CONTKIBUTIONS TOWARDS A PLOKA OF CAITHNESS. 

 By J. F. Grant and Arthur Bennett, F.L.S. 



SO far as we know, there is no published list of Caithness 

 plants in existence, except that pf the records in "Typo- 

 graphical Botany." The following list is offered as a contribution 

 towards a Flora of the county, which it is hoped may some day 

 appear. 



We have endeavoured to bring together all the information of 

 which we are aware ; for any additional information, no matter 

 how small or seemingly trivial, we shall be grateful. 



Caithness, the most northern county of the mainland of Scotland, 

 consists chiefly of boulder clay and old red sandstone. About 

 70,000 acres of land are arable ; but the rest of the county, some 

 325,000 acres in extent, is nearly all bleak, barren moorland. 

 There are two river-valleys of some extent, those of the Wick and 

 Thurso rivers, the former lying north-east and south-west, and the 

 latter north and south. The best ground for the botanist is in 

 the river-valleys or straths, particularly near the sea, the sea-cliffs, 

 and the sandy dunes on the coast. 



Caithness cannot boast of any high mountains like the adjoining 

 county of Sutherland, otherwise its flora would be richer in species. 

 The principal elevations are Morven (2331 ft.), Maidenpaps 

 (1929 ft.), Scarry Hills (1876 ft.), Ord of Caithness (1250 ft.), 

 Bencheilt Hill (940 feet), and Bencah Hill (780 ft). 



Though the knowledge of the Floras of Caithness and of 

 Sutherland is progressing every year, we are hardly yet in a 

 position to make any remarks on the relation of its botanical 

 features to those of other lands, especially of the North Isles, Ice- 

 land, and the Faroes.* 



* But I hope at some future time to make some notes on the county in rela- 

 tion to the admirable essays of Dr. Warming of Copenhagen, entitled, " Om 

 Groenlunds Vegetation" and " Tabellarisk Oversigt over Groenlunds, 

 Islands, og Faroernes Flora," 1887-88. A.B. 



