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Show [ 26 ] Winds round the ihadowy rocks, and pancied vales, And fcents with fweeter breath the futntner-gales. With artlefs grace and native eafe Lhe charn1s, 2 4 5 And bears the horn of plenty in her anns. Five rival Swains their tender cares unfold, And watch with eye aikaucc the treafured gold .. with fuch acrid matter that no infects penetrate it. In Hellcboru , hellebore, the mar}.y neCt:aries a.re placed in a circle like little pitchers, and add much to the beauty of the flower. In the columbine, Aquilegia, the neClary is imagined to be like the neck and body of a bird, and the two petals !landing upon each fide to reprefent wings; whence its name of columbine, as if refembling a ne(l of young pigeons fluttering whil!l their parent feeds them. The importance of the neCl.ary in the economy of vegetation is explained at large in the notes on part the fir!l. Many infeCts are provided with a long and pliant probofcis for the purpofe of acquiring this grateful food, as a variety of bees, moths, and butterflies: but the Sphinx Convolvuli, or unicorn moth, is furnifhed with the mofl remarkable probofcis in this climate. It carries it ro\lcd up in concentric circles under its chin, and occafionally extends it to above three inches in length. This trunk confifls of joints and mufclcs, and feems to have more verfatile movements than the trunk of the elephant ; and near its termination is fplit into two capillary tubes. The excellence of this contrivance for : obl1ing the ~owers of t~eir honey, keeps this beautiful infect fat and bulky; though 1t fl1es only 111 the evemng, when the flowers have clofcd their petals, and are thence more difficult of accefs; and at the fame time the brilliant colours of the moth contribute to its fafety, by making it miflaken by the late fleeping birds for the flower it refls on. Befides the.fe there is a curiou~ contrivance attending the Ophrys, commonly called the Bee-orchis, and the Fly-orchis, with fome kinds of the Delphinium, called Beelarkfpurs, to preferve their honey; in thcfc the nectary and petals refemble in form and colour the infects which plun~ler them; and thus it may be fuppofed, they often efcape. thef~ hourly robbers, by havtng the appearance of being pre-occupied. See note on. Rul:!ta, ann Conferva Polymorpha. [ 27 1 Where rears huge Tenerif his azure crefi, Afpiring DRABA builds her eagle neft; Her pendant eyry .icy caves furround, \Vhere edl: Volcanos tnined the rocky ground. Pleafed round the Fair four rival Lords afcend The fhaggy fiecps, two m.enial youths attend. High in the fetting ray the beauty ftands, And her tall ibado-vv waves on difiant lands. Oh, :ll:ay, bright habitant of a1r, alight, .Ambitious VI seA, from thy angel-·flight !- 255 Drttba. I. 1250. Alpina. Alpine Whitlow-grafs. One female and liK males. Fout -of thefe males !land above the other two ; whence the name of the clafs " four powers." I have obferved in feveral plants of this clafs, that the two lower males arife, in a few days after the opening of the flower, to the fame height as the other four, not being mature as foon as the higher ones. See note on Gloriofa. All the pbnts of this -clafs poffefs fimilar virtues; they are termed acrid·and antifcorbutic in their raw fl.atc, as mu!lard, watercrefs ; when cultivated and boiled, they become a mild wholelome food, as cabbage, turnt:p. There was formerly a Volcano on the ~eake of Tcnerif, which became extinct about .the year 1684. Philo f. Tranf. In m:my excavations of the mountain, much below the fummit, there is now found abundance of ice at all feafons. Tench's Expedition to Botany Bay, p. 12. Are thefc congelations ·in confequence of the daily folution of the .hoar-fro!l, which is produced on the fummit during the night? · 1/ifcum. 1. 258. Mifleto. Two houfes. This plant never grows upon the ground; the foliage is yellow, and the berries milk-white; the berries are fo vifcous, as to ferve E2 |
