44 DOINGS OF THE BLACK DOG 



movement, and retards flowering until the danger of a 

 severe check is over. 



In a forward season like the present, it is interesting to 

 observe the dates when garden plants first showed bloom 

 in the open. I have noted the following this winter 



Adonis amurensis (a new species) . December 18. 



Bear's Foot (Helleborus fatidus) . December 25. 



Snowdrop December 27. 



Cyclamen count .... December 29. 



Winter Aconite .... January 2. 

 Carpathian Snowflake (Leucoium 



vernum carpathicum) . . January 7. 



Spring Heath (Erica earned) . January 10. 



Eranthis cilicicus (Cilician ebonite) . January 20. 



White Hepatica .... January 20. 



Blue Periwinkle .... January 25. 



Scttla bifolia .... January 28. 



Purple Crocus .... January 27. 



Yellow Crocus .... January 29. 



Besides these, we have had more than the usual allow- 

 ance of garden primroses crimson, white, mauve, and 

 Wilson's blue wallflowers (especially the priceless little 

 double yellow), lungwort, and hybrid hellebores, the last 

 being now as fully in flower as we are accustomed to see 

 them in Lent, whence their name of Lent roses. 



XIII 



If it is a far cry to Loch Awe, it is a still further one to 

 Doings of Stra th Ullie. Much further, indeed, one may 



not fare without falling into the Pentland 

 Firth. And it is a blind lottery what climate 

 you find on arriving, for the land north of Moray Firth 



