192 



We saw on the summit of the Peak no trace 

 of psora, lecidea, or other cryptogamous plants : 

 no insect fluttered in the air. We found how- 

 ever a few hymenopteras adhering to masses of 

 sulphur moistened with sulphurous acid, and lining 

 the mouths of the funnels. These are bees, 

 which appear to have been attracted by the flow- 

 ers of the spartium nubigenum, and which ob- 

 lique currents of air had carried up to these 

 high regions, like the butterflies found by Mr. 

 Ram on d at the top of Mont Perdu. The but- 

 terflies perished from cold, while the bees on the 

 Peak were scorched on imprudently approach- 

 ing the crevices where they came in search of 

 warmth. ; 



Notwithstanding the heat we felt in our feet 

 on the edge of the crater, the cone of ashes re- 

 mains covered with snow during several months 

 4 the winter. It is probable, that under the 

 cap of snow considerable hollows are found, like 

 those we find under the glaciers of Switzerland, 

 the temperature of which is constantly less ele- 

 vated than that of the soil on which they re- 

 pose * The cold and violent wind, which blew 



analysed in Volta's eudiometer, contained no hydrogen, and 

 it's purity did not differ 0 002 of oxygen from the air of 

 Paris, which we had carried with us in phials hermetically 

 sealed. On air collected at 3405 toises height, see Annal. 

 de Ckimie, t. lii, p. 92. 



* See the excellent work of Mr. Stapfer, Voy. Pittoresq. 

 de l'Oberland, p. 61. 



