176 LETTER XLIII. 



is one of the most beautiful of our annual exotics, with 

 its intensely deep purple corollas, and Starry Scabious 

 (S. stellata), although not very pretty when in flower, 

 is often found in gardens, where it is cultivated for the 

 sake of its curious heads of seed-vessels, terminated 

 by dry starry cups. In this country, the meadows, 

 pastures, and corn-fields, are often enamelled by one or 

 two native species, of which we will select what is com- 

 monly called the Devirs-hit Scabious (Scabiosa succisa, 

 P/a/eXLIV. 2.); a strange name, which originated in 

 a popular belief, in former days, that his Satanic 

 majesty bites off the end of its roots ; in proof of the 

 truth of which, their black colour and abruptly-broken 

 extremities are safely appealed to. 



The root-leaves of this plant are obovate and un- 

 di\-ided, those of the stem are coarsely toothed, while 

 the uppermost are narrow, sharp-pointed at each end, 

 and quite destitute of toothing. The flowers are a 

 bright clear blue, and collected into round balls, 

 at the top of long, slender, bristly peduncles (fig. 1.); 

 in general appearance they very much resemble those 

 of a compound flower, only they have not a distinct 

 involucre ; in the exact details of structure there are, 

 however, several important differences, as you will see. 

 To understand the matter fully, take one single floweret 

 away from the others, and study it by itself; the re- 

 mainder are like it. In the first place, you will remark, 

 that it is subtended by a narrow sharp-pointed bract 

 {fig. "2. a.), fringed with long delicate hairs. It 

 appears to have a double calyx; the exterior being an 

 inferior, pale, greenish- white cup (fig. 2. b.), with five 



