The Scottish Naturalist. 129 



" They believed that there were fountains in which the principal 

 rivers had their sources ; over each fountain grew nine hazel 

 trees, caill crinmon (cri/ia, wise), which produced beautiful red 

 nuts, which fell into the fountain, and floated on its surface, that 

 the salmon of the river came up and swallowed the nuts. It was 

 believed that the eating of the nuts caused the red spots on the 

 salmon's belly, and whoever took and ate one of these salmon 

 was inspired with the sublimest poetical ideas. Hence the ex- 

 pressions, 'the nuts of science,' 'the salmon of knowledge.' " 

 — O'Curry's ' Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish.' 



The badge of Clan Colquhoun. 



Alnus — Name derived from Celtic. Al, a growth ; and /an, 

 full. According to Pictet, it is from aika, Sanskrit for a tree. 



A. glutinosa — Common alder. Gaelic and Irish : /earn — 

 /earn, same origin as varana (Sanskrit), a tree. Welsh : gwernen 

 — giuern, a swamp. It grows best in swampy places, and beside 

 streams and rivers. Many places have derived their names from 

 this tree, G'leann Fearnaite. Fearnan, near Loch Tay ; Fear/i, 

 Ross-shire, c\:c. Ruaim (O'Reilly) (n/adh, red), it dyes red. 

 When peeled it is white, but it turns red in a short time. The 

 bark boiled with copperas makes a beautiful black colour. The 

 wood has the peculiarity of splitting best from the root, hence 

 the saying 



" Gach fiodh o'n bharr, 's am fearna o'n bhun." 



Every wood splits best from the top, but the alder from the root. 



Betula alba — Birch. Gaelic and Irish : beatha. Welsh : 

 bed//, seemingly from heath. Greek : Puorrj. Latin : vita, life. 

 Also the name of the letter B in Celtic languages, correspond- 

 ing to Hebrew Beth (meaning a house). Greek : Beta. Generally 

 written beith. 



" Sa bheith chubhraidh." — Ossiax. 

 In the fragrant birch. 



The Highlanders formerly made many economical uses of this 

 tree. Its bark {meilleag) they burned for light, and the smooth 

 inner bark was used, before the invention of paper, for writing 

 upon, and the wood for various purposes. 

 The badge of the Clan Buchanan. 



B. verrucosa — Knotty birch. Gaelic : beatha carraigeach, the 

 rugged birch ; beatha dubh-chasach, the dark-stemmed birch. 



B. pendula — Gaelic : beatha dubhacJi, the sorrowful birch 

 (di/bhaeh, dark, gloomy, sorrowful, mourning, frowning). In 



VOL VI. 1 



