Before you plunge into the Alps, you will meet, in the sub-alpine regions, among the valleys which intersect and the meadows which clothe the lower spurs of the Jura, the _Gentiana campestris_. It is a plant of from five to six inches in height, whose blue, five-lobed corolla, with its velvety gorge, changes into yellow when dried; the two outer teeth of the calyx are elliptical, and much larger than the others. Your attention will hardly be drawn to this tiny gentian among the crowd of more beautiful and attractive plants blooming around it. One excursion which you should not fail to make is the ascent of the Dent de Jaman,--the hieroglyphic summit of one of those charming mountains which mirror themselves in the Lake of Geneva. This classical, and, moreover, very easy ascent, has the advantage of carrying you up a series of terraces, so that the character of the vegetation changes rapidly. The acclivity begins at the little town of Montreux, situated near the point where the blue arrowy Rhone pours its waters into the enchanted lake. From Montreux to the village of Glion, you will be delighted to greet your old acquaintances: the familiar faces of your native fields, meadows, and woodlands. But soon a difference in the character of the flora forces itself upon you. Species which are rarer at home become tolerably common, as, for instance, the yellow digitalis (_Digitalis lutea_), so easily recognised by its cymes of tiny flowers. The vulneraria (_Anthyllis vulneraria_) is as widely diffused as the trefoil in our English pastures. * * * * * A little above Glion,--a picturesque village apparently hung over the lake--the _sub-alpine region_ commences. Around villas and mansions, nearly all inhabited by English families, you will find in abundance the English mercury (_Chenopodium Bonus Henricus_), and in the shady hedges the narcotic Herb-Paris (_Paris quadrifolia_). The apparition of the _Astrantia major_, which resembles an artificial or fancy-created flower, warns us that we are passing beyond the limits of the ordinary flora. I believe that we have no representative in England of that singular umbellifer. The Alpine pastures of the narrow-ridged Mount Caü, which resembles the back of a dromedary, exhale a fragrance like that of the famous Swiss tea, so much extolled as a remedy against cholera. The odour of the hay-lofts attached to the châlets--true shepherd's huts--which rise at intervals along the back of Mont Dromedary, is so penetrating as to produce headache. The hay owes its aromatic fragrance to the musk-chervil (_Myrrhis odorata_), whose strong stems form such thick luxuriant pasturages; to various orchideæ, particularly to the _Nigritella suaveolens_, remarkable for the intense colour--nearly black--of its flowers; and finally, to the gentians, whose scent is strongly brought out by drying. * * * * *