MOUSE-TAIL GLOBE-FLOWEB. 17 



few will look upon its glossy star-like petals without a tlxrill 

 of joy at the mute announcement that the hard, cold winter 

 is past, and the time of the singing birds and budding blos- 

 soms is come. The Lesser Celandine has more petals than 

 the other members of its family, and undivided spade-shaped 

 leaves and tuberous root ; so it is well distinguished from the 

 rest. 



We have three distinctly marked white species : one with 

 hairy leaf and short stem, which frequents the summit of our 

 highest mountains (Eaminculus alpina) ; one with an ivy- 

 shaped leaf and tiny flower, growing in water (E. hederaceus) ; 

 it is a frequent ornament of ponds in Yorkshire, Cheshire, 

 and elsewhere. The third is the prettiest and most frequent 

 of the white species, covering ponds and the margin of lakes 

 with its fragile white blossoms, while its stems extend many 

 feet, bearing round five-lobed fleshy leaves on the upper part, 

 which float like the flowers on the surface of the water, and 

 thread-shaped much-divided ones on the lower part, which are 

 always immersed (R. aquatilis, Plate I., fig. 5). 



The little Mouse-tail (Myosurus minimus), with its spiked 

 cluster of tiny flowers, claims a near relationship with the 

 Buttercups, because of its many carpels and stamens fastened 

 to the receptacle. It is an inhabitant of gravelly fields, but 

 has never rewarded my research. 



A much more natural relation of the Buttercups is the 

 Globe-Flower (Trollius europseus, Plate J., fig. 7). Its petals 

 are larger and of a paler hue, and more numerous than those 

 of any of the Buttercups ; they are all cupped, and meet in 

 the centre so as to enclose the stamens and carpels in a 

 perfect globe. We used to be very proud of it, as it grew 

 in great luxuriance in a corner of a shady field bordering the 

 road between Eichmond and Eeeth. There were but a few 

 plants, but we felt them most precious. But last June we 

 were making an excursion across the Swaledale Moors to 

 visit one of the numerous lead mines with which those hills 



c 



