THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



355 



corolla, the slender style coming through 

 between and overtopping them. The anthers, 

 especially the two lower ones, are furnished 

 with a peculiar appendage — a sort of spur 

 which projects downwards iuto the tube of 

 the corolla — so that an insect visiting the 

 flower in endeavouring to reach the nectar 

 must necessarily brush against the anther 

 and dislodge the pollen, which dusting its 

 body is thus carried to another blossom. 

 As this plant is an annual, it is entirely 

 dependent upon the production of seeds for 

 the perpetuation of the species, and this is 

 greatly favoured by the intercrossing of 

 flowers producing a more robust progeny. 

 A similar iliustration of the wonderful 

 correlation of plants and insects is furnished 

 by a closely allied common plant, the red 

 Bartsia (Bartsia odontites). This is also an 

 autumn bloomer, and is often very abundant 

 in poor grass and cornfields, preferring a 

 stiff clay soil which is undrained and thus 

 retentive of moisture. It is frequently met 

 with about farm-yards and roadsides, parti- 

 cularly where the soil has been recently 

 disturbed. It closely resembles the eye- 

 bright in general habitat although taller and 

 stouter in all its parts, and the ends of the 

 branches curve outwards in a singularly 

 graceful Prince of Wales's feather fashion. 

 Its flowers have the tube of the corolla 

 longer than the eyebright, and the nectar 

 can only be efficiently reached by humble- 

 bees, whilst the four anthers are so inter- 

 locked by projecting hairs that each visit of 

 a bee must dislocate the whole, bringing a 

 shower over the insect's body, and thus 

 ensuring the dispersion of the pollen. Still 

 close and minute observers have stated that 

 this plant is not yet fully adapted to sur- 

 rounding circumstances, as bees have been 

 seen to insert their proboscis above the 

 stamens, and thus to rob the nectar without 

 aiding to fertilize the flower. But, notwith- 

 standing the high character of bees for 

 ingenuity and industry, they are prone to 



such nefarious pranks, for they have been 

 repeatedly observed to gnaw a hole at the 

 base of the corolla of common red clover 

 and thus obtain easy and surreptitious 

 access to the nectar instead of sucking it 

 through the tube in a legitimate manner. 

 To return to our eyebright, its common 

 English name betokens the high repute in 

 which it was formerly held for an eyewash 

 and which it still retains in popular practice, 

 for few of our native plants have so wide- 

 spread a reputation in rustic medicine. An 

 old legend has it that the linnet used it to 

 clear its eyesight, hence a local name for it 

 is " bonnie burd eyne." Although the name 

 of eyebright has been appropriated by cer- 

 tain poets, and as a popular name in some 

 districts to the brilliant blue flowers of the 

 germander speedwell (Veronica chamedrys). 

 This is the true euphrasy of Milton, where 

 in the XI. Book of Paradise Lost, he makes 

 the angel Michael with wondrous potency 

 purge the eyes of Adam. 



" But to nobler sights, 

 Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed, 

 Which i hat false fruit — that promised clearer sight 

 Had bred ; then purged with euphrasy and rue 

 The visual nerve, for he had much to see ; 

 And from the well of life three drops instilled ; 

 So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, 

 Even to the inmost seat of mental sight, 

 That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, 

 Sinks down, and all his spirits become entranced." 



The name Euphrasia is a corruption of 



Euphrosyne, the goddess of mirth, for which 



see Milton's L'Allegro. By some this is 



supposed to refer to the gaiety or beauty of 



its flowers ; by others to its clearing or 



purifying powers, thus dispelling the morbid 



cures of melancholy. But however pleasing 



this humble little wild blossom may be to 



the ardent botanist or enthusiastic admirer 



of nature's loveliness, it does not find much 



favour with the farmer, for it is shrewdly 



suspected of being partially parasitical upon 



the roots of grasses and hence injurious to 



the crop. It is often gregrarious, and may 



be seen forming dense compact patches in 



old pastures, but it is rarely if ever seen on 



rich soils or highly cultivated tracts. 



