52 CAEYOPHYLLACE.E. 



specimen in a corn field close to Marazion, near Penzance. 

 The whole plant is very hairy and sticky. 



The Variegated Catchfly (S. quinqueviilnera), is very pretty, 

 the white petals being adorned with crimson blotches. The 

 stems are forked and the leaves small. It grows on waste 

 ground about Clevedon, where Fanny got her specimen. 



The Nottingham Catchfly (S. niitans), also favours the coast 

 of Somerset. It is an unassuming flower with deeply-indented 

 white petals. It is very fragrant at night, and droops gracefully 

 from rocks. 



The Night-flowering Catchfly was found between Thirsk and 

 Ripon, in Yorks. It is rare, has pale flowers opening at 

 sunset, and closing by day, and its stem is much forked. 



The rare species, erroneously named " Common " Catchfly, 

 and the Striated, and Italian species, are very doubtful natives. 



I first saw the beautiful little Moss Catchfly (S. acaulis), 

 in Switzerland, whence my brother-in-law brought me a sod 

 of it, as large, and just fitting into, the crown of his straw 

 hat. The pot was covered with the large rose-coloured blos- 

 soms, so that only here and there a portion of the moss-like 

 foliage was seen. A similar but smaller piece was afterwards 

 brought to me from Snowdon. The stem is only half an inch 

 high, and bears the upright bell-shaped blossom on its 

 summit. 



Next to the Catchfly family comes that of the Soapwort, of 

 which we have but one British species (Saponaria officinalis, 

 Plate IV., fig. 10). It is the handsomest plant of the tribe, 

 grows two feet high, and bears a cluster of from five to ten 

 pale pink flowers at the summit of its wand-like stem. It 

 grows freely on the Castle Hill at Richmond and near Catterick 

 Bridge. It is more plentiful among the Alps than with us ; 

 and, on account of its soapy quality, the Alpine Shepherds 

 use it to wash their flocks. A decoction of the plant, boiled, 

 makes a sufficiently good lather to wash linen. 



The next family of the tribe is the Campion family, which 



