[Footnote 17: It is but fair to add, however, that Vogt and others contend for the animal origin of this substance, and regard the _Protococcus nivalis_ as simply a development of the infusoria, _Disceræa nivalis_.] [Footnote 18: Macmillan, "Footnotes from the Page of Nature," pp. 141-143.] [Footnote 19: The two temperate zones together represent perceptibly the half, or 0.520, and the torrid zone, two-fifths, or, more exactly, 0.398, of the terrestrial surface.] [Footnote 20: That is, muttering, marmot-wise, one's prayers.] [Footnote 21: Byron.] [Footnote 22: Also called the Golden-crested Wren.] [Footnote 23: C. Vogt, Agassiz, und seiner Freunde geologische Alpenreisen, p. 181. Frankfort, 1847.] [Footnote 24: A flower with a stalk is called _pedunculate_ or _pedicellate_; without a stalk, it is _sessile_.] [Footnote 25: Pliny, "Historia Naturalis," xxv. 18.] [Footnote 26: Dioscorides, "Materia Medica," iv. 191.] [Footnote 27: Tragus, "Historia Stirpium" (ed. 1552).] [Footnote 28: Tournefort, "Histoire des Plantes" (ed. 1727), i. 74, 75.] [Footnote 29: _Turnsole_, a colouring substance made of coarse linen rags, which, after being cleaned and bleached, are dipped into a mixture of ammoniacal matter, and the juice of the _Crozophora tinctoria_.] [Footnote 30: Leaves are said to be _linear_, when the veins do not spread out, but run from the base to the extreme point.] [Footnote 31: A _stigma_ is the continuation of the cellular tissue of the style, and has sometimes projecting cellules of hairs.] [Footnote 32: A whorl, or ring, of _bracts_ (floral leaves) is so called.] [Footnote 33: Diodorus, i. 43.] [Footnote 34: Pliny, "Historia Naturalis," xxiv. 188.] [Footnote 35: Dioscorides, iv. 30.] [Footnote 36: Theophrastus, "Historia Plantarum," i. 10; xi. 2, 4.] [Footnote 37: Tournefort, "Histoire des Plantes," ii. 54.] BOOK II. SPRING-TIME. Now that the Winter's gone, the earth hath lost Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost Candies the grass, or calls an icy cream Upon the silver lake or crystal stream; But the warm sun thaws the benumbèd earth, And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth To the glad swallow; wakes in hollow tree The drowsy cuckoo, and the humble bee; Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring In triumph to the world the youthful Spring; And valleys, hills, and woods, in rich array, Welcome the coming of the longed-for May. --THOMAS CAREW. 'Tis silence all, And pleasing expectation. Even mountains, vales, And forests, seem impatient to demand The promised sweetness. Man superior walks Amid the glad creation, musing praise, And looking lively gratitude. --THOMSON. [Illustration] CHAPTER I. _WHAT MAY BE SEEN IN THE HEAVENS._ "Blue the sky, Spreads like an ocean hung on high." --BYRON. [Illustration]