THE MAY FIELDS 31 



mauve and creamy- white ; also of the quaint 

 Alpine Crowfoot and of the yet more quaint, 

 aesthetically tinted Ajuga pyramidalis — the most 

 arresting of the Bugles — and of the demure little 

 Alpine Poly gala, varying from blue (the type) 

 through mauve to reddish-pink, even to white. 

 Here, also, is the Sulphur Anemone just unfolding 

 the earliest of its clear citron-coloured blossoms. 

 But to see this Anemone to fullest advantage we 

 must turn to the drier pastures to the east and 

 north of the lake, where it is scattered in endless 

 thousands amongst sheets of Gentiana verna and 

 excisa and a profusion of the yellow Pedicularis 

 {tuber osa), the white Potentilla {rupestris), the 

 golden Geum {inontanuvi), the purple Calamintha 

 {alpi/ia), the canary-yellow Biscutella {lasvigata)^ 

 the rosy-red Saponaria {ocymoides), and many 

 another of the earlier pasture-flowers. And by 

 the side of all this ravishing young life and colour 

 are the still remaining avalanches of piled-up 

 frozen snow — grim reminders of what wild riot 

 winter makes upon these pastures whilst the 

 flowers are sleeping. 



Surely, then our praise is not surprising ? Surely, 

 nowhere in the Alps in May shall we find anything 

 more admirable or more amazingly colour-full than 



