68 Proceedings of the Koyal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 



dams, etc. In other places, shallow sheets of water that could be put to no 

 useful purpose have been drained and the sites utilised for agriculture, 

 whilst in a few cases lochs are used as receptacles for sewage. The only 

 lochs of this Area that retain their natural conditions are the smaller ones 

 on the Cleish Hills. 



The Carboniferous and Old Red Sandstone series of rocks, which largely 

 prevail, have in a former epoch suffered considerable contortion from volcanic 

 activities, and large areas are covered with lavas, tuffs, and dolerite sills. 

 Suffice it to mention Burntisland Bin, Largo Law, May Island, and Norman's 

 Law as eloquent monuments of that period. The country is hilly, but not 

 mountainous ; yet in many parts the scenery is beautiful : instance the 

 undulating country to the west of Loch Leven and of the Howe of Fife, 

 or the charming scenic effect produced by the rapid alternation of hill and 

 dale in the neighbourhood of Aberdour, Burntisland, Newburgh, and 

 Newport. Contrast the weird monotony of the flat links of Tents Muir 

 with the bold perpendicular craigs of the Isle of May. Contemplate the 

 picturesque grandeur of the Firth of Tay, equalled, but not surpassed, by 

 the vaster expanse of beauty afforded by the lower reaches of the Firth 

 of Forth. Turn from the grimy atmosphere of the sordid mining villages, 

 and from odoriferous Kirkcaldy, to the wilder portions of the Lomond, Cleish, 

 and the eastern slopes of the Ochil Hills, where one is forcibly reminded 

 that Philistia has not yet completel}^ triumphed over the rural glories and 

 natural monuments of Fife and Kinross. 



It is more convenient to treat these counties as one district than to 

 divide them into natural drainage areas ; I therefore make this region Area 

 VII (pp. 147-177, figs. 83-124). 



In this investigation an endeavour has been made to record the dominant 

 and abundant plants of the lakes visited, together with some observations 

 upon the environmental conditions under which they grow.* These papers 

 may therefore be considered as being floristic rather than ecological ; they 

 also present a number of necessary although brief remarks on the topo- 

 graphy and physiography of the districts, as well as some notes from an 

 ecological standpoint. The main idea running through this presentation 

 is that of laying before the reader a plain account, from a botanical aspect, 

 of the lochs, and the plants that grow in them and on their shores, keeping 

 in view the fact that the work is a part of the Survey of the Fresh-water 

 Lochs of Scotland. These papers may further be regarded as a preliminary 

 step towards future fieldwork of a distinctly ecological character which 



* A summary of such conditions occurring in the Ness Area may be found in the 

 Geograj)hiral Journal, January 1908, pp. 67-72. 



