246 OUR LAKES AND RIVERS, 



along the banks of the Sussex Ouse. The Wood 

 Betony (Betonica officinalis) was extremely luxuriant 

 along the Ouse banks. It is a plant which can 

 accommodate itself to much drier situations. On the 

 elevated downs of Sussex occurs the Moonwort. I 

 once found it a few miles from Lewes in a hilly bog, 

 in company with the round-leaved Sundew (Drosera 

 rotundifolid), that interesting plant which yields the 

 homeopathist a useful remedy for throat diseases, 

 and by its peculiar habit of catching and digesting flies 

 supplies the evolutionist with material for speculation. 

 The Grass of Parnassus (Parnassus palustris) is like- 

 wise a Sussex marsh plant, although I never found it 

 at Lewes. 



The Bulrush (Typha latifolid) I found plentifully 

 in Sussex. Along the banks of most rivers in the 

 south of England is to be found the Meadow Crane's- 

 Bill (Geranium pratense\ a plant of exquisite purple 

 flowers, surpassing in beauty those of any British 

 species. 



In the month of July the growth of plants is so 

 luxuriant as greatly to obscure animal life; hence 

 in marshy districts, in my experience, it is not easy 

 to find a variety of species, as in June; still many 

 species are only to be found in this month. The 

 moths affecting water-plants, notably the genus 

 Hydrocampa, a family whose caterpillars live in the 

 water, are beautiful, silvery creatures with porcelain-like 

 marks of brown on them. Then there are the numerous 

 reed moths, and the large Copper (Chrysophanus 

 dispar\ now extinct in the fenny districts of Cam- 

 bridgeshire, where it was once common. The nu- 



