176 NOTES ON A TOUR IN N. SCOTLAND. 



Epipactis lattfolia Allioni. 108."^' Ardsgionaich Point and Mel- 

 ness Sands ; also at Auclminver, below Coalbackie, Tongue Bay — 

 quite rare. Three or four specimens of E. atrorahens Schultz were 

 found growing on a cliff above the Naver, opposite Betty Hill. 



Allium ursinum L. 107. Dunrobin Glen. 108. Birch- woods, 

 S.E. side of the Kyle of Tongue. 



Juncus balticus Willd. 108. Melness Sands ; very local, though 

 it occurs in profusion over two or three acres. 



Sparganium affine Schnizlein. 108. Loch Fhasgaidh, N.W. of 

 Tongue, &c. — S. minimum Fries. In a swamp near Loch Naver, 

 Altnaharra. 



Potamogeton heterophijllus Schrebsr. 108. In the Mudal Water, 

 Altnaharra, near its junction with Loch Naver. 



Ruppia rostellata Koch, var. Jiana Boswell. 106. Most abundant 

 on the mud-flats between Edderton and Meikle Ferry. 



Zostera nana Roth. 106. With the last. 107." Plentiful and 

 very fine, Loch Fleet. 



Scii'piis rnfus Schrader. 108. Coast of Tongue Bay, near Mel- 

 ness ; scarce. 



Carex paniculata L. 106. Plentiful in a swamp on the coast a 

 little N. of Tain ; the forma simplicior Anderssou. — C. Goodenowii 

 J. Gay, var. juncella Fries. 108. Marshy meadows near Loch 



Naver, Altnaharra ; an unusually tall slender strict form. — C. / 



108. In a nearly dry ditch close to the last-named, growing abun- 

 dantly in rich peat-mud for about twenty-five yards, we came upon 

 a handsome sedge which differed considerably in appearance from 

 all that we had previously met with. Plant robust, 2-2| ft. high. 

 Eoot stoloniferous, creeping, with many decayed leaves of former 

 years at the base of the stem. Leaves rather glaucous, keeled, 

 channelled (semicylindric). Perigynium pale green (yellowish when 

 dry), faintly veined. Nut dull brown, sessile, round, lenticular- 

 compressed, dotted, with a rather short but distinct beak. Female 

 spikelets 2-3, sessile, f-l^ in. long, quite erect in ripe fruit; male 

 1-2, about as long, with pale linear-oblong glumes. We have not 

 yet received any opinion on this from Mr. Bennett ; Herr Kiikenthal 

 wrote : — '' Is very interesting. I recognize in it the hybrid gracilis 

 X vulgaris [as we should say, acuta X (j-oodenowii] , in a form ap- 

 proaching 0. gracilis. The flatter fruits, the blunter glumes, and 

 above all the channelled stem-leaves remind me of C. vulgaris, 

 while the habit is quite like gracilis. Some fruits are abnormal, 

 owing to puncture by insects." On our objecting that we had failed 

 to find C. acuta near, and that it was unknown in N. Scotland, he 

 still maintained this opinion. We have dissected out several 

 perigynia, and find the nuts well developed; they scarcely differ 

 from those of Goodenowii, though the beak is rather longer. The 

 fades certainly reminded us much of acuta on the spot ; but we are 

 disposed to think that this is a well-marked variety of the former 

 species. Rev. E. F. Linton thought it very near a sedge which 

 he has gathered both in England and Ireland, but has not yet 

 described. — C. panicea L. var. tumidula Laestadius. 108. Damp 

 ground near Ardsgionaich Point, Melness ; by Loch Mer, Betty 



