ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 187 



from them ; but they also grow well in localities which cannot be 

 considered suspicious. The following are examples : 



CERASTIUM TRIVIALE, Link., is very common at sides of cultivated 

 fields and of roads, in waste places and on shores, usually near 

 cultivated ground or cattle resorts, but temporary stragglers grow 

 on peaty moors. It is permanent on better pieces of ground, 

 and on gravelly margins of hill lochs, and is rather common on 

 good grassy ground above the moors, and occasionally in plenty 

 on the higher rocks. It is the most frequent plant on old dung 

 on the moors, and can be often traced here from the low 

 ground. 



SAGINA PROCUMBENS, Z., is most common on gravel paths and 

 roadsides near houses. It spreads along them and on to the 

 moors by paths or any recently disturbed ground, becoming 

 permanent only when it reaches the gravelly margin of hill 

 lochs. But it also occurs beside springs and in wet places, 

 usually near roads and resorts of cattle. 



PRUNELLA VULGARIS, Z., is very common. Its distribution is not 

 unlike the Sagina, but it is much more common, prefers wetter 

 places, and gets a permanent hold wherever it goes ; it is 

 usually seen on the hills at sheep-shelters or much-frequented 

 ground, but it occurs in wet woods and other places scarcely 

 open to suspicion. 



RUMEX ACETOSA, L., is very common in similar places to the pre- 

 ceding, but has a preference for manured ground ; it also is 

 more common in pastures, and ascends to a much greater 

 altitude. 



RUMEX ACETOSELLA, Z., grows usually in drier places than the 

 previous plant, and perhaps does not reach the same altitude. 



ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Field Vole on Ben Nevis. The Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) 

 is not at all uncommon on the summit of Ben Nevis. During the 

 summer they are seen, or sometimes captured by the cat, about the 

 observatory buildings. During the winter months several have been 

 seen and captured within the observatory, but I have no record for 

 the outside for that season. W. S. BRUCE, The Observatory, Ben 

 Nevis. 



Wild Cat in Inverness-shire. I have to report the capture of 

 two Wild Cats (Fells catus), a male and female, on the estate of 

 Kinlochmoidart in March last. One was trapped in a wood near 

 Kinlochmoidart House, and the other on the hill above the House. 



