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TRANSACTIONS. 197 
plants ought now to be erased from the Flora of Dumfriesshire. 
However, after finding Saxifraga nivalis in the Moffat district it is 
to be hoped that Mr Johnstone’s diligence may yet be rewarded 
by a re-confirmation of several of the above plants. 
Mr Charles Scott, late of Terregles Gardens, and now at 
Netherby Gardens, Longtown, has sent me lists of mosses and 
Hepatic gathered at Penton Linns, on the borders of Dumfries- 
shire; as also a list of some flowering plants, but with the 
exception of Neottia nidus-avis, and Epipactis latifolia, they are 
all common. 
The only plants I have to record as new from Kirkeudbright- 
shire are (1) Hieracium sparsifolium, gathered by Mr Coles at 
Halfmark, Carsphairn, in July, 1884 ; and (2) Hieracium holoseri- 
ceum, gathered by myself several years ago on Milldown, Kells 
Range. Mr Coles also records this year a new station for Osmunda 
regalis near Gatehouse. 
Il. Notes on the Diamond Mines and Gold Fields of South Africa. 
By Mr Georce F. Scorr Extiot, M.A. 
The Central Mine at Kimberley is one of the most astonishing 
monuments of human industry in the world. It is an enormous 
excavation, large enough to contain the whole of Trafalgar Square 
and deeper than the Nelson Column. Moreover, this gigantic pit 
is not by any means the whole of the mine. The workings are 
now carried on wholly underground and extend to a depth of 800 
feet. They consist of narrow tunnels, up and down which 
Kaffirs, in very simple clothing, are perpetually shoving trucks. 
The diamondiferous blue earth is first exposed to the rain and 
sun for some months. This exposure disintegrates it, and being 
subsequently washed, the diamonds are easily picked out. 
The De Beer’s Mine is almost as large as the Central. It 
lies to the south-east of the Central, and is an irregular ellipse 
some 1020 feet long py 480 feet broad. 
Du Toit’s Pan Mine lies to the south-west of De Beer’s and 
is also elliptical in shape, with a strong projection inwards at one 
point. Its long axis lies E.N.E. and W.S.W., and it is about 2000 
feet long and 1000 feet across. 
Bultfontein is much smaller and circular in shape and lies a 
little to the south-west of Du Toit’s Pan. Diamonds are also 
found in small quantities at other points near Kimberley, viz. : 
Olto’s & Taylor’s Kopje, Yager’s fontein, &c. Diamonds are also 
