06 
THE NATEllALIST ABROAD. 
and bill to desecrate the dryads. Perhaps in the nutting season, or when the 
blackberries are ripe, “children in the wood” may truantize away a happy 
fearful holiday here. September may show the sportive ^squire eager for the 
slaughter of the “ birds ” once a-year, but happily not here now. But who wan¬ 
ders hither to find emotions and pleasures which no one can deny bring the con¬ 
templative mind nearer to the deity ? Alas! none. Though while here forgetful 
of life’s cares and woes, there is a taste of Paradise for all who will seek it. Look 
at the delicate Wood Vetch f Vicia sylvatica), festooning every tree with its blue- 
streaked flowers of transcendent beauty and delicacy; look at those Fritillary 
Butterflies as they hurry past, whose mosaic markings, and the pearly lustre of 
whose under-wings, are matchless in elegance ; behold those bright Campanulas^ 
blue as the bright cserulean, just visible through the net-work of branches before 
us, and with devotion in our hearts, and praise upon our lips, who would not 
wish to be a constant dweller in the wilderness? Well, thank God for this 
glance into the vestibule of his temple ; for if envy, malice, and detraction’s cor¬ 
rosive influence is excluded here, if reflection on these minor works of creative 
wisdom induce the highest and subiimest feelings, what may we not hope when, 
in a superior scene, injustice, error, and ignorance shall be banished for ever ? 
But I must digress no further. An opening suddenly appears in the wood, and 
from its deepest solitude and gloom, we emerge into noontide irradiance, and the 
warmth of light and joy. The field before us swarms with the Green Forester 
(Ino Statices, Leach) covering the flowering grass in all directions, but seen 
only in the field close by, for beyond we totally lose it; though where the Broom 
spreads its scattered bushes, the beautiful Six-spot Burnet (Antlirocera Jilipen- 
dulce) opens its gorgeous green wings to the blaze of day. 
The Hop-yard just before us next invites attention, and for a moment we 
will inspect the plants, now mounted to some height upon the poles, and see the 
condition they present from the attacks of the “ fly.” The “ fly ” is a technical 
term given by the Hop-growers to the Aphis of the Hop (A. humili y, which 
sometimes infests the plants to such a degree as entirely to prevent a crop, 
by drinking up the juices required to bring them to perfection. Hence it has 
been observed, that this apparently insignificant insect is capable of abstracting 
cL453,000 per annum from the treasury of Britain, such a large sum having been 
once deficient from the usual duty paid to government upon Hops.* In all pro¬ 
bability, however, certain peculiarities in the season, when that occurred, com¬ 
bined with the ravages of the Fly to destroy the Hops, and many years may 
roll away before such a circumstance again happens; but undoubtedly some 
plantations suffer in a greater or less degree from the Hop Aphis every j^ear. 
Rusticus in Entomological Magazine. 
