505 



is very fine; but that part is coninion to both roads. 1 had com 

 pletely wet days, both for going and returning. 



There is a good deal of limestone near Clermont, chiefly on the 

 eastern border of the volcanic district. Here we find many plants of 

 the South of France ; but for a person who intends proceeding south- 

 ward, it is perhaps hardly worth while to lengthen his stay at Cler- 

 mont, to get these plants of the limestone districts. 



On the 1st of August I set off for St. Flour, at ten o'clock in the 

 morning; but we did not arrive there till half-past one on the follow- 

 ing morning, though the distance is only sixty-four miles. From 

 Clermont to Lempde we meet with no considerable hill ; but from 

 Lempde we have a long and tiresome ascent on to the plateau which 

 occupies a large portion of this district. The most remarkable plant, 

 as seen from the coach-window, is Genista purgans. 1 thought I 

 recollected to have seen at St. Flour my Crucianella suffulta, though 

 it was not till I arrived at Le Puy that it forced itself on my more 

 settled attention. However, I saw on this occasion nothing of it. 

 The inn was dirty and disagreeable (it is one of the evils of night 

 stoppages that you are almost obliged to sleep where the diligence 

 brings you), the country by no means pleasant, and the weather un- 

 favourable ; and I was glad to get away. Finding no chance of pro- 

 ceeding by the mail, I resumed my place in the diligence, at half-past 

 two in the morning of the 3rd, and reached Florae at half-past ten at 

 night ; twenty hours for a distance of not ninety miles ; but the hills 

 are tremendous. The roads, however, are excellent, and we are sur- 

 prised to see them conducted on such a magnificent scale in places 

 where the traffic is so trifling ; without them, however, this district 

 would be all but inaccessible. We descend at Marvejols into a deep, 

 narrow, arid valley ; but limestone appears near the bottom, and 

 offers some tempting spots for the botanist. Lavandula vera is abun- 

 dant; I noticed also Teucrium Folium, Echinops Ritro, and several 

 other south-country plants. At Mende we again descend. Here the 

 limestone forms great part of the hills ; and we leave the place by a 

 magnificent though rather naked gorge. At Florae the soil is schis- 

 tose, and we are in the country of vines and mulberry-trees. Lime- 

 stone now forms the tops of the hills, instead of lying at the bottom 

 as at Marvejols, and is much less productive botanically. The envi- 

 rons of Florae are, however, neither unpleasant nor unproductive. In 

 the neighbourhood of an old bridge above the town, near which the 

 road to Nisraes passes, 1 gathered Dianthus virgineus, Silene Saxi- 

 fraga ? (the theeaphore is not half as long as the capsule), Potentilla 

 VOL. IV. 3 T 



