A BOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS. 
75 
chance, and not at all searching closely, the score of the shrubs 
chosen by the Lathraea, April ioth, was: — Ash, 76 ; Maple, 44 ; 
Hazel, 14; Spindle-tree, 5 ; total, 139. In the last habitat, April 
12th, Mr. Bull, after finding 14 examples in a wood contiguous, 
counted for me 165 all under maple, in 19 clumps, all of which, 
except one, were on the sheltered side, and hp found one cluster 
of the Toothwort numbering no less than 25 ; the largest aggregate 
that I had found elsewhere was 30 under ash. It is plain that 
the parasite is more omnivorous than many think. 
The Lathraea (so called from its “ lying hid ”) is a wonderful 
plant, much like the Orobanche, its kinsman, but much more 
plucky, even during March winds and frosts. It is wonder- 
ful that this dainty growth should be able to survive during frosts. 
It owes much to its deep-set large knotted root-stock, which has 
been likened to honeycomb, but is more exactly like a humble bee’s 
nest. It creeps in the moss on the sheltered side, and many 
examples come up with the blade of the stem deflected towards 
the ground. Its red, vinous-looking anthers (something like 
those of a blanched gladiolus) on a stem inches long, as 
was one that I removed from a maple, are the symbol almost 
unique among flowers of brave endurance in the winter, which 
it now has to surmount in bare exposure after its former history 
of sheltering forest life. It is mentioned in White’s Selborne among 
rarities, but in two of our now four habitats it has been known 
twenty-five years. In the cold spring of this year, on seeing the 
rare bloom in March, one might wish that one had the constitution 
of a Toothwort, scales and all! But then the drawback is, one 
would have to live upon somebody else ! 
H. D. Gordon. 
Harting Vicarage, April 28. 
A BOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS. 
The Selborne Society must contain a goodly number of authors among its 
members. In the notices of books specially adapted to the lovers of nature, 
which have been given in Nature Notes, we have been able each month to head the 
list with the work of a Selbornian. In this May number we give the place of 
honour to Professor Hulme’s Wayside Sketches (Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge). Professor Hulme has done as much as any author of recent times 
to popularise the study of flowers by his well-known books, in which pen and 
pencil combine to render that pursuit attractive. In several instances to our own 
knowledge, the “ pictures ” in Familiar Wild Flowers have first led to the 
study of botany by those who previously had considered it one of the driest of 
sciences. In the Principles of Ornamental Art, and Suggestions in Floral 
Design, the great value of flowers and leaves to the artistic designer is exempli- 
fied by admirable illustrations, and in Mythland, Professor Hulme collected a 
store of those quaint legends concerning plants and animals in which he takes so 
much delight. Put we confess that the present work, called by the modest title of 
Wayside Sketches, is to us the most pleasing of all. It is an enthusiastic plea for 
Nature-study, and is thoroughly calculated to communicate the authors 
enthusiasm to his readers. Interesting facts in Natural History, quaint anecdotes, 
