HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



131 



Anthyllis vulneraria, var, rubrijlora (DC.) ; Dilleitii 

 (Schultz), also very common here. A peculiar form 

 or variety of Malva moscAata, with crenate and 

 reniform leaves [var. Ramondiana (G. G.)], was 

 noticed here. Eckium vulgare, var. pyrenaicum, 

 grows in great profusion all about. Returning in the 

 cool of the evening through one of the quaint old 

 stone-built villages, I encountered the female portion 

 of the community, all busily engaged at Blind Man's 

 Buff, and having to pass through the midst was made 

 prisoner by the Blind Man (or Woman) amidst shouts 

 of laughter from the other players. The look of 

 dismay on the woman's countenance, on discovering 

 whom she had captured, was worthy of being photo- 

 graphed. However, I was not obliged to serve, and 

 was allowed to pass on my way without further 

 molestation. 



Next morning, the weather continuing all that could 

 be wished, I set out for the Pic du Midi d'Ossau, 

 about ten miles farther up the Val d'Ossau. The way 

 from Laruns to Eaux Chaudes commences in a splendid 

 cutting between overhanging mountains, with a torrent 

 foaming along some hundreds of feet beneath, the 

 old road, now disused for wheel traffic, being on the 

 opposite side of the valley about 300 feet or so higher 

 up, but looking almost directly down on the new 

 road. In one place the old road passes through a 

 tunnel in the rock. Three miles up the valley lies 

 the watering-place or Spa of Eaux Chaudes, a small 

 but fashionable resort. On the way I found 

 Bupleurumfalcatum ; Hypericum nummularium (L.), 

 a very pretty trailing species ; Belonica alopecuros 

 (L.) a large yellow-flowered plant ; Adiantum capillus- 

 Veneris, on damp rocks ; and Ononis natrix, a species 

 with large yellow flowers, beautifully marked with 

 reddish veins. Eight miles past Eaux Chaudes is the 

 poor hamlet of Gabas, the last village in France on 

 this route ; here the carriage-road ends, but a good 

 horse and mule track goes on over into Spain. The 

 village contains a curious old church, dated (if I 

 remember rightly) 1120 ; it has four slits for windows 

 about 4 feet by 1 foot. Past Gabas, in a small wood 

 by the stream (whither I adjourned for the mid-day 

 repast), I found Veronica ponce (Gou.), something 

 like our V. montana, only the flowers are larger 

 and in a loose terminal raceme ; Crepis lamp- 

 sanoides (Froel.), a tall leafy species, like a large 

 hirsute C. paludosa ; Thalictrum aquilegifolium ; 

 Meconopsis cambrica; Lilium Marlagon ; Erucastrum 

 obtusangulum (Reich), Adenostyles albifrons (DC), 

 like a cordate-leaved Eupatorium ; Hypericum Bnrseri 

 (Spach) ; Polygonatum vertkillatum (All.), in fruit 

 Galium rotundifolium and Ranunculus nemorosus. 

 Higher up the valley, at about 4000 ft., the Saxifrages 

 began to be common. S. Geum, S. hirsuta, S. aizoon 

 (Jacq.), all on rocks by the road-side. On a stony 

 bank I found Carlina acaulis (L.), and var. subacaulis 

 (DC), large-headed Carlinas with white, silvery 

 inner bracts; and Carlina cynara (Pourr.), with 



yellow inner bracts, and very large acaulescent 

 heads. Linaria alpina, with its beautiful purple and 

 orange flowers, and glaucous foliage, now began to 

 appear, showing the higher altitude, also Erinus 

 alpinus, with its bright rose-purple flowers. Eryngium 

 Bourgati (Gou.), a blue-flowered Pyrenean species, 

 with an almost simple stem, about a foot high, was 

 common on the grassy slopes, together with Merendera 

 bulbocodium (Ram.), a lovely rose-flowered colchi- 

 cum-like plant, this latter in places so thick that it 

 coloured the slopes that it grew on. I had good 

 reason to remember this plant, for, in digging up 

 some of its corms, I broke my good root-knife, and 

 was unable to replace it for nearly a week, when I 

 got a formidable-looking vine-dresser's knife instead. 

 Suddenly, on turning a corner in the road/there burst 

 upon the astonished sight the view of one of, if not 

 the most picturesque peaks in the Pyrenees, the Pic 

 du Midi d'Ossau ; round the base and some way up 

 the rocky sides were dark pines, then towering away 

 above for about 3000 feet is a precipitous, pinnacled 

 mass of bare rock. The sight viewed from this point 

 is simply magnificent, and in my experience is only 

 equalled by the Matterhorn. The weather up to this 

 point had been beautifully clear, but lower down the 

 valley I had noticed a few light fleecy clouds blowing 

 up ; presently some arrived in the part where I was, 

 and in ten minutes the crags of the giant mountain 

 had disappeared, and the whole valley was filled 

 with a cold mist. As it was getting late and the fog 

 prevented farther progress, I set out to return, and 

 on the way, on some inaccessible rocks above the 

 road, I saw some splendid specimens of Valeriana 

 pyrenaica, about 6 ft. high, and some Ranunculus 

 platanifolius (L.), a large, white-flowered species. 

 Having carefully looked over the rocks, and finding 

 no way of ascending, not to be done I fastened a 

 sharp penknife on a long tree-branch, and soon 

 fetched them tumbling down. A little way on again 

 Arabis alpina appeared, and last but not least, 

 Aquilegia pyrenaica (DC), a lovely plant, more 

 slender than A. vulgaris, with flowers as large or 

 larger, of a pure light blue, stems simple, 8 in. to 

 I ft. in height. This wag the last find for the day, 

 and a few hours' walk brought me back to the hotel 

 at Laruns. Next morning was cloudy, but fine, and 

 bidding farewell to Laruns, I set out to walk by the 

 Route Thermale, a splendid road made by Napoleon 

 III. to connect the watering-places in the Val 

 d'Ossau with those in the Argeles valley, and save 

 the long detour by Pau and Lourdes. After passing 

 the watering-place of Eaux Bonnes, the road passes 

 up the valley to the end, and then mounts up by 

 long zigzags through a pine wood to a grassy region 

 beyond. In the pine wood I found Pinguicula 

 grandijlora (Lam.), and beyondit Horminum pyrenai- 

 cum (L.), a beautiful, low-growing labiate plant, 

 with a single erect many-flowered spike of largish 

 purple flowers, and radical leaves only. Higher up 



