SOME COLEOPTERA FROM THE SUMMIT OF BEN NEVIS 29 



feet, the Ordnance Cairn at 4406 feet marking the extreme elevation. 

 This portion of the hill is an elongated plateau more than one-third of 

 a mile in length, averaging about seventy yards in width, and nearly 

 eleven acres in extent. The Ordnance Cairn lies almost exactly half- 

 way between the two extremities ; the Observatory lies close to, and to 

 the south of, the Cairn. The broader and more regular portion lying 

 to the west of the Observatory I have termed West End ; the portion 

 divided into three parts by two great gullies, East End. These two 

 gullies are known as the First Gorge and Second Gorge respectively, 

 according to their proximity to the Observatory. Passing from the 

 Observatory to the First Gorge, the Hotel lies to the left, situated on 

 the southern edge of this plateau. 



Water. Just beyond the southern edge of the summit, lying 

 S.S.E. of the observatory, flows a small spring, Wragge's Well, sixty- 

 six feet below the Ordnance Cairn. During a dry season this spring 

 fails, being supplied merely by rain falling or snow melting upon the 

 summit. Excepting this small spring, where a tank holding 150 

 gallons of water has been placed this year, there is no other water 

 until, travelling westward, Buchan's Well is reached at an elevation 

 of 3600 feet, and even its supply is scanty. Lower down at 3350 

 feet is Chrystal's Well, also scantily supplied. The Red Burn has a 

 fair supply of water at 2300 feet. And below the contour of 2000 

 feet is a fairly large lake nearly two miles from the Observatory. 

 Small streams flow from the south-west side into the Nevis, and at the 

 base of the great northern cliff is a burn containing a considerable 

 volume of water at 2500 feet. We may safely say that there is no 

 substantial amount of water above 2500 feet. 



Geology. Ben Nevis rises as a pink granite mass through the 

 Dalriadian crystalline schists. In the centre of this granite mass is 

 a plug of dark porphyry. For the lower 3000 feet or so of the 

 ascent one traverses this pink granite, the higher portions of which 

 are more finely grained than the lower. After the granite comes 

 the dark porphyry of which the last thousand feet or so of the 

 mountain is composed. 



Botany. The ordinary unobservant individual would say that the 

 last 2000 feet of the Ben was devoid of vegetation; but on examination 

 it is found that there is scarcely a rock which is not more or less 

 covered with lichens of one or more kinds, whilst there are also 

 numerous mosses growing wherever there is a suitable nidus. This 

 is true even on the summit plateau, where the disjointed masses of 

 porphyry, with their strangely brecciated surfaces, form so striking a 

 feature. In some places round the edges of the cliff these mosses 

 grow quite luxuriantly, as well as one or two phanerogams. 



Meteorology for May to December 1895. Very fine weather 

 prevailed during May and June, but during July and August it was 

 very bad. This bad weather continued until the last week of 



