158 Mr Arnott's Tour to the South of' France 



On the afternoon of the 18tli, we made a short excursion to 

 a small hill called the Pech de TAgnelle (la Nielle of some, and 

 la Nivian of others), on which, and in the plain betwixt it and 

 Narbonne, we found a few rare species : some of these were in 

 a good state, though many, on account of the extreme drought, 

 which in a great measure had destroyed the crops, were too 

 much advanced. Among those we secured, were Plantago al- 

 hicans, two or three Medicagos, Paronychia hispanka, Sisyjri' 

 brium columns, Sonchns tenerrimus, Lonicera balearica, Dum. 

 (with which L. implexa, Ait. *, appears identical), Melica py- 

 ramidalis, of which M. minuta is merely a starved state ; Ca- 

 chrys Morisoni, Leuzia conifera, Trifolium hispidum, and La- 

 chenalia serotina, which form no bad specimen of what we com- 

 menced our excursion with. Silene quinquevidnera, and S. ce- 

 rastoideSy were here so intermingled, that one feels astonished 

 that they had ever been separated as species : the petals emar- 

 ginate or entire, the pubescence, and the absence or presence of 

 spots on the petals, were marks evidently set at nought by na- 

 ture, and of no use to any but a mere herbarium botanist or 

 horticulturist. In addition to the above, we met with an An- 

 themis, perhaps A, incrassata^ Loisl., though in some points it 

 does not well agree with his description. 



On the 19th, we traversed the Montagne de la Clape, which 

 is calcareous, exceedingly arid and dry, and destitute of any 

 kind of covering higher than a Cistus. On our route to it, we 



in a poor and arid soil, the radical leaves are early destroyed, and the stem 

 becomes straight, and simple, especially at the base, forming then the E. vio- 

 laceum of authors. When, on the contrary, it occurs in a rich soil, though 

 dry, with abundance of lateral room to grow, especially when on the road-sides, 

 where it has been trampled under foot, its radical leaves grow to a great size, 

 and its stem is branched from the base : it is then the E. plantagineum. The 

 stiffness of the hairs varies much in both cases." To the above-mentioned 

 " Catalogue," Mr Bentham has prefixed an account of our Tour to the Pyre- 

 nees. As a translation of it will contain nearly all that I was about to say, I 

 feel assured that my readers will excuse me for giving one, instead of telling 

 the same thing in different words. Much, therefore, I will translate, and where 

 I have any thing to add, that he may have omitted, I shall do so : I shall also 

 extend the botanical notices. 



* This must not be confounded with L. implexa, Willd. which is evidently 

 the same as L. etrusca^ Savi. 

 2 



