/ 8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



and which are known to the writer to occur, or to have occurred, 

 in the included district. Such a record may serve to indicate that 

 though there is " no new thing under the sun" there may be enough 

 to reward the diligent and careful working up of a district which 

 has been thought to have been well explored. It may also 

 sometimes prove useful as an indication of the geographical extension 

 of certain species, and may serve as a basis of comparison for future 

 investigation, just as some such records have been of use to myself. 



The surface rocks of a great portion of the country round Greenock 

 are trap of various kinds, but there are many places, and especially 

 nearly all along the shore of the Firth, where sandstone crops out, 

 and it is interesting to observe, that while the vegetation of those 

 places where the igneous rock prevails, is, with regard to phanero- 

 gams, generally meagre both in genera and species, the vegetation 

 where the sandstone occurs is rich, the number and variety, as well 

 as the luxuriance, of the flowers, forming a marked contrast to the 

 monotonous and desolate appearance of the flora of the former; 

 consequently nearly all the rarer plants of the district are found 

 where sandstone comes to the surface. 



The order Kanunculaceae is, with the exception of only 3 or 4 

 species, represented by the most common forms. Ranunculus lingua 

 is said to have been found at Gourock, though I have not seen it 

 there or anywhere in the neighbourhood. R. auricomus is found 

 at the old Castle of Duchal, Kilmalcolm, and R. sceleratus is plenti- 

 ful a little east of Langbank. Aconitum Napellus, one of the "doubt- 

 ful natives" which we noticed some years ago, still grows where we 

 first found it — at the "Roman Bridge" near Inverkip. Trollius 

 euwpaeus is common, as at Kilmalcolm and Shielhill Glen. Papav&r 

 Argemone is occasionally found in the corn-fields and on the railway 

 embankments about Kilmalcolm, but the most notable of the Papa- 

 veraceae found in the district is the Common Celandine — Chelidonium 

 Majus. About 18 years ago this plant was noticed at Duchal Castle, 

 and the summer before last when visiting that locality along with 

 some members of my botanical class we observed a most beautiful 

 specimen, an evidence that this species had not become extinct, a 

 fact which is the more striking when we take into consideration that 

 the place is very much frequented in summer-time by picnic parties 

 and others. 



Draba muralis was found for a number of years upon some old 

 walls about Greenock, but these walls have now been taken down or 



