OR, PLAIN 



entirely strip the hedges of their 

 foliage. They are of a dusky 

 colour, with two red lines on the 

 back, and a white streak on the 

 sides., interrupted at intervals. 

 In 1782, they were found in 

 such numbers that the people 

 of a single parish in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Clapham, London, 

 gathered 80 bushels of their 

 webs. These webs are useful 

 in some delicate processes of 

 surgery. 



3 4 



665. 



The blackthorn, 4, puts forth its 

 snowy -white flowers, even earlier 

 than the whitethorn. Gilbert 

 White observed that "this tree 

 usually blossoms while cold 

 north-east winds blow ; so that 

 the harsh rugged weather ob- 

 taining at this season, is called 

 by the country people 'blackthorn 

 winter.' " In countries where 

 the blackthorn abounds, the effect 

 of its white blossoms upon the 

 hedges, is like that of light 

 snow, or hoar frost. The fruit. 



TEACHING. 26 1 



3, is a Jittle round plum, which 

 is generally covered by a rich 

 purple bloom. These little 

 plums have a sour acrid taste, 

 but the flavour greatly improves 

 after frosts have set in, and the 

 sloes, known as " winterpicks,'' 

 are employed by the rustics in 

 the manufacture of a home-made 

 wine. This thorn is the favou- 

 rite habitation of the blackthorn 

 moth* (called also the figure of 

 eight), whose full-grown cater- 

 pillar is two inches long, of a 

 yellowish green colour, with 

 three pale stripes. The cater- 

 pillars of several other moths 

 feed upon the leaves, such as the 

 lobster, the egger, the dagger, the 

 green-brindled dot, the brimstone, 

 the brimstone moth, &c. 



The buckthorn, 5, is probably 

 so called from a fancied resem- 

 blance of its branches to a 

 buck's horn. The flowers, 6. 



5 



6 7 



660. 



are of a greenish yellow colour, 

 and these are followed by nu- 

 merous small round berries, 7, of 

 a bluish black colour when ripe, 



* E pis:' mn caruloeephala. 



