ipo Mr. Cosmo Melvill on 



plenty o{ ArctostapJiylos alpina, Jiiniperiis nana, Betiila nana,. 

 etc. Soon some Alpine Hieracia, and Cherleria sedoides 

 were displayed, and the ground became very barren and 

 stony, with spaces of pulverised sand, caused by the small 

 disintegration of the boulders strewn everywhere in inex- 

 tricable confusion. Turning towards the large corrie on 

 the south-east, at about 2,900 feet, we came upon patches 

 oi J uncus trifidus, Lunula spicata, a stunted form oi Armeria 

 maritima, with very woody roots, and large heads of 

 flowers, and a Plantago, which did not resemble the mass of 

 P. maritima we had gathered at lower elevations. At the 

 time I took it to be more allied to P. alpina{l..) so frequent 

 in the mountains of the Valais in Switzerland. 



This plant, which I now exhibit, has been submitted by 

 me to Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R.S., of Kew, to Prof C. C. 

 Babington, F.R.S., of Cambridge, and Mr. Arthur Bennett, 

 F.L.S., of Croydon, and the following notes shew what 

 opinions these gentlemen have, at present, as to this curious 

 form : — 



Mr. Baker wrote on 2nd January : — 



" We have a Plantago here (in the Kew Herbarium) that 

 exactly matches your Ben Hope specimen, among the plants 

 of the Nordenskiold Expedition of 1875. It is labelled 

 P. maritima (L.), var. pumila (Kjellman), and was collected 

 at Cap Grebenig, Insula Wajgatsch, Scandinavia, in July, 

 1875, by Kjellman and Lundstrom, the botanists of the 

 expedition. A very similar form grows in Teesdale on the 

 sugar limestone of Widdy Bank Fell." 



Prof Babington favoured me with three letters on the 

 subject, of which the first is as follows : — 



"Your Plantago is undoubtedly difficult. I have the 

 dwarf form gathered by Mr. Tate, Bressa Sound, in Shet- 

 land, and which appears quite distinct from yours. I believe 

 the Bressa plant is the P. maritima-hirsuta (Syme) = 

 setacea-lanata (Edmundstone). I do not look towards the 



