INTRODUCTORY. 5 



the year that a visit is paid to Switzerland, and, where the 

 stay is limited to a day or two in some one place, the state 

 of the weather may sweep away all that was hoped for in the 

 way of flowers. The pasture may have been blooming, 

 the hill-side may have been a mass of blossoms, a day 

 or two before ; but a short spell of rain — snow in the high 

 regions — comes, and all is changed. The sun may shine 

 out again ; but it will not bring back the flowers that have 

 disappeared, even if they do not lie in little heaps — which 

 is literally the case with the abundant butterflies of the 

 Engadine. 



There are so few of the higher mountains without their 

 collections of plants that it is, perhaps, invidious to single 

 out any in particular. In this respect, as in regard to 

 Swiss travelling generally, those who have but a short 

 time to spare would do wisely to confine themselves to one 

 or two districts rather than run hurriedly over a large 

 extent of ground. The top of the Furca Pass, the higher 

 part of the Saas valley, the Rhone glacier, Gryon (above 

 Bex), St. Bernard (especially for Violas), Zermatt, and the 

 iliffel, may be mentioned as good centres, and as places 

 having hotels, where the commoner Alpine flowers may be 

 found almost at the very doors, while those that are rarer 

 will scarcely fail to reward a longer search. There is 

 probably no place better than the last mentioned for 

 finding rare plants within a moderate distance. One or 



