1 78 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



comparison of the flora of deserted townships or homesteads, 

 and crofts with that of inhabited ones, and observation of 

 the usual customs of the inhabitants in the disposal of their 

 weeds, will also give valuable information. If the usual 

 locality of a plant be near houses or cultivated ground, this 

 will not at once justify its being considered a native when 

 found in some remote place. I have not found the Gaelic 

 names of plants to be of much assistance in tracing their 

 history. 



The influence on plant distribution of cattle, sheep, and 

 deer must be considerable in increasing the altitude to 

 which many species attain. There is generally soil between 

 their hoofs ; and many seeds must be transported by this 

 means. Sheep, after having been gathered to the low 

 ground, will return to their usual haunts on the hills within 

 a few hours, and this occurs twice each summer. Deer are 

 only too fond of spending the early hours of the morning 

 among crops, an hour or two at most taking them easily 

 back to the high ground ; their hoofs are very flexible, and 

 allow a quantity of soil to be carried between them. 

 Some plants are seen on moors only on the dung of cattle, 

 and do not remain permanently unless they find soil which 

 is not peaty, or grow on the stony margin of a lake. I 

 have attempted, though unsatisfactorily, in the following 

 groups to divide the plants according to what seemed to me 

 to be the degree of probability of their being native in our 

 district ; but some might perhaps be equally well transferred 

 to other groups than those in which I have placed them. 



DOUBTFUL NATIVES. 



NECKERIA CLAVICULATA, N. E. Br. Native probably. Uncommon. 

 Chiefly on thatched roofs, but occurs at some distance from 

 houses among boulders in bushy places. 



CARDAMINE HIRSUTA, L. Denizen probably. Common on road- 

 sides and gravel paths, in gardens, and in waste places. 



(CARDAMINE FLEXUOSA, With., is native. It is common in glens, 

 in wet spots in woods, and about springs.) 



SISYMBRIUM THALIANUM, J. Gay. Denizen ? Rare, on rocks near 

 a ruined castle. 



