84 Mr. R. Spruce on the Mnsci and Hepatica of the Pyrenees'. 



mountain of Superbagneres_, which rises from the back of the 

 town, the gorge of Esquierry (" le jardin des Pyrenees '') ; the 

 Lacs d^Oo (Lac de Seculejo and Lac d^Espingo) lying between 

 Mont Crabioules andthe Vallee d'Aure; the Valine de Barbe (in 

 which is the Bois de Gouerdere), and, passing through the Port 

 de Portillon at its extremity, the upper part of the Vallee d'Aran 

 in Catalonia; and on the 10th, 11th and 12th of September, 

 passing through the Bois de Sajust and the Port de Benasque (in 

 the central chain), 1 had ascended the Maladetta in Aragon. 

 Leaving Bagneres-de-Luchon and the Haute Garonne on the 

 4th of October, I returned to Bagneres-de-Bigorre, and occupied 

 myself until nearly the end of the month in exploring its envi- 

 rons, by which my collection of pleurocarpous mosses was much 

 enriched. The localities examined were the rocks of Bedat and 

 Salut, close by the town ; Mont Lhieris and the woods of Gerde 

 and Aste at its base ; the Gorge de Labassere ; the Vallee de 

 Lesponne with Lac Lehou (otherwise Lac Bleu), and a tributary 

 valley (Ardalos) extending to the base of the terminal cone of the 

 Pic du Midi. The autumn being unusually prolonged, and the 

 summits still clear of snow, I undertook another expedition to 

 the Basses Pyrenees, and on the Jst of November proceeded 

 again to Laruns, where I remained until fairly driven away by 

 the coming of winter. Besides the locahties visited in summer 

 from this station, I now examined the Vallee de Beost, which 

 leads across the Col de Louvie to the Vallee d^Argelez ; the upper 

 part of the Gave de Valentin towards the Col de Tortes ; the 

 mountain (Goursi) which shades Laruns on the south ; and Gabas, 

 near the base of the Pic du Midi. Driven from the mountains, 

 my next destination was, by way of Pau, to Dax {Aqute Augusta> 

 Tarbellicce) in the Landes [Ager Syrticus), where I arrived on the 

 18th of November. In the midst of almost unceasing rain I vi- 

 sited in this rich district the ophitic rocks of St. Pandelon on the 

 banks of the Luy (a tributary of the Adour), the chalk rocks of 

 Tercis, and the woods of Saubagnac and La Torte. Having de- 

 voted a fortnight to a re-examination of the neighbourhood of 

 Pau, I returned early in December to Bagneres to winter. In 

 the Pyrenees, as throughout nearly all the rest of Europe, the 

 winter of 1845-6 w^as remarkably mild, and by the month of 

 February the lower mountains were quite clear of snow. I availed 

 myself of this circumstance to explore the district almost com- 

 pletely, and in one instance to make, in company with M. Phi- 

 lippe, an excursion of four days (from the 5th to the 8th of Fe- 

 bruary) into the heart of the mountains, for the purpose of ex- 

 amining the back of the Pic de Mont-Aigu and the Vallee de 

 Castelloubon (otherwise V. de Gazos), which is separated by only 

 a narrow ridge from the valleys of Luz and Argelez. Even at 



