146 PLANTS OF SNOWDON. [July, 



which have been worn away by the elements^ so as to present a 

 curiously honeycombed appearance^ — and by this one peculiarity 

 the rock may be traced throughout its whole extent without dif- 

 ficulty. It may perhaps be very familiar to many who have vi- 

 sited the celebrated fissure of Twll Du, immediately above Llyn 

 Ogwen, where the curious holes in the rock, there formed by the 

 incessant drip of the water from above, have received the so- 

 briquet of the Devil's Pots, the fissure itself being termed the 

 Devil's Kitchen. But this interpolated rock, interesting enough 

 in a geological point of view, is far more so when examined with 

 reference to its botanical productions. As may be readily ima- 

 gined, the porous sandstone affords a congenial home to the 

 moisture-loving Ferns and rarer alpine plants, less able to thrive 

 in the more rugged soil, where their hardier neighbours, as the 

 Saxifraga stellaris, Silene acaulis, Sedum Rhodiola, etc. are found 

 to flourish successfully. It is impossible to follow along the line 

 of the sandstone rock, to which I have alluded, for ten yards, with- 

 out ha\dng the opportunity of filling one's botany-case with mag- 

 nificent plants of Thalictrum alpinum, Vaccinium Vitis-Ideea, Ly- 

 copodium selaginoides, and the beautiful little Asplenium viride. 

 A closer search will furnish some fine plants of Aspidium Lon- 

 chitis, snugly nestled in their rocky crevices, but easily distin- 

 guished from a considerable distance by the glossy green of their 

 rigid fronds. Also I found Draba incana, a plant j^eculiariy al- 

 pi^^e, and have little doubt that a more protracted search would 

 have revealed some specimens of the Woodsias. But here both 

 I and my friend who accompanied me were completely beguiled 

 by a clever "dodge" of the botanical guide at Llanberis, William 

 Williams, which I will recapitulate for the benefit of those whom' 

 he may attempt hereafter to lead astray in a similar manner. 



We first saw him in the hut at the top of the mountain, where 

 he had been since daybreak, he having come up from Llanberis 

 with a gentleman to see the sun rise, while we had ascended 

 from Beddgelert. He left some time before we did, as we sup- 

 posed, to go back to Llanberis ; but on descending the precipices 

 by the Capel Curig path, shortly before reaching the upper lake, 

 we observed him ascending the precipices on our right, in the 

 direction of the Snowdon summit, and felt little doubt that he 

 was engaged in a search after some rare plants, as he had the re- 

 putation of being well acquainted with almost every inch of the 



