204< WILD FLOWERS. 



odordta, is, I believe, also frequented by this bird. 

 Does the plant nourish any peculiar insect on which 

 the nightingale habitually feeds ? 



The Latin name of Vwla, whence our violet, is 

 by some authors supposed to have arisen from the 

 gradual corruption of wtula, but others trace its 

 relationship to the Greek ion, with the prefixed v or 

 /, so generally retained in Latin. 



The sweet violet is not the only one used by the 

 rustic practitioner. The dog-violet (V. canlna) 

 which, in spite of all our predilections, has really a 

 prettier blossom than its more valued and favoured 

 sister is used to cure cutaneous disorders, and mixed 

 with milk, it forms a highly-prized cosmetic. In 

 mountainous and sunny districts the flowers of this 

 violet are of great size and of a brilliant colour, 

 though the plant becomes proportionably dwarfed ; 

 while, in barren and sandy " dunes/' there is satis- 

 factory reason to believe that it dwindles into the 

 V. flavicornis of some botanists. This plant, with 

 the three following, belongs to the subdivision of 

 the violets which are furnished with an evident 

 stem; the remaining three British species being 

 stemless, or nearly so. 



The so-called cream-coloured violet (V. lactea), is 

 a rare species, occurring on high and heathy land, 

 and bearing some resemblance to the V. montdna 

 of Linnseus, but it is now generally considered to be 

 a distinct plant. 



The yellow mountain violet (V. luted) occurs in 

 the wilder districts of Wales, Scotland, the north of 

 England, and also, I believe, in Cornwall. At a 



