NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OP GLASGOW. 79 



repaired and the plants destroyed. Lepidium Smithii, which is said 

 to he rare, I have found in several places; it was very plentiful on 

 an old road at Kilmalcolm and is still found near Fort Matilda 

 and at several other places by the shore. Iberis amara is occasion- 

 ally found about the shore near Fort Matilda. One of the rarest 

 plants of the West of Scotland, and belonging to the order Caryo- 

 phyllaceae, should be mentioned ; I refer to Cerastium arvense, 

 which was noticed about 6 years ago by Mr. Charles Pennell of 

 Greenock (a member of the Society), and which grows by the 

 shore a short distance west from Fort Matilda in a field locally known 

 as the Battery Field. Silene infiata, S. noctiflora, Lychnis ves- 

 pertina, and Githago segeium have also been found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Greenock within the last few years. Touch-me-not, 

 Impatiens noli-me-tangere, is found by the shore about quarter of 

 a mile west from the Cloch Light-house, growing at one place 

 especially in great profusion ; 1 first noticed it about 4 years ago. 



A few plants belonging to the Leguminosae may be noted. 

 Melilotus officinalis, the Yellow Melilote, was found last year in 

 the Battery Field by Mr. Struthers of the Watt Museum 

 Trifolium arvense, well named the " Hare's-foot Trefoil," is found 

 in the suburbs of Greenock ; and the pretty little Ornithopus 

 perpusillus, which I have observed for a number of summers on 

 a dry bank by the side of the road on the north side of the Glasgow 

 and South- Western Railway, and about 1J miles west from Kil- 

 malcolm. These are the most noteworthy plants belonging to 

 this order found in our district, but there are other two species 

 which, though not found, strictly speaking, within the specified limits, 

 might be noticed before passing on. These are, first, Vicia lathy- 

 roides, which I happened to find on Dumbarton Rock, in June, 

 1878, and at a subsequent date. This plant cannot be confounded 

 with V. angustifolia, Roth, especially when examined in fruit as 

 well as in flower, its smooth pods and granulated seeds forming a 

 very distinctive characteristic. I am hot aware of any station 

 having been found for it so near Glasgow. The second is also a 

 Vetch — V. sylvatica, which I noticed in Auchinreoch Glen, near 

 Dumbarton, in 1878, when I was very much struck with its beauty. 

 Among the Rosaceae, Rosa arvensis is found at Gourock, and by 

 the shore near Leven House below Ashton. The Crab Apple, 

 Pyrus Malus, is found a little off the Larkfield road and about 

 midway between Gourock and Ravenscraig, where it forms part 



