VIOLKTS. 117 



gress and improvement, mark you, in all that 

 appertains to the well-being and comfort of man ; on 

 the ninth of May, 1879, I took my pen to write in 

 praise of Violets, and before I had written six words 

 there came on a blinding snowstorm. What could I 

 do with such a scene before me ? Need it be said 

 that all those beautiful phrases fled, leaving a blank, 

 and an aching void behind ? What kind of a paper 

 I might otherwise have written, what the loss to my 

 present audience may be through that fah 1 of snow, 

 it is not for me to say. Let me only beg those who 

 may be disappointed in my paper, to attribute its 

 shortcomings to the chilling influences which have 

 been at work around me. I hope they will at least 

 acknowledge that it is a difficult task to write about 

 Violets while a snow storm is in full action. 



Our faith in bright spring days is gone ; neverthe- 

 less Violets do occasionally bloom, and doubtless in 

 the intervals between the snow storms some of us 

 have paid a few delicate attentions to them during 

 the late conclusion of winter. 



I have been anxious to discover how many species 

 we have in our own district, and if possible to learn 

 the distinguishing marks between them. Let me 

 first give a general description of the flowers, and 

 then enumerate the various species. 



They belong to the natural order which takes its 

 name from them Violacece. It includes twenty-one 

 genera, one only of which, Viola, is found in the 

 British Islands. The parts of the flower are arranged 

 in fives, that is to say there are five sepals, five 

 petals, and five stamens, the last mark referring the 

 plant at once to the Linneean class Pentandria. 



