12 Transactions. 
the rebellion of 1745. Mr J. M‘Andrew presented four speci- 
mens of parmelia, and a specimen of the dwarf birch (Betula 
nana). Mr J. M‘Lellan Arnott presented one of the hand-bills 
which had been issued in 1820 offering a reward for the capture, 
and a description, of the notorious criminal, David Haggart. 
Exhibits—The Chairman exhibited two bottles of volcanic 
dust collected on board ship, about 500 miles from the coast of 
New Zealand, which had evidently been erupted during the 
recent great volcanic disturbances in that island. Dr Grierson 
also exhibited a specimen of the “Galloway Flail,” and with it 
for comparison an ordinary flail. The Galloway flail had been 
formerly used by the peasantry of the South of Scotland as a 
weapon of war in “the killing times.” The handle of the one 
exhibited was made of ash and measured five feet, to which was 
attached the “souple,” or the iron portion of the flail, consisting 
of three joints, each a foot in length. Dr Grierson remarked 
that he could obtain very little information about this weapon 
further than it was mentioned by the Rev. Mr Grierson of 
Sanquhar, in his ‘Gleanings among the Mountains,” as having 
been used by the Covenanters, and that Sir Walter Scott, in 
“The Talisman,” described a military flail similar to this one. 
CoMMUNICATIONS. 
I. A Plant of Sphagnum. By Mr J. M‘Anprew. 
In this paper the author described the structure and life 
history of a plant of sphagnum, and remarked that no observant 
person could walk through or alongside any bog or moss, such as 
the Lochar Moss, without noting the variegated and beautiful tints 
of the sphagnum, or peat mosses, filling the pools, and concealing 
often the treacherous depths. The order Sphagnacee contains 
only one genus, sphagnum, with about 60 species, one-third of 
which are tropical, and only 15 or 16 are British. Of the latter 
the author has collected in the district of the Glenkens all the 
species except S. Lindbergii, and all the varieties except S. Acuwti- 
Jolium, var. gracile; S. strictum, var. squarrosulum ; S. squar- 
rosum, vars. lawwm and imbricatum; S. intermediwm, var. 
pulchrum,; S. laricinum, var. platyphyllum,; and S. tenellum, 
var. longifoluum. In conclusion Mr M‘Andrew remarked that 
the nature of the soil does not seem to have any effect on 
the number of species and varieties. A dry or a wet season, 
