238 CHAPTER XXXII. 



It is an axiom of Philology that " g " and " w " are, in 

 certain cases, interchangeable. Thus "guard" and 

 " ward," "guarant" and " warrant," " Gauthier " and 

 " Walter," "Gaude" and " Woad," &c. I have 

 passed through the village of La Gaude, but omitted 

 to notice whether the patron plant is specially 

 abundant there. I think that had it been so, the fact 

 must have struck me. La Gaude has also been 

 derived from a Gaelic word for wood. This is the 

 famous herb with which the ancient Britons are 

 supposed to have dyed their bodies. The yellow 

 flowers are not altogether unsightly. The pendulous 

 fruits resemble little vegetable violins : unimaginative 

 persons might perhaps liken them to luggage labels. 



We are engaged upon the Crucifers. If you wish 

 to see a very pretty one, you have only to take a walk 

 on the Mont Alban, or the Vinaigrier, or almost any 

 other hill near Nice, and you may pick on every bank 

 and terrace the lemon yellow Biscutella lu-viyata, 

 sometimes called Buckler Mustard. The word means 

 " double shield," Latin " scutum ; " Italian " scudo," 

 the coin ; French " ecu " ; and it exactly expresses 

 the outline of the fruit, which resembles a pair of 

 coins placed side by side. The flowers appear in the 

 first week of the year, and go on through the Spring. 

 Nice may be proud of the Biscutella, for it does not 

 appear in the Cannes district. I suppose that it 

 prefers a calcareous soil. 



A lovely butterfly lives upon this plant, the 

 Southern Orange Tip, or Glory of Provence (Euchloe 

 Euphenoides). The Northern insect (E. Carda wines) is 

 much rarer here. On this same plant another choice 

 species lays its eggs, E. Belia, which has the under 



