Transactions. 7 



Dr Sharp; Eccles House, and Dr Grierson, Thornhill, were 

 delegated to the York meeting of the British Association. 



Exhibits. — By Mr Scott, Castle Street, fine specimens of the 

 Black Scotor (Oidemia) obtained at Carsethorn. 



Bryology of the Glenkens. — Mr J. M'Andrew, New Galloway, 

 communicated the following paper on "The Bryology of the 

 Glenkens." 



The four parishes of the Glenkens are peculiarly favourable for 

 the growth and development of cryptogamic plants. Sharing in 

 the general humidity of the rest of the west of Scotland, and 

 possessing a diversified surface of mountains, moors, marshes, bogs, 

 rocks, glens, woods, and rivers, the disti-ict has quite a profusion 

 of mosses, hepatics, and lichens. Everywhere the features of its 

 picturesque scenery are enriched by a living di-apery of vegetation, 

 while, in particular, the sub- Alpine glens, formed by the hill-streams 

 in their course to the Ken, afford excellent ground for the success- 

 ful collection of cryptogams. For instance, the Holme Glen, 

 formed by the Garpel Burn, contains at least a hundred species of 

 mosses. The woods in the district are not extensive, but the 

 trees are very richly clothed with cryptogamic plants, while the 

 ground is one rich green carpet of mosses. The geological forma- 

 tion of the Glenkens jiresents no great variety — the two prevailing^ 

 rocks being granite and whinstone, forming by no means the most 

 favourable nidus for mosses. StUl, rocks of granitic formation 

 have several mosses jjeculiar to themselves, as, for instance, some 

 of the Grimmias. The absence of such rocks as micaceous schist, 

 limestone, sandstone, and trap, excludes the mosses peculiar to 

 these formations, and distance from the sea precludes the appear- 

 ance of littoral species. It is the prevalence of the schistose rocks 

 on Ben Lawers and in many parts of the West Highlands which 

 partly accounts for the luxuriance and variety of the mosses found 

 in these districts of Scotland. The Kells hills form offshoots 

 from the ' Southern Highlands,' and lie nearly midway between 

 the Scottish H ighlands and the mountains of Wales. Though not 

 containing such a number of rarities as these productive fields of 

 the bryologist, yet a district which contains such rare species as 

 Grimmia contorta, Grimmia conwiutata, and Leskea jndvinata, 

 cannot but be highly interesting, and must have some ' very good 

 things.' From the extreme minuteness of some species, and the 

 great apparent similarity among others, a tliorough acquaintance 



