THE A^CIEXT AND MODEEX FLORAS OF MOXTPELLIEE. 225 



Les Arcs, near St. Martin-de-Londres." The Castelnau locality is 

 just one of those stations where it might have been anciently planted ; 

 the lofty precipices of the Pic St. Loup, where we have ourselves 

 gathered it, are certainly now in a wild enough countiy, far from all 

 gardens; but even there, one of the summits is crowned by the 

 extensive remains of the middle-age chateau of Montferrand. VThe- 

 ther there are any such in the still wilder region of Les Arcs, we 

 do not now recollect, but still the proofs of the aboriginal nativity of 

 the species are as yet far from complete. 



All doubts, however, as to the bay, the vine, and the fig being 

 truly indigenous must now be considered as settled, by the discovery 

 of their traces in unmistakeable abundance in tufas formed probably 

 before the advent of man, and consequently long before his agency 

 could have had any influence on the vegetation. Of the olive, 

 however, there is not a vestige, neither here nor in the apparently 

 older tufas of Provence and Italy. This, as we have said before, is 

 no proof that it was not in the country, yet from its affecting loca- 

 lities similar to those of the fig, we see presumptive evidence of its 

 absence. 



There is only one supposition— a far-fetched one indeed — which 

 might still open the way to further argument. Is it quite certain 

 that the formation of these tufas, evidently, as shown by Planchon, 

 posterior to the settling down of the country into its present gene- 

 ral configuration, was really not witnessed by man ? May he not 

 indeed have already tampered with its vegetation ? A short time 

 since the idea would have been scouted as absurd, but the recent 

 theories of the antiquity of man have brought it within the verge of 

 possibility, and, although highly improbable, it may be deserving of 

 further inquiry and record. 



We trust, however, on all accounts, that Dr. Planchon will 

 continue the researches he has so well commenced, and complete 

 the series of memoirs on the various questions connected with 

 the history of Montpellier botany, of which we are told to consider 

 the two present ones as a first instalment. Especially would it be 

 desirable in connection with the investigation of the tufaceous 

 deposits that comparisons should be instituted between the tufas of 

 these lower regions of the south of France, and those occurring in 

 subalpine situations, as, for example, the deposits immediately under 

 the Hospice of the Lautaret. 



