AUGUST. 283 



Latifolium) many of the pods have opened, and show the 

 cottony down attached to the seeds, which makes it un- 

 pleasant to approach them on a windy day, the down being 

 so fine as to penetrate the mouth and nostrils, being borne 

 along in clouds. 



C. Are not these large Sun-flowers some that have de- 

 generated from gardens ? 



F. No : much as they resemble them, they do not even 

 belong to the same genus : this is the false Sun-flower 

 (Htlenium Autumnale), a native of this country. The 

 disk is smaller in proportion to the rays, than in the Sun- 

 flower. Here is another fine, but very common plant, the 

 Great Mullein ( Verbascum Nigrum) ; its leaves are of a 

 very soft and spongy character : its height is commanding, 

 and its bright yellow flowers, spotted with scarlet, possess 

 great delicacy and beauty. Some people have a notion that 

 the leaves of this plant, strewn over grain, will prevent the 

 depredations of mice, but I believe it is unfounded. 



C. See yonder bright rainbow ; the " bow in the 

 cloud ! " 



F. There is, perhaps, no natural object more beautiful 

 than a perfect rainbow, backed by a dark cloud, when the 

 sun is low. The real or principal rainbow is always at- 

 tended by another more faint, outside it, in which the 

 colours are reversed, the violet being outward. But I once 

 observed one which was treble. It was at sea in winter 

 time : the colours of the bow were remarkably vivid, and 

 within the main bow was another adjoining it, the prismatic 

 colours recurring in their proper order, and not reversed : 

 the violet was succeeded by red, orange, yellow, &c. till it 

 ended in violet ; in fact, making one broad bow, containing 

 two sets of colours. The inner set was fainter, but quite 



