NATURAL SELECTION. XxXi 
a varied and luxuriant growth of valarian, tall 
grasses, and small trees, eg., the rowan tree, black 
birch, and poplar. In the East Mainland there are no 
deep gorges to form homes for ferns and rare plants. 
In the neighbourhood of Greemeshall and St. Mary’s 
are two miniature lochs where a few interesting speci- 
mens are to be found. Scirpus tabernemontani, in 
Gremeshall Loch ; Stwm angustifoliwm, in the burn 
leading to St. Mary’s Loch; and Potamogeton pus- 
silus, in the same loch, are a few of the rarer plants. 
Then in a bogey meadow below Ocilster, in Holm, 
called the Trout-bog, evrows the rare plant, Lemna 
minor, tloating in still pools without roots of any 
kind to hold it 7m situ. One of the most interesting 
peat bogs is that of the White Moss, St. Andrews, 
where Drosera rotundifolia and D. anglica grow in 
great abundance. The Orkney flora would be mono- 
tonous and common-place if it were not for the sea 
with its crags and sandy beaches, its sand dunes 
and salt marshes, its muddy bays and burn mouths. 
Then large inland sheets of water, like Lochs Sten- 
ness and Harray, have plant associations peculiar to 
each. Large stretches of sandy pasture-land, known 
as links, have many plants not met with elsewhere, 
such as Carex imecurva, Carex arenaria, Senecio 
jacobea, and Thalictrum minus, var. dunense. 
To one whose daily work confines him inside 
the four walls of a room, or amid the noise and 
bustle of a town, the privilege of spending a few 
hours every week with Nature is one of the most 
exhilarating out-door pleasures one can enjoy. The 
blue sky above, the green turf beneath, the charm 
