n8 Lindow Common. 



hairs, the tips of which exude drops of transparent gum ; 

 in this are entangled midges and other little creatures of 

 tender wing, as birds are caught by bird-lime ; the lat- 

 ter soon get dried to death by the sun, and from the 

 gaseous products of their decaying corpses the plant 

 appears to derive a portion of its nourishment. So that 

 in a certain sense the Droseras are vegetable carnivora. 



The best time for a visit to Lindow is the middle of 

 July, provided the weather be fine and dry for a week 

 or two previously. After much rain, it is like a sponge 

 just dipped in water, and is fit only for web-footed 

 creatures ; while the hollows, where peat has been dug, 

 become pits of coffee-coloured pulp. At any time, after 

 leaving the solid borders, it is necessary to be careful 

 where the foot is placed, as though generally speaking 

 safe, the common is in some parts boggy and treacher- 

 ous. Granting the previous week propitious, the heaths 

 and the asphodels are then loaded with flowers ; the 

 leaves of the sundews are covered with their sparkling 

 drops, and the snow-white tassels of the cotton-grass, 

 though dishevelled, are still abundant, looking, in the 

 distance, like pearly satin, but, alas ! when most desired, 

 generally safe in the midst of a swamp. Insects, too, 

 are there, the "Rose-moth," Hyria Aurora ria, the 

 " Beautiful underwing," Anar'ta Myrtil'li, and many 

 more, but the larger ones seldom so plentiful as the 

 smaller. 



It is at the same period that, wherever draining has 



