THE PASSING OF SUMMER 



fragrant wood, when burnt, " driveth away all noisome 

 serpents," while the berries taken in wine are good for 

 adder bites. Juniper stands, of course, for gin, a word 

 derived from the French for the shrub, " genievre," 

 and the French brew a cordial from juniper berries and 

 barley. 



A WOODLANDER 



AN alarming-looking insect is Sirex gigas, the giant- 

 tailed wasp, now abroad in woodlands; a 

 A Super super wasp, with a thick body an inch and 

 Wasp a half long, and, if a female, with what 



looks like a mammoth sting projecting for 

 another half-inch the ovipositor. It wears the wasp's 

 colours, yellow banded with black; its huge eyes are 

 like black beads ; its transparent wings are of old-gold ; 

 and it lacks the wasp's waist. The ovipositor is a wonder- 

 ful compound instrument, toothed to act as a file for 

 boring holes in trees for the eggs; it will even pierce 

 lead. A fearsome insect: but it is without any power to 

 sting. 



THE PASSING OF SUMMER 



A FORGOTTEN festival, highly honoured of old at this 

 season, was rush-gathering for lights and 

 Green many other purposes; the poet Clare pic- 



Grow the tured himself kneeling with the shepherd's 

 Rushes O ! boy on a bed of rushes, plaiting and mutter- 

 ing nameless songs. Botanists note a score 

 of species of rushes of marsh, sea, heath and wood ; the 

 wood-rushes having the name " Luzula," perhaps from 

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