84 MEMOIR OF BR. HARVEY. 



sky-blue flowers, " The purest that ever Mere fed upon dew," 

 open early in the morning, and are gone before night, and next 

 morning brings a new offering of beauty. No matter how 

 dark or gloomy the morn may be, or even if it pour rain, this 

 grateful little plant opens her treasury and presents her offering, 

 unlike other selfish things that never put on a civil face save 

 when the sun shines out. I must look for seeds of A. melalenca, 

 and send them. It is on a different scale, much larger than 

 pusilla, with broad white flowers, and dark brown or black 

 centres — an exquisite plant. Hypoxis stellata is the perfection of 

 loveliness. I hope to send some bulbs by M. Mind, it 

 requires more water than most other Cape bulbs. 



To N. B. Ward, Esq. 



Cape Town, March 9, 1837. 



Your welcome letter by Mr. E. has just reached me, 

 and I am much obliged for the Canada balsam, &c, and I 

 have set to work accordingly in preparing objects for my 

 microscope. Your letter was like a spur, and since I got it 

 I have been all activity early and late. At first I was 

 miserably awkward, and daubed myself unmercifully. Doubt- 

 less I should have given up the job as hopeless, if I had 

 not had your beautiful specimens before me, proving that 

 the difficulty was not insurmountable. At last I got more 

 handy, and can now put them up without smearing or dirt. 

 It is a most admirable method, and has but one fault, which 

 is that of rendering some objects so transparent that they 

 become invisible. Many of the more delicate Algse are 

 obliterated altogether. However, I gratefully accept it as a 

 means for putting up peristomes. 1 I am going to mount all the 

 genera of mosses, and some of the remarkable species. I 

 confess, however, I do not see that your method is superior to 

 Mr. Bowerbank's, except perhaps in being less troublesome, nor do 

 I see any advantage in using such large specimens as transparent 

 objects, branches of moss for instance. The true form of a moss 

 leaf is only shown when the object is wet, and a wet object 

 requires glass behind it, and how you are to manage with yours 

 I cannot see. I think you will find the balsam the best for 



1 The teeth, or membranes that surround the mouth of the capsule of mosses. 



