A FLOWER TIME-PIECE. 131 
arrange a number of flowers in the order in 
which they open and shut; and found that many 
flowers close even in the full blaze of day, while 
others close at various times from mid-day to 
sunset. Singularly enough, the flowers are very 
regular in what we may term their time of going 
to bed; so much so, that Linnzeus contrived a 
flower-dial, by means of which the time of day 
might be known, according as the flowers con- 
tained in the list were open or shut. It must 
be mentioned, however, that the flowers depend 
a good deal on the sun; and if heavy clouds cover 
over his glorious rays, the time when they open 
or shut will be deranged. This has been parti- 
cularly noticed in the time of an eclipse; when 
it has been found that, misled by the darkness 
spread over the earth by the obscuration of our 
luminary, not only have flowers folded themselves 
up to sleep, but even birds and beasts have 
betaken themselves to their rest. 
There are some exceptions to this general rule. 
Just as in the ranks of human society, there are 
fine ladies and belles who blossom, so to speak, 
only at very late hours in the evening, when the 
commoner folk are all in bed; so among the 
