1909-10.] Flora of Scottish Lakes. 69 



may possibly be carried on by the writer. It is hoped, however, tliat 

 others may be led by the perusal of these pages to some of tlie many sites 

 enumerated, where Nature seems ready, nay, anxious, to reveal some secret 

 to the earnest investigator. 



Although a good many additions have been made to the vice-counties — 

 73, 74, 75, 85, 96, and 97 in Topographical Botany — still, no special search 

 has been instituted for the purpose of adding records to a county list ; 

 at the same time it is frequently shown that comparatively rare species 

 occur at many of tlie lochs in great abundance. As a general rule, I have 

 only been able to visit each loch once, sometimes working over three or 

 four small ones in a day ; at other times spending two, three, or more daj^s 

 at one large loch. Thus have I not only been obliged to ignore seasonal 

 changes, but have conducted the work almost irrespective of weather, 

 although wind or rain seriously handicaps one.* Under such circumstances 

 some plants have probably been overlooked. It will therefore be readily 

 understood that I am not prepared to say that certain species do not exist 

 in certain places, or to refute in any way the records of other botanists. 

 Rather the opposite, for I am quite ready to admit the occurrence of plants 

 not found in my list in the lochs that have been examined, especially in 

 the case of plants that live entirely submersed, even though such may be 

 abundant. One has also to remember the comparatively rapid changes 

 that may take place in the flora of a loch, particularly amongst the plants 

 that seldom occur very plentifully. Again, when the large districts that 

 I have gone over in one season are held in contemplation, the most energetic 

 of botanists will admit the impossibility of examining with microscopic 

 vision, in so short a time, every nook and corner of the margin as well 

 as the bottom of every lake visited. Neither is such minute examination 

 a necessary concomitant to the wider purposes of the investigation, as 

 expressed by the title. Further, the omission of a plant from the list does 

 not by any means necessarily imply that it is absent in the Area, but 

 merely that I did not find it in abundance at any of the lochs. I have 

 simply recorded exactly what I have observed. 



My friend Mr James M' Andrew, of Edinburgh, who resided many years 

 in Kirkcudbrightshire, and whose discoveries in the geographical distribution 

 of plants have so greatly enriched the written records of the flora of this 

 and the adjoining counties, especially amongst the Cryptogams, has rendered 

 me many services. Naturally lie has had opportunities of observation that 



* Those who have not liad experience in snch or similar boating oi)erations during 

 windy weather can scarcely appreciate the difficulty of carrying on the work, even under an 

 ordinary stiff breeze. 



