158 ROUND THE YEAR 



Feather-grass the extremely long and feathered awn 

 twists when dry, and untwists again when wetted, 

 thus screwing the pointed fruit into the earth, the 

 long awn, entangled in the herbage, furnishing a 

 fixed point to push against. 



Small as it usually is, the grass-fruit carries with it 

 a little store of starchy food and a minute quantity of 

 a ferment, which, under suitable conditions of 

 moisture and temperature, dissolves the starch, 

 and renders it fit for assimilation by the embryo 

 plant. 



A meadow ripe for the scythe calls up before me the 

 endless contrivances by which the grasses have won 

 such mastery in the struggle for the surface of the 

 earth. But what different thoughts the same sight 

 may suggest to other minds ! Andrew Marvell, 

 walking behind the mowers at Nun Appleton, was 

 chiefly struck by their resemblance to the Israelites 

 passing through the Red Sea ! 



" Who seem like Israelites to be 

 Walking on foot through a green sea, 

 To them the grassy deeps divide, 

 And crowd a lane to either side." 



THE HISTORY OF THE CABBAGE WHITE BUTTER- 

 FLIES. 



When I came to live in the country I naturally 

 began to grow cabbages. One result has Been that 

 I have great facilities for the study of Cabbage 

 Whites. In May I find the eggs on the leaves ; the 



