AUTUMN IN THE ALPS 111 



Sorbus aria, with white backs to its leaves and 

 clusters of scarlet fruit, which are edible ; the 

 Alpine Juniper (Juniperus nana), with purple-blue 

 berries, from which a kind of gin is made ; the 

 various Eglantines, with their showy red fruit, some 

 round and shining, some large and hairy (Rosa 

 pomifera), and some long and tapering (R. alpina) ; 

 and big, sturdy Currant-bushes, laden with rich red 

 bunches, the worth of which the peasantry appear 

 to ignore, although they drive a brisk trade with 

 the hotels in wild mountain Raspberries, Straw- 

 berries, and Bilberries. Is there, by the way, any 

 known good reason why the fruit of the true 

 Alpine Strawberry and the true Alpine Eglantine 

 should be elongated rather than oval, as in the 

 Strawberry and Eglantine of the plains ? Circum- 

 stance must be at the root of the cause for this 

 change, and it would be extremely interesting 

 to be able to trace it. But this thought is only 

 en passant. 



Mention of the Bilberry warns us that we must 

 not forget the dwarfer shrubs, lending as they do so 

 much of warm, attractive colouring to the mountain- 

 side. First and foremost place must be given to 

 the little Cowberry (Vacdnium vitis idcea), laden 

 with its bright red and rose clusters, which the 



