HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i53 



outline and mark D and H, or hang in a contempla- 

 tive drowse as the bank declines to the setting sun ; 

 and, on the other hand, it is quite noticeable that, 

 while the typical oxlip displays its heart-shaped 

 leaves, like the one that we have marked F, most of 

 these transitional forms retain the imposing battle- 

 dore ones of the primroses. Why the mountain 

 oxlips weep thus gracefully in saffron attire, it would 

 be hard to affirm, but a plant we will portray and 

 mark G, shows one floweret more drooping than the 

 rest, in consequence of a heart-shaped hole which 

 some insect, doubtlessly a short-tongued bee, has 

 vexatiously bitten in its neck after having nibbled 

 off a point of the calyx. Evolution, or strong 

 necessity, we must presume, has an iron gauntlet ; 

 and it is only needful to watch the humming-bird 



about that all the cowslips could be distinguished 

 from the buff-coloured oxlips by their sea-green 

 leaves and blunt calyx tips ; does it not rather seem 

 true that everything changes with its surroundings, 

 and according to its affinities ; the article in Science- 

 Gossip, Vol. 28, pp. 225-6, by J. H. Barbour, will 

 convince any one that primroses are not conservative. 



The black squirrel of the Valais is gambolling in 

 the ravine among the wild laburnum and beech, now 

 sitting on its hind-quaters, and now seeming as 

 though it hung by the tip of its tail, in order to gather 

 and munch at its ease the brown husks that it scatters 

 in memory of the year so brightly gone. Let us 

 gain the foot of the hill and spread the plants that 

 we have gathered upon the deal-table in yonder 

 arbour, beneath the commingling glow of the Paulo- 



Fig. 81. — Change of Environment. Oxlips become Primroses on the Primrose ban!;. 



moth insert its thread-like sucker into the needle-eyed 

 Biattthiis flumarius and squarrosus that adorn the 

 rockery until its mouth bobs against their clove- 

 scented frills, to know that what is food for the crane 

 is out of reach of the fox. Certain primroses besides, 

 as those we will indicate by D and E, display a 

 simple flower as a satellite to an umbellate head of 

 blossom, which reminds us strongly of our new 

 gigantic dandelions and Knautia, and, indeed, in the 

 succulent stalks of B and C when held against the 

 light, ribby lines of fibre may be seen corresponding 

 in number with the flowerets, and indicating fascia- 

 tion. In conclusion, most botanists, on seeing our 

 sketch, would be ready to remark that the free-born 

 bees had been at work crossing the primulas to 

 produce a surprise, but then, despite their faint, 

 sweet incense dear to honey-makers, how comes it 



nia and Judas trees, the tall cousins of the foxgloves 

 and peas whose metamorphosis recalls the strangest 

 tales of the " Thousand and One Nights." See, we 

 have already placed in our green receptacle certain 

 flowers of the bladder-campion, stained a delicate 

 or rich rose-colour, which we have grabbed up at the 

 side of the dusty track by which we ascended ; they 

 have often purplish stems and diminutive narrow 

 bladders, and we know that it is likewise a capricious 

 plant desirous of producing new races, for did not a 

 downy one establish itself in the botanical gardens at 

 Glasgow, until they were covered over with opulent 

 residences? and then maritima, whose thin spreading 

 stalks and ample leaves and petals recall our far- 

 famed boating and bathing exploits, is just supposed 

 to be i?ij!ata naturalised on the wave-washed turf that 

 it holds in heritage. Let us now stoop and pick a 



