JULY. 205 



one always stands sentinel, and if you put up the 

 point of a whip or stick to him, he will boldly stand 

 his ground, and attempt to seize on the whip or stick 

 with his mandibles. If he finds himself much pressed, 

 he will then pop into the hole ; and if you desire to 

 escape the consequences of rousing a hornet's nest, 

 it will be necessary to make as speedy an exit as 

 possible. 



Spring-flowers have given place to a very different 

 class. Climbing plants mantle and festoon every 

 hedge. The wild hop the bryony the clematis, 

 or traveller's joy the large white convolvulus, 

 whose bold yet delicate flowers will display them- 

 selves to a very late period of the year vetches, 

 and white and yellow ladies' bed-straw, invest every 

 bush with their varied beauty, and breathe on the 

 passers-by their faint summer sweetness. The Cam- 

 panula rotundifolia, the hare-bell of poets and the 

 blue-bell of botanists, arrests the eye on every dry 

 bank, rock, and wayside, with its airy stems and 

 beautiful cerulean bells. There too we behold wild 

 scabiouses, mallows, the woody-nightshade, wood- 

 betony, and centaury: the red and white striped con- 

 volvulus also throws its flowers under your feet; 

 corn-fields glow with whole armies of scarlet pop- 

 pies, cockle, and the rich azure plumes of the viper's 

 bugloss; even thistles, the curse of Adam, diffuse a 

 glow of beauty over waste and barren places. Some 

 species, particularly the musk-thistle, are really noble 

 plants, wearing their formidable arms, their silken 

 vest, and their gorgeous crimson tufts of fragrant 

 18 



