NATURE KNOWLEDGE AND ITS LACK 99 



of this nature-knowledge was borne in upon us 

 when called upon to adjudicate on some collections 

 of wild flowers. The specimens sent in had to. be 

 named, free reference to books or teachers being 

 allowed, the result being that woody nightshade 

 was called dead nettle, betony became bugle pro tern, 

 selfheal was re-named as mint, yellow rattle for the 

 nonce was hop, valerian was called yarrow, and, 

 perhaps most extraordinary of all, the bulbous crow- 

 foot, the commonest of all our British buttercups, 

 was transformed, so far as erratic nomenclature 

 could effect the change, into a primrose. The 

 spelling included such eccentricities as saxifridge, 

 for-get-me-not, crainsbill, meadow-sweat, butercup, 

 dandeloin, tormentle, and hycanth. 



The columbine is depicted on Plate VII., the right- 

 hand flower being the normal wildling, and the left- 

 hand one a double variety. The small size of our 

 plate scarcely enables us to do justice to the beauty 

 of the foliage. 



The red valerian, the Centranthus ruber of the 

 botanist, is another plant that thrives well on rock- 

 work. It is really a plant of the Mediterranean 

 basin, but has for centuries been thoroughly accli- 

 matised, being found freely on old walls, cliffs, the 

 sides of chalk-pits and railway cuttings, and, especi- 



the answer to the question " What is a rodent animal ? " was 

 " One that goes on roads." " What is anatomy ? " " That 

 which tells us about gnats." 



