THK CUCKOO-PINT. 211 



to account for the old English names of " wake- 

 robin/' and " cuckoo-pint/' and the last has been 

 attributed to some fancied notion that the spathed 

 blossom might hold " about a pint of liquid/' or to 

 the rather more rational idea, that the drop of mois- 

 ture which lies in its depths, and to which we have 

 already alluded, might furnish the cuckoo with a 

 reservoir from whence to quench her thirst : ideas 

 which, though sufficiently matter-of-fact, do not ap- 

 pear at all to partake of the spirit of the age in 

 which the names were bestowed. Yet I can but 

 offer with hesitation the suggestion, that as the 

 British name pidyn y gog signifies the point (spear) 

 of the cuckoo, or pidogyn y gog, the poignard of 

 the cuckoo, or cala'r gethlydd, the pointed-reed, or 

 staff of the cuckoo, it is just possible that the 

 English term may have been a literal translation 

 of the first name, which may gradually have been 

 corrupted from cuckoo's point or dart, to cuckoo's 

 pint. If there be any foundation for this idea the 

 name would, of course, refer not to the large spathe, 

 which forms the body of the flower, but to the long 

 and prettily-coloured spadix, which shoots up in the 

 centre of the spathe. I am,, however, well aware 

 that there is no ground so dangerous as that of 

 etymological coincidence. 



The arum is one of those plants which exhibits, 

 in a very marked degree, the singular and most inte- 

 resting phenomenon of vegetable evolution of heat, 

 and this so strikingly, that the heat existing in the 

 centre, or bottom of the spathe, for several hours 



