BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 187 



gathering of townsfolk and visitors assembled to show respect to his 

 memory. The monument is the gift of subscribers who recognised 

 the value of Don's work for Scottish Botany. For many years his 

 accuracy and trustworthiness were distrusted, and " Don's reputed 

 discoveries " were notorious. But as the years have passed his 

 discoveries have in many cases been confirmed. Unfortunately he 

 gave ground in part to the distrust by refusal or unwillingness to 

 make clear the localities of the rarer plants, causing them often to be 

 sought for in vain ; and in part by distributing, as wild, plants from 

 his garden which he believed were sprung from plants brought from 

 their native habitats in Scotland by himself, but were not so, but 

 from garden plants that had grown among or replaced the wild 

 plants. No one has done so much to establish Don's true claims 

 to honour and respect from botanists as Mr. G. Claridge Druce. by 

 whose own investigations the botany of Scotland has been so greatly 

 advanced ; and it was most suitable that he should have been 

 chosen to unveil the monument, and to express the desire of the 

 subscribers to honour G. Don. This he did in an eloquent 

 address on the life and work of the man, on his rugged and sturdy 

 character, his unwearied energy, his love of nature, his simple 

 tastes, his extensive journeys in search of plants, and his numerous 

 discoveries. 



Much credit is due to Mr. John Knox for the successful 

 carrying out of the scheme of placing a memorial in the town so 

 long the home of G. Don. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



The Titles and Purport of Papers and Notes relating to Scottish Natural 

 History which have appeared during the Quarter April-June 1911. 



[The Editors desire assistance to enable them to make this Section as complete as 

 possible. Contributions on the lines indicated will be most acceptable, and 

 will bear the initials of the Contributor. The Editors will have access to the 

 sources of information under mentioned.] 



ZOOLOGY. 



THE BEARDED SEAL IN SCOTLAND. J. G. Millais, The Field, 

 April 22, 1911, p. 791. A young female shot by Mr. W. Berry 

 at the mouth of the Beauly River, at the end of March 1911. 



OSPREY IN RENFREWSHIRE. Thomas Malloch, Zoologist, June 

 1911, p. 237. A male bird found dead on igth May in a glen in 

 the north-west corner of the county. 



BLACK TERN NEAR PAISLEY. C. S. B. R., The Field, April 29, 

 1911, p. 840. A single specimen observed 2ist April. 



