164 The Topography and Flora of Strathdearn. [Sess. 
phyllus rears its lordly head. By the side of the river are also 
to be found, but sparingly, Saxifraga stellaris and Oxyria 
reniformis. Parnassia and Menyanthes, the two rival belles 
in the floral world, are frequently met with. While admiring 
to the full the exceeding loveliness of each, there is another 
flower with whose beauty I was much struck when I met with 
it (for the first and only time) in a wood in Ayrshire, and 
which in my opinion will make a very close third. I refer 
to Cephalanthera ensifolia, with its graceful, sword-shaped 
leaves (as its name implies) and handsome spike of pure 
white flowers. Of the Orchis family in this district I have 
noted Orchis maculata in great profusion, Gymnadenia fre- 
quent, Habenaria bifolia and H. albida sparingly, and a few 
plants of the rare Malaxis. Drosera rotundifolia, Pinguicula 
vulgaris, and Narthecium ossifragum are plentiful. This past 
summer I noticed growing by the roadside a few plants of 
Pedicularis sylvatica with pure white flowers. In autumn 
Scabiosa succisa is abundant everywhere in great variety of 
colour, occasionally white. White bluebells are also met with 
sometimes. (I always look with great interest at white speci- 
mens of our native flora whose normal colour is a dark hue. 
Some other plants which I have noticed with white flowers are 
Agraphis in Fife, Geranium sylvaticum in Pitroddie Den above 
Errol, and Digitalis near Kilmalcolm in Renfrewshire.) 
The most interesting fern I have observed is Botrychium 
(Moonwort), of which there are a few plants in and around 
our school-grounds here, and plenty in an old pasture half a 
mile away. 
Of Lycopods, L. clavatum and L. alpinum are plentiful, and 
L. Selago and Selaginella selaginoides frequent. Equisetums 
are represented by E. arvense, E. sylvaticum, and others. 
Mosses, especially the commoner Hypnums, are in strong 
evidence. So are also the Sphagnums in our peat-mosses, 
and many other genera and species in their proper localities. 
Although I do not know much of birds, I have noticed 
several pairs of bullfinches, and for the first time have seen 
the night-jar. 
Altogether, from what I have observed in a cursory way, 
Strathdearn seems to present a good field of observation and 
study for the naturalist. 
