THE KNIGHT OF THE POLAR STAR 299 



of heat, recorded by him at Upsala, was on July 3, 1747, 

 at a quarter-past three in the afternoon, when Celsius's 

 thermometer stood at 30 above 0. The greatest degree 

 of cold was 28 below in the night of January 25, 1740. 

 From seven years' observations on the leafing of the 

 oak, it was found never to appear before May 6 (Old 

 Style) or to be retarded beyond May 22. 1 



The British Museum copy of the ' Calendarium 

 Floras ' is the second of a collection of tracts in Latin, 

 Swedish, &c. This tract is interleaved with blank pages, 

 on which additions are written by Dr. Solander. In the 

 same volume is (tract 15) Linnseus's ' Somnus Planta- 

 rum,' the identical copy sent to press by the author 

 for the ' Amcenitates ' : the additions are in his own 

 handwriting, with a specimen plate showing the dif- 

 ferent arrangements of the folded leaves of plants in 

 sleep. 



The thought of this was brought more fully home to 

 him some years later than the making of the Floral 

 Clock, when the seed of the Lotus ornithopodioides 

 sent to him by Professor des Sauvages from Montpel- 

 lier (1754) grew and bore two flowers. One evening, 

 when he went to admire them in the hothouse, they were 

 not to be found. A fresh pair of blossoms came out, and 

 these were again lost, to his great vexation. Neither he 

 nor the gardener could discover them, and could only 

 conjecture a thief. They were folded up asleep, as he 

 discovered in one of his nocturnal perambulations with a 

 1 Smith. 



