and the Pyrenees^ in 1825. 133 



sequently acquainted with the localities, and even with the plants 

 we were chiefly in quest of. One peasant we dispatched to the 

 Hermitage of St Andiol, to procure us the Lithospermum oleafo- 

 Uum, while another was sent off to the Bac del Fau, to gather the 

 Anthyllis erinacea. Both these localities are at a considerable 

 distance, and on the Spanish frontier. The first of these guides 

 returned with a good cargo ; but the other informed us that the 

 plant was not in flower, but that he had pulled off the seed^ and 

 brought it. A moment's inspection of the contents of his box 

 shewed that the plants had been in flower, for the fruit he had 

 gathered was the inflated calyx. Our disappointment was no 

 doubt great, but it was resolved to send off the man again the 

 following morning, with one of our party, while the others should 

 be employed in arranging and drying what plants we already 

 had. This second attempt was successful, notwithstanding the 

 badness of the day. The Anthyllis formed hemispherical masses 

 on the ground, the spinous and rigid branches rendering it very 

 difficult to be laid hold of, without the aid of a sharp hook at- 

 tached to the extremity of a cane, and with which it might first 

 be cut to pieces. The guide yesterday had destroyed the greater 

 part of the flowers, so that Bentham, who volunteered this ex- 

 cursion, only procured the young fruit. At the Bac del Fau, 

 Mr Bentham met with nothing else of note, unless Campanula 

 speciosa, Ramondia pyrenaica^ and Onosma echioides be men- 

 tioned as such. The guide who went to St Andiol brought with 

 him a specimen or two of our new Santolina. 



Prats de Mollo is one of the best points for a botanist's resi- 

 dence in the Eastern Pyrenees. But in order to examine the 

 warm valleys on the Spanish side of the mountains, one ought 

 to be there a few days earlier than we w^ere ; while, again, to 

 botanize on Costabonna, and the other elevated mountains in 

 the neighbourhood, one must be at least a fortnight later. To 

 make the excursion in search of the Anthyllis^ which ought not 

 to be neglected, one ought, on account of the distance and fright- 

 ful roads, to sleep at St Laurent de Cerda, or at Custoja, and 

 devote to it at least three days ; nor would the excursion to St 

 Andiol require less. 



On looking over M. Xatard's herbarium, principally named 

 by Lapcy rouse, we observed many mistakes which that author 

 has made in his " Histoire abregee." His 



