S4 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



profusion of Aster alpinus, whose blue-mauve 

 flowers (here and there pink, or even white), with 

 golden centres, harmonize so admirably with the 

 host of dark wine-red heads of the sweet-smelhng 

 Vanilla Orchid, and with the pale canary-yellow 

 of the Alyssum, or Mountain Madwort. Here, 

 also, are several late patches of Gentiana 

 brachyphylla, a close relation of G. verna. Alche- 

 milla is nestling, green - flowered, everywhere. 

 Although insignificant of blossom, this is a plant 

 it would be hard to part with from the Alps ; 

 moreover, and as Lord Avebury points out in his 

 * Beauties of Nature,' its properties form an essential 

 part of the finest Gruyere cheeses. Skipping light- 

 heartedly amongst the Asters is a true Alpine 

 butterfly which we have not noticed before — 

 Melitcea Cyiithia, one of the most distinctive of 

 the Fritillaries, with wings of a dark blue-purple, 

 flecked with white and russet : an insect whose 

 season of beauty, like that of the Rhododendron - 

 loving Colias, is short, owing to the high winds 

 which sweep the localities in which it is generally 

 found. To secure good specimens, it is well to be 

 up in its haunts (the neighbourhood of the Col de 

 Balme, for instance) about the second week in July. 

 Above us, to the left, under the lichen-scarred 



