98 Mr. R. Spruce on the Musci and Hepaticce of the Pyrenees, 



whether phytostatical or phytological, are imperfect; yet they have 

 all their use in placing the same object before us under different 

 points of view. As regards the Pyrenees, I have judged it best 

 under all the circumstances to adopt the climatal arrangement 

 sanctioned by the usage of the most eminent resident botanists. 

 The first exposition of this is to be found in the writings of 

 Ramond, one of the earliest observers in geographical botany. 

 He ascertained that the oak {Quercus robur) ascended from the 

 plains to the height of 1600 metres ; that the beech [Fagus syl- 

 vatica) occupied a zone of from 600 to 1800 metres ; the fir 

 {Pinus Abies) and the yew [Taxus communis) a zone of from 

 1400 to 2000 metres ; and that the Scotch fir [Pinus sylvestris) 

 commencing at the latter limit, ascended in its smaller forms 

 (especially that called Pinus Mughus by Jacquin) as high as 

 2400 metres. Above this limit (he observes) there are no more 

 trees. Here commence shrubs, with dry leaves, and mostly pro- 

 cumbent or prostrate stems, which are concealed under the snow 

 during the winter. Such are Rhododendron ferrugineum, various 

 species of Daphne, Passerina and Globularia, Salix herbacea and 

 reticulata, &c. Leaving these, we meet humbie herbs with 

 perennial roots, leaves in rosettes and mostly naked stems : first 

 in the series are Gentiana campestris. Primula villosa, Saxifraga 

 longifolia, Aizoon, &c. ; next. Ranunculus alpestris, nivalis and 

 parnassifoliu^, Androsace alpina, &c.; lastly, Ranunculus glacialis, 

 Saxifraga ccsspitosa, oppositifolia, androsacea and grcenlandica 

 (Lapeyr., non L.) : these, with lichens, reach 3000 or even 3400 

 metres, and extend to and even beyond the line of eternal snow. 

 Guided by these observations of Ramond, and by others of his 

 own, M. des Moulins, in the admirable memoir above-cited, has 

 proposed to divide the Pyrenees into zones of altitude, as follows. 

 The commencement of the subalpine zone he places at 4200 feet, 

 about which altitude the cultivation of esculent vegetables (rye, 

 potatoes, cabbages, &c.) ceases. It extends as far as 6000 feet, 

 which is the upper limit of the growth of the spruce-fir and the 

 beech*. The plants of the mountains, united with certain plants 

 frequent in the plains, form the basis of its vegetation, and the 

 real subalpines attain in it their greatest development both as to 

 size and number. Meadows are scarce in this zone and do not 

 occur above it. 



The alpine region M. des Moulins divides into three zones. 

 First, the inferalpine, which extends from 6000 to 7200 feet, and 

 is characterized chiefly by the presence of Pinus sylvestris, which 



* My own observations are here somewhat at variance with those of M. 

 des Moulins. The beech has seemed to me to fail ordinarily some hundred 

 feet below the fir, and in effect about the point where the latter attains its 

 greatest development. 



