Both these fishes differ from the Roach (Cyprinus Rutilus) in the colours of their eyes and fins, as well as in being thinner at the back.
June 21.
I took my leave of the old town of Pithoea, and arrived at the more modern
one of Lulea. All along by the road side I remarked the curious manner in which the Fir blossoms. Its branches produce a fresh shoot every year from their extremity; by observing the series of which shoots the age of the tree can be accurately computed. They retain their original leaves, which are needle-shaped, for three years; but when these fall the same branch never acquires any more. The male flowers, each of which is a corymbus of stamens, grow from the side of the present year's shoot, near its base; but the female ones proceed from the extreme point, and are round and red. Both kinds of flowers are however but seldom found on the same shoot.
In the Money-wort (Linnæa borealis), though its flower is, not without reason, reckoned by every body of the regular kind, its stamens indicate the contrary. They are four as in labiate flowers, two small, and two longer ones near the other side. Betwixt these the pistil is situated, being bent towards one side as in labiate
plants. The upper lip therefore is to be understood as consisting of two lobes, the lower of three, though all the lobes are alike[50].
The bogs were now white with the tufts of both kinds of Cotton-grass, the upright and the pendulous (Eriophorum vaginatum and polystachion). The marshes were clothed with the white blossoms of Ledum (palustre). The Dwarf Bramble (Rubus arcticus) became gradually less abundant. The forests also were white with the Trientalis and Mesomora (Cornus suecica), which began to fade, and the Bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus) was taking their place, along with the Melampyrum (sylvaticum) and Geranium (sylvaticum). The meadows were perfectly yellow with the upright Ranunculus (acris), and some of the cornfields were no less so with Brassica campestris; but where the Behen (Silene inflata, Fl. Brit.) was beginning to shoot
forth, the former withered away. The rivulets were white with Menyanthes (trifoliata). The Cotton-grass and Willows now began to scatter their winged seeds.
[50] In this instance the Linnæan system led to a true knowledge of the natural affinity of the plant, which one founded on the corolla would scarcely have done.