MULBERRY: CELT IS: FIG. 53 



Attached to the Celtis, the hamadryad of the 

 tree, is a golden-brown butterfly, Libythea Celtis (Fig. 

 20). I have taken it once only : it was perched on the 

 road close to the Carabacel railway crossing. In ap- 

 pearance and in flight this Libythea is not unlike a 

 Comma ( Vanessa C. album). The larva is gregarious. 



The Celtis tree is either wild or well-established 

 on the Riviera : it is common enough at Nice, and is 

 still more abundant farther west. At Antibes, just 

 outside the fortifications, there is a considerable grove 

 of these trees ; none of them, however, is as fine as 

 the specimen which stands at the octroi of St. 

 Barthelemy, near Nice. 



The largest Celtis which I have seen is on the 

 Place Neuve in the town of Grasse. Three persons, 

 stretching their arms, can hardly make them meet 

 round the trunk. Higher up in the same town there 

 are some fine specimens, but none so large as this one. 



The Celtis is one of the claimants for the classic 

 name of Lotas. The other competitor is the Jujube 

 (Ziziphus), a fruit tree of the Buckthorn order which 

 is common here. The botanical Lotus is a small 

 leguminous plant. What flavour, or what magical 

 efficacy these lotus fruits of the Celtis may have I do 

 not know ; but the gamins seem to appreciate them, 

 if one may judge by the time they spend under the 

 tree. These berries are not much larger than a pea. 

 Some branches of this tree are often seen in leaf 

 while others are in bud. At first sight the backward 

 branches appear blighted, but they come into leaf 

 later, and seem as healthy as the others. I have 

 repeatedly observed this phenomenon in the Celtis, 

 but am quite unable to explain it. 



