226 Mr. George C. Champion on an 
higher up the mountain slopes than the pines. The 
beeches are more or less covered with moss, indicating a 
humid climate, though the coast region is excessively dry 
and arid at this season. The forest entirely fills the head 
of the valley on the northern side of the Col, and in it 
there was an abundance of fallen timber just ready for the 
Coleopterist ; this being partly due to the fact that a 
large number of trees had been felled for the purposes 
of the new railway, which passes in a long tunnel right 
under the forest. Lower down, on either side of the 
Col, to Bocognano on the one side, and Tattone on the 
other, there are plenty of magnificent chestnuts and 
other trees, with green meadows and small patches of 
cultivation. Below Bocognano, right down to Ajaccio, 
the hill-sides are in many places covered with a 
dense bush or “ macchie,” chiefly composed of arbor- 
escent heath, arbutus, evergreen oak, myrtle, and Cistus, 
with, in the opener places,.an abundance of aromatic 
Labiateo and other plants. At Ajaccio itself there is the 
usual semi-tropical vegetation of the Mediterranean 
region, the abundance and thriving condition of the in- 
troduced Opuntias, etc., recalling to my mind visions of 
distant tropical climes. ‘he mountain slopes for some 
distance above the limits of the forest are clothed in 
many places with a dense, almost impenetrable, growth of 
dwarf alder, such as I have seen nowhere else, the alders 
coming into flower directly the snow melts, the ground 
beneath them at this time being bright with crocuses, 
though no gentians were scen. ‘The mountain summits 
are more or less serrated, excessively rugged, and barren, 
and it is not easy to find workable spots, nor, indeed, to 
get about, many of the ridges being impassable without 
along detour. There is also a scarcity of water; even 
in some of the valleys the streams are small, the Gravone 
itself being lost in the marsh and sand before reaching 
the Bay of Ajaccio. In the forest at Vizzavona not 
many flowering plants were to be seen, beyond foxgloves, 
a beautiful Pancratium, an asphodel, a Cyclamen and a 
Sambucus ; but lower down at T'attone, etc., there were 
plenty of Umbelliferze, Orchidacez, Composite, etc. 
Though Monte d’Oro and Monte Retondo were within 
comparatively easy distance of Vizzavona, I did not 
attempt an ascent of either of them, contenting myself 
with working to the summit of the Col between the hotel 
and Ghisoni, to an elevation of a little over 6,000 feet. 
