WILD ORCHIS. 181 



as beautiful as before, but soon they grew pale and 

 withered, and I sought in vain for them when the 

 time of flowers came again. They love the purest 

 air of heaven, to open with the light of morning to 

 the clear blue sky, to grow in sunny brakes, and on 

 the sloping side of hills, where the wild thyme and 

 eyebright mingle their beauty and their fragrance. 

 Several species are found in England, and two of 

 them, the bee and fly orchis, grew in one of the 

 loveliest spots, a little common near our village, 

 belted towards the north with deep beech woods, 

 and sloping gradually into the valley. The lark 

 sprung rejoicing with the early morning from out 

 his nest among the long grass and juniper that 

 mantled its steepest side; and there butterflies and 

 insects came trooping to bask in the warm sunbeams, 

 and to close and open their beautiful wings among 

 the fragrant blossoms of the thyme. It was curious 

 to observe how nearly the bee-flower and the living 

 bee resembled one the other; the fly, too, and the 

 orchis that bears its name. When the light step 

 and joyous laugh of the village children, who has- 

 tened thither after school to gather flowers, had 

 frightened away the bee or fly, they would start and 

 wonder that the mimic insect remained unmoved, 

 and yet they feared to approach nearer, lest the bee 

 should spring up with an angry hum and sting 

 them, so close was the resemblance. But far more 

 curious are the orchidae of South America, which 

 grow beneath the shade of high trees, and on 

 the border of damp forests. Some resemble gnats, 

 others butterflies. Travellers deserving of credit 

 relate that such small monkeys as gambol among 



