90 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



terminating with the peculiar flower of the plant ; and 

 long stripes of verdure are interspersed among the gray 

 rocks and seared vegetation, marking the progress of 

 the little rivulets, as they pursue their irregular course 

 down the hill-side into the valleys. The lowlands, so 

 magnificent in autumn, when covered with the flowers 

 of the purple aster and the golden coreopsis, are now 

 mostly covered with a sheet of ghstening waters, put 

 into constant agitation by the multitudes of frogs that 

 are tumbling about in the shallows, as they are engaged 

 in their croaking frolics. 



If you wander, after the middle of the month, along 

 the alluvial borders of the streams, you may discover 

 the newly risen flowers of the fetid hellebore, (Ictodes 

 fcetidus,) the greatest vegetable curiosity of the season, 

 resembling some monster with a spotted helmet, just 

 peeping his head above the surface of the earth. It is 

 a medicinal herb ; has a dragonlike aspect when it first 

 appears, and conceals its flowers, which are curious and 

 not inelegant, beneath a blood-stained hood, strongly 

 marked with green and purple. In similar situations 

 you may find the elegantly mottled leaves of the dog- 

 tooth violet, the American erythronium ; and, if the 

 season be forward, its beautiful lilylike flowers, nod- 

 ding as if it were dangerous to exliibit a full view of 

 their charms, and hiding their heads beneath the broad 

 leaves which, at a distance, are the only conspicuous 

 parts of the plant. 



The odors that perfume the atmosphere in early 

 spring are chiefly exhaled from the flowering trees and 

 shrubs ; in summer they proceed from the herbage and 

 flowers that cover the surface of the earth. Many 

 trees and shrubs are already in blossom ; but a whole 

 month wiU elapse before the green fields will be brightly 



