Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 541 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



* This Society held its first meeting for the season on Thursday the 

 11th of November, 1841, Professor Graham in the Chair. 



The following papers and communications were read : — 



1. Account of a Botanical Excursion to Skye and the Outer He- 

 brides, during the month of August 1841, by Professor Balfour and 

 Mr. Charles C. Babington; and remarks on the plants observed by 

 them in the Islands of North Uist, Harris and Lewis. 



In this communication the authors drew attention chiefly to those 

 facts which tend to illustrate the variations produced by climate, soil 

 and elevation. In Skye their observations were confined to the south- 

 western part of the island. They landed at Armadale, and passing 

 by Knock, Ord and Strathaird to Loch Coiruisg, they crossed the 

 Cuillin Hills to Sligachan, and from thence went by Bracadale to 

 Dun vegan. Among the plants observed in this route may be men- 

 tioned Rumex aquaticus, Atriplex rosea, Arabis petrcea, Myriophyllum 

 alter nifiorum, Potamogeton oblongus, Orobanche rubra, Mimulus luteus, 

 &c. 



From Dunvegan they crossed the Minsh to Loch Maddy in North 

 Uist, and after examining the botany of that island, they proceeded 

 to Harris and Lewis. 



On the lofty mountains of the Forest of Harris, some of which they 

 reckoned to be at least 3000 feet high, they were surprised to find 

 very few alpine plants, for which they could only account by suppo- 

 sing the climate of the island to be so modified by the vicinity of the 

 great Atlantic Ocean, as to be too mild for the production of the usual 

 alpine vegetation. 



The following are mentioned among the more interesting plants 

 found in Harris and Lewis : — Lamium intermedium, Ruppia maritima, 

 Pinguicula lusitanica, Thalictrum alpinum, Salix herbacea, Aira alpina, 

 Saussurea alpina, Luzula spicata, Arabis petrcea, Silene acaulis, Blys- 

 mus rufus, Juncus balticus, Scirpus lacustris, &c. They also gathered 

 Hymenophyllum Wilsoni among rocks upon the summit of Chesham, 

 apparently the highest mountain of the range. 



The number of species observed in North Uist, Harris and Lewis, 

 during this excursion, w r as 311, of which 21 belonged to the orders 

 Filices, Lycopodiacece and Equisetacece. The number of true ferns 

 was 14, being in the proportion of 1 to about every 22 of the flower- 

 ing plants ; that is, they form about l-22nd part of the whole number 

 of species at present known to be indigenous in these islands. Mr. 

 T. Edmonston, jun. records 249 species of native plants for the 

 Shetland Islands (Ann. Nat. Hist. viii. 287), of which 14 me ferns, 

 Lycopodiacece and Equisetacece, the number of true ferns being 7, 

 thus showing a proportion of 1 fern to about 33 flowering plants. 

 Owing to the necessarily imperfect character of the Long Island list, 

 it is impossible to draw any satisfactory conclusions, from the above 

 proportions, between the flowering plants and ferns ; yet it may be 

 noticed that there is a great preponderance of ferns in both these 

 northern and insular countries, although the actual numbers recorded 



