INTRODUCTION. XXI. 



bijloris, are the earliest, and appear soon after 

 Candlemas, and the purple crocus vermis, and the 

 lilac sort crocus versicolor, come later. The red, 

 the white, and the blue liverwort miemone Iiepa- 

 tica, now Mow. The dog's tooth violet ery^ 

 thronium dens cajiis also flowers, and here and 

 there a few daisies, and the dandelions taraxa- 

 cum dens leonis, are seen in the fields ; and the 

 golden stars of the pilewort ficaria verna are 

 seen on warm and sheltered hanks, and soon comes 

 the \xm^V7 ori }mlmonaria officinalis m the garden. 

 But the most lovely of all flowers at this season 

 are the sweet violets viola odorata, whose per- 

 fume is scented at a great distance in the garden, 

 before the flowers are seen. These, with the 

 heartsease, the primrose, and tlie polyanthus, make 

 up the chief of our hybernal or primeveral flowers, 

 just as the early daffodils are opening their yel- 

 low cups. Nothing can be more agreeable in 

 the fine days which occur at intervals in this 

 season than to walk abroad in the garden and 

 see the floral heralds of the early spring mix here 

 and there with the red flowers of the anenome, 

 which in mild weather, blows at all seasons. 

 The French calendar of 1793, called the early 

 part of this period pluviose, the latter ventose. 



Calendar. — Now comes Candlemas, when 

 the purification of our Lady is celebrated, just as 

 the virgin snowdrops peep above the ground, and 



