1 66 



ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Feet. Feet. 



Draba rupestris, on Ben Lawers 3400, and elsewhere in the dis- 

 trict to 3100 and 2600 

 Cochlearia alpina, Wats, de- 



1900 



1600 



1900 



1600 



1600 

 . 2450 



scends to. 

 Alchemilla alpina . 

 Saxifraga nivalis . 



on Craig Lochan, 



Larig, 



2400 



,, stellaris . 

 Gnaphalium supinum . 

 Armeria maritima . 



var. plani- 



folia, Syme . . . 2250 

 Poa alpina descends to . . 2100 



I have not mentioned the Ben Lawers varieties which 

 have a very limited range of altitude, as it would only hasten 

 their extermination ; nor have I given any altitude of plants 

 growing by the side of streams, as it is impossible to know 

 how far they have been carried out of their natural habitats. 

 When Cerastium alpinum and Arenaria sedoides are seen to 

 occur at about 800 feet, and not again below 2000 feet, as 

 is the case in one stream in the district, there need be no 

 doubt ; but it is different with such plants as Alchemilla 

 alpina and Oxyria digyna, which follow the course of a 

 stream to near its termination. The former I have not seen 

 on the hillsides in Mid-Perth below 1 600 feet ; and it is 

 usually first met with between 1600 feet and 1800 feet. 

 My lowest note for the Oxyria is 2000 feet, but this may be 

 too high. 



In taking altitudes it is quite necessary to have an 

 Ordnance Survey sheet of the district, to give not only the 

 height of the starting-point, but also that of a few easily 

 recognisable places on the hill by which the aneroid can be 

 compared, otherwise a mistake of one or two hundred feet 

 can readily be made in a day's work. 



[NOTE. In connection with the above paper reference 

 may be made to one by Dr. Buchanan White on " The Alti- 

 tudes attained by certain Plants," published in the " Scottish 

 Naturalist" (vol. i. pp. 119-123) in October 1871. In 

 this are given the altitudes of the alpine plants of the 

 Braemar highlands, and of Caenlochan in Forfarshire, where 

 such altitudes differed from the records in the " Com- 



