340 Excursion of an Insect Hunter in 



uncommon, flitting about the face of the precipice ; solitary spe- 

 cimens of Hipparchia Nerine too occurred. Magnificent ferns 

 were growing luxuriantly in crevices of the rocks, and Campanula 

 pusilla with its pretty bells had taken root everywhere on the 

 crumbled surface of the blocks of stone. For another short hour 

 the path continues at this elevation over several little hills, where 

 woodland, moist meadow and debris of rock alternate, past St. 

 Bridget's chapel, from which there is a distant view westward of 

 the Leiterbach, as it rushes thundering down its alpine dike to 

 mingle with the waters of the Moell. Here, not far from its 

 source, the river finds its way through a deep ravine, inaccessible 

 all the way from the plain of ice to the lower Sattel, where the 

 valley properly speaking begins. Along the brow of the moun- 

 tains which hem in the ravine on the eastern side, the path 

 ascends, by successive stations, among stunted pines interspersed 

 with magnificent lawns, where the crimson blossoms of the Rho- 

 dodendron blend with tall-stemmed Monkshood and the intense 

 azure of the Gentian ella. About the perpendicular cliffs, Argynnis 

 pales and various species of Hipparchia were on the wing. The 

 lovely Lyccena eurybia, eros, orbitulus, pheretes, and delicate kinds 

 of Psodos, here give full occupation to the collector, and make the 

 choice embarrassing among the superabundance of riches. The 

 path now turns abruptly round a jutting angle of the mountain, 

 bringing at once into sight the sea-green pinnacles of the glacier 

 by which the ravine is terminated, and from the heart of which 

 the Moell gushes forth. They form a contrast truly grand with 

 the rich vegetation of so vernal a character that is spread all 

 around. From this the Platte (a scarpment of rock through 

 which a rather precipitous path is cut) has to be ascended, in 

 order to reach the Brettboden, which overlooks a great portion 

 of the plain of ice. A countless multitude of Saxifrages with the 

 most exquisite blossoms curtain the walls of rock, and the White 

 Everlasting of the Alps (Gnaphalium leontopodium) has its lowest 

 limit here. Bare species of Carabus and Nebria there are to de- 

 light the entomologist ; and the black salamander (S. atra) is 

 found in plenty by turning over the massive slabs which rest on 

 the damp turf. 



The last stunted pine now disappears, and the path continues 

 among the finest mountain meadows, descending a little through 

 the Pfandlscharte, a narrow dell at the foot of the upper Sattel, 

 lying eastward from, and rather below the level of, the plain of 

 ice. Having crossed the Schartenbach, which pours itself into 

 the fissures of the ice, the southern slope of the higher Sattel is 

 reached. The mountain rises 9000 feet above the sea level, and 

 at its foot lie flowery meadows, the haunts of the finest kinds of 

 Lepidoptera. While I recommend this spot to the entomologist's 



