1875] Tour in the Engadine. 255 



Kirby sent me a copy of the Gorilla Article,* and I think it very 

 well turned out. There is a novelty, is there not, in giving a leader 

 on our poor relation ? Was it not a pity to leave out about the 

 supposed white gorilla ? . . . It is curious about the separation of 

 sexes in the H.-a. Bat.f Do you think the female kind congregate for 

 gossip or other purposes ? No birds here, but Wheatears, Alpine 

 Choughs, Sparrows, Woodpeckers, and marmots. Will you give my 

 kind remembrances to your father, and tell him this is the most 

 interesting part of Switz I have yet seen. 



It was at the close of a long day's butterfly hunting 

 (July 13) in the Val de Fain that, sitting down to rest, he 

 had his first and only opportunity of seeing the Swiss 

 Marmot in its native home. A shrill whistle advised him 

 of its presence. " Oh, do sit very still, and we shall see 

 the marmots appear," he exclaimed; and by-and-by one, 

 then another, popped up, until quite a group of the pretty 

 animals were frisking about, within a few yards of their 

 well-pleased observers. 



He was equally pleased with Samaden, gathered 

 Lychnis flos-jovis in Val Bevers, and " all sorts of 

 treasures" at the top of Piz Padella (Dianthus glacialis, 

 Saxifraga stenopetala, Ranunculus parnassifolia, Eritri- 

 chium nanum, and Arenaria recurva among the number), 

 but lost his "favourite botanical digger" in the Maloya 

 Pass, while exploring a supposed locality for Woodsia, 

 where an Eagle was seen, but no sign of the fern. On the 

 26th, when they left Samaden, a fine but (to sorce nervous 

 fellow-travellers) rather trying day was spent, going by 

 banquette to Chur, through the high Julier Pass. % "Descent 

 (from top of the Pass) through a barren wilderness of stony 

 peaks to Miihlen, where the scenery changes to spruce 

 and larch firs (no Arollas). The scenery very fine. Valley 

 gradually opens into a broad expanded green extent of 

 meadow, and corn recommences. Epipactis rubra seen by 

 F. Another tall plant (r Aconite, very tall) and Salvia. 

 Tiefencasten lies in a hole, at junction of three roads 



* Probably an article in a Dublin daily newspaper, relating to the purchase 

 for the Museum, at this time, of the skin of a gorilla, which Mr. More negoti- 

 ated at Paris. 



t " Hairy-armed Bat." 



j The diary kept during the Swiss tours is only occasionally (as in the 

 following extract) in Mr. More's own handwriting. 



