THE MOONWORT. 75 



edge of the river. But the plant must be looked for at 

 the time indicated ; for by the third week of June the 

 beauty of Hierochloe has passed away, and by the first 

 of July the herbage has become so rank that the Holy 

 Grass, now ripe, and turned of a silky brown, and is com- 

 pletely hidden from view. Farther up, between Giese 

 and a section of boulder clay a little below Todholes, 

 the plant may likewise be picked in hundreds. Hiero- 

 chloe has never failed to appear in these localities 

 during the last twenty years."* 



The Eoyal Botanical Society afterwards sent Dick a 

 special vote of thanks for his paper, and also for the 

 specimen of the plant which he had sent for the Bota- 

 nical Gardens. 



To return to his botanical wanderings. His sister, 

 who lived at Haddington, was very delicate, and he 

 often tried to amuse her with the descriptions of his 

 walks in the country. 



In the beginning of July he writes to her as follows : 

 " I have had two walks one of five miles, the other of 

 ten miles. The five miles' walk was to see a fern called 

 the Moonwort. It grows in abundance in a spot not 

 far away. I shall never forget the strange wonder with 

 which I first saw it. So I again walked off to the locality, 

 where I knew it grew in all its glory. The season has 

 been very dry here, and the fern has not attained its 

 usual height. Nevertheless I found it. During my 

 journey I saw much to admire. 



* Annals of Natural History, October 1854. Botanical Society of 

 Edinburgh. 



