The Bear Larinus 



the three foregoing species and more simply 

 clad. She is sprinkled with small yellow- 

 ochre spots on a black ground. 



Her most sumptous establishment, as far 

 as I know, is a majestic horror to which the 

 botanists have given the very expressive name 

 of the prickly thistle (Cirsium ferox, D. C.). 

 The moorlands of Provence have nothing in 

 their flora to equal its proud and menacing 

 aspect. 



In August this fierce-looking plant raises 

 its voluminous white tufts and with its lofty 

 stature overtops the blue-green clumps of 

 the lavender, that lover of stony wastes. 

 Spread in a rosette on the level of the soil', 

 the root-leaves, slashed into two series of 

 narrow strips, call to mind the backbones of 

 a heap of big fish burnt up by the sun. 



These strips are split into two divergent 

 halves, of which one points upwards and the 

 other downwards, as though to threaten the 

 passer-by from every angle. The whole 

 thing, from top to bottom, is a formidable 

 arsenal, a trophy of prickles, of pointed nails, 

 of arrow-heads sharper than needles. 



What is the use of this savage panoply? 

 Its discordance with the usual vegetation 

 67 



