214 MY LIFE 



falls, and had an excursion to Brunig, where, in some hilly 

 beech woods, we were greatly pleased to find the beautiful 



Cephalanthera rubra if] fair numbers and in full flower. This 

 is one of the rarest of British orchises, having been found 



only at long intervals in Gloucestershire and Somersetshire. 



I remember! I think about fifty years ago, seeing a newly gath- 

 ered specimen exhibited at the Linnacan Society. Other 

 orchises which occur at similar long intervals arc the beautiful 

 ladies' slipper (Cypripcdium calc coins) in some Yorkshire 

 woods, and the strange goat-orchis (O. hircina) in copses in 

 Kent and Suffolk. In all these cases, no doubt, the plant 

 persists in the respective localities, but is accidentally prevented 

 from flowering, or requires some specially favourable seasons 

 which only recur at long intervals. We then went on to Lau- 

 terbrunnen and the Wengern Alp, where we stayed two days, 

 botanizing chiefly among the woods and slopes near the Trum- 

 inetthal. We were, however, so dreadfully persecuted by 

 swarms of blood-sucking flies, which filled the air and covered 

 us in thousands, piercing through our thin clothing, that we 

 returned home some days earlier than we had intended. 



In 1896 I wrote three articles. " How best to model the 

 Earth," in the Contemporary Review (May), was a discussion 

 of the proposal by Elisee Reclus to erect an enormous model 

 of the globe, about four hundred and twenty feet in diameter, 

 giving a scale about one-third smaller than our ordnance maps 

 of one inch to a mile. It was to be modelled in minute detail 

 on the convex side, and would therefore require to be com- 

 pletely covered in by a building nearly six hundred feet high, 

 and would need an elaborate system of platforms and stair- 

 cases in order to see it, while only a very small portion of it 

 could be seen at once, and accurate photographs could only be 

 taken of very small areas. My proposal was to adopt the plan 

 of Wyld's great globe in Leicester Square, many years ago, 

 giving all the detailed features on the inside surface, while 

 the outside could be boldly modelled in some indestructible 

 material to show all the chief physical features, which might 

 also be coloured in fresco as naturally as possible, and would 

 then be a grand object seen either near or at a distance, while 



