CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES, 
273 
the whorls more scattered upon a thinner and longer axis, we can easily under- 
stand how the bracts, retaining their shape, should assume the appearance and 
size of leaves, and that the flowers, in the midst of this development of herbaceous 
parts, should become the largest and least numerous. This, in short, is the 
whole mystery, and this remarkable form is only due to a greater distension of 
the parts of the inflorescence. 
Lythrum alternifolium therefore ranks no longer as a species, or even as a 
variety, since this form, which one may, so to speak, produce at pleasure, is the 
result of mere c\l?^ncQ.^-~~>Annales des Sciences Naturdles^ Nov. 1836. 
CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Temerity of the House Swallow (Hifundo urbica ).—On passing, a few 
weeks since, along a narrow road way, between a range of out-buildings and a 
garden wall, 1 was surprised by the sudden passage of some dark body, immediately 
over my head. I at first suspected it was a stone, but on quickly looking up, 
found that it was a House Swallow that had just passed me. As I stood 
wondering at what could induce the bird to approach so close, I received another 
visit of the same kind, and after this several more, the bird passing each' time 
within three or four inches of my hat. The next day, walking along the same 
road, I received a like salutation, and then discovered that the Swallows had a 
nest in the out-houses. This sudden darting at my head, with loud snaps of the 
bill, evidently for the purpose of driving me from the nest, continued several 
days; and although a party of Swallows generally assembled in the air, above 
my head, I found that only one pair were.engaged in active service. Each day 
they became more bold, and every attack was attended by a kind of scream 
preceded by a loud chatter. I was never attacked as long as I kept a respectful 
distance from the nest. About ten days or a fortnight after the first attack, I 
resolved to peep in the nest, and effected this amid the screams and dartings of 
the agitated owners. I found in it young birds fully fledged. On looking into 
the nest the following day I found that the young birds were gone, but the 
attacks of the parents were renewed as usual. This, however, was the last time, 
for I have ever since been allowed to pass the spot unmolested. Since noticing 
the foregoing fact I have experienced similar treatment from another pair of 
House Swallows, but the attacks were not so violent as in the former instance, 
amounting to nothing more than a slight chattering, and darting past me at the 
