818 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



need be little fear of mites, but a little cam- 

 phor can be kept in the cabinet. Just a word 

 as to the choice of specimens for the her- 

 barium, and I shall have. done. Each speci- 

 men should be chosen so as to show the 

 characteristics of the species, thus, fruit 

 should be present where this is essential, as 

 in plants ©f the Qruciferce, Umbellifera, 

 Cyperacea, &c. Entire plants should always 

 be mounted when not larger than the her- 

 barium sheets. In the case of large plants 

 where the radical leaves are of specific use in 

 naming, they should be shewn, but all these 

 points are best learnt by practical work, 

 which I now heartily commend to anyone 

 who wishes to be the happy possessor of an 

 herbarium. 



A FLORAL CLOCK. 



By T. P. So utter, Bishop Auckland. 



The vigils of flowers, or their sleeping and 

 waking periods, as represented by the alter- 

 nate expanding and closing of their blossoms, 

 has always been a very obvious and well- 

 marked feature of their existence. Not only 

 have Naturalists noted the phenomena and 

 rural rustics observed it — in certain districts 

 they are said to regulate their dinner-time by 

 the closing flowers of the yellow goat's-beard 

 — but the poets, ever the first to see the 

 workings of Nature in her varying moods, 

 have sung in sweet and simple strains of the 

 silent slumber of the flowers. Thus Chaucer, 

 in singing of his favourite flower, the " daisie," 

 which he calls " The emprie, and the floure 

 of fiouris all," says : — 

 As soon as enr the su me ginnith West, 

 To sene this floure ho 7 it will go to rest ; 

 For fear of night so h iteth she darknesse 

 Here chere is plainly spread in the brightnes.se 

 Of the sunne, for there it will unclose. 

 And in more recent times the Ettrick Shep- 

 herd, in one of the most delightful and 

 popular of his pastoral lays, sings : — 



When the Blewart bears a pearl 

 And the Daisy turns a pea, 



And the bonnie Lucken-gowan 

 Has fauldit up her ee, 



Then the laverock frae the blue lift, 

 Drops down and thinks nae shame 



To woo his bonnie lassie 

 When the kye comes hame. 

 As a scientific amusement the result of ob- 

 serving this peculiar movement of flowers has 

 been the construction of various arrange- 

 ments of plants to represent a floral dial or 

 clock, wherein the various hours were marked 

 with some degree of precision by the opening 

 or closing of certain flowers. The great 

 Linnaeus constructed one in which the hours 

 were marked solely by the opening of the 

 blossoms, but as many of the plants are un- 

 known in England and represented only by 

 unpronounceable names, the following list of 

 English plants, which are quite as accurate 

 and more accessible, may prove equally 

 interesting : — 



Yellow goat's-beard or ) 

 noontide (Tragopodon prat- I opensat III a.m. 

 ense ) j 



Wild succory, or chicory / 

 (Cichorium intybus ) [ 



Common nipplewort (Lap- ) 

 sana communis I \ 



! 



i Buttercup ( Ranunculus bullosas ) ,, VI. 

 ! White water-lily (Nymphoea alba ) „ VII. 



Scarlet Pimpernel (Ana-) 



gallis arvensis ) \ 



Proliferous pink (Dianthus J 

 prolifer) \ 



Lesser celandine (Ranun- ) 

 cuius ficaria) \ 



IV. 



V. 



VIII., 



VIII. , 



IX. . 



opens at XI. 



Common nipplewort [Lap- ) lo at x 

 sana communis) \ ' " 



Common Star of Bethle- j 

 hem, or Lady Eleven ' 

 o'clock (Ornithogalum urn- ( 

 bellatum) ) 



Yellow goat's-beard (Trag- ) . 



opodon pvatense) \ Cl ° ses at A - A - n ' 



Proliferous pink (Dianthus ) 

 prolifer) \ 



Scarlet pimpernel (AnagalU\ 

 is arvensis) j" 



Rough dandelion (Leontodon \ 

 hispidon) ) 



Wild succory (Cichorium 

 ntybus 



p.m 



II. 



III. 



IV. 



