102 BLUE SUCCORY. 



for a salad ; and the Prench blanch the leaves 

 of our common Blue Succory for a winter 

 salad, and term it Barbe du Capucine. Horace 

 celebrates some kind of Chicory as among the 

 herbs of his frugal fare, but it is doubtful to 

 which of the species he alludes. 0\u' Blue 

 Succory blossoms during July and August, and 

 its stem is often three feet high. The flowers 

 are occasionally white; and Curtis remarks, 

 that the fine blue colour of the petals is con- 

 vertible into a brilliant red by the acid secretion 

 emitted by the ant. He says, " Mr. Miller, 

 the engraver, assured me, that in Germany the 

 boys often amuse themselves in producing this 

 change of colour, by placing tlie blossoms on 

 an ant-hill.'* This secretion, which is ejected 

 by the wood ant when irritated, and called 

 formic acid, is very powerful. The Blue Suc- 

 cory is a common flower of many European 

 countries, and most plentiful in France and 

 Germany, though it is there, as in our lands, 

 rare upon the sandy soils. 



