795 



evening, and meanwhile I walked about the castle, where I observed 

 Salvia Sclarea (not in flower), Medicago apiculata and Ophrys apifera, 

 and afterwards to a piece of wood and barren ground, which I had 

 noticed from the road, which yielded only Cirsium anglicum, Globu- 

 laria vulgaris and Ornithogalum pyrenaicum. In the evening my man 

 did not make his appearance ; but as he had been recommended to 

 me for his knowledge of localities, and was the only person to whom 

 I could apply, I returned to seek him. I found him in bed, his wife 

 said he was ill, but he only acknowledged to being tired. He was, 

 however, quite willing to talk and to display his own knowledge, and 

 began to catechise me about mine. He boasted of his acquaintance 

 with the grasses and Cyperaceae, and gave me to understand that he 

 had no small knowledge of mosses. We made however our arrange- 

 ments for the next day. 



I hired a cabriolet for six francs, and we set off at about half past 7. 

 There is a diligence for Montoire at half past 12, but I thought it 

 would not do to lose so much time. We breakfasted at Montoire and 

 looked over the old castle, and then rambled among hanging woods, 

 steep banks and chalk-like rocks, as far as Lavardin, where there are 

 the picturesque ruins of another old and extensive castle. I seldom 

 have traversed a more promising tract, but the performance was by no 

 means equal to the promise. Of the Orchideae I observed Ophrys 

 muscifera, apifera and aranifera, Orchis fusca pretty abundant, O. Si- 

 mia was also plentiful near Lavardin, but it is to be observed that 

 though the form was completely that of Simia, the labellum was in- 

 variably rough. There were also Phyteuma spicatum (blue flowered), 

 Stachys alpina, Lithospermum purpureo-caeruleum, Orobus niger and 

 Hieracium murorum. 



Before leaving these banks a heavy rain came on, and we afterwards 

 lost our way in the marshy meadows. Trifolium parisiense was here 

 abundant, but nothing else which 1 have not already noticed. We 

 then passed to Les Roches, where there are some broken chalky clifis 

 rising from the Loire, but the continued rain made the banks so slip- 

 pery that we could hardly keep our feet. Campanula persicifolia and 

 Isatis tinctoria were the rarest plants ; Orchis hircina is very abun- 

 dant. My guide knew generally that the banks between Montoire 

 and Lavardin, and the rocks at Les Roches, were the places in which 

 the plants were mostly to be sought, and this any botanist would see 

 at once from the aspect of the country, but beyond this he was totally 

 ignorant, and his boasted knowledge of plants gradually dwindled 

 away into very insignificant limits. 



