218 The Scottish Naturalist. , 



DESCRIPTION OF A SCOTTISH FUNGUS NEW TO 



SCIENCE. 



By F. BUCHANAN WHITE, M.D., F.L.S. 



Vibrissea Margarita n. sp. Simplex, capite orbicularis awan- 

 tiaco-miniaceo, margine atro-hispido ; stipite cj'lindraceo, atro- 

 hirsuto cum fibrillis articulatis, interne albido-cinereo. Long. 2-6 

 lin. 



Habitat. — On dead sticks of heather in a pool of water on Mor 

 Shrbn (Morrone) Braemar, at an altitude of 2200 feet. Septem- 

 ber and October, 1873. 



The stems are simple, varying from 2 lines to ^ an inch in 

 height, " springing from complicated threads," and covered with 

 black jointed hairs or fibres ; at the junction with the head the 

 stem is less hairy and paler in colour; internally it is solid 

 and greyish-white. The head is flattened obicular (sometimes 

 concave in the middle) and of a beautiful orange-vermillion in 

 colour ; the margin has a fringe of close appressed hair of the 

 same character as those on the stem ; underneath, the head is 

 paler in colour at the junction with the stem. This species, 

 (which was submitted to the Rev. J. M. Berkeley, whose opinion 

 — given with his wonted kindness — is that it appears to be new) 

 is readily distinguished from its ally V. truncorum by the hairy 

 stems and differently coloured heads. 



Onobrychis sativa as a Forfarshire Plant.— A paragraph appeared 

 in the newspapers some time ago, giving an account of the discovery of this 

 plant, near the Dundee and Arbroath Railway, by some botanists from 

 Dundee in July last. It stated that there was no record of any Scottish 

 localities for it given by Hooker, &c, and that full particulars of the find- 

 ing of it would be given in the forthcoming second edition of Gardiner's 

 " Flora of Forfarshire. " Though not a matter of much consequence, seeing 

 the plant is looked on as an introduced species to the north of Norfolk (if 

 not also to the south), still it may be as well, as a matter of accuracy, to 

 state that the plant is not quite new to Scotland. Those acquainted with 

 the works of Mr. H. C. Watson will be aware that it is recorded from the 

 counties of Edinburgh and Moray ; and further, there are specimens of it 

 in my herbarium, collected in and upon the border of a cutting of the 

 Dundee and Arbroath Railway, by the Rev. J. Fergusson, New Titsligo, 

 in August, 1866, and sent by him to me in September of the same year. — 

 JOHN ROY, Aberdeen. 



