38 ON A CHALK SUBSOIL. 



and perhaps the just-opening white umbels of the cow- 

 parsley, which we were too preoccupied with other interests 

 to notice in our previous ramble. Now too perhaps the 

 wood violet, then only in bud, may be in flower, as 

 also in shady spots the pale veined flowers of the wood- 

 sorrel amid its first delicate pink - stalked and silky 

 leaves. Yes, it is to the woods we must go, and there 

 we shall find, perhaps with one exception, all the 

 plants of our previous expedition, and some others 

 as well. Here the yew trees are bearing their curious 

 male catkins; and their young green seeds, each termi- 

 nating a twig, have a drop of sticky liquid at their 

 apex to receive the pollen. We may find also upon them 

 the artichoke-gall produced by the puncture of a special 

 gnat. Here too the green hellebore, and the darker-hued 

 evergreen stinking hellebore, with reddish blotches on its 

 green sepals, are now bearing their little tubular petals 

 filled with poisonous honey; and here in the recesses of 

 some wood we may meet with the leathery bright green 

 clustering leaves and the tough stalks of the spurge- 

 laurel, the evergreen congener of the gay mezereon we saw 

 in the farmhouse garden. Its greenish and inconspicuous 

 tubular flowers have been open for some time, and may 

 have lost both fragrance and honey; but its foliage is 

 always attractive. Primroses may perhaps be absent ; but 

 their place is abundantly filled by the characteristic plant 

 of the district, the true oxlip, or, as it is locally called, the 

 "paigle." With leaves and peduncle much like those of 

 the cowslip, and flowers not as broad as those of the 

 primrose, it has a creamy tint of colour and an apricot-like 

 perfume which are both peculiarly its own ; and, unlike 

 many rarities, in this district, where alone in the British 

 Isles it does occur, it is abundant. 



