146 



CHAPTER XIX. 



would often exclaim with Horace " Non descend et in 

 ventrem meum " ! 



The Ink Plant is common enough in the Nice 

 valley. Those gouty - looking trees along the 

 Promenade des Anglais belong to the same order, 

 though one would hardly suspect it. Some botanists 

 even place them in the same genus. The wood is 

 spongy. I do not accuse them of being poisonous ; 

 but I cannot tell what claim they have to line the 

 " Bay of Angels" with their swollen stems and pollard 

 heads. 



Among other hurtful plants Henbane (Hyn- 

 scyamus) grows here, but I have never found either 

 Nightshade (Atropa) or Hemlock (Conium). 



Sophora, a leguminous tree, has poisonous 

 properties, and ought not, therefore, to be grown for 

 shade. In habit it bears some resemblance to a 

 Eobinia. 



Fig. 56. SIHIXX XEHII, THE OLEANDER HAWK MOTH. 



