occupied men’s minds, a system of belief known even among the lower races of mankind.  Hence, just as some plants would in process of time acquire a sacred character, others would do the reverse.  Amongst the legendary stories and folktales of most countries we find frequent allusion to the devil as an active agent in utilising various flowers for his mischievous pursuits; and on the Continent we are told of a certain evil spirit named Kleure who transforms himself into a tree to escape notice, a superstition which under a variety of forms still lingers here and there.[2] It would seem, too, that in some of our old legends and superstitions the terms Puck and Devil are synonymous, a circumstance which explains the meaning, otherwise unintelligible, of many items of plant-lore in our own and other countries.  Thus the word “Puck” has been identified with Pogge—­toad, under which form the devil was supposed to be personified; and hence probably originated such expressions as toadstools, paddock-stools, &c.  The thorns of the eglantine are said to point downwards, because when the devil was excluded from heaven he tried to regain his lost position by means of a ladder composed of its thorns.  But when the eglantine was only allowed to grow as a bush, out of spite he placed its thorns in their present eccentric position.  The seed of the parsley, “is apt to come up only partially, according as the devil takes his tithe of it."[3] In Germany “devil’s oaks” are of frequent occurrence, and “one of these at Gotha is held in great regard."[4] and Gerarde, describing the vervain, with its manifold mystic virtues, says that “the devil did reveal it as a secret and divine medicine.”  Belladonna, writes Mr. Conway, is esteemed in Bohemia a favourite plant of the devil, who watches it, but may be drawn from it on Walpurgis Night by letting loose a black hen, after which he will run.  Then there is the sow-thistle, which in Russia is said to belong to the devil; and Loki, the evil spirit in northern mythology, is occasionally spoken of as sowing weeds among the good seed; from whence, it has been suggested, originated the popular phrase of “sowing one’s wild oats."[5] The German peasantry have their “rye-wolf,” a malignant spirit infesting the rye-fields; and in some parts of the Continent orchards are said to be infested by evil demons, who, until driven away by various incantations, are liable to do much harm to the fruit.  The Italians, again, affirm that in each leaf of the fig-tree an evil spirit dwells; and throughout the Continent there are various other demons who are believed to haunt the crops.  Evil spirits were once said to lurk in lettuce-beds, and a certain species was regarded with ill favour by mothers, a circumstance which, Mr. Folkard rightly suggests,[6] may account for a Surrey saying, “O’er much lettuce in the garden will stop a young wife’s bearing.”  Among similar legends of the kind it is said that, in Swabia, fern-seed brought by the