154 
individual. We should be sorry to have the plant exter- 
minated, and we take this opportunity of warning our 
country friends not to give too great publicity to the 
subject. The angler does not disclose to every individual 
the spot where he would be likely to get most sport, and he 
would be particularly careful not to do so if he found a 
person of a greedy and poaching propensity. It was feared 
that cultivation would rob us of our jewel. This has not 
happened. Still the precious gem remains. Let us now so 
watch over the Tlower of the Axe, that while we will show 
to the student of nature how it still exists, we will not give to 
the invading foe the opportunity of tearing it up root and 
branch. 
Our Lobelia ^ very much resembles that which is found in 
gardens. The corolla or flower is divided into two parts or 
lips. The upper lip is again divided into two, and the lower 
lip into three parts. The flower is of a violet hue. The stem 
is nearly upright. The lower leaves are inversely egg-shaped 
or oblong, and slightly toothed. The upper leaves are lance- 
shaped and serrate. The flowers are in a loose cluster, and 
appear in the months of July, August, and the early part 
of September. Why this plant should have flxed on this 
particular spot, and be found wild in no other place in 
Scotland, England, or Wales, is indeed a mystery. Many 
plants are considered to be naturalized and only an escape 
from gardens. No botanist has ever doubted that this is a 
thoroughly wild plant, and that no cultivation was ever the 
cause of its visiting these regions. There are many places 
in England, and in Devonshire, where the soil and climate 
seem to be precisely similar, and yet it has never been 
discovered in any of these places. There is no unvarying 
rule for nature’s productions. 
With regard to the different species of the animal and 
vegetable tribes, it is sometimes extremely difficult to 
account for their locality. In the bleakest regions we 
occasionally meet with tropical plants, and in the torrid 
zone we light on fruits and flowers alone to be expected in 
our colder clime. There is, however, sufficient regularity 
to reward and to amuse the student of natural history. 
^ See Plate IV. 
