banks of some of our rivers, though not to my knowledge 
found in Somerset. It smells so strong of musk, that, when 
planted in window boxes, its odour sometimes pervades a great. 
part of the house. 
Now do you know what the real musk, the musk of commerce, 
is? It is a peculiar substance secreted in a bag attached to the 
under part of the body of the male Musk Deer, an animal allied 
both to Deer and Camels, found in Tibet and other parts of Asia. 
How strange that a plant in North America should have exactly 
the same smell as a certain part. of an animal inhabiting the 
direct opposite side of the globe. But so itis, Let us pass now 
to some other cases scarcely less remarkable, especially that of 
the “ Hound’s Tongue” (Cynoglossum officinale), a plant not very 
uncommon on waste Jand in the Bath neighbourhood. Were I 
to put this plant under your nose, your eyes being shut, and then 
suddenly taking it away, to dangle a dead mouse before your 
nostrils instead, you would not know the plant had been removed, 
so extremely like the smell of mice is the smell of that plant. 
A third case I would call your attention to is that of the 
Allium tribe—onions and garlic—and as my experiences in this. 
instance, as indeed in the last mentioned also, have been gained 
in our own neighbourhood, I consider there is quite sufficient 
sanction for bringing the whole subject, with which they are 
connected, and of which I am about to treat, under the notice 
of the Bath Natural History Field Club. 
It was during my residence at Swanswick that, on the occasion, 
of my walking one day up the lane leading from Larkhall to the 
Gloucester Road, I perceived a strong smell of garlic. I looked 
about, and then noticing several plants of the Broad-leaved 
Garlic (Allium ursinum) on the grassy banks each side of the 
road, the matter was explained, and I thought no more about it. 
Some time after, however, when walking by the side of another 
