RECORDS OF EXCURSIONS IN AYRSHIRE. 37 



passing along a fine avenue. At the castle the chief object of 

 interest was the fine old yew situated near the south wall, and 

 historical, as under it the articles of union between Scotland and 

 England are said to have been signed by Lord Hugh Campbell. 

 This tree, which is a male, was measured by Messrs. R. M'Kay 

 and J. Renwick, on ist January, 1890, and found to be 13 feet 

 1 1 inches in girth at about 2 feet, and spread of branches, east to 

 west, 75 feet (see Plate III). Near the little artificial pond some 

 Portugal laurels (Prunus lusitanicd) were seen which had ripened 

 their fruit, the taste of which had a close resemblance to that of 

 almonds. As related by the Rev. Norman MacLeod in the New 

 Statistical Account of the parish, five stone coffins were found in 

 Loudoun Park under a large cairn of stones, and in them were 

 a few cutting implements of stone. 



Passing on to Lanfine, a look was taken at the remains of old 

 Loudoun Castle, situated on the Hag Burn. Lanfine is classical 

 ground, owing to the fine collection of trees and shrubs, begun 

 to be formed by a Glasgow Professor of Botany, Dr. Thomas 

 Brown, about the beginning of this century; and here were seen 

 medlars (Mespilus germanica) with the fruit large and well formed. 

 As in several other parts of Ayrshire, the Wellingtonia appears 

 to grow beautifully at Lanfine. On the Lanfine Estate several 

 antiquities have been found, including a number of coins, arrow- 

 heads and borers of flint, and a serpentine head. 



Amongst the wild flowers noted were Epipactis latifolia, Sedum 

 reflexum, Campanula hederacea, Anagallis arvensis, and Meconopsis 

 cambrica — the latter probably an escape. During this excursion 

 thirty-four species of fungi were collected, amongst which Hydnum 

 repandum — a good edible one — occurred. 



On the afternoon of Saturday, 15th September, 1894, thirty 

 members visited the Dean and Crawfordland. On leaving 

 Kilmarnock Station the route taken through the town was by 

 the little monument erected to the memory of Lord Soulis, 

 and on by the old quarries at the Dean to Crawfordland Castle 

 and policies. Going as far as the little loch, the party was 

 much pleased with its appearance, there being abundance of 

 potamogetons and the tall plants of the great reed-mace (Typha 

 latifolia)) rendering this little scene quite charming. 



