The Scottish Naturalist. 265 



Prov. 15, Perth. G. Don. 



"Error, Cyb. iii., 82 ; Eng. Bot.x. 174. Misnomer? Comp. 

 Cyb. Br., 587. 



'The figure in E. F, 2387, is certainly nothing more than 

 E. vaginatum, and the only specimen of Don's E. capitatum which 

 I ever saw, that which is in the herbarium of the Bot. Soc. of 

 London, belonged, without doubt, to the same species." Eng. 

 Bot. 



In Eng. Flora, vol. 34, 2387, it is thus recorded — "Discovered 

 by Mr. G. Don, August 12, 18 10, by the side of a rivulet on Ben 

 Lawers, near the limit of perpetual snow. The plants were rooted 

 in a sand bank, and appeared to have been brought from some 

 still more inaccessible part of the mountain. His specimen 

 agrees exactly with those sent by Professor Schrader, and from 

 Switzerland." 



In Cyb. Brit, it is stated : " There is no perpetual snow on Ben 

 Lawers ; and, even supposing the words used to be simply a loose 

 mode of expressing a patch of late lying snow, I have seen 

 what would justify the latter reading only in a hollow near the 

 summit where there is no rivulet, and cannot be one from the 

 broken and fissured character of the rock. It must be remem- 

 bered that G. Don was very inexact in describing localities, and 

 that a bad description will not necessarily imply an intentional 

 falsehood. There is said to be a specimen from Don in the 

 herbarium of Sir W. J. Hooker, which 'resembles capitatum, but 

 the upper part of the stem is triangular.' Bab. Man., ed. iii, 352. 

 This is unsatisfactory. Is the specimen one of capitatum or not? 

 By the triangular stem it is rather vaginatum ; but yet, by the Br. 

 El, it would seem that Don's specimens were E. capitatum, but of 

 foreign origin." 



In Don's collection of sedges, etc., in the possession of Mr. 

 Knox, is a specimen of E. capitatum, labelled " Ben Lawers and 

 Clova mountains, 18 10." 



Under E. poly stachion L., in Bab. Man., vii„ 385, we find — 

 " An alpine form has but one nearly sessile spike. E. capitatum 

 Don ? " 



Miss Palmer's plant I consider true capitatum. 



Nynam gives its distribution as Ross. arct. Fenn bor., Lapp., 

 Suec. bor. Vermel, Norv., Spitz. Island. Pyren. (r.) Delph. Helvet. 

 Ital. br. (Alpes), etc. 



Carex ustulata Vahl. 



" One of Don's reputed discoveries." Stud. Fl. 



