244 A VISIT TO BRAEMAR. 



Galium mollugo, (Manse avenue,) Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, Alche- 

 milla alpina, Briza media, Galium uliginosum, var. Witheringii. 



On our entrance into this glen we turned aside to examine the bed of 

 the stream, which here empties itself into the Clunie, after traversing the 

 whole length of Glen Callater. The rock was of mica-schist, with the 

 dip presenting a very high angle. The winter torrents had in many places 

 worn the strata into very grotesque shapes, and it appeared very question- 

 able whether they had not been also instrumental in producing another 

 equally strange appearance, though one by no means rare even in rocks of 

 a more durable nature, as I have seen cavities of the same kind in various 

 places along the Kincardineshire coast. 1 refer to numerous cylindrical 

 cavities, smoothly and equally scooped out in the solid rock, and always 

 at right angles to its exposed surface, whether in the current or considerably 

 above it, and averaging five or six feet deep. In one of these, elevated 

 above the course of the stream, a noble shield fern had found a home, 

 and presented an appearance of no ordinary grace, as it waved its stately 

 fronds, from this vase of Nature's modelling. This spot, if minutely examined, 

 would produce a goodly list of cryptogamic plants, which find a congenial 

 habitat in its shady recesses; as it was we fell in with Lastrcea Filix-mas, 

 L. spimdosa, and L. dilatata, throwing their broad fronds most lovingly over 

 their more slender relatives, Cystopteris fragilis, with many of its varieties, 

 as dentata and angustata, (many of the best specimens however being sadly 

 mutilated by a minute fungus;) Polypodium vulgare, P. phegopteris, the 

 pale foliage of which presented a good contrast to the darker tints of the 

 others; Merchantia hcemispherica, several forms of Bryum ccespititium, 

 Andrcea rupestris, while at the base of the rocks producing these, spread 

 the green turf, beautifully enamelled with the pale blue stars of Veronica 

 chamcsdrya, blended, as they were, with the delicate leaves of another favorite 

 of our summer rambles, Oxalis acetosella. 



Oh! that all could see and appreciate this lovely spot, which, like many 

 others in this district, appeals to the heart, not so much by any proud associa- 

 tions of by-gone days, or by the beauty or sublimity of surrounding objects, 

 as by the chaste blending of Nature's prettiest and often tiniest gems — 

 by the still small voice of the lowly moss, with perhaps its associations 

 of African adventure and heroic devotion to science; — of the Veronica, with 

 its petals painted — one is almost apt to think by a pencil dipped in the 

 caerulean tints of a summer sky; — of the Ferns, luxuriating truly in but 

 one absolute colour, but of it presenting innumerable shades, the coolest 

 green. On the higher banks, as we again seek the road, we gather Hier- 

 acium Lawsoni and Poa Balfourii. 



On the other side of the road we have now reached, is a ledge of rocks, 

 toward which we now direct our course. lu passing over the ground 



