379 



unifiorus, Luzula confusa, Carex nardina, Hierochloa alpina 

 and Poa alpina. 



Tlirough the heath-flat stretched some winding 5 — 15 metres 

 high gravelly (clay and sand with boulders) walls; their sides 

 were rather steep (20 — 25°), the surfaces slightly arched or 

 flat, from 2 — 10 m broad. They were covered with a rather 

 open vegetation consisting of: 



Potentilla nivea, P. maculata, Sibbaldia, Cerastium alpi- 

 7ium, Alsine biflora, A. verna, Melandrium trifiorum, Rnmex 

 acetocella, Draba alpina, D. hirta, Arabis alpina, Saxifraga 

 cernua, S. decipiens, Armeria^), Pedicularis flammea, Campa- 

 nula uniflora. 



On the plain between the walls are found numerous shal- 

 low ponds surrounded by meadows or bogs, which are evidently 

 flooded in the spring time. The meadows, which are smaller 

 in extent, are chiefly made up of Carex pidla {m[h Leptosphaeria 

 epicareta), C. scirpoidea, Poa pratensis, Arctagrostis latifolia, 

 Phippsia algida, Juncus castaneus, Koenigia islandica, Car- 

 damine pratensis, Ranunculus altaicus and, nearest the margin 

 and in the water, Pleuropogon Sabinei (fig. 11). It stands lonely 

 or, at most, two or three specimens together without covering 

 the bottom, which consists of sand with a 1 — 2 cm thick layer 

 of mud. preferring seemingly little sheltered bays between blocks 

 of stone. It is by no means rare here, but blooms sparely, 

 and is when sterile difficult to recognize, for which reason it 

 is easily overlooked, the more so because its habitat is one of 

 the most disagreeable places in the country on account of 

 the countless hosts of gnats hovering round the water. They 

 were to the highest degree hampering during the work, so much 

 that e. g. I was hardly able to keep the lens of the apparatus 

 free of them while photographing. 



The water in the ponds is greatly filled with gnat-worms, 

 but I did not see other insects or Crustacea. In the water it- 



^) Attacked by Pleospora platyspora. 



26* 



