56 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



into priority within recent years, the effect is to repel too many from 

 the study of plant-life, and to rouse an earnest wish to have the 

 nomenclature at least relieved from the burden of uncertainty in its 

 use. Its aim is to aid research, not to leave obstacles in the way. 

 It is largely based on convention, and the most useful agreement 

 is that which codifies the methods and results shown by experience 

 to be of most value. A great advance in this direction was made 

 by the last International Botanical Congress, which met at Vienna. 

 Two volumes have been recently issued as a record of the meeting, 

 and in one of these is a statement of the code recommended for the 

 regulation of botanical nomenclature. The code is also issued 

 separately, and as an appendix to the November and December 

 numbers of the "Journal of Botany." A list of generic names that 

 should, for good reasons, be retained, though not entitled to be so 

 by mere priority, will commend itself to many botanists. 



Some Plants which spread from my Garden. It may be of a 



little interest to give a short account of some of the plants which 

 spread from the garden of this farm, Hillocks of Terpersie, in the 

 parish of Tullynessle, near Alford, in Aberdeenshire, at nearly 900 

 feet above the sea-level, on the south side of the Coreen Hills. 



The Great Mullein ( Verbasatm Thapsus) sometimes appears in the 

 fields, but rarely survives its first season, though in October of this 

 year I found a plant in flower on three-year-old lea, beside a decayed 

 stem of the last year's growth. The Milk Thistle (Mariana lactea) 

 and the Welted Thistle (Carduus crispus] also show themselves near 

 the garden, and even some distance from it, but they only occasion- 

 ally succeed in flowering. The Common Comfrey (Symphytitm 

 officinale) appears near the steading, and the Bloody-veined Dock 

 (Rumex sanguineus) appears here and there in the fields, but seldom 

 reaches a height of \\ feet. Peppermint (Mentha piperita], Mar- 

 joram (Origanum vulgare), and Common Balm (Melissa officinalis) 

 extend only a little way from the garden. White Deadnettle 

 (Lamiuin album} and Spotted Deadnettle (L. maciilatuni} also spread 

 from it, as do, among weeds of this genus, the Henbit Deadnettle 

 (L. amplexicaule), and Red Deadnettle (L. purpureuni). The 

 Leopard's Bane (Doronicum Pardalianches] grows here and there on 

 the fields. The Burdock (Arcthtm Lappa} occurs in the shelter of 

 the garden, and occasionally spreads on to the fields, and on gravel 

 a considerable distance down a stream. Good King Henry (Cheno- 

 podium Bonus- Henricus) extends beyond the garden, and the 

 Common Cowslip (Primula veris) has been met with by me on pasture 

 fields. I have also seen small plants of Meadow Rue (Thalictruiii), 

 Lark-spur (Delphinium\ Columbine (Aquilegia\ Monkshood (Aconi- 

 ti/i/i), Lily of the Valley (Convallaria maja/is), Common Solomon's 

 Seal (Polygonatum innlliflorum, Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis\ species 

 of Allium and Crocus, outside the garden, either through seeds or 



