1 34 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



stream. At the entrance is a small cabane or inn, 

 and as it was now 7 p.m., I decided to pass the night 

 there. Next morning I rose early, while the mist 

 was still thick, and crossed to the foot of the water- 

 fall ; on the way I found Sinapis montana (DC); 

 Crepis pygmcea (L.), a small one-headed plant, with 

 stems running down among the loose stones ; Gera- 

 nium cinereum (Cav.), with light rose-lilac coloured 

 flowers, very large for the size of the plant, which is 

 only a few inches high; Vicia pyrenaiea (Pourr.) 

 (= V. fagonii (Lap.)), a small erect species, a few 

 inches high, with a large purple flower ; Scrophirfaria 

 alpestris (Gay), very like S. aquatica, but pubescent 

 and fewer -flowered ; Doronicum grandifiorum (Lam.), 

 a plant with fine large flowers ; Soldanclla alpina 

 (L.), a very pretty little primulaceous plant, with 

 light blue bell-shaped and fringed flowers, and reni- 

 form leaves; Arabis alpestris (Schleich) ; Anemone 

 Hepatica (L.) ; Gentiana verna (L.) ; Pedieularis pyre- 

 naica (Gay), very like P. rostrata of the Alps ; Pin- 

 guieula longifolia (DC.), a long-leaved var. of P. 

 grandiflora ; Geum pyrenaicnm, with large yellow 

 flowers and lyrate leaves; Salix pyrenaiea (Gou.), 

 and S. retusa (L.) ; Erigeron alpinus (L.) ; Myosotis 

 alpestris (Schmidt); Arenaria ciliata (L.) and A. 

 grandiflora (All.); Lotus corniculatus (L.), var. alpinus 

 (Jord.), a very small variety ; Potentillafrigida (Vill.), 

 a hirsute, acaulescent species, with yellow flowers ; 

 Saxifraga ajugecfolia (L.), something like small- 

 flowered hypnoides ; Sedum atratum (L.), Ranun- 

 culus Gouani (Willd.) ; Globularia nudicaulis, (L.), 

 and G. nana (Lam.). Now suddenly the mists cleared 

 away, and the warm sun shone out, tingeing the rocky 

 peaks down the valley a lovely orange-pink, and 

 showing out the dazzling white snowy ledges up 

 above. Crossing over the Cirque, and over the 

 stream by a snow-bridge, on the hill near the 

 entrance I came across Androsace villosa, a beautiful 

 little plant of the primrose order, with flowers like 

 tiny white primroses, and hairy leaves, stems, and 

 calyx ; Androsace carnea, with flesh-coloured flowers 

 and glabrous pointed leaves ; A T igritella angustifolia 

 (Rich.) ; Aspcrula hirta (Ram.) ; Paronychia serpylli- 

 folia (DC.) ; Gentiana acaulis (L.), Thcsium alpinum 

 (Vill.); Bartsia alpind (L.) ; Rhododendron ferrugi- 

 neum (L.), the " Alpine rose" ; and Plantago alpina 

 (L.), like a small form of P. maritima. By this 

 time I was ready for breakfast, and returned to the 

 small inn, demolished an omelette, some bread and 

 butter and coffee, and then set out to walk back to 

 Pierrefitte by the way that I came. Just leaving the 

 Cirque, I found Hclianthemmn piloselloides (Lap.), a 

 variety of H. canum, and a little farther on Potentilla 

 alchemilloidcs (Lap.), and Ramondia pyrenaiea (Rich. ), 

 on the huge boulders which were strewed around 

 among the pines, and last, but not least, the magni- 

 ficent iris of the Pyrenees (Iris xiphioides (Ehrh.) /. 

 pyrenaiea (Bub.), with splendid blue-purple flowers 

 streaked with light orange down the claws of the 



petals. The leaves are rather peculiar, being fistular. 

 The walk back to Pierrefitte was uneventful, not 

 much of interest turning up ; the chie'f being Iberis 

 amara (L.) var., Forestieri (Jord.) ; Nasturtium 

 pyrenaicnm (Br.) ; Lasiagrostis calamagrostis (Link.) ; 

 Melica magnolii (G. G.), a very beautiful grass ; 

 Linaria pyrenaiea (DC. ) ; and Libanotis montana 

 (Cr.), var. pubescens (Mat.). After a good night's rest, 

 I set out to walk to the Lac de Gaube, a small lake 

 among the mountains past Cauterets. The way from 

 Pierrefitte to Cauterets lies through a grand gorge, 

 and begins to rise immediately behind Pierrefitte by 

 zigzags, before entering the gorge itself. The six 

 miles between Pierrefitte and Cauterets afford one of 

 the finest drives in the Pyrenees, the carriage-road 

 running all the way along the bottom of a deep 

 narrow valley with wild savage mountains Sooo and 

 9000 feet high towering up on either side, clothed 

 almost to their rocky summits with dark pines, 

 while the torrent foams and rushes madly along just 

 below. A little before arriving at Cauterets this 

 valley widens, and the small town appears in a basin 

 as it were among the mountains. Cauterets itself is 

 quite a fashionable place to find in the heart of the 

 Pyrenees at over 3000 feet elevation, having above 

 1700 inhabitants, besides numbers of visitors in the 

 season. There are numerous mineral springs in the 

 neighbourhood, and when I arrived there, the visitors 

 were just returning in troops from taking their 

 morning glass, (not of alcoholic liquors, but of a 

 strictly teetotal drink). Each person takes his own 

 glass, which is carried in a little case, like a puff-box, 

 fastened to a coloured cord, and slung over the 

 shoulder. Outside the baths or drinking-halls are 

 wooden booths for the sale of bon-bons, etc., and I 

 have no doubt but what they are much in request to 

 take after the waters, to judge by the face I saw a 

 corpulent old cure pull over his glass, as he drank off 

 his dose in the porch of the bath-house. About 

 a mile past Cauterets is the spring of La Railliere ; 

 here the carriage-road ends, farther on there is only 

 a horse-track, which passes up the Val de Jerez, 

 through a pine wood, close to the stream. There are 

 several good waterfalls in this valley, the finest being 

 one just above the Pont d'Espagne ; here the whole 

 volume of water from the Lac de Gaube dashes down 

 into a rocky chasm, and rushes down a narrow 

 passage between the rocks, beneath the new stone 

 bridge. The old bridge, the original Pont d'Espagne, 

 is a structure of tree-trunks thrown across the 

 stream a little lower down. 



The Pont is about six miles from Cauterets by a 

 very steep stony path, with grand scenery of rocky 

 peaks, pine-clad cliffs, and here and there patches of 

 snow showing on the higher mountains. Hitherto 

 there has not been much to record in the botanical 

 line for this day, excepting Lychnis coronaria (L.), 

 and Hypericum nummularium (L.) ,but on leaving the 

 Pont d'Espagne, and strikirg up the valley to the 



