60 CHAPTER V1L 



the all-sustaining earth a better food than the acorn 

 and the berries of the bramble." 



The British Oak is said to throw out its branches 

 at an angle of 90 degrees. I have found the angle of 

 ramification of the deciduous Kiviera Oak to vary 

 between 40 degrees and 60 degrees. Perhaps this 

 mode of growth is more suitable to a mountainous 

 district, for it is evident that a tree whose boughs are 

 horizontal must thrust these against the ground if it 

 happens to slope steeply. 



The Chestnut (Castanea vesca, Fig. 124) serves a 

 double (may we not say a treble ?) purpose. It is a 

 valuable food-plant ; it gives a perfect shade ; and, lastly, 

 it adorns the landscapes of the mountain region. As 

 you advance inland, the Olive is gradually replaced 

 by the Chestnut : pass up higher still through the 

 pleasant Chestnut groves of Bollena, Berthemont, 

 Valdeblore, and St. Martin Vesubia, and you reach 

 the Alpine region, where the Chestnut gives way to 

 the pine, larch, and birch. In the Nice district this 

 tree descends as near the coast as the Contes valley, 

 within easy reach of the town ; and earlier in this 

 chapter I have mentioned the village of Castagniers 

 in the Var valley as deriving its name from the 

 Chestnut. 



Very beautiful is the tree when tinged with the 

 golden yellow of the ripening staminate catkins. In 

 the hollows and recesses of the boughs the myoxus 

 (Fig. 102) hides by day, and towards evening you see 

 the large round soft eyes peering down at you timidly 

 from above. Satyrus Hermione (Fig. 23) hovers near 

 the tree, perching often on the furrowed trunk. First 

 the wings are folded together vertically ; then within a 



