DWARFS 



These wretched little dwarfs seem, however, to have pretty 

 long lives, and, as we have said, deck themselves in the most 

 gaudy colours every summer. 



In the Alps of Switzerland and other temperate countries, 

 the flowering season is also a very short one and soon over. 

 It is often not more than six weeks, yet in that short time 

 the rich blue of the Gentian, the Alpine Roses, Soldanellas, 

 Campanulas, and many others make some of these grass slopes 

 high up in the mountains a perfect garden of loveliness. 



Sometimes in passing over the snowfields of Switzerland 

 just before spring, one notices the pretty violet flowers of the 

 Soldanella swaying to and fro in the wind above the un- 

 melted snow. One does occasionally see in this country the 

 Snowdrop in the midst of snow, but then it has fallen after 

 the Snowdrop had blossomed. 



The Alpine Soldanella flowers whilst the earth is still 

 covered. It begins as soon as the ground below the snow 

 is thawed. Each little developing flower-stalk melts out a 

 grotto in the snow above itself, and so bores, thawing its way 

 up into the air above. It has already been mentioned that, 

 inside a flower, the temperature is often higher than the 

 surrounding air. It is this higher temperature of the flower 

 which thaws a little dome or grotto in the snow above the 

 head of the flower.^ When a flock of sheep are covered by 

 a snowdrift, a similar hollow is formed above them by their 

 breath and the high temperature of their bodies : they often 

 seem indeed to be little or none the worse for being buried. 

 The Soldanella melts its way in just the same manner. 



In this country we have no such magnificent chain of 

 mountains as the Alps, and yet we find on the Scotch and 

 Welsh mountains quite a number of real alpines. 



^ Kerner, Natural History of Plants (Blackie), vol. 1, p. 468. 

 103 



