BOTANY. 



THE present Botanical handbook may be considered as a further develop- 

 ment of that published for the British Association in 1876. Even at the 

 earlier meetings in Glasgow, attempts were made by local botanists to give a 

 special and satisfactory account of the Flora. For the present work an 

 enormous amount of research has been required, and, as at previous meet- 

 ings, the British Association may be considered as responsible for what is 

 probably the most complete account of the Cryptogamic flora ever published 

 for any particular district in Britain. The material is in fact so great that 

 the introduction has been reduced to the very narrowest limits, and it is 

 only possible to give a very brief account of the methods employed by the 

 compilers, of past and present workers in the field, of the localities which 

 may be recommended to botanical visitors, and of typical plant associations. 



Most systematic work in Britain has been upon the old Watsonian lines of 

 counties and vice-counties ; we have^ however, followed the method recom- 

 mended by Mr. C. B. Clarke in his classical paper published by the 

 Eoyal Society (Phil. Transactions, Vol. 183 (1892), B, pp. 371-387). 

 The district has been divided by the lines of latitude and longitude, 

 and the 30' minute lines also of latitude and longitude. At first many of us 

 had doubts upon the value of the system, but it has been found, as the 

 writer suspected, particularly convenient in practice. The method has many 

 advantages : thus it is exceedingly easy to map the distribution of a species, 

 as it is only necessary to draw lines at right angles and enter the records ; it 

 is not dependent on any theory as must be the case with a geological or 

 river system, yet it is extremely easy to compare the rough map of any 

 species' distribution with geological or physical maps ; there is also the 

 immense advantage of economising space. One line of print will give an 

 entire series of records in a manner easily followed by the reader. The lines 

 are also as permanent and immutable as any lines upon the earth's surface 

 can be, and lend themselves readily to sub-division or collation. 



From an oecological point of view, the Flora of the Clyde may be con- 

 sidered as fairly representative of the whole of Scotland. It consists of four 

 main divisions or formations, each with their special rock, loch, stream, and 

 other plant associations, and there is also a very typical seaside flora. 



The summits of Ben Lomond, Ben Oss, and the Cobbler possess most of 

 the distinctive Scotch Alpines, such as Oxyria, Gnaphalium supinum, the 

 Gyrophoras, and such mosses as the Andreaeas. 



The lower slopes of these mountains and such places as Argyll's Bowling- 

 Green, Tinto moors, and the hills about Dalmellington, are good examples of 

 the Scotch Grousemoors. They differ from similar formations in the Alps 

 and Pyrenees very considerably, at least so far as the writer's own observa- 

 tions are concerned. 



