Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter — John Shaqi
Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other MatterWalter, J. Conway (James Conway)
History
Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood: Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter
Walter, J. Conway (James Conway)
Woodhall Spa (England)
Mary’s” thistle, because its white-veined leaves were
traditionally said to have been lashed with the virgin’s milk, it is
doubtless a survivor from the gardens tended and cherished by the monk of
old. The Botrychium Lunaria (moonwort) and Ophioglossum (adder’s tongue)
are found within 300 yards of the Baths (occasionally intermittent for a
season); the Trichomanes (English maidenhair) grows in one solitary place
on the inner walls of a closed well, though entirely unknown anywhere
else for many miles round. Several varieties of ferns grow very
luxuriantly. Before leaving the botany of the neighbourhood, I would
direct the reader to an appendix at the end of this volume, giving a list
of a considerable number of plants with their local vernacular names,
which was compiled for me by a naturalist, who made this subject his
special study during a prolonged sojourn at Woodhall Spa.
There are several different mosses, and a great variety of fungi.
This varied flora conduces to a corresponding variety of insect life. On
one of the occasions referred to above, the following beetles were
found:—Loricera Pillicornis, Geotrupes Spiniger, G. Stercorarius,
Elaphras Cupreus, Leistotrophus Nebulosus, Hister Stercorarius, Aphodius
Fœtens, A. Fimitarius, A. Sordidus, 22-Punctata, and Sphœridium
Bi-pustulatum.
Of butterflies there is not a great variety. The Papilio Machaon
(swallow-tail) used to be common about the reedy pools and bogs near the
Moor; but owing to drainage and clearance none have been seen for several
years. The huge heaps of the aromatic ant were formerly very common in
the woods close to the Spa, but the eggs being a favourite food for the
pheasant, and collected by the keepers for that purpose, there seems to
be none left.
CHAPTER IV. DENIZENS OF THE WOODS, &c.—BIPEDS.
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