208 LILIACE.E. 



it is to be found all along the coast of Devon and Cornwall 

 It expands its blossoms early in the autumn, and the leaves 

 spring when the flowers have faded. 



The Two-leaved Squill (S. bifolia,j%. 4), is the prettiest of 

 the set ; it has a few bright flowers arranged in a spike, and 

 the turn of the stem is very graceful. Its two leaves are broader 

 than those of the other species, and often tinged with crimson. 

 My specimens are from a garden. 



The Wild Hyacinth (Hyacinthus nonscriptus, Plate XVI., 

 jig. 9), abounds in woods in spring. I have never visited a 

 locality where it was not to be found. People will call it 

 "Bluebell;" and certainly its flower is bell-shaped and blue; 

 but the true " Bluebell" is. the Harebell. The bulb of the 

 Wild Hyacinth grows very deep into the ground ; its flowers 

 have six petals and six stamens ; and the whole plant abounds 

 in a thick juice which was formerly expressed to make starch. 

 The roots are unwholesome, and when used in mistake for 

 Onions have caused serious illness. All my Yorkshire speci- 

 mens are blue ; but I have them of pink and white from that 

 delightful remnant of Selwood Forest. The Latin name means 

 not written. There is an old legend that " Ai (alas) " was deci- 

 pherable on the Hyacinth leaves, but this species lacks the 

 markings which in others were ingeniously construed into 

 letters, and is, therefore, the "Unwritten species." I fancy 

 that Percy Bysse Shelley must have been at a " Lily Pic," and 

 gathered the Hyacinth of three colours, for he writes 



" And the Hyacinth purple, and white, and blue, 

 Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew 

 Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, 

 It was felt like an odour within the sense." 



It must have been of the pink variety that the story is told, or 

 more probably of a deeply-tinted foreign species ; it states that 

 Apollo, " a being fraught with all earth's richest gifts," was 

 bound in a close friendship with young Hyacinthus. Zephyr 

 loved Hyacinthus too ; but Hyacinthus had no room in his heart 



