TraTisctctions. 109 



British Flora," " Hobkirk's Synopsis of the British Mosses," or 

 " Leighton's Lichen Flora of Great Britain," any one can convince 

 himself of the great number of plants recorded from Ben Lawers. 

 It may be asked — Why is Ben Lawers so famous for Alpine 

 plants 1 Several reasons may be given— Its friable mica-schist 

 affords an excellent soil for plants, its rugged and varied surface, 

 and its immense ravines, running towards the east, with their 

 boulders, rocks, corries, and even rills, give shelter to rare crypto- 

 gams ; its frequent dews and mists afford abundant moisture ; 

 its rocky ledges and grassy slopes afford resting places for plants; 

 it is high, 3984 feet. Its rills have SaxAfraga aizoides, Oxyria 

 reniformis, &c. ; its grassy slopes are carpeted with Alchemilla 

 alphui ; its damp places have Tofieldia palustris, Juncus big- 

 lumis, and triglnmis ; it is the only British station for the beau- 

 tiful Myosotis alpestris ; it has Saxifraga hypnoides, Cherleria 

 sedoides, Sibhaldia procumbens, Salix reticulata, Cerastiuvi alpi- 

 nu7n,&c.; while near the summit may be found Saxifraga cermia 

 and rivularis ; and in sheltered crevices everywhere Aspidium 

 Lonchitis, Asplenium viride, and Cystopteris fragilis. Ben 

 Lawers is very deficient in three genera of mosses — the Andreoea, 

 the Sphagiui, and the Campylopi. Some of the rarer plants 

 are becoming extinct, as llypmim Halleri, Stylostcgium cmspiti- 

 ciuin, and a few others. Carex ustulata once grew on Ben 

 Lawers, and was considered extinct in Scotland, but has been 

 confirmed for Perthshire this summer. Its Cryptogamic Flora 

 has a very close affinity to that of Scandinavia. We find grass 

 on Ben Lawers up to the very summit, with no heather. The 

 water of its rills and streams is clear as crystal and cold as ice, 

 everywhere perfectly safe to drink. In one of the two papers on 

 the " Mosses of Ben Lawers," given in the Transactions of the 

 Edinburgh Botanical Society, Dr Stirton says : — " There is no 

 other mountain in Scotland I have climbed that presents such 

 curious and perplexing anomalies in its cryptogamic vegetation. 

 Almost at every step in the more favoui'ed spots the botanist 

 meets forms which seem to mock his powers of discrimination, and 

 above all to warn him that nature is not to be cramped and con- 

 fined by any classification of man's devising." 



III. The Botany of the Sanquhar District. By Dr A. Davidson. 



Last year I addressed you on this, among other subjects, and 

 though it gives me much pleasure again to add a few, and I hope 



