THE COMMON ORCHIS AND BROAD-LEAVED GARLIC. 55 



maturity. The new tubercles being separated from the 

 old and decaying ones, must be cleansed and peeled, then 

 laid on a tin plate and placed in an oven for some ten 

 minutes, at about the ordinary temperature for bread- 

 making. On removing them they will be found to have 

 changed from their milky-white appearance to an almost 

 transparent and horny state, though without suffering any 

 diminution in bulk. They must then be removed into the 

 fresh air to dry and harden, a process that will take some 

 few days, and on its completion they are at once either 

 ready for use or to be stored away for as long a time as 

 circumstances may call for, as humidity or mould do not 

 seem to affect them when once thoroughly prepared. 



One curious feature in the orchis does not appear ever 

 to have been satisfactorily explained we refer to the 

 great difference perceptible, sometimes only too painfully, 

 in the scent of the blossoms. In some specimens the 

 odour is scarcely noticeable, in others the flowers might 

 fairly be called fragrant, while in some again the smell is 

 both strong and offensive, and utterly banishes them from 

 the place in the spring nosegay that their heads of brilliant 

 blossoms might otherwise fully claim. 



The various species of orchis which adorn our pastures 

 will almost all repay the inspection that their curious and 

 irregular looking flowers, so quaintly different from the 

 ordinary idea of a -flower, invite one to give them. One. 

 the lizard orchis, the Orchis hircina of scientific nomen- 

 clature, has a blossom that presents much the appearance 

 of the animal from which it takes its familiar name, while 

 the dull greenish-white of its colour still further aids the 

 resemblance. Another, the man-orchis, Acer as antJtropo- 

 p/wra, simulates the human form not inaptly, the lower 



