54 
EQUISETACE/E. 
evident avidity on the great water horse-tail {Equisetum Jluvla- 
tile), which the Laplanders call Aske^ though it was in a dry 
state, and though they will not eat common hay. How unac- 
countably negligent” he continues, “are the Laplanders, not to 
collect in the course of summer a stock of this plant, and of the 
rein-deer moss {Lichen rangiferinus)^ for winter fodder ! They 
would then have some provision for the herd, when the country 
is covered with an impenetrable crust of frozen snow, and not 
hazard the loss of all they are worth in the world.”^ There 
seems to be very contradictory evidence, even within the range 
of our more immediate observation, as to its being eaten by 
horses, cows and sheep. I have seen it growing luxuriantly in 
ponds in Herefordshire, in situations accessible to cattle, but I 
never could perceive that a stem had been eaten ; but more re- 
cently, in the ditches which intersect the rich pasture land in 
the Isle of Hogs, I observed that nearly every stem within reach 
from the bank had been cropped at a nearly uniform height : 
horses, horned cattle and sheep, are constantly feeding in these 
meadows. We learn from the following passage, extracted from 
Mr. Knapp’s amusing ‘ Journal, ’t that this Equisetum is a favo- 
rite food of the common water-rat, [Arvicola arjiphihia). “ A 
large stagnant piece of water in an inland county, with which I 
was intimately acquainted, and which I very frequently visited 
for many years of my life, was one summer suddenly infested 
with an astonishing number of the short -tailed water-rat, none 
of which had previously existed there. Its vegetation was the 
common products of such places, excepting that the larger por- 
tion of it was densely covered with its usual crop, the smooth 
horsetail [^Equisetum Jiuviatile~\. This constituted the food of 
* ‘ Lachesis Lappoiiica,’ ii. 107, of Sir J. E. Smith’s translation. The fol- 
lowing parallel passage occurs in the ‘ Flora Lapponica,’ p. 322. Rangiferi, 
Lapponum pecora, foenum per hyemem non adsumunt facile, hinc Lappo 
noctes diesque eos per sylvas ducere tenetur. Obtuli circa autumnura redeun- 
tibus ex longo itenere Rangiferis fasciculum foeni, et ohservavi eos banc plan- 
tain seligere et adsumere, reliqua fere intacta relinquere. Annon itaque hocce 
Equisetum majorem oeconomiee lapponicae usum adferre posset, incolis judican- 
dum relinquo. 
Journal of a Naturalist, page 143. 
