LOG Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 



spermum moniHforme, B. vagum, Ulothrix sequalis, Zj^gogonium ericetorum. 

 Numerous Bryophytes were also frequently abundant on the peaty shores, 

 or clothing the rocks at the margins. 



Proceeding from the head of Loch Doon towards Loch Enoch by way 

 of the glen drained by the Gala Lane, and lying between the two mountain 

 ranges, of which Merrick, on the west, and Corserine, on the east, are the 

 highest points, one passes over the site from which Loch Doon obtains its 

 chief supj)ly of Molinia cferulea. Here is a stupendous bog 5 miles long 

 by a mile or so wide, ahnost everywhere treacherous to walk upon, and in 

 some places quite impassable.* A characteristic feature of this bog is the 

 luxuriant orowth of Molinia cserulea, which is often about 18 inches high. 

 The same grass also dominates the sides of the hills, but there it is much 

 shorter. 



After receiving numerous tributary streams, the Gala Lane for the last 

 three miles of its course is of some considerable size, and only in a few places 

 can it be crossed dry-shod by jumping with alacrity from rock to rock 

 across its bed. Sometimes it passes swiftly down a rocky incline ; generally, 

 however, it meanders its tortuous course, slow, deep, and wide. In such 

 places flourishes a vegetation abundant in quantity but poor in variety ; or 

 its bottom may be covered with dead grass like that of Loch Doon, in which 

 case no living vegetation occurs. Carex rostrata forms a marginal zone of 

 varying width, and in the water Potamogeton natans, P. polygonifolius, 

 Castalia speciosa, and Juncus fluitans are the ruling, and in fact almost the 

 only, species. The last particularly is so abundant that the slow, deep river 

 appears in places full of it, yet in Loch Doon it is scarce. 



Looking from the monotonous and treacherous Molinia-covered glen, the 

 scenery is indeed unique. On the east, Carlin's Cairn, Meikle Craigtarson, 

 Millfire, and Meikle Millyea thrust their grassy flanks, with here and there 

 a steep gray scree of Lower Silurian rock, into the strath below. On the 

 west, Mullwharchar, Dungeon Hill, Craignaw, and Craiglee plunge their rocky 

 and precipitous shoulders of syenitic granite boldly into the insidious bog of 

 the glen. This untamed grandeur is further enhanced by numberless erratic 

 boulders perched on the western sky-line in fantastic variety (fig. 4). On 

 the east, the great ice-sheet has completed its work of rounding ofl' the 

 mountain tops and giving their flanks a symmetrical slope. On the west, 

 giaciation has but half completed its task because of the harder igneous 

 rock, and here one sees to perfection the battle-ground whence one of the 

 mightiest of nature's gladiators has been driven before completing his 



* After passing the waierslied at the Dry Loch of the Dungeon, the glen continues for 

 another 5 miles, down to Loch Dee. 



