*5° 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A BOTANIST'S HOLIDAY IN THE 

 PYRENEES. 



[Continucdfrom p. 135.] 



NEXT day was- Sunday, and was practically a 

 day of rest, as I went by train round to 

 Luchon in the department of Haute-Garonne, in the 

 centre of the range, stopping a few hours on the 

 way at the quaint old town of Monrejeau, where I 

 saw in the principal street, on a good Sunday (Oh ! 

 shade of John Knox), a family playing cards. Luchon 

 or Bagneres de Luchon, is a largish, and very fashion- 

 able resort, and seems to consist of hardly anything 

 but hotels and lodging-houses. It is the best centre 

 in the range for excursions, the middle portion of the 

 Pyrenees being the highest. The situation is most 

 picturesque, being apparently quite shut in on all 

 sides by high mountains, though the part where it is 

 built is quite flat. The following day after my arrival 

 I set out to visit the Val du Lys, so-called, not from 

 its lilies, but from an old or provincial form of the 

 word "eau," water, from the number of its streams 

 and waterfalls. The end of the valley is about seven 

 miles from Luchon. The road passes up the valley 

 through fields of maize for a short distance, then, as 

 the valley narrows, through the woods ; in about an 

 hour the point where the road turns off to the right 

 to enter the Val du Lys is reached, and in about 

 another half-hour a fine open part of the valley, shut 

 in at the end by wooded precipices, is reached. The 

 upper end of the valley is very fine and looks quite 

 inaccessible : above the wooded region appear the 

 rocky peaks and glaciers of the Crabioules. On 

 entering the valley I found Digitalis lutea (L.) in the 

 woods, a species with cream-coloured, smallish 

 flowers, and at the head of the valley, by the Cascade 

 d'Enfer, the rare Cardamine latifolia (Wahl.), with 

 its round lobed-leaves and rose-lilac flowers. At 

 the small inn, or cabane, near the lowest waterfall, the 

 carriage-road ends, but a good horse-road zigzags up 

 through the steep woods to the Rue d'Enfer, a deep 

 cleft in the slaty rock, filled up at one end with snow, 

 under which the stream from the glaciers higher up 

 comes rushing down. On the ascent through the 

 woods I found Mulgedium Plumieri (DC.) something 

 like a large glaucous Sonchus arvensis, with blue 

 flowers, and much branched ; Geranium nodosum 

 (L.), a beautiful species with largish flowers of a 

 light lilac veined with purple, and five-angled and 

 lobed leaves ; Rubus glandulosus (Bell.) ; Ranun- 

 culus Gouani (Willd.) ; Epilobium montanum, white- 

 flowered ; and, on wet rocks, Hicracium neo-cerintke 

 (Fr.), and Saxifraga Clusii (Gou.) {= S. leucanthemi- 

 folia (Lap.)), a species like i - . stcllaris, but larger, and 

 very viscid, only three of the petals being spotted, the 

 other two being smaller and unspotted. Higher up, 

 above the region of the pines, near the Rue d'Enfer, 

 the ground was carpeted with flowers. Aconitum 

 pyrenaicum (DC), a sub-species of A. lycoctonum, 



covered with yellow pubescence; Aquilegia vulgaris; 

 Stachys alpina (L.) ; Senecio adonidifolius (Lois.); 

 Arnica montana (L. ), a composite with large orange- 

 yellow heads ; Potentilla pyrenaica (Ram.), very like 

 P. alpestris ; Tkalictrum aquilegifolium (L.) ; Senecio 

 dorouicum (L.) ; Euphorbia hibema (L.) ; Crepis 

 lampsanoides (Froel.) ; Dianlhus barbatus (L.) ; 

 Gnaphaliuin norvegicum (Koch) ; Hicracium pyre- 

 naicum (Jord.) ; and Euphorbia angulata (Jacq.), 

 were the principal finds. The view above the Rue 

 d'Enfer was magnificent : below was all the valley 

 stretching away towards to Luchon, and the moun- 

 tains around, while just beneath was a rocky chasm 

 half filled with snow; a little higher up were the 

 glaciers from which the stream flowed, and above all 

 the bare and jagged mountain peaks against the blue 

 sky. After climbing nearly to the foot of one of the 

 glaciers, I was stopped by the descending mists, 

 which suddenly came on, and I judged it wisest to 

 return ; so I made the best of my way down again, 

 and in the evening got back safely to Luchon. Next 

 day I had fixed for going by the Port de Venasque 

 across the frontier into Spain, and returning by 

 another pass, the Port de la Picade, a walk of abou: 

 thirty miles, including an ascent of over 7000 feet 

 from the altitude of Luchon (2063 feet). Starting at 

 6 a.m. from Luchon, and passing along the valley 

 of the Pique in a south-eastward direction, past the 

 Val du Lys, till the Hospice de France (or de 

 Luchon), 6\ miles, was reached, I commenced the 

 real ascent. At the Hospice, a substantially built 

 stone inn, the last house in France on this route, the 

 carriage-road ends, and the horse-road over the pass 

 commences. From here to the summit of the pass 

 is a good three hours' steady ascent among rocks, 

 loose debris, and, higher up, over patches of snow. 

 The surroundings are very wild and picturesque : 

 jagged peaks, patches of snow, blue mountain tarns, 

 and strings of Spanish mules with their ragged 

 muleteers coming winding down the zigzag path, 

 their bells making music in the solitude. The 

 weather was all that could be desired, not a cloud 

 in the blue sky, and just enough breeze to cool the 

 heat from the sun's rays. At about an hour's walk 

 from the Hospice the rareties commenced to appear : 

 Euphrasia minima (Schleich) ; Myosotis pyrenaica 

 (Pourr.), very like M. alpestris; Arenaria ciliata 

 (L.) ; Erysimum ochroleucum (DC.) ; Aquilegia pyre- 

 naica (DC.) ; Gentiana nivalis (L.) ; Phyteuma 

 Jicmispharicum (L.), a small species with linear leaves; 

 Saxifraga ajugafolia (L.) ; (by the stream) S. aquatica 

 (Lap.) ; S. capitata (Lap.), intermediate between S. 

 ajugafolia and S. aquatica, and said to be a hybrid, 

 and judging from their positions in this locality, not 

 an unlikely supposition ; Senecio adonidifolius (Lois.) ; 

 S. Tournefortii (DC.) ; a species with lanceolate 

 entire leaves ; Scleranthus uncinatas (Schur.) ; 

 Paronychia polygonifolia (DC.) ; Silene rupesfris 

 (L.) ; Cardamine alpina (L.), a very small species 



