BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 195 



had evidently perched on the tree while striking the gall, as some 

 of them had broken off and fallen down with one or two sharp-edged 

 beak-marks in them and no more. Many still remained on their 

 twigs with great breaches in their wails, as could easily be detected 

 with a field-glass. Most of the galls that lay on the ground fifty- 

 seven were counted had been pierced to their centres, and the larvae 

 had been removed. All the fragments were removed from the grass, 

 and the place was watched for several days, and at last the clever 

 artist was found pounding away at his laborious task. The bird 

 proved to be a male greenfinch, which, although abundance of food 

 is now everywhere to be found, evidently considered the larva thus 

 fortified in a thick wooden wall such a delicate morsel that he must 

 now and then treat himself and his mate to a dish of it. In order 

 to be within reach of such dainty fare they have set up housekeeping 

 in a holly near by. No other tree in the vicinity has yet been 

 attacked. A. MACDONALD, Durris. 



Clover Dodder in Fyvie. Last summer, in a field of hay be- 

 longing to Alex. Castle, Gight, Fyvie, and first observed by his son, 

 were several patches of clover interwoven to a great extent with 

 dodder. The long leafless thread-like stems which spread out in 

 every direction soon found a host in the stalks of the clover, to which 

 it clung, and round which it twisted itself, forming an entangled 

 dense mass, from which it drew its sole nourishment, to the fatal 

 injury of the clover. This troublesome weed is little known in our 

 Northern flora: it is probably imported with the clover seed, but, being 

 an annual, lives only for a season, our climate being unfavourable for 

 its increase. W. SIM, Fyvie. 



[No doubt this dodder is Cuscuta Trifolii, Bab., referred, as a 

 variety, to C. Epithyinmn, Murray, from which it differs chiefly in 

 the scales in the corolla tube being a good deal separated, and in 

 C. Epithyjiiuin growing on broom, ling, thyme, and other plants, 

 while C. Trifolii infests clover. It has been found in a number of 

 counties in Scotland, from Forfar southwards ; but is probably in all 

 cases introduced with agricultural seeds, and does not hold its 

 ground. EDS. "ANN. S. N. H."] 



First Records of Flowering Plants in Scotland. In Mr. W. A. 

 Clarke's "First Records" ("Journ. Bot.," April, May, and June) are 

 the following from Scotland : 



Eleocharis uniglumis, Link., 1847. " Aberdeenshire. Dr. 

 Dickie."- -Bab., "Man.," ed. i, p. 349. 



E. multicaulis, Sm., 1800. "At Corryhattachan, Isle of Skye. 

 Discovered by Mr. John Mackay in 1794." Sm., " Fl. Brit.," i. 49. 



Scirpus pauciflorus, Lightf., 1777. "Upon Malghyrdy in Bread- 

 albane(Co. Perth). Mr. Stuart." Lightfoot, " Fl. Scot.," p. 1078. 



S. n/fiis, Schrad., 1777. " In the Isle of Mull."- Lightfoot, I.e., 

 pp. 86 and 1 138. 



