LANARKSHIRE RAMBLES. 



hemp-nettle (Galeopsis versicolor) is common in cultivated ground, 

 and the viscid groundsel (Senecio viscosus) is abundant in the 

 neighbourhood of Glasgow, though both plants are somewhat scarce 

 in many other districts. A herb rare in Britain generally but 

 common in the Clyde valley is the tuberous comfrey {Symphytum 

 tuberosum), while a variety of the common comfrey with dingy 

 purple flowers (S. officinale, var. patens) occurs frequently. Others 

 that are noteworthy will be referred to in due course. Of marsh 

 and water plants there is great variety in the lower valley. There 

 are many little lochs about Glasgow, some of those of most note 

 botanically being, however, outside Lanarkshire. In such places 

 in the county we find some plants comparatively rare elsewhere, 

 as the great spearwort {Ranunculus Lingua), the marsh stitchwort 

 (Stellaria glauca), mare's-tail (Hippuris vulgaris), cowbane (Ciaita 

 virosa), wild rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), tufted loosestrife 

 (Lysimachia thyrsiflora), two kinds of reed-mace (Typha latifolia 

 and T. angustifolia), the four British species of duckweed (Lemna), 

 two kinds of bladderwort (Utricular id), with curious traps for 

 small creatures, and pillwort (Pilularia globulifera). There are 

 also several introduced plants, as the flowering rush (Butomus 

 umbellatus), and the ubiquitous Canadian pondweed (Anacharis 

 Alsinastntm), a pest in canals and lochs alike. 



To begin at the Falls of Clyde (Excursions %th September, 

 1888, 22nd June, 1889, and 251/1 June, 1892). There is a magnifi- 

 cence of beauty in the rush and flow, in the walls of rock, the 

 grand gorge, the overhanging greenery, that fills the artistic sense. 

 But naturalists read small. It is no undervaluing of landscape 

 attractiveness to listen to the mavis that sings on the tree, to 

 catch the radiant flash of the kingfisher, to peer into the tiny 

 flower that is lost in the general grandeur. The naturalist may 

 be closely involved in some of the intimate fashions of his sur- 

 roundings, and yet wide awake to the general vision of loveliness. 

 The geologist sees in the Cyclopean walls of Old Red Sandstone 

 that form the gorge, with strata that can often be traced from one 

 side to the other, proof that the river has been running over falls 

 for ages and steadily wearing back. The problems of force and 

 time sharpen the zest of his interest. The botanist, who " speaks 

 with the lowliest of the meadow flowers as readily as with the loftiest 

 firs," peering about sees at his feet among the stones or above him 



