X PREFACE 



flowered in thousands and millions upon slopes 

 still brown from the rigours of winter, or Gentiana 

 verna, or Primula integi^ifolia, whose dense masses 

 were covered with their lovely blossoms, or Gagea 

 Liotardi, whose brilliant yellow stars shone on 

 all sides in the sun, or Primula hirsuta. All 

 these separate masses formed together a truly 

 enchanting picture, which remained unadmired by 

 strangers — since these had not yet arrived — and 

 which I was happy and proud to salute under 

 the sky of the Grisons. 



Our author seems to have a predilection for 

 the blue flower of Gentiana verna, and I thank 

 him for all he says of my favourite. When, 

 at the age of ten years, I saw it for the first time, 

 carpeting the fields of the Jura in Vaud, my 

 child's soul was so enthusiastic over it that there 

 were fears I should make myself ill. This im- 

 pression, which dates from 1864, is still as fresh 

 in my memory as if it were of yesterday. Blue, 

 true blue, is so rare in Nature that Alphonse Karr 

 could cite but five or six flowers that were really 

 so : the Gentian, the Comellina, several Delphi- 

 niums, the Cornflower, and the Forget-me-not. 



