UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 131 



nine thousand feet the European grains abound, 

 advancing upwards in this order ; wheat, then 

 rye, and then barley. The larger esculent seeds 

 of the grasses were named, by Linnaeus, Cere- 

 alia, from Ceres : he included rice, wheat, rye, 

 barley, oats, millet, and maize." 



This morning we were talking over all we had 

 learned yesterday from Miss P. about the grasses, 

 when my uncle invited us to his study, and 

 showed us some dried specimens of feather- 

 grass which grows in Europe, and is larger and 

 more curious than the pretty little species that 

 you have in Brazil. The feather is six inches 

 long, with a kind of a spiral form at the lower end, 

 which twists or untwists according to the degree 

 of dampness in the atmosphere. We held a 

 piece of it over the urn at tea, by which it was 

 instantly put in motion, so that it would make a 

 very nice hygrometer. 1 wish I was acquainted 

 with Harry and Lucy, and I would send them 

 the bit rny uncle gave me. Miss P. says that, 

 as the seed ripens, the flower closes over it into 

 a sharp point, and that as the stalk is slightly 

 barbed, it works its way into the ground by the 

 effect of damp acting on the twisted part. 



2lst, Sunday. I asked my uncle this morn- 

 ing to explain what he meant by the Levitical 

 dispensation, and by the New dispensation, to 

 which he has so frequently alluded. 



