CONTENTS.

PAGE
A Ballade of Evolution[1]
I.Microscopic Brains[3]
II.A Wayside Berry[16]
III.In Summer Fields[25]
IV.A Sprig of Water Crowfoot[36]
V.Slugs and Snails[48]
VI.A Study of Bones[59]
VII.Blue Mud[67]
VIII.Cuckoo-Pint[77]
IX.Berries and Berries[87]
X.Distant Relations[96]
XI.Among the Heather[105]
XII.Speckled Trout[114]
XIII.Dodder and Broomrape[124]
XIV.Dog's Mercury and Plantain[133]
XV.Butterfly Psychology[142]
XVI.Butterfly Æsthetics[153]
XVII.The Origin of Walnuts[161]
XVIII.A Pretty Land-Shell[172]
XIX.Dogs and Masters[181]
XX.Blackcock[189]
XXI.Bindweed[198]
XXII.On Cornish Cliffs[207]

A BALLADE OF EVOLUTION.

In the mud of the Cambrian main

Did our earliest ancestor dive:

From a shapeless albuminous grain

We mortals our being derive.

He could split himself up into five,

Or roll himself round like a ball;