507 



called) from the sea. The place was so full that I could only get very 

 poor accommodation, and, after a walk in the evening on the shore of 

 the Etang de Thau, set off the next morning to Agde. That walk 

 furnished me with Ambrosia maritima, to which T had been directed 

 by Mons. Dunal, supposed to have been introduced, by some accident, 

 from Italy ; and a more remarkable foreigner — Heliotropium curassa- 

 vicum, a native of the West Indies. The pool is navigable for small 

 steamers ; but I believe large ships cannot enter it ; and how these 

 plants should have fixed themselves there is very problematical. 



On the 10th 1 went to Agde. A steamer carries us along the pool 

 to the opening of the canal. The first part of the voyage is very plea- 

 sant, the hill at Cette and the limestone hills opposite to it forming 

 good objects. Afterwards the scenery gets more tame ; and we were 

 transferred to a smaller boat, drawn by horses, to proceed along the 

 canal to Agde. This part is very uninteresting ; and for the beauty 

 of Agde, or of the country about it, there is not much to be said. 

 The soil is volcanic ; but there are some pools, or rather puddles, 

 which are celebrated for their curious plants. Mons. Fabre con- 

 ducted me to some of these, but they contained no water; and the 

 Charas, Marsilea pubescens, Isoetes setacea, Lythrum hyssopifolium, 

 Ranunculus lateriflorus, and anewElatine (or perhaps E. macropoda) 

 were altogether dried up. We gathered in them Mentha cervina and 

 Heliotropium supinum, and observed in the neighbourhood a Polygo- 

 num with a woody base, which is, I think, the flagellare of the Ko- 

 nian botanists ; but M. Fabre told me he had watched it for several 

 years, and that it had never flowered. There was also Crolon tincto- 

 rium, and a Helminthia very different in its general habit from H. 

 echioides ; and, whether species or variety, it is, I believe, the tJ. 

 humifnsa of Gussone. Echiura pyrenaicum is exceedingly abundant, 

 and, more rarely, Carlina lanata. In a solitary walk I gathered Jas- 

 minum fruticans and some other warm-country plants ; but on the 

 whole the general botany is much less interesting than that of Nismes 

 or Cette. I afterwards went, with M. Fabre, to the mouth of the He- 

 rault. On the way we got Ammi Visnaga and Sueeda setigera ; and 

 I observed Salicornia fruticosa and Suasda fruticosa far above any 

 common access of sea-water. The places might be overflowed in 

 winter, but rather, 1 should think, with the fresh- water brought down 

 by the Herault than with salt. On the sand-hills of the Herault are 

 several plants not often found further north — Anacyclus radiatus, 

 Psoralea bituminosa, a Dorycnium (which is here considered as D. 

 herbaceum ; but, as the pods are one-seeded, it would seem not to be 



