\ 
98 Mr. R.Spruce on the Musci and Hepatice of the Pyrenees. 
whether phytostatical or phytological, are imperfect; yet they have 
all their use in placing the same object before us under different 
points of view. As regards the Pyrenees, I have judged it best 
under all the circumstances to adopt the climatal arrangement 
sanctioned by the usage of the most eminent resident botanists. 
The first exposition of this is to be found in the writings of 
Ramond, one of the earliest observers in geographical botany. 
He ascertained that the oak (Quercus robur) ascended from the 
plains to the height of 1600 metres ; that the beech (Fagus syl- 
vatica) occupied a zone of from 600 to 1800 metres ; the fir 
(Pinus Abies) and the yew (Taxus communis) a zone of from 
1400 to 2000 metres; and that the Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris) 
commencing at the latter limit, ascended in its smaller forms 
(especially that called Pinus Mughus by Jacquin) as high as 
2400 metres. Above this limit (he observes) there are no more 
trees. Here commence shrubs, with dry leaves, and mostly pro- 
cumbent or prostrate stems, which are concealed under the snow 
during the winter. Such are Rhododendron ferrugineum, various 
species of Daphne, Passerina and Globularia, Salix herbacea and 
reticulata, &c. Leaving these, we meet humbie herbs with 
perennial roots, leaves in rosettes and mostly naked stems: first 
in the series are Gentiana campestris, Primula villosa, Saxifraga 
longifolia, Aizoon, &c.; next, Ranunculus alpestris, nivalis and 
parnassifolius, Androsace alpina, &c.; lastly, Ranunculus glacialis, 
Saxifraga cespitosa, oppositifolia, androsacea and grenlandica 
(Lapeyr., non L.) : these, with lichens, reach 3000 or even 3400 
metres, and extend to and even beyond the line of eternal snow. 
Guided by these observations of Ramond, and by others of his 
own, M. des Moulins, in the admirable memoir above-cited, has 
proposed to divide the Pyrenees into zones of altitude, as follows. 
The commencement of the subalpine zone he places at 4200 feet, 
about which altitude the cultivation of esculent vegetables (rye, 
potatoes, cabbages, &c.) ceases. It extends as far as 6000 feet, 
which is the upper limit of the growth of the spruce-fir and the 
beech*. The plants of the mountains, united with certain plants 
frequent in the plains, form the basis of its vegetation, and the 
real subalpines attain in it their greatest development both as to 
size and number. Meadows are scarce in this zone and do not 
occur above it. 
The alpine region M. des Moulins divides into three zones. 
First, the inferalpine, which extends from 6000 to 7200 feet, and . 
is characterized chiefly by the presence of Pinus sylvestris, which 
* My own observations are here somewhat at variance with those of M. 
des Moulins. The beech has seemed to me to fail ordinarily some hundred 
feet below the fir, and in effect about the point where the latter attains its 
greatest development. 
