MOLLUSCAN INVESTIGATION IN THE ISLE OF SKYE 9 



a little limestone gives the locality a wild and rugged 

 appearance. The higher parts of most of the hills are devoid 

 of vegetation, but in some instances the summits are covered 

 with a scant vegetation of Alpine Lady's- mantle, Sclaginella, 

 Mosses, and Lichens. 



The streams that rise in and drain these mountains are 

 in some cases shallow and rocky, with little or no vegetation, 

 and in other cases are in deep and narrow ravines, rocky in 

 character with here and there a wider part, with a small 

 waterfall, the spray from which helps to keep a certain 

 amount of plant life in a rank and vigorous growth. The 

 lower parts of some of the larger ravines contain a few short 

 scrubby trees, growing from the slopes or out of the fissures 

 of the rocks. 



The main roads are mostly in good condition, and in most 

 cases do not rise to 400 feet in altitude. They have no walls 

 or hedges to divide them from the sloping hills on each side, 

 except in rare instances. Sometimes, as in the Varragill 

 valley, near Portree, a stream runs alongside the road for 

 some distance. 



The road from Broadford to Torran runs between high 

 hills, those on the left hand consisting of the Durness and 

 Erriboll limestone series, a hard white rock or marble which 

 is quarried on the slopes of Ben Suardal, about three or four 

 miles above Broadford. In several places along the left-hand 

 side of this valley are patches of shrubby trees, consisting of 

 Hazel, Birch, and a little Ash. 



On Skye there is very little land under cultivation, and 

 the parts that are cultivated are generally in the vicinity of 

 some village or round the numerous cottages of the crofters. 

 The grass which clothes some of the lower slopes of the hills 

 more especially near the sea is of a benty nature mostly 

 Nardas stricta and the rest of the hills and valleys are 

 covered with heather, ling, and a little bracken. The shore 

 is either shingle or rocky, and no sandy bays were observed. 

 The oolitic limestone shows out on the face of the cliffs for a 

 good way up the coast north of Portree, but I did not note 

 any outcrop on the hills above. 



My observations as embodied in the list which fol- 

 lows were made in August 1910 about Portree on 



13 B 



