210 
ORASS OP PARNASSUS. 
singing and skipping for very \rantonness, because 
the sun was shining so gaily, and the late sh6wer 
had made the tender grass so green and toothsome. 
And then the dragon-flies I Gauze-winged beauties 
with fiat yellow bodies, delicately alighting for an 
instant on some dead twig; chasing each other 
vehemently across the swampy pools, or dashing 
Avildly before your face in their eager pursuit of 
prey. 
As we approached the shores of the lake, we 
traversed a marshy spot fragrant with mint, and 
covered here and there with great patches of tansy 
and southernwood. Here, also, gleaming amid the 
rushes, were the pure white flowers of the Grass- of 
Parnassus. Hundreds of little green tree-frogs 
were squatting flat on the broad leaves of the colts- 
foot ; and anon, a warty toad scrambled through 
the moist grass, or a graceful harmless snake 
glided silently towards the water. In the shallow 
parts of the lake itself we saw green patches of 
Trapa natans, a water plant, its four-horned curious 
fruit, and radiating leaves with buoy-like footstalks, 
