344 
F. Kingdon Ward. 
Though the pass was of course under deep snow, the limit of 
plants was evidently some hundreds of feet lower down, and to 
shew how little mere surface cold affects plant life during the brief 
vegetative season, it may be remarked that two species of gentian 
were blooming in the snow. The importance of water too was 
illustrated by the manner in which the final concentration of the 
vegetation at the plant limit occurred where the trickles of water 
came from the piled screes, an aquatic Senecio being indeed one of 
the last survivors. 
The fact that the vegetation at this altitude is clear of snow 
for or two or three months only, seems no hindrance to it, while 
the autumn gentians must perforce flower actually in the snow. 
If we now turn our attention to the protected slopes and 
gullies of a mountain mass rising above the snow line, we find a 
different state of affairs. Above 16,000 feet the dwarf Rhododendron 
belt gives place to alpine grassland, which, so long as it is completely 
protected (that is by facing north), remains practically a closed 
formation till an altitude of about 17,000 feet is attained, after 
which screes, consisting of big angular blocks of stone, meet the 
eye on every hand. On south-facing slopes these screes are 
absolutely devoid of plant life, but wherever protection is guaranteed 
by ridge or rock-face, a very considerable open formation maintains 
its existence for, so far as I was able to ascertain, another thousand 
feet, and this must in no wise be confounded with the totally 
different flora of the exposed screes to which I have just alluded. 
This open formation consists of semi-aquatic plants growing in 
rock-pools derived from melting snow, “ cushion-plants,” and terres¬ 
trial herbs presenting no obvious specialisation, and even at an 
altitude of approximately 17,500 feet comprising a considerable 
variety, of which the most conspicuous are Primula , Allium , Scirpus, 
Meconopsis, Saxifraga, Scdum, Potentilla, Acouitum, and two species 
of Caryophyllaceae (“cushion-plants”) with a few aquatic species. 
At mid-day on July 23rd (altitude 17,000 feet approximately) 
I took the temperature of the water in one of the streams derived 
from the snow above, and at different points obtained temperatures 
of 37-4°F. and 37-2°F., a Crucifer being at this time actually in the act 
of ripening its fruits under water. 
In September, I climbed higher, attaining an altitude of nearly 
18,000 feet, still finding Meconopsis and “cushion-plants” in shaded 
crevices; a severe snow-storm prevented my reaching the very last 
flowering plants on this occasion, but we may regard 18,000 feet as 
