JOTTINGS ON THE CLOVA MOUNTAINS. 391 
On the boulders in the bottom of the Glen, several species of Lichens 
are very fine, and on a large boulder near the centre, surmounted by 
several Birches and Mountain Ash, fine specimens of Ancectangium cilia- : 
tum occurred, covering a large portion of its northern side. There is 
perhaps no place so rich in Lichens as the masses of boulders around 
Loch Brandy and Loch Wharl, where Gyrophora proboscidea, cylin- 
drica, erosa, and pellita are all plentiful, the latter however sparingly 
in fruit, Cornicularia tristis and aculeata, Parmelia caperata and om- 
phalodes, and many others. Gyrophora polyphylla is also plentiful, 
but no fruit was observed: and Andrea rupestris was very fine. On 
the sloping summits of the hill above, where the vegetation consisted 
chiefly of Trichostomum lanuginosum, interspersed with tufts of Cla- 
donia rangiferina, a very pretty species of Stereocaulon growing, not 
in tufts, but solitary ; Lecidea fusco-lutea was extremely abundant, 
richly fruited, and on the bare spots between, occurred the rare and 
interesting little plant Pycnothelia papillaria. 
Behind these summits issue a long series of springs, the sources of 
the streams that, proceeding eastward, combine to form the tributaries 
of the North Esk. On bare spots above these, was picked abundantly 
in fruit Conostomum boreale and Dicranum falcatum, associated with 
Polytrichum hercynicum, also in plenty. On a bare knoll of decomposing 
whitish feldspar, close beside a small lake a little above these springs, 
grew the singular Lichen, Cladonia vermicularis ; this is more plentiful 
on the summit of Ben Red, where also was gathered a fine tuft of the 
large form of the Splachnum mnioides. All the specimens of this plant 
that I have met with this season, were growing on animal matter, 
and, with one exception, on the droppings of birds of prey, possibly 
that of owls; for in cutting up the tufts, the mass was found to consist 
almost entirely of hair and fragments of bones, part of the skull, ap- 
parently, of a mouse, being repeatedly recognized. On Lochnagar a 
fine patch of it was seen on a similar substance. Splachnum mnioides 
had at first occupied the site, as the decaying sete were still evident 
among the stems of its more immediate successor, Splachnum angusta- 
tum, the leaves alone remaining to indicate the species. The latter was 
now fully ripe, and was again in its turn giving place to the previous 
occupant; this formed a fine green zone around the tuft, and appeared 
extending itself towards the centre, the plants around the inner margin 
of the ring being quite young, while those on the outer margin had 
