524 Mr Arnott's Tour to the South of France 



very precipitous. We left the Cabanasse about four in the 

 morning, and, passing St Pierre, we kept to the right, in order 

 to examine that side of the great valley. A dense fog, however, 

 came on, so that, had we not studied well our course yesterday 

 from the windows of the inn, it is not probable we should have 

 attained our object ; and after, indeed, we did arrive in the val- 

 ley, we found the rocks so very shelving and rugged, that for 

 some time we gave up all thoughts of attempting the summit. 

 We here sought with great attention for Globularia nudkauliSy 

 which we did find, and Gl. punctata^ Lap. indicated here, but 

 of which we saw no traces. Indeed, we were inclined to sus- 

 pect, from no botanist having since met with it, that it might be 

 either a variety of, or a hybrid between, GL cordifolia and vul- 

 garis *. At the head of the valley we saw Adonis pyrenaicay 

 Dry as octopetala, and Saxifraga qjugcefolia: Silene ciliatay 

 Veronica hellidifolia, and Cerastium glaherrimuniy Lap. (pro- 

 bably a variety of C. alpinum)^ were occasionally also observed. 

 About this time the weather cleared up a little, and we again 

 formed the resolution of scrambling to the top, which we finally 

 accomplished, not without difficulty and danger. We were, 

 however, repaid by finding on the summit of the ridge Saxi- 

 fraga retusa in abundance. This is generally esteemed a plant 

 of rarity, nor has this station been given for it : it can never 

 surely be mistaken for *S'. oppositifolia, though at first sight may 

 be overlooked for Azalea prociimhens, so glossy and compact 

 are its leaves. Passing the summit, and descending a little on 



• M. Lapeyrouse savs that he himself found it here. If that were the case, 

 it is strange that in his own herbarium, which we had afterwards an opportu- 

 nity of examining at Thoulouse, there is but one miserable specimen, with- 

 out even the radical leaves, and without any locality. Lapeyrouse says that 

 he had since seen it in the herbarium of Vaillant, with the denomination 

 " Bellis alpina minima Origani folio^ Tourn." a plant which is universally allow- 

 ed to be Gl. incanescens^ Viv. I see no reason why this plant may not be found 

 in the warmer parts of the Pyrenees, as well as in Tuscany ; but I cannot 

 help suspecting that Lapeyrouse's specimen came from Vaillant's herbarium, 

 and not from the mountain of Cambredazes. His long description evidently 

 belongs to Gl. incanescens, and must have been taken from better specimens 

 than he himself was possessed of. I think it also not improbable, that, in 

 looking over Vaillant's herbarium, he conceived that he recognized a plant he 

 had formerly seen at Cambredazes, but not gathered (supposing it at the time, 

 what I still believe it to be, a variety of Gl. cordifolia), and from this the 

 whole error may have arisen. 



