54 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Ronaldshay, the northernmost island of the Orkneys. This is about 

 59 20 N. lat., and a far northern extension of its range in Scot- 

 land. Dr. Trail's Kincardine station is north of the Forfarshire 

 ones, but there seems no record north of this except for S. 

 Aberdeen (92). 



In Sweden its range is almost continuous from Skane to 

 Lapland ; in N. and S. Norway and in Finland it extends to all the 

 provinces except the three most northern, and occurs up to 68 N. 

 lat. It is absent from the Faroes, but occurs in Iceland. The 

 Iceland plant was called var. islandicum by the Icelandic author 

 Hjaltalin in 1830 ; and was figured in " Fl. Danica,"t. 409 (1768), as 

 Sisymbrium islandicum, Oed. That it will bear a very cold climate 

 is shown by Laestadius, 1 who writes : " It may be observed that it 

 is only during warm summers that Nymph^a, Potamogeton, Myrio- 

 phyllum, and other water plants reach their full development." " N. 

 palustre occurs near Karesuando and Enontekis." In Canada it 

 occurs north to York Factory, about 57 N. lat. ARTHUR 

 BENNETT. 



Crithmum maritimum, Z., in the Outer Hebrides. Mr. Gibson 

 of Stornoway, Lewis, has lately (nth October 1908) sent me a 

 fresh specimen of the above plant, gathered on the Mangursta cliffs, 

 a little north of the island of Eilean Molach, on the west coast of the 

 Lewis, in lat. 58 10'. This a really interesting extension of 

 habitat, as in Scotland it is only recorded for Ayr, Wigton ! and 

 Kirkcudbright. In August 1906 the late Mr. A. Somerville sent 

 me specimens gathered on " Machrins coast rocks at sea-level " in 

 the Isle of Colonsay, V.C. 102, this being about 56 5' N. lat. 



In Europe it is not recorded north of lat. 51, except in our 

 isles. Its most northern station seems to be on the coast of 

 Normandy in France. The distribution given by Nyman - for 

 Europe will show how little it can be claimed as a northern species, 

 i.e. Britain, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Istria, Croatia, Dalmatia, 

 Herzegovina, Macedonia, Ionian Islands, Taurus. It also occurs in 

 Algiers, the Canaries, the Azores, and Madeira. 



It belongs to an order that, with few exceptions, does not range 

 far northwards. No doubt the open Atlantic, with the Gulf Stream 

 impinging on the coast or very near it (unless it has been diverted 

 as lately suggested), allows of species occurring that would otherwise 

 be unable to survive. It was reported for the coast of Fife ; but if 

 it existed there it seems now extinct, and Greville in his " Flora 

 Edinensis " (1824), 62, says: "Said to grow in the islands in the 

 Firth of Forth, but not now to be found." 



Mr. Gibson also sends a specimen of Mcrcurialis perennis, and 

 mentions Veronica Chamadrys as " common in the Castle grounds, 



1 "Bid. t. kann.," i. Tornea Lappmark, 1860. 

 ~ " Consp. Fl. Europ.," ii. (1879), p. 292. 



