334 Mr. J. Hogg's Catalogue of Sicilian Plants. 



— whereas Captain Smyth, in his late survey of Sicily, which I am 

 induced to consider the more accurate of the two, places the summit 

 of that mountain in N. lat. 37° 43' 31" exactly, and he gives as its 

 total height, 10,874 English feet. 



Secondly. It is stated, that, at " an elevation of 3500 (I conclude 

 Paris) feet, the cultivation of the vine ceases." This elevation is 

 clearly much too high. The vine on Etna, I should say, was not 

 cultivated above 2600 English feet. And whether even a few poor 

 vineyards do occur at thai altitude, I am very doubtful ; for the last 

 vineyards T observed in ascending the mountain were near San Nic- 

 colo dell' Arena, a convent distant about 1 3 miles from Catania, on 

 the S.E. side, and at an elevation of 2449 English feet above the 

 sea, according to Captain Smyth's survey. Indeed Dr. Presl did 

 not notice this fact ; because he says of the vine in Sicily, " ubique 

 ab oris maris usque ad 2000 pedes culta." {Vide Fl. Sic. i. p. 204.) 



Thirdly. "The limits of corn" are given at 1S00 (Paris ?) feet 

 " higher up on Etna than on the Alps," and which is thus compa- 

 ratively stated (Comp. Bot. Mag. p. 94) : — 



fhe S Alps f Etna - Difference. 

 Corn 600 1900 1300 



But this, on consideration, will be found to be erroneous, and which 

 the following instance (among many others) will suffice to prove. 

 At Courmayeur in the valley of Entreves in Piedmont, at the south 

 base of Mont Blanc, different sorts of corn are cultivated ; indeed 

 I noticed corn growing in August, several years ago, two or three 

 hundred feet at least upon the sides of mountains above Cour- 

 mayeur. Now, according to M. Ebel, that town itself stands 3750 

 {Paris ?) feet above the Mediterranean ; consequently, on the south 

 side of the Alps corn is cultivated, at all events, at 4000 feet. Again, 

 it appears that the above error has arisen from not assuming some 

 line of elevation for the mean base of the Alps above the sea ; whereas 

 the altitude of 1900 feet upon Etna evidently includes the height 

 from the level of the Mediterranean, since that mountain rises im- 

 mediately from the sea ; and, the Alps being far inland, their differ- 

 ent bases in the numerous valleys vary greatly, though these bases 

 are all considerably elevated above the sea. Corn, then, is culti- 

 vated on the south side of the Alps, at full double the height at which 

 it is upon Etna ; yet there is no doubt but it could be cultivated at 

 a very much higher point than 1900 feet on that more southern 

 mountain, if there was only a sufficient and proper soil, instead of 

 the sand, lava, and volcanic ashes, which now there so greatly limit 

 the culture of corn. 



Fourthly. At page 95 of the 'Companion' the extract says, " Be- 

 tween the plants of the foot of Etna and that of the Alps there is 

 no resemblance ; a greater similarity exists between it and the Ca- 

 nary Islands ; as, out of the 186 plants which Von Buch* found on 



* See on the Flora of the Canaries, ' Descrip. Phys. des lies Canaries, 



