THE FLORA OF FAIR ISLE 169 



be a considerable number of species on the island in addition 

 to those enumerated above, it cannot be supposed that the 

 total can approach near to the number for Shetland, which 

 is not much below 500 species on trustworthy evidence, 

 while for Orkney the number considerably exceeds 500, if 

 we include "aliens" in an apparently wild state. 



Of the species represented in the collections made on 

 Fair Isle the following certainly owe their presence there to 

 man's agency, if we may judge by their distribution in other 

 parts of the North of Scotland : Bursa Bursa-pastoris, 

 Web., Spergula arvensis, L., Tanacetum vulgare, L., Lycopsis 

 arvensis, L., Galeopsis Tetrahit, L., Lamium purpureum, L., 

 Euphorbia Helioscopia, L. I think that some others also 

 most probably have been introduced by man, though not 

 venturing, in absence of information as to their mode of 

 occurrence, to definitely class them as " aliens." These are 

 Artemisia vulgar is, L., Senecio vulgaris, L., SoncJius oleraceus, 

 L., vS. asper, Hoffm., and Urtica dioica, L. Possibly even a 

 few others may be doubtful in this respect, such as Galium 

 Aparine, L., Senecio Jacobcea, L., SoncJius arvcnsis, L., Plan- 

 tago major, L., and Polygonum aviculare, L., var. agrestinnm ; 

 but only a personal knowledge of their habitats on the 

 island could warrant a definite conclusion on this point. 



The remaining species do not reach the number of one 

 hundred. 



The following varieties in the Fair Isle lists have not, 

 so far as I am aware, been put on record from either Orkney 

 or Shetland, though probably they occur in them also : 

 Cerastium triviale, Link, var. holosteoides, Fr., Galium palustre, 

 L., var. Witheringii (Sm.), and Achillea Millefolium, L., var. 

 lanata, Koch. 



Mr. Beeby writes of this last form, as brought by Mr. 

 Straker from Fair Isle: "The plant was very dwarf and 

 very shaggy, and I think rightly referred. It is different 

 from any other I have seen in Shetland, although localities 

 similar to that in which it grows in Fair Isle are frequent 

 elsewhere. It is the only form that I have met with that 

 seems to be peculiar to Fair Isle in the Shetlands." This 

 variety has been recorded from Caithness also. 



Cochlearia grcenlandica, L. The plant accepted under 



