OBSERVATIONS. 



351 



Killin, a pretty little village at the 

 foot of the Loch. Skirting the lake 

 for a considerable distance, I diver- 

 ged to the l^ft after a walk of six 

 miles, and here the true ascent be- 

 gins. Near Killin I noticed abun- 

 dance of the Sweet Cicely {Myrrhis 

 odoraUi) and a local thistle {Cardans 

 hetcrophyllus). The Scottish As- 

 phodel {Tojieldia palustris) I am told 

 grows near Loch Tay. I did not, 

 however, meet with it. The lake 

 was quite fragrant with the flowers 

 of the GUjceria; and the music of the 

 sedge warbler, that sung among the 

 reeds, added much to tbe pleasure 

 of an evening sail. On my way to 

 Ben Lawers, I saw the pretty fawns 

 of the Eed Deer, trotting away as 

 soon as I approached. The herd, 

 which is quite wild, is the property 

 of the Marquis of Breadalbane. The 

 Anacharis alsinastrum, that has ap- 

 peared so mysteriously in our rivers 

 and canals within the last twenty 

 years, seems to have taken perma- 

 nent possession of the sandy bed of 

 the river Dochart, and threatens to 

 choke up eventually the shallow 

 feeder of Loch Tay. I had now 

 reached the place where the ascent 

 begins. On the grassy slopes of the 

 mountain, there was plenty of the 

 Field Gentian [Gentiana campestris) 

 which is easily distinguished by its 

 two large over-wrapping calyx-seg- 

 ments. I picked up several white 

 varieties of this beautiful plant. 



Gentiana nivalis I did not see, though 

 it is said to occur on Ben Lawers. 

 The IMountain Pansy (Viola lutea) 

 was growing intermixed with the 

 Field Gentian. The leading fea- 

 tures of this pansy are to be sought 

 in the pinnatifid stipules and simple 

 stem. The Bladder Fern {CyatojHeris 

 frag His) was plentiful in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Killin, in all its protean 

 forms ; and Ben Lawers is the home 

 of the rare (7, montana, and though 

 the localities have been sadly rifled 

 by rapacious collectors — still Glen 

 Lyon offers it an asylum, where it 

 flourishes on inaccessible ledges for 

 the full space of a quarter of a mile. 

 Around the Ordnance Cairn at the 

 top, a strange little plant — Cherleria 

 sedoides — was growing in moss-like 

 tufts, looking very pretty in the sun- 

 shine. A large patch of frozen snow 

 still lay on the side that faces the 

 north, and very refreshing I found 

 it, after my steep climb on the most 

 sultry of summer days. On the 

 very borders of the snow grew the 

 lovely Alpine Forget-me-not, {Myo- 

 sotis alpestris) whose bright blue 

 flowers were a great treat to me in 

 these upper regions. Ccrastium 

 alpinum, i\mil\\^i\. previously noticed 

 on Ben Lomond grew here most 

 abundantly, and was flowering in 

 perfection. Fine large yellow-belted 

 Syrphus-flies, which I take to be 

 Sericomyia horealis, were rushing 

 about in every direction, humming 



