FEINGED PINK CATCHFLY. 51 



fragrant flowers were held. In olden times the petals were 

 used to flavour the wine-goblet. 



This pretty specimen with fringed petals I brought from 

 Switzerland. It is deliciously fragrant (D. barbatus). It 

 grows in Roslin woods and on the banks of the water of Leith 

 above Edinburgh. It is fitly named the Fringed Pink. 



The Maiden Pink (D. deltoides), with its small flowers and 

 dark circle in the centre, and forked stem, is a trophy from 

 Blackford Hill, near Edinburgh, where it flowers from July to 

 September. 



I have the Mountain or Cheddar Pink (D. caesius, Plate IV., 

 Jig. 5), gathered and sent me from the Cheddar rocks in Somer- 

 setshire, so famous for their beautiful caverns. Its colour is 

 fuller than that of the other Pinks, with the exception of the 

 last-named. 



Another family of the Pink tribe is that of the Catchflies. 

 The puffed calyx of the Bladder Catchfly causes it to be so 

 named (Silene inflata). It grows on waste ground in all 

 counties. The Latin name of the genus, Silene, was that of a 

 youth in classic fable, who was employed by Minerva to catch 

 flies for her owls to eat. One day she caught her messenger 

 indulging in a nap when he should have been taking his pre} r , 

 and the goddess, in angry indignation, turned him into a plant, 

 and gave him a viscid juice upon his stem which should catch 

 flies for ever. 



The Sea Catchfly (S. maritima), closely resembles the Bladder 

 Catchfly ; but its calyx is not quite so inflated, and its flowers 

 are larger and of a clearer white. Altogether, it is a prettier 

 plant. Fanny describes it as mingling with the bright blue 

 Bugloss and yellow Charlock in the gay drapery of the cliffs at 

 Looe, in Cornwall ; and it has been sent to me from various 

 places on the south coast. 



The English Catchfly (S. anglica), is a much less graceful 

 plant. The flowers grow from the sides of the scarcely- 

 branched stem : they are pale pink. Fanny gathered this 



