G32 DR. JOHN LOWE ON WAYSIDE UOTANY IN NORWAY. 
character of its leaves, its colour, or any other cause, is best able 
to withstand this rapid change of temperature, will be the one to 
survive. And it is very remarkable how widely plants differ in 
this respect. The influence of frost is also shown very strikingly 
in the manner in which it causes the surface ground to expand 
and lift the plant out of its bed, breaking across its rootlets, and 
leaving it to die. So the real damage to plant life in these regions 
is done not during the winter, but after the snow has melted, and 
after the winter protection has been removed, and hence we find 
the vegetation more profuse, as a rule, on the northern than on the 
southern sides of the mountains. 
Leaving Hull at 2 a.m. on the 4th July in the “Eldorado,” we 
had a perfectly calm passage to Stavanger, which we reached in 
twenty-seven hours. About midway in the voyage there came on 
a dense fog, during which the vessel proceeded at half-speed. At 
this time some birds, five in number, were observed flying into the 
dense smoke, in which they remained for about half a minute at 
a time. After doing this repeatedly over a lengthened period, they 
perched on the rigging near the deck, when they were seen to be 
Green Crossbills. The air at this time was extremely cold, and it 
was evident that they flew into the smoke for the sake of warmth. 
In about an hour the fog lifted, when the birds took wing and 
disappeared. Landing at Stavanger, I intended to have gone on 
to the Outer Hardanger by the Bukke Fjord; but, as we were two 
hours late in leaving Hull, the steamer had left on our arrival. 
Fortunately another route had just been opened to Odde, via Sand 
and the Suldal, and we found the little steamer bound for that 
place waiting at the pier. 
On a previous visit to Stavanger in 1874, I was much interested 
in some experiments in fish-culture made by Mr. Hansen, upon 
whom I went to call a short distance from the town. He had two 
small lakes near his house, in which he had reared a large number 
of hybrid fish, a di.stinct cross betwixt the Common Trout and the 
Lake Char (SaJmo alpinus). In the first of these lakes were quite 
young fish about four to five inches in length, which, on throwing 
in some pulverised cooked meat, came to the side in thousands. 
In the second lake the fish were from one to two pounds in weight, 
klr. Hansen furnished me with a stick and a piece of string, at the 
end of which was a hook about an inch long, baited with a piece 
