alike to induce a passing Botanist to visit 
both this and St. Nazaire ; but if he should 
prefer the latter, he had better not stop 
there, but push on at once to Le Poulignen 
and La Croizie. If the peat-bogs are to 
be visited, this would be most advantage- 
ously accomplished in union with a consi- 
derable forest between Pont Château and 
Roche Bernard, on the road from Nantes 
to Vannes. These bogs sometimes catch 
fire, and burn for a considerable time. If, 
on the contrary, the Naturalist should 
choose Pornic, he may visit from thence 
the Isle of Noirmoutiers, the most northern 
station for Pancratium maritimum and 
Amaryllis lutea. 
On the 23rd of May I left Nantes in a 
steam-boat, which ascended the Loire. I 
thought there was little in it to justify its 
reputation for beauty ; but I must acknow- 
ledge that between Mauve and Ancenis, 
the Scenery is delightful; and though ex- 
tremely different in effect from that on the 
Rhine below Bingen, yet the rocky banks 
which bound the stream are much of the 
Same nature in both, and present very si- 
milar forms. The great disparity lies in 
the respective proportions, the Loire being 
perhaps three times as wide as that part of 
the Rhine, while the rocky banks of the 
Rhine are thrice as high as those of the 
Loire, I landed at La Poissonniére, and 
walked up to Savenniére, where there is a 
church which I wished to sketch, said to 
be the oldest in France. We had thunder 
coos rain, and it was very cold, 
us much hindered both in botan- 
oo drawing. The plants I found 
avenniere were Ranunculus che- 
* Sa Draba muralis, Turritis glabra, 
Se rium Pyrenaicum, Silene nutans, 
glas um purpureum, (G. Robertianum, 
- Tag ON, almost uniformly 
| > On this appearance,) Lathyrus 
dp, ricus, Trifol maritimum doge 
- Striatum, Potentilla argentea, P. 
UU PAS amaadag t Peucedanum Pari- 
: PSR z a peregrina, Hieracium Au- 
~ h H. pulmonarium, Andryala sinu- 
ACCOUNT OF A BOTANICAL EXCURSION INTO BRITTANY. 
267 
ata, Pulmonaria angustifolia, t Verbascum 
pulverulentum, Veronica acinifolia, Sta- 
chys recta, Mentha rotundifolia, Melittis 
grandiflora, Plantago maritima, Daphne 
Laureola, Aristolochia Clematitis, Eu- 
phorbia Esula, E. Cyparissias, E. Cha- 
racias, E. platyphylla, Quercus Toza, 
Alisma natans, A. Damasonium, Orchis 
viridis, O. ustulata, Ornithogalum umbel- 
latum and Hyacinthus comosus, (The 
plants marked t were not in flower.) 
On the evening of the 25th I went to 
Angers, and on the 26th called on Mons. 
Desvaux, but without meeting him, as he 
was out on a botanical excursion. 
The Flora of Anjou seems to present an 
interesting union of plants from the North 
and South, East and West. The limits of 
the ancient Anjou nearly coincide with 
those of the Department of the Maine et 
Loire. This contains an area of 718,807 
hectares, equal to 1,776,000 acres, or about 
2,700 square miles. The Flora published 
by Desvaux contains eleven hundred and 
eighty-three species, a large number for 
such a district, where there are no moun- 
tains, and no sea-shore, and it is not in- 
creased by the addition of garden-plants, 
as is the Flore Française, nor by an un- 
due multiplication of species; for although 
there are some which must, no doubt, be 
rejected; there are, I think, full as many 
considered by the author to be mere va- 
rieties, and omitted in the enumeration, 
which I am ready to acknowledge as spe- 
cies. Of these eleven hundred and eighty- 
three, two hundred and thirty-nine are 
not found in the British Islands, and 
two hundred and eighteen more would 
be considered as rare with us; so that 
of every thirteen species observed by a 
British Naturalist, five would probably 
be interesting subjects of remark, even i 
he had them already in his collection. 
This is a much richer harvest than would 
reward a mere English Botanist in Brit- 
tany ; but if, on the other hand, he had in- 
vestigated the neighbourhood of Paris, he 
will he number of novelties greatly 
diminished, while those of Brittany would 
be little affected. Desvaux professes not 
