SOME FORMS OF SPHAGNA FOUND IN THE GLENKENS. 367 



working, and a residence in the district, are required 

 to attain complete results. 



All my specimens have been gathered within a 

 radius of ten or twelve miles, — from Carsphairn in 

 the north to Barend Moss in the south. The district 

 of the Glenkens, with Ne^v Galloway as its centre, 

 is peculiarly favourable for the growth and develoj)- 

 ment of the Sphagna. It has great diversity of 

 surface, much broken ground, wet sloping hill-sides, 

 extensive moors, j)eat-mosses, and flo^vs — as those of 

 Moss Raploch and Barend Moss — almost entirely 

 composed of Sphagna, marshy and swampy ground, 

 and a very moist climate. Such large " flo^vs " as 

 the two mentioned contain any quantity of such 

 mosses as aS. Austini, and its var. iinhricatum, in 

 huge tussocks ; S. acuti folium var. elegans mixed 

 with the former, and var. fuscuni in dense snuffy- 

 brown cushions ; and S. cymhifolluin var. purp)ur- 

 ascens or congestiun, with its beautifully mixed tiixts, 

 creeping into some shallo^v iDool of water. The wet 

 slopes of the granite hill called the Black Craig, 

 alias Cairn smoor of Dee, has plenty of S. tenellum 

 in fruit ; the east slopes of Cairn Edward, also of 

 granite, contain >S^. rigiduin in quantity, with its two 

 vars. comjjactiun and squarrosuluni, the latter fre- 

 quent in fruit ; >S^. molle (of which Dr. Braithwaite 

 says the typical plant is not yet British, and which 

 Mr. Boswell regards as almost identical with its 

 var. Mulleri) A^ars. Mulleri and tenerum, on the 

 slopes ; S. lariciniun I have as yet found only in one 

 spot ; and other species and varieties in more or 

 less frequency. Considering the great similarity in 

 appearance of several species and varieties, it is not 

 surprising that one may very readily pass them by 

 unnoticed. 



The following remarks are based uj)on what Dr. 

 Braithwaite says in his work on The Sphagnacece or 

 Peat Mosses of Europe and America. 



To the uninitiated eye the various aspects and 

 colours of these mosses must prove attractive, and 



D 



