1863.] ' ON THE ODOURS OF PLANTS. 485 



thecium ossifragiim, Drosera roiundifolia, and D. longifolia ; but 

 time getting on^, he wheels round, and turning to the left he 

 passes to the spring again, making, in an eastward direction, 

 along the ridge of the hills towards Kildalloig shore. A little 

 beyond the spring, he halts to examine the long wreaths of Lyco- 

 podium clavatum among the heather, and some beautiful patches 

 of the Calluna vulgaris alba, with its snowy blossoms and light- 

 green foliage. In a small marsh between two conical knolls, he 

 meets the Menyanthes trifoliatus and Comarum palustre in im- 

 mense quantities, the former one of the most valuable plants in 

 the British Pharmacopoeia ; but resuming his steps, he soon 

 reaches Kildalloig Glen, and the shore, — a spot by far too im- 

 portant to talk about on a mere hasty ramble, we must devote a 

 regular field-day to it. Suffice it to say in the meantime that 

 our botanist picked up here Asplenium marinum, Hymenophyllum 

 tunbridgense, and Corn Cockle abundantly in a field at hand, 

 with many other pretty forms. But time and tide wait on none ; 

 pulling out his timepiece, he finds he must bid good-day to those 

 thousands of nature's lovely things, and make once more for town, 

 for duty and business, which he reaches, charmed by the linnet's 

 song, refreshed by the fragrance of the wild flowers, delighted 

 by the beautiful appearance of the sun's rays, as dipping in glory 

 in the great Atlantic, and gilding the distant Islay hills. He 

 felt, in fact, lighter, freer, with a greater flow of spirits, and, like 

 all nature's students, — 



" Not a breeze 

 Flies o'er the meadow, not a cloud imbibes 

 The setting sun's effulgence, not a strain 

 From all the tenants of the warbhng shade 

 Ascends, but whence his bosom can partake 

 Fresh pleasures unreproved." — Akenside. 



ON THE ODOURS OF PLANTS. 

 By John Sim, A.B.S.Ed. 



The vegetable kingdom, from the earliest annals of the human 

 race, has more or less been the subject of study and admiration. 



Apart from the intrinsic value of plants as aflbrding food, me- 

 dicine, and clothing, properties and qualifications possessed by 

 numbers, many of them arc peculiarly attractive by their hand- 



