Transactions. 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. 
Tt may be asked—Why is Ben Lawers so famous for Alpine 
plants? 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. Tts rills have Sazifraga aizoides, Oxyria 
reniformis, &c. ; its grassy slopes are carpeted with Alchemilla 
alpina ; its damp places have Tofieldia palustris, Juncus big- 
lumis, and triglwmis ; it is the only British station for the beau- 
tiful Myosotis alpestris ; it has Saxifraga hypnoides, Cherleria 
sedoides, Sibbaldia procumbens, Salix reticulata, Cerastium alpi- 
num, &e.; while near the summit may be found Sawxifraga cernua 
and rivularis ; and in sheltered crevices everywhere Aspidiwm 
Lonchitis, Asplenium viride, and Cystopteris fragilis. Ben 
Lawers is very deficient in three genera of mosses—the Andreea, 
the Sphagna, and the Campylopi. Some of the rarer plants 
are becoming extinct, as Hypnum Halleri, Stylostegium cespiti- 
ciwm, 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 favoured 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. Daymsoy. 
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 
