?,24 HALF-HOURS IN THE ftEBEN LANKS, 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE GREEN LANES. 



'ONE will deny that the flowering plants of 

 our lanes and meadows form the central 

 point in any country stroll taken for 

 the purpose of studying natural history. 

 To leave them out would be a greater omission than 

 that of the character of Hamlet from Shakespeare's 

 celebrated play. Even if we were inclined to 

 neglect plants, we cannot do so and study other 

 branches of natural science. The entomologist must 

 know the leading species, seeing that on them many 

 of the larvae of the insect he seeks find their proper 

 food. Our wild flowers are distributed everywhere, 

 and are adapted to well nigh every condition of 

 physical existence. They are the delight of child- 

 hood, the objects of investigation to mature science, 

 and those of contemplation to the philosopher and 

 poet. Take them out of existence, and we should 

 lose the finest passages and references in the best 

 writers of all ages and all countries. 



