168 
(as the foxglove, harebell, tulip, anemone, etc.); and plants of 
more indefinite association, either believed to open up that which 
is hidden (as the cowslip, flax, sainfoin, forget-me-not, and moon. 
these excels the cowslip in its charm of association, touched by 
Shakespeare’s magic, and so crowned with immortality, No 
lover of Shakespeare will ever see a cowslip without hearing 
again the tricksome fairy singing : 
*¢ In the cowslip’s bell I lie.”” 
Earlier, it was sacred to the Virgin Mary, and before, to the 
German earth-goddess Bertha, whose ‘“ key-flower it was, opening 
by its touch to hidden treasures of gold and jewels.” Similar 
belief i in England found fairy gifts in the five spots of the cow- 
° 
s 
to know that in parts of England there still survives for it the name 
of Fairy’s Cup, and pleased to hear the Lincolnshire folkspeech 
murmuring, ‘The tiny people love to nestle in those an 
bells ; have you not heard soft music pealing from them 
EDWARD SANDFORD aa 
THE MICROSCOPICAL EXHIBIT. 
The exhibition microscopes soa ete in the Journar for Sep- 
tember are now in bea and under them have been arranged ex- 
hibition obj d chiefly ae - lower groups of the plant 
world. The instruments occupy small stands in the west wing of 
the second floor of the Museum Building. In front of the win- 
simplest and | t f plant life. Under the first microscope 
is a preparation showing the vegetative condition of one of the 
slime-moulds, organisms in which the ee of plant and 
animal are so blended or rather are so little differentiated that it 
is nearly impossible to affirm with confidence that they belong 
