Notes of a lour in Switzerland. 5235 



dersteg. A more leisurely search, had circumstances permitted it, 

 might very probably have been rewarded by the discovery of the fern 

 in other parts of this fine and most interesting mountain. But the ex- 

 cursion over the Gemmi from the Baths of Leuk was, in point of 

 weather, most unpropitious : a mist to begin with, increasing into so 

 dense a fog that we might almost be said to have made this magnifi- 

 cent pass without seeing it : then set in a steady rain, and, what was 

 nearly as disagreeable, the length and difficulty of the journey, coupled 

 with the conveyance of the baggage, rendered it almost imperative to 

 have recourse to a horse to ride on, a most sore encumbrance on such 

 occasions to a botanist, who wants, of course, to dismount every ten 

 or twenty yards to snatch some charming plant that is quite irresistible. 

 Now mounting and dismounting from the back of a horse, equipped 

 in alpine guise, is no such easy matter, and becomes not a little irksome 

 if the operation has to be often repeated, as will readily be understood 

 when it is stated that the high pummel of the saddle in front reaches 

 almost to your breast-bone, and behind you is strapped a large sack 

 of hay projecting a foot, or more, on either side, and surmounted by 

 your own carpet-bag, &c, so that you sit, as it were, ingulfed within 

 the saddle, from which it is not easy to disengage yourself, or to re- 

 gain your seat when required : I wished my brute far away a hundred 

 times ; and now and then, in order to avoid temptation, actually 

 turned away or closed my eyes against the beautiful plants that 

 strewed the ground on every side. In making mountain excursions, 

 let the botanist eschew a horse, whenever it is practicable to dispense 

 with the encumbrance. 



As in the case of certain insects already noticed, so with the ferns, 

 some of our less uncommon British species appeared to be compara- 

 tively rare in Switzerland, as e.g., Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum (of 

 which I do not recollect to have observed more than a single speci- 

 men, and that a weak one), Scolopendrium vulgare, Polystichum 

 lobatum, aculeatum, and angulare ; and to these I think I might add 

 Lastrgea oreopteris (which, however, occurred in some abundance on 

 the Rigi), and Blechnum boreale. Others again, to my surprise, I 

 missed entirely, as Osmunda regalis, Ceterach officinarum, Adiantum 

 Capillus-Veneris, Lastra^a fcenisecii and rigida, Asplenium lanceola- 

 tum, and both the British species of Hymenophyllum, and, above all, 

 what I had most confidently promised myself a sight of, Asplenium 

 fontanum. Had it not been for the kindness of M. Gutherick, of 

 Berne, I should have left the country without a specimen of this in- 

 teresting fern. To that gentleman I am indebted for fronds, as well 



