60 In AND AROUND BESANCON. 
vulgare) ; these are to be found chiefly on calcareous soil, and 
here they were in special abundance. In the neighbourhood of 
Arbois, which I have mentioned before, the rare plants are 
Saxifraga sphonhemica, Telephium Imperati, Geranium palustre 
and pratense ; for, although these are to be found in various parts 
of the Juras, it is but seldom that they descend so low in this. 
latitude. For information concerning the rarer plants I am in- 
debted to Dr Magnin, one of the professors at the University. 
You find that some of our commonest plants when found in the 
district are accounted interesting from the fact that they are, 
comparatively speaking, rare; one has to take into account. the 
fact of ten degrees difference of latitude. Such plants are Car- 
damine impatiens, Geranium silvaticum and lucidum, Anthriscus. 
vulgaris, Adoxa moschatelina, Epilobium angustifolium, Hyperi- 
cum pulchrum and humifusum, Geum rivale, Pedicularis palustris 
and silvatica, Lotus major, Parnassia palustris. 
The town of Besancon, birth-place of Victor Hugo, and 
capital of the ancient province of Franche-Comté, or the Free 
County, deserves more than passing attention, both from an 
archeological and historical point of view, and as I spent most of 
my time within its walls, for it is fortified, I was able to become 
better acquainted with it than with the country at large. At the 
present time the town is about the size of Carlisle, and, being in 
the border country, its fortunes have been as varied. The River 
Doubs surrounds the town on three sides with a_horse-shoe 
shaped loop, the remaining side, barely two hundred yards wide, 
being guarded by the citadel, perched high on a huge mass of 
limestone which descends sheer into the river on both sides. 
Julius Cesar, in his Gallic war, describes the situation of the town 
at that time, 58 B.c., called Vesontio, and the chief stronghold 
of the Sequani, a Celtic tribe. The name of the river is Celtic, 
being the same as our own Gaelic word meaning “ black.’’ The 
town was a favourite place of residence of the Emperor Marcus 
Aurelius, and a fine triumphal arch, the Porte Noire (Black 
Gate), 190 feet high, dating from 167 a.p., was erected in honour 
of his victories over the German tribes. Near this are the 
remains of the Roman theatre, showing the sub-basement in the 
form of a semi-circle, as also a row of Corinthian columns, which 
have been recently taken from the debris and set in position. 
The bridge, which carries by far the greater part of the traffic, is. 
