1 88 1 -82.] EdinburgJi Naturalists' Field Chib. 7 



out against the sky, completing the picture. But while gazing in 

 admiration on this scene we forget that time goes on, and that wo 

 have a long walk ere we arrive at our destination. We have hardly- 

 started before our attention is attracted by a very dark patch of 

 ground, which we find studded over with dwarf plants of the Starry 

 Saxifrage {Saxifraga stellaris^ L.) without any flowering stems, the 

 flowers being imbricated among the leaves ; while alongside grows 

 the Dicranum Starkii, W. & M., with its hoary diaphanous foliage. 

 We now turn to the south along the shoulder of the mountain, and 

 go almost in a straight line for about three-quarters of a mile, when 

 we come upon a tract where the soil was composed of finely broken 

 quartz ; and here we found perhaps the rarest plant of this district 

 — the Alpine Stitchwort [Stellaria cerastoides, L.), which, with its 

 trailing stems and white flowers, was in striking contrast with tlie 

 ground we had just come over. The descent from this point, which 

 is about 3000 feet above sea-level, was very rapid, and we' pro- 

 ceeded down along the right bank of a burn that falls into Moy 

 Water until we arrive at the junction of the two streams at aboiit 

 an altitude of 2000 feet. This part of our journey we found the 

 best for botanising, for here we got the mountain form of the 

 Scurvy-Grass {Cochlearia officinalis^ L.), the Alpine Meadow-Eue 

 [Thalictrum alpinwn, L.), the Least Willow [Salix herbacea, L.) — the 

 smallest native shrub found in Britain. The Yellow Mountain 

 Saxifrage [Saxifraga aizoides, L.) was growing on the wet rocks of 

 the burn, while on the banks that rose on either side grew large 

 plants of the usual form of the Starry Saxifrage (Saxifraga stellaris, 

 L.) ; and here also among the rocks grew the Dwarf Cud-weed 

 [Gnaphalium supinum, L.), and the largest plants we have ever 

 seen of the Fir Club-moss [Lycopodium Selago, L.) From the junc- 

 tion of the two streams the descent was more gradual for about 

 half a mile, but over very rough and boggy ground, that greatly 

 taxed our exhausted energies. The only plants of special interest 

 that we met with were the rather rare Moss, Oligotrichum hercyni- 

 eum, DC), the Alpine Club-moss [Lycopodium alpinum, L.), and 

 the Alpine Lady's Mantle [Alchemilia alpina, L.) which grows in 

 the crevices between the granite boulders all the way down, along 

 the edges of the bed of Moy Water, until it joins the river Spean. 

 In the bog at one place there is a patch of thick peat from which 

 large tree-stumps project, and mark the site of part of the old 

 Caledonian Forest ; but it does not appear that more than clumps 

 of these trees existed, as most of the hillsides are devoid of peat, 

 and very bare. We had gone nearly two miles farther on our way 

 before we found any other plants worth noting, but in a boggy 

 part of the moor we got the two rarer varieties of Sundew [Drosera 

 intermedia., L., and D. anglica, Huds.) These plants are most inter- 

 esting from their carnivorous powers, and have been the subject of 



