260 CHAPTER XXXV. 



over the fruit trees everywhere. The Camberwell 

 (V. Antiopa) sails past among the willows. Thais 

 swarms in the reed brake, and with it you often 

 find the earliest Fritillary, A. Dia. The yellow 

 Colias Edusa begins to race along the clover tops, 

 and the little P. Phlceas commences the merry dance 

 which the Blues and Skippers (Hesperidce] will take 

 part in later on. The Bath White (P. Daplidice) 

 appears very early. 



The Peach Blossom lights up the valleys early in 

 the month, and about mid-March the Cherry flowers : 

 I have seen the Peach out on the 1st, and the Cherry 

 as early as the 6th. Next in order of flowering comes 

 the Plum. The buds of the Horse Chestnut (sEsculus) 

 and Walnut (Juglans) open, and the white petals fall 

 from the flowers of the Sloe. The peasant, armed 

 with a long rod, clambers barefoot up the Olive tree ; 

 and all day long you hear a rattling sound as he 

 clears the bright black berries (drupes) from the 

 twigs. Squatting on the ground, the women and 

 children fill their baskets with the fruits. 



The streams flow red, for they have been dyed 

 a rich claret colour by passing through the Olive 

 mills. 



April boasts the fleeting Cistus. I have seen it in 

 flower at the end of March. Professor Allman says : 

 There is no spot too dry and shadeless for these 

 beautiful shrubs. Their season of flowering is in the 

 later Spring and early Summer, when they display day 

 after day in unlimited profusion their large and rose- 

 like white or purple flowers, and mingle the balsamic 

 odour of their leaves with the aromatic exhalations of 

 the Labiatse. But the life of the Cistus is a short 



