Early in the morning I left Gräno, and in passing through the forest observed on the Juniper magnificent specimens of that gelatinous substance, about which and its heroic virtues in curing the jaundice so much has been said[37]. I picked up a curious insect which I then named Cantharis niger maculatus et undulatus (Cicindela sylvatica), and which I afterwards met with in great abundance throughout the pine forests of this province, though rare elsewhere, flying or running with great celerity along the roads and paths. Here also it was my fortune to see a rare bird not hitherto described. If I am not mistaken, it is what Professor Rudbeck called Pica Lapponum. I could only examine it through my spying-glass, but I perceived all the characters of a Turdus, so that I do not scruple to define it Turdus caudâ, rubrâ medio cinereâ. It had moreover the flight and voice of a Turdus, screaming in the same manner. Towards evening I noticed a black sort of Plover, with legs of a yellowish green, and had also an opportunity of killing a Lomm (Colymbus arcticus), which I stuffed, and of which I made a description in my ornithological manuscript. The bill was not toothed.
Towards evening I reached Stocknasmark and Iamtboht, where grew the pretty little Cameraria of Ruppius and Dillenius (Montia fontana), a plant that had never fallen in my way before. In Källheden it was peculiarly abundant, and afterwards I found it common throughout Westbothnia. It is one of the smallest of plants.
The Laplanders in this neighbourhood had set traps to catch squirrels. Each consists of a piece of wood cloven half way down, and baited with a piece of dried fungus with which the animal is enticed. The fungus used for this purpose is an Agaric with a bulbous stalk and crimson cap (A. integer β. Sp. Pl.).
In the huts I observed suspended over the tables two tails of the great female Wood Grous (Tetrao Urogallus), spread so as to make a kind of circular fan, which had a handsome appearance.
The Little Cotton-Grass (Eriophorum alpinum) and the Mesomora (Cornus suecica) grow abundantly in this neighbourhood. About the water were several Ephemeræ. I also caught a little insect of the beetle (or coleopterous) kind, the shells of which were red, the thorax blue with a red margin, the whole shining with a tinge of gold. In Lapland are scarcely any fleas, no bugs, though plenty of lice, nor any frogs nor serpents.
[37] Tremella juniperina of Linnæus, T. Sabinæ of Dickson: see English Botany, v. 10, t. 710, which I am persuaded is merely an exudation from the shrub that bears it.
June 8.
Very early in the morning I set out again on my journey, and in my way examined the Palmated Orchis with a green or pale flower, differing from all others in the shape of its nectary, which is like a bag and not a spur. Hence I have referred it to Satyrium (S. viride). It connects that genus with the real Orchides with palmate bulbs[38].
I remarked that all the women hereabouts feed their infants by means of a horn, nor do they take the trouble of boiling the milk which they thus administer, so that no wonder the children have worms. I could not help being astonished that these peasants did not suckle their children.
About four o'clock in the afternoon I found myself once more at the town of Umoea. Large flies like gnats with great black wings were flying about in the air, which I had before taken, May 27, for some species of Musca; but their peculiar flight now gave me another opinion, which was strengthened by the form of their poisers (halteres) and the round entire figure of their wings. (Empis borealis). Here I found a curious Ladybird (Coccinella trifasciata) of an orange colour, with oblong, not round, spots.
A remarkable change had taken place in the appearance of the country during the fortnight which had elapsed since I was here before. The Aspen trees were then quite leafless; now they were in full foliage; the grass was very dry, and about a quarter (of an ell?) high.
It is a general practice throughout Lapland in the autumn to set traps in the more unfrequented parts of the woods to catch the Wood Grous (Urogallus). Some of these traps were still remaining, but I could never properly observe their construction till I met with one in the course of this day's journey. This machine consists of six parallel pieces of wood, each at a little distance from the next, and all joined together by a transverse piece at each end. Over them the twig of a tree is placed horizontally, one end of it being fastened to the frame, the other introduced into a loop holding a weight. An upright splinter of wood is made to support this twig in an arched position, so that when the bird goes under it to roost, or otherwise touches the splinter, the latter falls down, and the bird is caught.
This being a day of public thanksgiving, I remained at Umoea.
Agues are very uncommon in this country, but St. Anthony's fire seems to be proportionably more frequent, insomuch that every body complains of being troubled with it. At Upsal and Stockholm agues are common, and at Lund acute fevers terminate in that complaint.
Throughout Lycksele Lapland there are no other domestic animals than Reindeer and Dogs. The latter are generally of a hoary grey colour, and a middling size.
The Laplanders use no artificial beverage.
[38] The more correct characters, founded by Haller and Swartz on the anthers, reduce this plant very successfully to the genus Orchis, with Satyrium hircinum likewise.
June 9.
Near the town of Umoea, in a springy spot on the side of a hill, I met with three or four curious species of moss.
1. A kind of Hypnum or Polytrichum, with a branched stem bearing flowers in the form of shields. (Mnium fontanum Sp. Pl. Bartramia fontana Fl. Brit. The male plant.)
From the root arises an oblique stem (a) about half an inch long, entirely clothed with very sharp-pointed leaves. From thence the main stem (b) grows perpendicularly to the height of an inch, of a purple colour, clothed with ovate, acute, membranous, whitish scales, each half embracing the stem. Between the bases of these is a solitary line or rib, into which they are inserted in an alternate order. I imagine the oblique part of the stem (a) to be of autumnal or winter growth, and the upright portion (b) to have been put forth in summer or spring. At the summit of the latter stands a sort of blossom (c), composed of six scales, of which the three lower are opposite and shortest; the three upper larger, ovate, pointed, somewhat spreading, permanent, of a whitish green colour. Within these scales or petals is a flat, or slightly convex, disk, composed of innumerable very slender whitish filaments with reddish tips, much shorter than the surrounding scales. Can these filaments be the stamens? They are by no means rudiments of leaves. One, two or three branches grow out at the base of this flower, the latter being for the most part perennial, and go through the same mode of growth and flowering as the parent plant. The calyx therefore, contrary to the nature of the common Polytrichum, is proliferous from its base.
It is curious that all the flowers, in each tuft composed perhaps of a hundred plants, rise exactly to the same level. It is also remarkable that the new stems form a similar angle to that made by the growth of the preceding year (d), so that the whole assemblage of them is as regularly disposed as a body of soldiers.
2. This moss (Bartramia fontana, the female plant) agrees in many respects with the preceding, but differs in the following particulars. The roots or shoots of the preceding year are quite black, while those of the present season are of a paler or whitish green; nor are the scaly leaves so far remote from each other as that the red stem appears so regularly between them. The plants are also more branched, and less curved. In the last place, this is a fruit-bearing kind, having purple stalks two inches long, each of which sustains a globular head, larger than usual in mosses, bent obliquely, and of a green colour. The calyptra or veil is remarkably small, smooth, and membranous.
3. is a moss (Bryum bimum Fl. Brit. Engl. Bot. t. 1518.) whose stem and leaves partake of a blood-red hue. The latter are regularly and alternately imbricated, oblong, pointed; the upper ones forming a head at the summits of the branches, as in No. 1, but the disk is not exposed, for the lower leaves which surround it are the longest, and the inner ones shortest, just the reverse of No. 1. This No. 3 therefore is the male, and No. 4 the female, both found on the same plant[39]. The latter bears, on a long purple stalk, greenish at the upper part, an oblong pear-shaped pendulous head (or capsule). The veil is very small.
5. is a small Lichen or Marchantia (Riccia) with oblong leaves, contracted in the middle, sprinkled with brown powder.
The annexed figure represents a large kind of gnat caught in the same place (Tipula rivosa).
[39] Here we find the Hedwigian theory of the fructification of mosses forestalled by the good sense and accurate observation of Linnæus, though out of respect for Dillenius he soon after adopted the erroneous opinion of the latter, making what is really the male the female, and vice versa. See Transactions of the Linnæan Society, v. 7. 255. Not being able to investigate every point of systematical and physiological botany thoroughly himself, he, with amiable deference, often trusted to those who had more particularly studied certain subjects.
June 10.
(Here occur in the manuscript long Latin descriptions of Rubus arcticus and Betula nana, which are printed in a more finished state in the Flora Lapponica, ed. 2. 170 and 274.)
June 11.
Being Sunday, and a day of continued rain, I remained at Umoea.
June 12.
I took my departure very early in the morning. The weather was so hazy I could not see the distance of half a gun-shot before me. I wandered along in a perpetual mist, which made the grass as wet as if it had rained. The sun appeared quite dim, wading as it were through the clouds. By nine o'clock the mists began to disperse, and the sun shone forth. The Spruce Fir (Pinus Abies), hitherto of an uniform dark green, now began to put forth its lighter-coloured buds, a welcome sign of advancing summer[40].
Chamædaphne of Buxbaum (Andromeda polifolia) was at this time in its highest beauty, decorating the marshy grounds in a most agreeable manner. The flowers are quite blood-red before they expand, but when full-grown the corolla is of a flesh-colour. Scarcely any painter's art can so happily imitate the beauty of a fine female complexion; still less could any artificial colour upon the face itself bear a comparison with this lovely blossom. As I contemplated it I could not help thinking of Andromeda as described by the poets; and the more I meditated upon their descriptions, the more applicable they seemed to the little plant before me, so that if these writers had had it in view, they could scarcely have contrived a more apposite fable. Andromeda is represented by them as a virgin of most exquisite and unrivalled charms; but these charms remain in perfection only so long as she retains her virgin purity, which is also applicable to the plant, now preparing to celebrate its nuptials. This plant is always fixed on some little turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, as Andromeda herself was chained to a rock in the sea, which bathed her feet, as the fresh water does the roots of the plant. Dragons and venomous serpents surrounded her, as toads and other reptiles frequent the abode of her vegetable prototype, and, when they pair in the spring, throw mud and water over its leaves and branches. As the distressed virgin cast down her blushing face through excessive affliction, so does the rosy-coloured flower hang its head, growing paler and paler till it withers away. Hence, as this plant forms a new genus, I have chosen for it the name of Andromeda[41].
Every where near the road grew the Mesomora or Herbaceous Cornel (Cornus suecica, very minutely described in Fl. Lapp. ed. 2. 39. See also English Botany, v. 5. t. 310.).
All the little woods and copses by the road side abounded with Butterflies of the Fritillary tribe, without silver spots. The great Dragon Fly with two flat lobes at its tail (Libellula forcipata), and another species with blue wings (L. Virgo), were also common.
Various modes of rocking children in cradles are adopted in different places. In Smoland the cradle is suspended by an elastic pole, on which it swings up and down perpendicularly. The poorer Laplanders rock their infants on branches of trees, but those of superior rank have cradles that commonly roll from side to side. In the part of the country where I was now travelling, the cradles rock vertically, or from head to foot, as in the figure.
Close to the road hung the under jaw of a Horse, having six fore teeth, much worn and blunted, two canine teeth, and at a distance from the latter twelve grinders, six on each side. If I knew how many teeth and of what peculiar form, as well as how many udders, and where situated, each animal has, I should perhaps be able to contrive a most natural methodical arrangement of quadrupeds[42].
I could not help remarking that the very best fields of this part of the country, in which from six to ten barns commonly stood, were almost entirely occupied with turfy hillocks producing nothing but Hair-moss, Polytrichum, and that quite dried up. Some of the barns were evidently in a decayed state; which made me suspect this condition of the land to be an increasing evil, and that it had formerly been more productive than at present. Indeed some of these tumps were so close together that no grass had room to grow between them. If the cause of this evil, and a cure for it, could be discovered, the husbandman would have reason to rejoice. Wherever these hillocks abounded, the earth seemed to be of a loose texture, consisting of either mud or clay. When I stepped upon them they gave way, and when cut open they appeared all hollow and unsound. I conceive the frost to have a great share in their formation, which when it leaves the ground causes a vacuity, and the turf, loosened from the soil, is raised up.
The insects which occurred to my notice this day, besides those above mentioned, were the following:
A black Ichneumon, like a Humble Bee, with club-shaped antennæ four lines long, and blueish wings. Its mouth armed with a pair of toothed forceps. Thorax hairy, with several smooth spots interspersed. Abdomen depressed, ovate, rough at the base with greyish hairs, and furnished with a series of scales beneath, see fig. b. Feet pale red, otherwise the general colour of the insect is black. It lives on the willow. (This appears to be the Tenthredo lucorum, a species not preserved in the Linnæan cabinet.)
A small Papilio, of the fritillary tribe, with one silver mark underneath of the form of a shield. See it among those of Petiver collected in Portugal. (This must surely be Papilio C album.)
A greyish Butterfly with feathered antennæ, whose female has no wings. See Swammerdam. (Phalæna antiqua.)
An elegant little blackish Butterfly, besprinkled with snow-white spots like rings, smooth and polished on the under side, was very plentiful in the paths.
A black Tipula was running over the water, and turning round like a Gyrinus or Water Flea. (Cimex lacustris.)
In the wells, the Swammerdamia of Swammerdam and Lister ran about with great velocity. Among these was a very minute insect, which I could not ascertain.
An Elasticus, (Elater, probably the æneus,) of a golden black, with striated cases to the wings, and geniculated antennæ.
A reddish Cantharis, with black antennæ, and light grey cases to the wings.
I now entered the territory of Pithoea. It rained about eleven o'clock for half an hour, otherwise the day was fine.
[40] Linnæus, in the Amœnitates Academicæ, says the Swedish summer is in its highest beauty when "the fresh shoots of the fir illuminate the woods."
[41] Linnæus has drawn this fanciful analogy further in his Flora Lapponica. "At length," says he, "comes Perseus in the shape of Summer, dries up the surrounding water and destroys the monsters, rendering the damsel a fruitful mother, who then carries her head (the capsule) erect."
[42] Here the Linnæan system of Mammalia seems first to have occurred to the mind of its author.
PITHOEA.
June 13.
A very bright and calm day. The great Myrgiolingen[43] was flying in the marshes.
The country here is rather flat, yet now and then considerable hills present themselves, not very high indeed, but abounding in steep declivities. The stones about these hills were variegated, and as if inlaid, glittering with talc; many of them rusty, and spontaneously corroded. On one spot, in the road itself, is produced a brown pale-purplish earth, which is very likely to be useful for painting. The hill where this earth or ochre is found is called Hógmarkbœrget.
At the post-houses of Gremers-mark and Sela, I was told of a mountain about two miles distant, reported to contain copper. Three years previous to my travelling this way, a man had been sent by the Board for Mining Affairs to investigate this mountain; but the peasants of the neighbourhood, in consequence of the threats of the burghers of Umoea, were deterred from giving him proper directions, and put him on a wrong scent. They kept this stranger from the knowledge of Hans Person, a peasant at Webomark, who would have conducted him right. The father of this Hans was the first discoverer of the mountain in question, and undertook a journey to Stockholm with a small barrel of the ore; but before he set off, his neighbours made him drunk, and took out the proper ore, replacing it in his barrel with lumps of granite. His son is now at all times ready to show the mountain to any one who inquires for it, and I had some thoughts of going to find out this man, though his residence was far out of my road. Learning however that he was not now at home, but employed somewhere at a distance in building or repairing a bridge, I thought it useless to inquire any further.
At some few places at which I stopped for refreshment in the course of this day's journey, I procured some of that preparation of milk called Sätmiolk, by some people Tätmiolk. In the neighbourhood grows the plant called Tätgrass, or Pinguicula, with its most curiously constructed flower. When the inhabitants of these parts once procure this plant, they avail themselves of it during the whole year; for they preserve it dried through the winter, and use it as a kind of rennet till the return of spring.
Here also I learned another preparation of milk. After cheese is made, the whey is boiled and skimmed, which operation is repeated till a sediment forms as thick as flummery. This is afterwards dried, and kept in casks for use. It makes an ingredient in bread, and is called Mesosmör.
The fire-places here were furnished with a regular apparatus for boiling the kettle. The Laplanders in general content themselves for this purpose with a large stick, which they place obliquely in the ground, so as to lean over the fire, and on which they suspend either a kettle or a fish; but here they have adopted quite another mode.
A square beam (a) is placed perpendicularly, so as to be turned upon a pivot at its base. To this a transverse beam (b) is fixed by a peg or joint, so that its extremity may be moved up or down, and teeth are cut in this beam, to hang the kettle upon, at a greater or less distance from the upright support. Underneath is another shorter piece of wood (c), forked at the extremity to catch the lower teeth of the last-mentioned beam, and fixed likewise by a joint at its base, in order to be elevated more or less at pleasure. The advantages of this contrivance are many.
1, the materials cost nothing, whereas any iron machinery is expensive.
2, here is no waste, for iron may be employed to more important purposes.
3, this is capable of being raised higher or lower according as the height of the fire may require, which an iron trivet cannot.
4, the iron trivet is troublesome to move about, which this machine does not require.
5, when the trivet happens to lose one of its feet, it is no longer of any use.
6, the circular part of the iron trivet must be proportioned to the size of the kettle it is to support, but this machine will hold any sized kettle.
The fields in this part of the country are excellent, being extensive and level, the soil consisting of sandy and argillaceous earth. The crops are abundant, provided the corn be not injured by frost, as it had been the preceding year. Owing to this misfortune, I found bread made of spruce fir bark at present in general use. The Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) is very seldom used, on account of its bitterness[44].
Flax is scarcely ever cultivated here.
In the evening I strolled out from the post-house at Bumoen towards the sea side in search of natural productions. The brooks close to the shore swarmed with innumerable little oval Notonectæ (Boat-flies), no bigger than nits (N. minutissima); as well as with the lesser ovate Dytiscus, shaded with grey, and known by its blunt cloven sternum. (D. cinereus.) On the beach multitudes of black insects without wings, and half covered with shelly cases, were running about. (Probably Cimex littoralis.) There were also abundance of Ephemeræ (May-flies), all which had two prominent fore feet, and three bristles at the tail. I caught several, thus rendering their transient existence still shorter. They were of two species, one larger, of a blackish hue, with dark clouded wings (E. vulgata); the other about half as large, with a blackish thorax, and white wings. (This does not agree with any species in the Fauna Suecica.)
Not far from the shore, on a small elevation, where the trees and underwood had lately been burnt down, grew the Strawberry-leaved Bramble (Rubus arcticus) with jagged petals, a remarkable and elegant variety. (See Fl. Lapp. t. 5. f. 2.)
[43] What this word expresses I am unable to determine.
[44] Linnæus in the Flora Lapponica, ed. 2. 53, tells us that "in times of extreme scarcity the roots of this plant, dried and powdered, are mixed with a small quantity of meal, and serve to make the miserable bread of the poorer settlers in Lapland, which is extremely bitter and detestable." In the same work, p. 259, he describes an excellent kind of bread made of the roots of Calla palustris, which though acrid when fresh, become wholesome if dried, and boiled afterwards in water, as is the case with its near relation our common Arum, and the Jatropha Manihot, or Casava, of the West Indies.
June 14.
It rained very hard in the course of this day, as well as in the preceding night.
The cornfields hereabouts vary in soil, being sometimes clay or sand, sometimes a good mould, and often a mixture of all three. In general they yield some kind of a crop, whatever the weather may be, except it should prove severely cold, which is the ruin of the country.
The forests are beautiful, consisting of Spruce Fir, Common Fir, and plenty of Birch, so that no part of Sweden is more pleasant to travel through while the summer lasts.
The principal subsistence of the inhabitants is derived from selling deals. The price is sixteen silver styvers (about three English farthings each) for a dozen of deals. Tar is sold at six dollars, copper money, a barrel.
I wish those who deny that certain plants are peculiar to certain countries could see how abundantly the Birch, the Lapland Willow, the Strawberry-leaved Bramble, the Cloud-berry (Rubus Chamæmorus), and the Thyme-leaved Bell-flower (Linnæa borealis) flourish in this district, and how the Ranunculus acris entirely covers the pasture lands with its brilliant yellow flowers.
On arriving at the post-house of Sunnanaen, I was gratified with the view of a fine river, and the very neat little town of Skelleftea, consisting of two principal streets and several cross ones, with a church. The houses are about three hundred and fifty or four hundred, and their white chimneys give them a cheerful aspect. I was informed that every peasant in the parish had a house of his own in the town, for the use of his family during festivals[45].
Proceeding a little further, I remarked a steep hill near the road carefully covered over with boughs of spruce fir. On removing some of these, the ground evidently appeared to have been broken up, and apparently blasted with gunpowder. This should seem to have been done by some one in search of ore, of which however I could not perceive the least indication. I carried away a few specimens of the rock.
After passing the next post-house, I was ferried over a river about half way towards the third, when an Owl appeared, flitting every now and then, at short distances, before me. Laying hold of my gun, I ventured to take aim, though my horse kept going on at a good rate. It was a quarter past twelve at night, yet not at all dark. I was lucky enough to hit the bird, but in such a manner that one side of it was too much damaged to allow of stuffing and preserving the specimen. (This was the Strix Ulula, the Latin description of which, made on the spot, is given, somewhat, corrected, in the Fauna Suecica; but the annexed sketch is too great a curiosity to be suppressed).
Just as I was about to draw up a description of this Owl, a little Beetle crept out of its plumage. It was evidently a Scarabæus by its antennæ. The whole body was oblong, shaded with blue and black; the belly white. When touched or alarmed, it lay perfectly still. (Probably Dermestes murinus.)
Near the road lay a trap to catch Salmon, made of long slender laths, bound together with six flexible twigs of osier into a cylindrical form, open at the base, and furnished with twigs in that part placed like the wires of a mousetrap, but in a double row, that they might be so much the stronger. The open space between them was enough to admit a man's head. On one side further on was a door to take out the fish when caught.
Oniscus aquaticus was in the water.
The Dean of Skelleftea told me an anecdote of a Laplander who, at the last court of justice held there, summoned his neighbour for having twice as much land, without paying any greater share of taxes than himself. The man summoned was of course sentenced to pay double what he paid before. This provoked him so much, that he immediately gave information of a vein of silver on his own estate, in consequence of which he was, by the fundamental laws of the realm, exempt from all taxes whatsoever. He then went to his adversary in triumph, exclaiming, "See how matters go now! I am exempt from taxes, but how is it with you?"
[45] In Törner's work on the Geography of Sweden is the following curious account: "Skelleftea, a parish consisting of about one hundred and fifty whole farms (in Swedish hemman), and containing four thousand souls, is situated near a cove or arm of the sea, in which is an island, formerly of considerable extent but now very small. St. Stephen is said to have prophesied that the day of judgment will come as soon as this island is entirely washed away. The island certainly diminishes yearly, but every one must judge for himself as to the probability of the prophecy."
June 15.
This day afforded me nothing much worthy of notice. The sea in many places came very near the road, lashing the stony crags with its formidable waves. In some parts it gradually separated small islands here and there from the main land, and in others manured the sandy beach with mud. The weather was fine.
In one marshy spot grew what is probably a variety of the Cranberry (Vaccinium Oxycoccus), differing only in having extremely narrow leaves, with smaller flowers and fruit than usual. The common kind was intermixed with it, but the difference of size was constant. The Pinguicula grew among them, sometimes with round, sometimes with more oblong leaves.
The Bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus) presented itself most commonly with red flowers, more rarely with flesh-coloured ones. Myrica Gale, which I had not before met with in Westbothnia, grew sparingly in the marshes.
In the evening, a little before the sun went down, I was assailed by such multitudes of gnats as surpass all imagination. They seemed to occupy the whole atmosphere, especially when I travelled through low or damp meadows. They filled my mouth, nose and eyes, for they took no pains to get out of my way. Luckily they did not attack me with their bites or stings, though they almost choked me. When I grasped at the cloud before me, my hands were filled with myriads of these insects, all crushed to pieces with a touch, and by far too minute for description. The inhabitants call them Knort, or Knott, (Culex reptans, by mistake called C. pulicaris in Fl. Lapp. ed. 2. 382.)
Just at sunset I reached the town of Old Pithoea, having previously crossed a broad river in a ferry boat. Near this spot stood a gibbet, with a couple of wheels, on which lay the bodies of two Finlanders without heads. These men had been executed for highway robbery and murder. They were accompanied by the quartered body of a Laplander, who had murdered one of his relations.
Immediately on entering the town I procured a lodging, but had not been long in bed before I perceived a glare of light on the wall of my chamber. I was alarmed with the idea of fire; but, on looking out of the window, saw the sun rising, perfectly red, which I did not expect would take place so soon. The cock crowed, the birds began to sing, and sleep was banished from my eyelids.
June 16.
This morning I made an excursion to the northward, in order to examine a well, reported to be of a mineral nature. It is situated about half a quarter of a mile from Old Pithoea, and seemed to me only a common cold spring, having no taste, nor could I perceive any ochre about it, nor any silvery film on its surface. In the road to this spring stands a steep hill called Brevikberget, which I climbed with great difficulty. In the clefts of the rock lay several wings of young ravens and crows, with feet of hares, &c. "See," said I to my companion, "here has been the nest of an Eagle Owl!" On arriving at the next crag, a little higher up, we discovered a pair of birds of this species (Strix Bubo) sitting in a hollow of the rock. Their eyes sparkled like fire, for the iris in each of them was luminous in itself, like touchwood, glow-worms, or rotten fish. These birds were as large as young geese. I durst not venture to attack them with my hands; but approaching them with a stake, I then first perceived they were almost full grown, though not yet able to fly. The extent of their wings when spread was four feet; their colour blackish, with red-brown spots; their plumage very soft down, of a blackish hue tipped with white, mixed with sprouting quills. The smaller feathers were underneath of a reddish brown, marked with very narrow curved lines. The hue of the larger feathers, especially of the breast, where they were most apparent, was a brick colour, each being marked with a black indented longitudinal stripe. The feathers over the eyelids were small and black; upper part of the cheeks dark coloured, lower whitish. The wings and tail were not yet come to their full growth, but their quill feathers were blackish, with roundish red-brown spots. Feet like those of a hare, red-brown and downy, with naked claws. Bill black, the cere or membrane at its base black, accompanied by whitish whiskers. Nostrils at the fore part of the cere, roundish, separated by an oblique partition. Throat white. Iris of the eye round, large, saffron-coloured, with a very large blueish-black pupil. The ears were large, and I could have wished they had fallen under the inspection of an able anatomist, as they would certainly have afforded him matter for curious observation. The bones called the stapes, incus, &c., as well as the cochlea, were of large proportions. The eyes also were large and prominent, dilated at their base like an onion. When the white outer coat was removed, which was easily accomplished, the cornea appeared of considerable thickness, in which, when in a room, external objects were very accurately delineated, but not so abroad. The crystalline lens was remarkably soft, and scarcely of more consistency than the vitreous humour. The tunica arachnoidea was very conspicuous, filled with innumerable vessels, and of such firmness as to be very easily separable from the cornea. In the middle, near the optic nerve, it looked red from the number of blood-vessels, but the sides were of a blueish black. There were two orifices at the larger corner of the eye.
On this same mountain grew in abundance a kind of Muscus lichenoides of a greyish black colour, as if scorched or burnt, different from what authors have described, being more coriaceous and greenish, while that is black and brittle, almost like burnt paper, and smooth underneath; whereas the plant I here observed has the under side entirely covered with fibres like little roots. (This was the true Lichen velleus of Linnæus, preserved in his herbarium, and figured in Dillenius, tab. 82. f. 5. See Fl. Lapp. ed. 2. 360.)
The branches of Spruce Fir here began to show that appearance to which Clusius, if my memory does not deceive me, has given the name of Pinus nodosa. These knots consist of innumerable little plates, looking as if all the buds had been cut short, and platted together. In the inside is lodged a great mass of very small oblong insects, or rather eggs.
June 17.
Although I walked about a good deal, and was not inattentive to what came in my way, I met with nothing peculiarly worthy of notice. On the grass I frequently observed that substance like saliva, which the common people call Frog-spittle, and which envelops a little pale flesh-coloured insect like a small Grasshopper. This insect, though not arrived at maturity, moved in some degree, and showed sufficient signs of the family to which it belonged, though it was not yet old enough to cut capers. I removed the frothy moisture from some of these insects, and on returning to them in the course of an hour, I found them covered as before; a proof of the origin of the froth, which is produced by the animal for the purpose of protecting its tender skin against the violent heat of the sun.
Whilst I was busied in these observations, a number of cattle came running over the fields with the greatest velocity. Even the most miserably lean cows, which one would think scarcely able to drag one leg after another, went skipping along like does. Hic pauper cornua sumit[46]. They twisted their tails round and round, and went bounding and frisking about, till they at length reached a puddle, where they stopped all at once, as having found a sure asylum against the enemy that had put them to flight. Anxious to investigate what it could be that excited such extraordinary agitation, and prompted such exertions as neither the whip nor the fear of immediate death could occasion, I discovered it to be an insect which I had already met with lower down in the country, and which is no other than an Oestrus or Gad-fly, (Asilus crabroniformis). Our Natural Historians confound the Oestrus with the Tabanus, which are as distinct from each other as a hare from a bear[47]. Cattle indeed are as much incommoded by the Broms (Tabanus bovinus) as by the very worst of the Fly or Musca tribe, to which the Tabanus certainly belongs; but by the Oestrus (Asilus) they are frightened out of their wits. This insect does not fix itself on the body of the animal, but on the feet, between the larger and smaller hoofs. As it scarcely ever flies higher above the earth than two or three spans, and in general not more than four or five inches, the cattle, when aware of it, run as fast as they can till they get their feet into water or marshy ground, in which situations they are free from danger. The habit of the insect is that of an Ichneumon, and it much resembles a Hornet, being of a yellowish colour, with a small sharp point at its tail curved forwards. See the figure and description of Frisch, and my own specimen.