43 
along too, in much the same style as ourselves? A large 
adder ; this time I am equal to the emergency and soon kill 
it, and am not sorry to be able to stand upright and enjoy the 
sight of a large mass of the flowers I am searching for. How 
lovely and delicate they are, and how gracefully they hang! 
“Just like pounds of candles” a non-poetical friend of mine 
once observed to me. Provided with specimens we grope 
our way through the bushes ’till we come to something like a 
path, and following that, more treasures await us—the Tooth- 
wort (Lathrea squamaria) in great quantities, nearly over, but 
some stray flowers were still worth gathering; Herb Paris 
too, the five-leaved variety occurring frequently ; Wood Ane- 
mones, some a dark red; and lastly the Sweet Woodruff 
(Asperula odorata ). 
Quite tired we prepare to go homewards, and ‘on our way 
come across several roots of the Orphine or Livelong (Sedum 
telephium); it does not flower,till August (and that by the 
way also grows in great quantities in the old Priory woods, 
Aldington). We emerge out of one wood and ascend the 
hill by the road ; about half-way up, on the right hand side, is 
a bank full of the Green Hellebore ( Helleborus viridis). Here 
too is the Wild Currant (Ribes rubrum). We decide to return 
when the fruit is ripe. Our day’s excursion is over and we 
return laden with treasures. 
Next on my list of Spring flowers is the lovely Lily of the 
Valley (Convallaria majalis). Westwood is the habitation of 
these flowers, where they grow in profusion among beds of 
Blechnum boreale and the handsome Wood Lastrea. Many a 
pleasant excursion have I made to these delightful woods, and © 
often have I heard their depths resound with the merry 
laughter of little hunting parties from Folkestone, Hythe, or 
Canterbury. There are also many other flowers here, among 
which I may specially mention the Foxglove (Digitalis pur- 
purea). These are grand flowers and have a specially mag- 
nificent appearance there from the abundance in which they 
grow, quite introducing their colour into the landscape. The 
common Heath (Erica cinerea), and the Ling (Calluna 
vulgaris) is also found there—I think the only place in which 
I remember to have seen the former in this neighbourhood, 
except one small patch of it in the road that runs across the hills 
from the top of the Dover hills to the Canterbury turnpike. 
