MIMULUS MOSCHATUS. 49 



MRS. CLIFFORD. 



That is the Mimulus moschatus, which affords, I believe 

 the strongest instance of musk in the vegetable kingdom. I 

 have seen a perfume distilled from this plant, which is nearly 

 as powerful as the animal musk. 



MRS. F. 



But the Sweet Sultan (Centaurea moschata) emits also a 

 strong musky smell; and this pretty little white flower, 

 Muscaria pinnatifida, is likewise very powerful. 



MRS. c. 



I have a great dislike to the smell of musk; and, when I 

 was in India, I used to be much annoyed by the musk rat, 

 whose smell is so strong, that, if one of these animals passes 

 over a bottle of wine, the subtile particles of the musk pene- 

 trate the cork, and impart so disagreeable a flavor to the 

 wine, that it is impossible to drink it. 



FREDERICK. 



I once kept the caterpillar of a goat moth* for some time, 

 and it smelt as strongly of musk as any of these flowers. 



ESTHER. 



How did you contrive to secure it, Frederick; for the goat 

 caterpillar will eat through a common deal box 1 



FREDERICK. 



My box was coated with tin, and bored with small holes 

 to admit the air. I used to feed the caterpillar mostly upon 

 apples, of which it would eat a great quantity in the course 

 of the day. These caterpillars live, as you know, inside the 

 trunks of willows and other trees; and mine appeared to dis- 

 like the air so much, that, whenever I took the cover off the 

 box, it would spin a web over itself by way of protection. f 



MRS. F. 



The muscular powers,:}: the voracity, the long duration of 



* Cossus ligniperda. t Fact. 



$ According to Lyonnet it has 4041 muscles. 



