1909-10.] Flora of Scottish Lakes. 107 



victory — simply by the softening of the evening breeze. From the strath 

 one chmbs to Loch Enocli by way of Pulskaig Burn, nor can I pass this 

 without a word. Imagine some cyclopean staircase, 



" Piled by the hands of giants 

 For godlike kings of old," 



lifted into the hypothetical ether, and dropped pellmell into a gully on the 

 face of a rocky and precipitous mountain, and you have some idea of 

 Pulskaig Burn. But it appeals to a botanist by reason of the luxuriant 

 splendour of its rare Bryophytes, as well as by the pleasing scenic effect. 

 Here is a riser of the gigantic stair 20 feet high, now tilted to an angle 

 of 45 degrees, over which the pellucid water swiftly glides in rippling 

 dance to music of its own begetting. Scoured and ground by the rush of 

 gravel in time of spate, the face of the granite is perfectly clean and sparkles 

 in the sunlight. But look to right and left ! From that ruined balustrade 

 hang masses of yellow-green or purple Mylia Taylori, interrupted with 

 cushions of Trichostomum tortuosum or Rhacomitrium sudeticum, and. 

 sheltering in the dampness below, the delicate Cephalozia bicuspidata, 

 Heterocladium heteropterum, or Jungermannia Floerkii cover the granite 

 with rare luxuriance. Yon purple-black rock, dripping with water, owes 

 its colour to Andresea alpina, and above it the bright green capital of a half- 

 exposed column is due to the excjuisite Metzgeria hamata, whilst the plinth 

 is wreathed in a purple mass of Pleurozia cochleariformis. Look again ! 

 This ruined corbel still supporting the floor of a balconette, from which beads 

 of water drip into the current below, is almost hidden by the wealth of 

 Hypnum molluscum and Breutelia arcuata, whilst the floor itself is 

 covered with a domed mass of the beautiful Sphagnum rigidum. Scrambling 

 upwards over a few steps that have scarcely been misplaced, we come to a 

 semicircular excavation like a reversed ambo. The floor has been hollowed 

 into a deep cavity, and the process of carving is still continued by the whole 

 body of the burn dropping into it in foaming cataract from 8 or 9 feet 

 above. The spray-splashed margins of this agitated pool are carpeted with 

 masses of Blindia acuta, Hypnum scorpioides, Marsupella aquatica, and 

 Campylopus atrovirens, whilst the surrounding chinks and crannies are 

 gray with Anthelia julacea or green with Philonotis fontana. The surround- 

 ing drapery is of richest form. Such Diplophyllum albicans ! Such Nardia 

 emarginata ! But chief est of all are the glorious masses of Nardia com- 

 pressa and Scapania undulata that cover the dripping rocks and hang in 

 festoons below. What a list of Bryophytes a botanist might write after a 

 day or two spent here ! But clambering on, we pass here a foaming cascade, 



