Queries and Answers. 189 



tunate Queen Mary. The following passage, extracted from his Histoiy, 

 relates to a plant which grew in his time in the Loch of Spynie, and which, 

 from the account given by him, in all probability is still to be found 

 there. 



" Lacum praeterea dulcis aquas Spynam nomine, oloribus quidem multum 

 frequentem Moravia habet, in quo herba quaedam rara est, qua quod olores 

 impense delectantur olorinam eam dicimus. Ea utique hujus naturae est, 

 ut ubi semel radices erigerit, tam late se difFundat, ut nostra memoria 

 .quinque ipsius Spynae milliaria, ubi prius salmones exundabunt, radice sua 

 altius evecta penitus vadosum jam efFecerit." * 



The more conspicuous plants that are now to be met with in the Loch 

 of Spynie are Typha latifolia. Dr. Hooker's British Flora, p. 386, ; 5cirpus 

 laciistris, p. 20. ; Jrundo Phragmites, p. 32. ; iSparganium ramosum, p. 386. ; 

 Slum repens, p. 125. j and -Ranunculus lingua, p. 265. Is not the first 

 {Typha latifolia) the most likely to have had the name Olorina given to 

 it ? The Loch . of Spynie was formerly much frequented by swans during 

 the winter season. Sir Thomas Lauder, in his Account of ike Morat/ Floods-y 

 p. 173., mentions that fourteen were once killed there at one shot. There 

 are now but few that visit it, and then only as a resting place in their 

 migrations. The swans, that were wont to remain in this lake throughout 

 the winter, would often resort to the clumps of Typhae, and shelter them- 

 selves among the tall steins and leaves, which are generally not overthrown 

 and dispersed until the approach of spring ; and during frost the swans 

 would be always seen among them : for the water about them would be 

 the part of the lake that would remain longest open ; so that the birds 

 would be allured thither by the easy, the only, access they had to their 

 food among the roots. Then may not the circumstance of the swans thus 

 frequenting the clumps of Typhae have suggested the name Olorina, or 

 swan-herb ; or is there any other property by which it merits this appella- 

 tion ? Is there any other author who applies this term to it, or who uses the 

 term Olorina as a name for any other plant ? Should it be ascertained that 

 the ^ypha latifolia and Olorina are synonymes, ought it not to be introduced 

 into lakes, in pleasm-e-grounds, where those graceful birds are kept ; and 

 the more readily, as it is " one of the handsomest aquatics of the reed 

 kind ? " {Encyc. of Plants, p. 774.) 



The rapidity with which the Olorina is said to have spread itself cannot 

 be but greatly overrated ; for, otherwise, it must long ere now have covered 

 every square foot of the lake, and reduced it all to a mere puddle. It is 

 likely that the worthy bishop has here mistaken the effect for the cause. 

 Probably about the time when he first saw this lake, there occurred a par- 

 tial subsidence of its waters : and, as the 2^jpha latifolia (supposing it to 

 be the Olorina) will not grow in the deeper parts, this subsidence left many 

 suitable spots for it,' where it was observed to spring up and flourish in after 

 years. — r. Elgin, September 27. 1830. 



Touchwood. — Sir, I am desirous of knowing what observations have 

 been made on decayed wood commonly known by the name of touchwood. 

 The wood in the progress of decay has undergone in this state of it a 

 remarkable change. Its solid texture has disappeared ; it is now light and 



* " Moreover Moray contains a lake of fresh water denominated Spynie, 

 greatly frequented by swans, in which there is a certain uncommon herb, 

 with which the swans are greatly allured : we call it the " the ulleriore ; '* 

 it is moreover of this kind, that when it hath fully established its roots, it 

 spreads itself so widely, that, in my memory, it hath extended its basis so 

 far as to have rendered five miles of the lake itself of Spynie, where 

 salmon formerly abounded, altogether shallow." (Translation from the 

 Agricultural Survey of the Province of Moray, p. 2.) 



