Pe PY ae ae Geigy 
RW ets Sart ee - 
Mr. R. Spruce on the Musci and Hepatice of the Pyrenees. 85 
that season we were able to reach an altitude of 7000 feet, and 
might easily have gone higher, but the ground at that height, 
though almost clear of snow, was frozen to the depth of several 
“inches, and the waterfalls were changed into sheets of ice. The 
chief localities examined near Bagnéres, and not previously 
named, are the forests of Transoubét and of L’Escaladieu (the 
latter on the road to Toulouse); the valleys of Campan, Serris 
and Trébons ; the Bois de Lagaillaste and the Camp de César, 
both near the village of Pouzac ; the Cétes schisteux of Loucrup 
and the Bois de Montgaillard, on the road to Lourdes, These 
examinations enabled me to add extensively to the list of mosses 
previously observed by MM. Philippe and de Lugo. Finally 
quitting Bagnéres early in March, a last visit to Pau rendered 
my collection of the mosses of the Western Pyrenees still more 
complete ; and in proceeding thence to Paris, two days spent at 
St. Sever with the excellent Dufcur, afforded me rarities unob- 
served the preceding year. 
In this résumé of my wanderings I have avoided alluding to 
the species collected, but it will be seen, by tracing my track on 
the map, that I executed a network of journeys sufficient to ex- 
plore pretty fully the tract of mountains traversed, extending 
from the Vallée d’Aspe on the west to the Vallée d’Aran on the 
east, and to enable me to state with considerable confidence the 
amount and distribution of species within these limits. 
Since my return from the Pyrenees I have had a few additional 
species and habitats from my friend Philippe, and also from 
M. Schimper, who passed through part of the Pyrenees in 1847 
on his way into Spain. 
It must in conclusion be acknowledged, that it is only botanists 
resident in the Pyrenees who have it in their power to present to 
the world a complete flora, whether Phanerogamic or Crypto- 
gamic, of these mountains. Botanical geography is a subject 
that can be but very imperfectly studied in the cabinet, and in 
sittmg down to arrange the materials collected on a distant ex- 
pedition, one always finds some deficiency, some essential obser- 
vation omitted, which, to a person on the spot, might be sup- 
plied by travelling possibly only a few paces. 
General considerations on the structure, &c. of the Pyrenees.— 
The Pyrenees may be aptly compared to an immense barrier, 
raised by nature’s hand for the separation of two nations, and 
extending from sea to sea. The transversal ridges which spring 
here and there from the central chain may be considered as the 
buttresses, or as the outworks of this great fortification. The 
area occupied by these mountains lies between 3° 20! E. and 
2° 0! W. long. (from Greenwich), and from a little north of the 
43rd parallel nearly to the 42nd. Their direction, from the 
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