The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse Airs Birds and Butterflies

Summary: The Mystery of the Acid Soil short story by Kate Mosse for Marple: Twelve New Mysteries copyrighted by Agatha Christie Limited airs birds and butterflies.

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

Western rooks (Corvus frugilegus frugilegus) affirm for Jane Marple her arrival at the Fishbourne Halt branch train station in The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse; "Corvus frugilegus L. Saat-Rabe," with old and young males (1-altes Männchen, 2-junges Männchen. 1/2 natürl. Grösse), illustrated by Dutch bird illustrator Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (J. G. Keulemans; June 8, 1842-March 29, 1912), in Naturgeschichte der Vögel Mitteleuropas (IV Band [1901], Tafel 14, opposite page 112) by German ornithologist Johann Andreas Naumann (April 13, 1744-May 15, 1826): Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Mystery of the Acid Soil short story by Kate Mosse for Marple: Twelve New Mysteries copyrighted by Agatha Christie Limited airs area birds and butterflies appreciative of acid- and alkaline-soil gardens.

Jane Marple belongs among those area beautifiers who bring in such beneficial beings as brooding birds and butterflies and bolster beautifully, beneficially barren and non-barren blocks. Agatha Christie Limited captivates us Sep. 13, 2022, with its 14-book Marple Collection member book Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, beneath the HarperCollins Publishers’ William Morrow imprint. Kate Mosse delights us by doing the 11th, next-last chapter, which displays 10 divisions as 299-300, 301-306, 306-313, 313-317, 317-320, 320-321, 321-323, 323-325, 326-327 and 327-333.

Subchapter 2’s western rooks (Corvus frugilegus frugilegus, from Latin corvus frūx legēre, “raven fruit to pick”) establish their nests near the Fishbourne Halt branch train station.

The Sussex regional subspecies favors trees flourishing in fertile fields from which they feed upon such plant material as cereals and such soil-figured invertebrates as grubs.

That Eurasian subspecies perhaps goes over gardens grouping such acid soil-gestating growth as azaleas, rhododendrons and swamp leather-flowers that perhaps guide them to where grains grow. Subchapter 3 has sea gulls whom Jane Marple hears perhaps hunting coast-hugging crustaceans, fish and mollusks before heading for that subchapter’s acid-soil gardens’ live, small birds. Subchapter 4’s alkaline-soil gardens introduce wild-marjoram (Origanum vulgare, from Latin orīganum vulgāre, “marjoram/oregano”) butterflies, perhaps marbled whites (Melanargia galathea, from Greek μέλᾱς γαλάτεια, “dark-black milk-white").

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse journeys Jane Marple to such Sussex-garden birds and butterflies as rooks and sea gulls, as marbled whites.

Perhaps other butterflies know wild marjoram amidst subchapter 4’s alkaline-gardened blue moss grass, blue-flowering Jacob’s ladder, honeysuckle, lavender, lily of the valley, ornamental clovers and phacelia.

Who other than perhaps rooks and sea gulls (Laridae family, from Greek λάρος -ειδής, “ravenous seabird-like” via Latin larus -idæ) look for birdlets and grubs there? Subchapter 10 mentions Jane Marple outdoors for the dusky evensong of a blackbird species, perhaps the common blackbird (Turdus merula, from Latin turdus merula, “thrush blackbird”). That blackbird perhaps navigates the night-time niches near her or his nest perhaps next to Emmeline Stricket’s acid soil-nourished garden of azaleas, rhododendrons and swamp leather-flower.

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse offers Jane Marple observing birds over acid soil-occurring gardens and wild marjoram-oriented butterflies on alkaline soil-occurring plants.

Common blackbirds perhaps peregrinate proximitous to the acid soil-provenanced plants of Emmeline Strickert, longtime pal of Jane Marple, for berry- and fruit-producing plants, earthworms and insects.

Birds other than hummingbirds queue around sugar water-quartering nectar of flowering plants even as they quest their moisture in brook, pond, pool waters; berries; and fruits. Wild-marjoram nectar refreshes butterflies such as marbled whites and perhaps common blackbirds, rooks and sea gulls (from Greek λάρος via Latin Larus cānus, “ravenous seabird gray”). Jane Marple stores in her leather handbag gray wool, perhaps sheared from English goats or rabbits or sheep whom alkaline soil-serviced blue moss grass perhaps satisfies.

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse teams birds, butterflies and Jane Marple with razor blade-transmitted tetanus sometimes, sometimes not threatening acid soil-tempered gardens.

Wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare) assures alkaline-soil gardens of marbled white butterflies (Melanargia galathea) in The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse; dorsal and ventral views of Melanargia galathea by German entomologist Jacob Hübner (June 20, 1761-Sep. 13, 1826) in Das kleine Schmetterlingsbuch: Die Tagfalter (Insel-Bücherei, Nr. 213), page 18, figures 3, 4; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Western rooks (Corvus frugilegus frugilegus) affirm for Jane Marple her arrival at the Fishbourne Halt branch train station in The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse; "Corvus frugilegus L. Saat-Rabe," with old and young males (1-altes Männchen, 2-junges Männchen. 1/2 natürl. Grösse), illustrated by Dutch bird illustrator Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (J. G. Keulemans; June 8, 1842-March 29, 1912), in Naturgeschichte der Vögel Mitteleuropas (IV Band [1901], Tafel 14, opposite page 112) by German ornithologist Johann Andreas Naumann (April 13, 1744-May 15, 1826): Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/51068440866/; No known copyright issues, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34557141; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rook_paint.jpg

Wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare) assures alkaline-soil gardens of marbled white butterflies (Melanargia galathea) in The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse; dorsal and ventral views of Melanargia galathea by German entomologist Jacob Hübner (June 20, 1761-Sep. 13, 1826) in Das kleine Schmetterlingsbuch: Die Tagfalter (Insel-Bücherei, Nr. 213), page 18, figures 3, 4; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melanargia_galathea_-_Schachbrett.jpg; Copyright Status Not provided -- Contact Holding Institution to verify copyright status, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43194345; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/daskleineschmett01hubn/page/18/mode/1up

For further information:

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Cranshaw, Whitney. 2004. "Clematis Chewing insects: margined blister beetle, twobanded Japanese weevil. Sucking insects: garden fleahopper, green peach aphid." Page 588. In: Appendix of Host Plant Genera and Associated Insects and Mites." Pages 577-627. Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock Oxfordshire UK: Princeton University Press.

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 March 2024. "Tea Leaves Are Safer in The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/tea-leaves-are-safer-in-mystery-of-acid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 March 2024. "Jane Marple Ambles About The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/jane-marple-ambles-about-mystery-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 March 2024. "The Mystery of the Acid Soil Avails Us of Jane Marple by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-mystery-of-acid-soil-avails-us-of.html

Mosse, Kate. 2022. "The Mystery of the Acid Soil." Pages 299-333. In: Agatha Christie. Marple: Twelve Mysteries. New York NY: William Morrow Imprint, HarperCollins Publishers.

"Phacelia." Pages 1016-1018. In: Hogan, Sean (Chief Consultant). 2003. Flora A Gardener's Encyclopedia. Volume I A-K. Portland Or: Timber Press, Inc.

Sheng, Lu; Kongshu Ji; and Liangliang Yu. 24 September 2014. "Karyotype analysis on 11 species of the genus Clematis." Brazilian Journal of Botany 37(2). Springer. Received 11 March 2014. Accepted 1 September 2014. Published online 24 September 2014. Copyrighted 2014 Botanical Society of Sao Paulo. DOI 10.1007/s40415-014-0099-5
Available @ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ji-Kongshu/publication/280713109_Karyotype_analysis_on_11_species_of_the_genus_Clematis/links/5d9df87e299bf13f40d0c881/Karyotype-analysis-on-11-species-of-the-genus-Clematis.pdf

Sugiura, T. 1940. "Studies on the Chromosome Numbers in Higher Plants. IV." Cytologia 10: 324-333.
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Tenenbaum, Frances. (Ed.) "Clematis." Pages 98-100. In: Encyclopedia of Garden Plqnts. Taylor's Guides to Gardening. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

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