148 May The Common Arum. 



have been observed in the act of seeking the larva in 

 the froth, and that the rustic observer had concluded 

 the froth to be the cuckoo's own saliva ; after which 

 it might have been noticed that an insect came out of 

 such froth, whence the conclusion that vermin was 

 engendered from the saliva of the bird. And what a 

 strange old notion it was that the cuckoo travelled 

 on the back of a kite, which was thought to be amia- 

 ble enough to submit to the inconvenience of such a 

 burden ! It is almost impossible to imagine any ob- 

 served fact which may have given rise to such an 

 improbable myth as this. 



Whether or not the cuckoo takes any particular 

 interest in the common arum, it is a valuable fore- 

 ground plant for artists, being one of the earliest in 

 the season of those whose leaves are large enough to 

 be of some consequence in a picture. The only misfor- 

 tune about it is a love of shelter, which makes it grow 

 almost always in situations where it is half concealed, 

 such as nooks and thickets, and shady places under 

 hedges. One of the earliest of our botanical expe- 

 riences is a feeling of astonishment about its peculiar 

 way of flowering, and the incipient botanist is sure to 

 feel at the same time interested and puzzled by the long 

 spike and the leafy spatha, which he always remembers 

 afterwards. 



