
          677.

tongue.  Mr. W. kept iritating [irritating] it with his umbrella, but although
it seemed to be intensely angry, no amount of provocation would
make it strike.  It kept watching Mr. W., however, and as he
went around the snake, it kept turning, keeping its eyes all the
time towards him.  In this experiment, Mr. W. went behind me
so that I was between him and the snake, yet it apparently
did not notice me.  Although the snake, would not strike
when irritated with the umbrella, it took quickly advantage
of the moment, when Mr. W. brought his hand near it.  It
struck forward very quickly, opening its mouth very wide.  Notwithstanding
its quickness,  Mr. W. was quicker, and escaped its thrust.
After collecting the Erythronium we started to retrace our steps
to R. As it was nearly noon we stopped at the meadow
below our Gentian place to eat dinner.  We had stopped to
see our plant on our way up the road.  Its dried withered remains
may still be seen, no longer upright as during the fall
when it was in its glory,  but bent over due to the sliding
downward of the soil.  From the appearance of the capsules
it seemed to have matured seed;  these, were now empty,
however.  I looked carefully for seedlings, but failed to recognize
        