ON THE LINKS 119 



all over the plain, and until we have climbed 

 a little way up the mountain slopes. Under the 

 most favourable conditions for growth, the flower 

 is large in proportion to the stem and leaf. Here 

 it seems all flower together, quite top-heavy with 

 blossom. One must look carefully before he dis- 

 covers the delicate leafage. 



The common bedstraw forms other large patches 

 of yellow. I have noticed that, when growing in- 

 land, and there is no commoner roadside form, the 

 flower has an extremely pleasant, if somewhat 

 wild, odour. There it shares with the white clover 

 the function of scenting the summer day. Here 

 the sweetness has departed, while the wildness 

 remains, and is intensified. 



It is not easy to explain this deficiency in sea- 

 side plants. Where sight fails, scent is supposed to 

 act as a second guide to the insect in search of the 

 plant. It may be more needful, where the luxuriant 

 leafage of inland scenes hides away the colours, or 

 where the plant is playing bo-peep behind the 

 hawthorn hedge, or has retired several yards 

 within the shadow of the wood, or is nestling 

 under the steep bank, than on a flat scene 

 of bare vegetation and profuse blossoming. 

 No insect with half an eye could miss the 



