1 66 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



Conqueror ruled England, I had visited a week before. 

 St, Bruno's lily has large, white, funnel-shaped flowers, 

 an inch or more long, three or four on a stalk. It is 

 known to botanists by the pretty name " Paradisia 

 liliastrum." It is the lily of the Alps, pure and un 

 spotted, with a delicious perfume, and six golden stamens 

 guarded by its beautiful and large white corolla. In 

 the woods we found some of the larger orchids, and 

 also whole banks covered with the waxy-looking flowers, 

 variegated in colour, white, yellow, and red, of the 

 large millwort, the Polygala chamsebuxus — a plant very 

 unlike in appearance to the little blue and white milk- 

 worts of England. It flowers in winter as well as 

 through the early summer. Another wonderfully waxy- 

 looking flower which we found is that of the shrub 

 known as the Alpine Daphne. There is something 

 suggestive of exotic rarity and perfume about a waxy- 

 looking flower. Of the same character are the flowers 

 of the little shrubs of the genus Vaccinium known as 

 the bilberry, the wortleberry, the cow-berry, and the 

 bear-berry, which occur on the open scrubland. The 

 rusty-leaved Rhododendron, with its crimson flowers, 

 and the little Azalea (like the Vaccinia — all members 

 of the Heath family) were abundant — as well as the 

 true dark-red rose of the Alps, the richly-scented Rosa 

 alpina. 



We left Argentiere and the constant companionship 

 of the great glaciers of the vale of Chamonix, and 

 descended by train through the awe-inspiring valley of 

 the Trient (up which we used to walk many years ago, 

 on our way to the higher regions) to Martigny, and 

 then drove for four hours up a rough mountain road to 

 the hotel of Pierre-a-voir — whence we descended a few 

 days later in sledges^ over grass slopes and torrent beds, 



