210 Dr. Balfour's Botanical Excursion. 



The party left Glasgow by the train for Ayr, on Wednesday, 9th 

 August, 1843, and after botanizing for a few hours in the neighbour- 

 hood of that town, proceeded to Portpatrick. On visiting the Low- 

 Green at Ayr, we picked Atriplex laciniata, in great abundance, 

 along with Eryngium maritimum, Sinapis monensis, Senebiera Coro- 

 nopus, and a few specimens of Iberis amara. We looked in vain for 

 Trifolium ornithopodioides, which used to grow abundantly on the 

 Green in some places. Our walk extended along tlie shore as far as 

 the Heads of Ayr. Near Grinan Castle, we found Trifolium scab- 

 rum, but no other plant of particular interest attracted our notice. 

 On returning towards Ayr, we saw very large specimens of Equisetum 

 Telmateia of Ehrhart, some of them nearly six feet high growing on 

 a bank close to a ditch. 



From Portpatrick we proceeded along the shore by Port Kale and 

 Blackhead, to Kilintringan, and Knock Bay. The rocks along the 

 shore are bold and precipitous, and consist chiefly of greywacke 

 schist and greywacke conglomerate, presenting in many instances a 

 peculiar twisted appearance. Some of the rocks project in the form 

 of narrow ledges, on which it is scarcely possible to balance oneself ; 

 others rise in the form of conical peaks, which are quite inaccessible. 

 The same kind of rocks prevails along the whole of the shores of Wig- 

 tonshire and Kircudbrightshire, with occasional patches of old red 

 sandstone, and some granitic rocks, as at Creetown and Criffel, and oc- 

 casional masses of porphyry and trap. Among the plants noticed near 

 Portpatrick, were Carlina vulgaris, Hypericum Androssemum, Scilla 

 vema in fruit covering the rocks profusely, and no doubt presenting 

 in the earlier months a beautiful appearance with its blue blossoms, 

 Juncus maritimus, Ligusticum- scoticum, QjJnanthe Lachenalii which 

 along with the plants mentioned, is abundant along the shores 

 of Wigtonshire. Mr. H. C. Watson, in his Flora of Wigtonshire, al- 

 ludes to (Enanthe peucedanifolia as being found here, but in this he 

 is mistaken, and I fear he has been misled by myself and some other 

 Edinburgh botanists, who previously visited this county, and who 

 mistook the CE. Lachenalii for (E. peucedanifolia. The distinction 

 between these two species seem, however, to be by no means well 

 ascertained.* Sedum Rhodiola occurs on the rocks, along with Armeria 

 vulgaris and Cochlearia officinalis. The three last mentioned plants 

 are interesting, as being found both in elevated alpine situations, and 

 in the immediate vicinity of the sea.f Solanum Dulcamara, and 



* A paper on the genus (Enanthe is about to be published by Mr. John Ball, in which 

 he endeavours to point out the distinctions between (E. Lachenalii, pimpinelloides and 

 peucedanifolia. The distinctions depend on the form of the roots, the disposition and 

 proportion of the leaves, and the presence or absence of the thickened summit of the 

 pedicel. The first mentioned species appears to be common in Britain. The paper 

 will appear in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



f Dr. Dickie of Aberdeen states, that he found by chemical examination of speci- 

 mens of Armeria vulgaris from the sea-shore, and of others from the inland and higher 



