PTERIS. 251 



side, has many knolls, and some of these are bare rocks partially 

 spotted with embrowned patches of the Stonecrop, and, it may be, 

 emblazoned with the white blossoms of the Saxifrage (S. granulata). 

 The burn runs in a hollow down the centre of the field. The hollow 

 is at first shallow, and there are, near its top, several well-heads 

 which add a purer water to the stream. This hurries along as the 

 gape deepens, and becomes, at every step, more declivous ; and it 

 murmurs on its way, for the channel is rocky and uneven. You 

 follow down, and are soon lost between the deepening banks. First 

 there are a few stunted grey Willows with Meadow-sweet intermingled, 

 and the bank underneath is carpeted with moss, — much of it tinged 

 of a reddish colour. Again the green herbage comes down to the 

 water-course ; and then again succeeds a swampy spot covered with 

 Hypnums relieved with marsh Epilobia, the Butterwort, the Forget- 

 me-not, and such like. Now a tiny linn, over which the water leaps 

 sparkling, arrests you for a space ; and not far aside a stony brae 

 with its peculiar weedy vegetation, — the Sheep' s-Sorrel, the Gna- 

 phalia, several Hawkweeds, a few dwarf plants of the Foxglove, and 

 the dry half- withered Airse. But the hollow has insensibly grown into 

 a dean. You can now stroll in its secresy unseen by the bondagers 

 in the fields alongside, or by the herd who basks in the sun on the 

 bank. The water has got increase, and has more force and velocity, 

 and it runs impatient in its rough channel. Hazel mingles with 

 the Willows, Wild Roses and Brambles entangle the brake, a copse- 

 wood of Sloe-thorn occupies the top of the bank, succeeded by a 

 space covered with the Bracken ; and the opposite north bank bears 

 a cover of the Whin, gemmed with the herblets (Stellaria graminea, 

 Orobus tuberosus, &c.) which delight in its shelter, and run up 

 amidst its branches. This is a pleasant spot, full of botanical riches ; 

 and we leave it with regret, for the steep banks that succeed are 

 planted with wood, — with beech, elm, and plane-tree, and with a few 

 Scotch-firs. There is not much here to interest us ; but as we 

 emerge from the shade of this plantation the banks nigh each other, 

 and their fronts become rocky and abrupt, and form a narrow passage 

 through which the water must force itself. This it does in a rumbling 

 fashion. It falls first over a linn, about a yard in height, into a 

 circular caldron of pure water; and then it hurries away in a troubled 

 stream, leaving on one side a little gravelled edge, and running on the 

 other under a projecting ledge. Ferns from both sides, and from 

 every crevice, overhang the darkened chasm. Above, the Polypody 

 leans over the bank in a dark-green fringe ; below, tufts of Aspidium 

 lobatum project from under shehang rocks ; and the little elegant 

 Asplenia hang out their pretty fronds everywhere, and in a manner 

 that no pencil can delineate. The Lady-Fern grows here often in 

 large tufts ; and the Aspidium dilatatum is sure to be looking out 

 alongside of its narrow fronded ally. The Botanist lingers here 

 long, — there is much for his study, and more for his admiration. 

 When at length he emerges from the gloom, he finds on one side an 

 old quarry not without its peculiar interest. The bottom is rough 

 with broken stones grown over with docks and nettles ; in a corner 

 there is a thicket of Sloe-thorn, with a glorious bed of Stellaria 



