GENERAL INTRODUCTION i53 



and over all the European chains 1 . Generally the situa- 

 tions chosen are places of easy access, near to hotels or 

 mountain huts. While they help in spreading a scientific 

 knowledge of alpine flora, they also serve the end which 

 ] have here proposed to myself to teach the love of the 

 little mountain plants, the true stars of our Alps. 



(According to a report published early in 1910 a 

 national park for the preservation of indigenous fauna and 

 flora is to be established on a large scale in Switzerland. 

 It is stated that a vast area lying between the lower En- 

 gadine and the Munsterthal and comprising the valley of 

 Scarf and the neighbouring vallies has most generously 

 been offered for this purpose at a nominal rental by the 

 commune of Zernetz. "Ed.) 



* Sec on this subject the Report of the first Congress of Alpine Gar- 

 dens, held at the Rochers de Naye in August 1904, under the presidency 

 of Prince Roland Bonaparte. (Geneva, 1904.) 



