the ends of which they often draw into their holes; even in copulation their hinder parts never quit their holes ; so that no two, except they lie within reach of each other's bodies, can have any commerce of that kind; but as every individual is an hermaphrodite, there is no difficulty in meeting with a mate, as would be the case were they of different sexes.

SNAILS AND SLUGS

The shell-less snails called slugs are in motion all the winter in mild weather, and commit great depredations on garden plants, and much injure the green wheat, the loss of which is imputed to earth-worms; while the shelled snail, the pepéouros, does not come forth at all till about April 10th, and not only lays itself up pretty early in autumn, in places secure from frost, but also throws out round the mouth of its shell a thick operculum formed from its own saliva; so that it is perfectly secured, and corked up as it were, from all inclemencies. The cause why the slugs are able to endure the cold so much better than shell-snails is, that their bodies are covered with slime as whales are with blubber.

Snails copulate about Midsummer; and soon after deposit their eggs in the mould by running their heads and bodies under ground. Hence the way to be rid of them is to kill as many as possible before they begin to breed.

Large, grey, shell-less cellar snails lay themselves up about the same time with those that live abroad; hence it is plain that a defect of warmth is not the only cause that influences their retreat.

SNAKES SLOUGH

"There the snake throws her enamelled skin."

SHAKSPEARE, Mids.-Night's Dream.

About the middle of this month (September) we found in a field near a hedge the slough of a large snake, which

436 OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES

seemed to have been newly cast. From circumstances it appeared as if turned wrong side outward, and as drawn off backward, like a stocking or woman's glove. Not only the whole skin, but scales from the very eyes, are peeled off, and appear in the head of the slough like a pair of spectacles. The reptile, at the time of changing his coat, had entangled himself intricately in the grass and weeds, so that the friction of the stalks and blades might promote this curious shifting of the exuviae.

"Lubrica serpens

Exuit in spinis vestem."-LUCRET.

It would be a most entertaining sight could a person be an eye-witness to such a feat, and see the snake in the act of changing his garment. As the convexity of the scales of the eyes in the slough is now inward, that circumstance alone is a proof that the skin has been turned not to mention that now the present inside is much darker than the outer. If you look through the scales of the snake's eyes from the concave side, viz. as the reptile used them, they lessen objects much. Thus it appears from what has been said, that snakes crawl out of the mouth of their own sloughs, and quit the tail part last, just as eels are skinned by a cook maid. While the scales of the eyes are growing loose, and a new skin is forming, the creature, in appearance, must be blind, and feel itself in an awkward uneasy situation.

OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES

TREES, ORDER OF LOSING THEIR LEAVES ONE of the first trees that becomes naked is the walnut; the mulberry, the ash, especially if it bears many keys, and the horse-chestnut come next. All looped trees, while their heads are young, carry their leaves a long while. Apple-trees and peaches remain green very late, often till the end of November: young beeches never cast their leaves till spring, till the new leaves sprout and push them off: in the autumn the beechen-leaves turn of a deep chestnut colour. Tall beeches cast their leaves about the end of October.

SIZE AND GROWTH

Mr. Marsham of Stratton, near Norwich, informs me by letter thus: "I became a planter early; so that an oak which I planted in 1720 is become now, at 1 foot from the earth, 12 feet 6 inches in circumference, and at 14 feet (the half of the timber length) is 8 feet 2 inches. So if the bark was to be measured as timber, the tree gives 1161 feet, buyer's measure. Perhaps you never heard of a larger oak while the planter was living. I flatter myself that I increased the growth by washing the stem, and digging a circle as far as I supposed the roots to extend, and by spreading sawdust, etc. as related in the Phil. Trans. I wish I had begun with beeches (my favourite trees as well as yours), I might then have seen very large trees of my

insect is of the genus of synips. Some poplars in the garden are quite loaded with these excrescences.

CHESTNUT TIMBER

John Carpenter brings home some old chestnut trees which are very long; in several places the wood-peckers had begun to bore them. The timber and bark of these trees are so very like oak, as might easily deceive an indifferent observer, but the wood is very shakey, and towards the heart cup-shakey (that is to say, apt to separate in round pieces like cups) so that the inward parts are of no use. They are bought for the purpose of cooperage, but must make but ordinary barrels, buckets, etc. Chestnut sells for half the price of oak; but has sometimes been sent into the king's docks, and passed off instead of oak.

LIME BLOSSOMS

Dr. Chandler tells, that in the south of France, an infusion of the blossoms of the lime tree, tilia, is in much esteem as a remedy for coughs, hoarsenesses, fevers, etc. and that at Nismes, he saw an avenue of limes that was quite ravaged and torn in pieces by people greedily gathering the bloom, which they dried and kept for these

purposes.

Upon the strength of this information we made some tea of lime blossoms, and found it very soft, well-flavoured, pleasant, saccharine julep, in taste much resembling the juice of liquorice.

BLACKTHORN

This tree usually blossoms while cold N.E. winds blow; so that the harsh rugged weather obtaining at this season, is called by the country people, blackthorn winter.

least inconvenience. So oaks may be barked while the leaf is budding; but as soon as they are expanded, the bark will no longer part from the wood, because the sap that lubricates the bark and makes it part, is evaporated off through the leaves.

RENOVATION OF LEAVES

When oaks are quite stripped of their leaves by chaffers, they are clothed again soon after Midsummer with a beautiful foliage: but beeches, horse-chestnuts and maples, once defaced by those insects, never recover their beauty again for the whole season.

ASH TREES

Many ash trees bear loads of keys every year, others never seem to bear any at all. The prolific ones are naked of leaves and unsightly; those that are sterile abound in foliage, and carry their verdure a long while, and are pleasing objects.

SYCAMORE

May 12. The sycamore or great maple is in bloom, and at this season makes a beautiful appearance, and affords much pabulum for bees, smelling strongly like honey. The foliage of this tree is very fine, and very ornamental to outlets. All the maples have saccharine juices.

GALLS OF LOMBARDY POPLAR

The stalks and ribs of the leaves of the Lombardy poplar are embossed with large tumours of an oblong shape, which by incurious observers have been taken for the fruit of the tree. These galls are full of small insects, some of which are winged, and some not. The parent