158 BLADDER CAMPION. 



was formerly called Spatling. The botanical 

 name of the genus is formed from the word 

 Saliva, and the English name refers also to 

 the viscid secretion of several of the species. 

 In the Bladder Campion this is not very great, 

 but in some it is so profuse that the stems 

 and leaves are to be seen covered with small 

 black insects, which they have attracted, and 

 then held prisoners. We have ten native 

 species, and some are interesting on account 

 of their beinoj ni^ht-bloomino; flowers. The 

 night-flowering Catchfly {Silene 7iodifiord), 

 with large reddish- white blossoms, is delici- 

 ously scented in the evening. No less fragrant 

 are the flowers of one variety of the Nottingham 

 Catchfly. This is by some writers called Silene 

 2oaradoxa, It grows on Dover Clifis, and 

 hundreds daily pass it during May, and see 

 only the white blossoms, looking as if the sun 

 had withered them. Yet by six o'clock in the 

 evening, the grassy spots seem whitened by 

 its stars, and the perfume appears to the 

 author to be more powerful than that of any 

 other wild flower. 



