The Scottish Naturalist. 141 



91. Nemorum L. Local. 



92. Media L. 



i. Sub-species media. A common weed of cultivation. 

 it. Sub-species umbrosa Opitz. Very local. Rannoch. 



93. Holostea L. Common. 



94. Graminea L. Common. 



95. Uliginosa L. Common. 



( To be colli lined. ) 



Notes on the Past Winter. —The configuration of the ground here is that 

 of an open depression, lying between two ridges at the eastern extremity of 

 the Sidlaws. The ridges run east and west, and the ground dips gradually 

 to a sprawling sheet of water lying along the bottom of the valley. The 

 fences are mostly stone-dykes, about 3 feet high. Of these, one set runs with 

 the dip, north and south. In the snowstorm of early March the wind was 

 easterly, and nearly at right angles to these dykes. One can understand 

 that when the snow has been blown level with the coping to windward, the 

 current, in crossing these dykes at right angles, would be tilted with con- 

 siderable uniformity. Some days subsequent to the storm, when the sun 

 had begun to show places which were comparatively bare, I observed that 

 each of these dykes had a belt of nearly bare ground, several yards wide, 

 running parallel with it about 30 yards to leeward. In one place, where a 

 dyke trended away towards the wind at a considerable elbow, the corre- 

 sponding ribbon of thin snow followed with regularity, only there it was less 

 defined. The uniformity of this result suggested that the current, after 

 being tilted, was not broken up or twisted, but returned to the ground 

 almost with the mathematical regularity of the dyke, sweeping the ground 

 bare where it struck. It was interesting to observe every dyke, on both; 

 sides of the valley, with its companion stripe ; but the interest became sur- 

 prise when it was observed that the same belt ran along at about the same 

 distance to leeward of an open two-bar paling. There is no doubt about 

 this curious circumstance, but the area of observation was a single paling 

 about 150 yards long. 



In the old quarries at Turin Hill, the conglomerate has given way in 

 several places since the autumn. When falling from any height it has 

 gone totally to pieces. Farther west, where the conglomerate crops out in 

 long lines which have not been disturbed by quarrying, the severe winter 

 does not appear to have had any visible effect. 



Many coots must have died during the winter. Among those which are 

 left much quarrelling may be observed. Can the females have died more 

 readily than the males? 



The Caltha I found last spring ('Scot. Nat.', vol. v. p. 349) was thrown 

 out of its ditch in the autumn, and had to be replanted elsewhere. It is not 

 in a healthy state after the change. Luckily Mr Babington has rooted 

 specimens growing in Cambridge Botanic Garden. Meantime it is now 

 quite a settled matter that there is a Cat//ia, with uncontiguous sepals, at 



