buds or bulbs,
which fall off and take root. There is a bulb, frequently seen on
birch-trees, like a bird's nest, which seems to be a similar attempt of
nature, to produce another tree; which falling off might take root in
spongy ground.

There is an instance of this double mode of production in the animal
kingdom, which is equally extraordinary: the same species of Aphis is
viviparous in summer, and oviparous in autumn. A. T. Bladh. Amoen. Acad.
V. 7.]

Where the wide heath in purple pride extends,
And scatter'd furze its golden lustre blends,
Closed in a green recess, unenvy'd lot!
90 The blue smoak rises from their turf-built cot;
Bosom'd in fragrance blush their infant train,
Eye the warm sun, or drink the silver rain.

The fair OSMUNDA seeks the silent dell,
The ivy canopy, and dripping cell;
95 There hid in shades _clandestine_ rites approves,
Till the green progeny betrays her loves.

[_Osmunda_. l. 93. This plant grows on moist rocks; the parts of its
flower or its seeds are scarce discernible; whence Linneus has given the
name of clandestine marriage to this class. The younger plants are of a
beautiful vivid green.]

With charms despotic fair CHONDRILLA reigns
O'er the soft hearts of _five_ fraternal swains;
If sighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn;
100 And, if she smiles, with rival raptures burn.
So, tun'd in unison, Eolian Lyre!
Sounds in sweet symphony thy kindred wire;
Now, gently swept by Zephyr's vernal wings,
Sink in soft cadences the love-sick strings;
105 And now with mingling chords, and voices higher,
Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir.

[_Chondrilla_. l. 97. Of the class Confederate Males. The numerous
florets, which constitute the disk of the flowers in this class, contain
in each five males surrounding one female, which are connected at top,
whence the name of the class. An Italian writer, in a discourse on the
irritability of flowers, asserts, that if the top of the floret be
touched, all the filaments which support the cylindrical anther will
contrast themselves, and that by thus raising or depressing the anther
the whole of the prolific dust is collected on the stigma. He adds, that
if one filament be touched after it is separated from the floret, that it
will contract like the muscular fibres of animal bodies, his experiments