90 The Scottish Naturalist. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OP RUBUS ID2EUS, VAR. LEESII BAB,, 

 NEAR ST. ANDREWS, FIPESHIRE. 



By W. F. MACTIER, M.D. 

 (To the Editor of the Scottish Naturalist.} 



Sir, — I have the pleasure to send you specimens of the Rubus Idceus 

 var Leesii of Babington, gathered last week in this neighbourhood. I found 

 the plant for the first time in June of last year, and sent a note of the circum- 

 stance to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, before which it was read at their 

 meeting on the 9th November, and afterwards published in the Gardeners* 

 Chronicle of 25th Nov., 18S2, to which I refer any one interested in the 

 subject. As, however, this paper may not be in the hands of all your readers, 

 it may be worth while to call their attention to the plant, in order that they 

 may be on the look out in their own districts. Though not I believe hitherto 

 noticed in Scotland, I cannot but think it may be of more frequent occurrence 

 than we are aware of, and that it may only require to be looked for, especially 

 in the north (Deeside ?) where the common Rasp is so very abundant. 



You will notice (as I have mentioned in my paper) that the annual shoots differ 

 materially from the flowering ones, and that it is only in the second year that 

 the leaves assume the simple rounded form which is so characteristic of the 

 plant. Besides this form, I noted a good many plants in which the departures 

 from the typical Idaeus were much less marked. In these the leaves are tri- 

 foliolate, but the leaflets more or less rounded. A sort of transition in fact 

 between the two. In acknowledging specimens of R. Leesii sent to him, 

 Professor Babington writes on the 28th November last : * ' It is certainly a. 

 very singular barren form of Idaeus, and curious that it should be formed as 

 simple plants, spreading by underground stems, in such distant parts of W» 

 Europe. Rotundifolius connects it with the typical plant." With reference 

 to this, I am disposed to think that we have here both varieties. 



St. Andrews, Fife, 28/^ July, 1883. 



SCOTTISH GALLS. 



In addition to the numerous forms already described by myself in the Scottish- 

 ■Naturalist^ I have met with a good many during the past year, and one or two 

 this summer, not recorded previously from Scotland ; others have kindly been 

 sent me by friends. Of a few I can find no record in any articles on Galls and 

 their makers accessible to me. As might be expected, the new forms are chiefly 

 inconspicuous, being the work of mites (Phytoptus), or of Anguillulidie. Of 

 these " worm-galls " I have found examples on Hypochoeris radicata, Hieracium 

 Pilosella, Plantago maritima, and P. lanceolata, in addition to those formerly 

 recorded by me on grasses. Some of the additions to my list are the work of 

 Cynipida; on oaks, and one or two are galls of Cecidomyidcr, on Cardamiue 

 pratensis and other plants. Descriptions of the various galls not in my former 

 lists will appear in due course. My present object is to say that any assistance 

 in working out the distribution of galls in Scotland will be most welcome; and 

 that I shall be most happy to see and to name any specimens from any part of 

 Scotland ; and to assist, as far as I can, any one that may commence the study 

 of these structures. James W. H. Trail. 



