

THE COMMON NETTLE. 13 



fully treated by poets in all ages, who seem to feel 

 gratified when they have called it by a few hard 

 names, or made a few ungoodly comparisons respect- 

 ing it ; yet, if it boast no great outward beauty 

 of its own, it, at least, gladdens our eyes with the 

 bright and beautiful butterflies and other gorgeous 

 insects to which it affords shelter and nourishment. 

 For entomologists tell us, that in Britain alone, up- 

 wards of thirty species of insects are nurtured solely 

 by the nettle-plant. Amongst these are our most 

 beautiful butterflies, namely, the brilliant Red Ad- 

 miral (Vanessa Atalanta) ; the Peacock butterfly 

 (V. Jo.); the familiar, but not less attractive, Tor- 

 toiseshell butterfly (V. urticce), and the Nymphalis 

 gemmatus, which is so pre-eminent for the gorge- 

 ously gemmed feathers which adorn its wings. 



Shakespeare makes the nettle one of the plants 

 wreathed by the hapless Ophelia into her death- 

 garlands : 



" Corn-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples.*" 



And he records an old superstition while he 

 makes the significant moral reflection : 



" The strawberry grows underneath the nettle, 

 And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 

 Neighboured by fruit of sadder quality." 



Such of our readers as may have been in the 

 habit of weeding their own strawberry-beds will, 

 we think, vouch for the accuracy with which this 

 wondrous student of Nature noticed even so mere a 



* Orchises. 



