84 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE  [Skss. rxrx. 
the west of Glenshee, leading to Pitlochry. The Spittal of 
Glenshee lies at an elevation of 1000 feet above sea-level ; 
therefore the air is bracing and healthful—an ideal holiday 
resort, “far from the madding crowd.” It is quite among 
the mountains; yet the botanist, who does not care for 
climbing, will find plenty to interest him among the sub- 
alpine plants by the roadsides, by the margins of the streams, 
or among the marshes of the three glens which converge at 
the Spittal. The botanist who aspires may attain to the 
3000 feet line without difficulty; or he who essays rock- 
climbing will find stiff bits in plenty in the Glens of 
Caenlochan or Corrie Ceanmor, and sufficient use for an 
alpenstock to warrant one being carried. 
Generally speaking, the locality is dry. I suppose, because 
the rain clouds from the Atlantic have discharged themselves 
of a large portion of their moisture on the higher mountains 
of Argyllshire and west Perthshire before reaching this 
district. The nearer rocks are the metamorphic rocks of the 
Highlands, composed chiefly of graphitic mica-schist and 
black slate, and are quite dry; consequently on them the 
cryptogamic flora is meagre and deficient in species, and the 
phanerogamic restricted and stunted. Some marshy ground 
on Ben Gulabin, two deep ravines at the head of Glen Beag, 
branching off to east and west, are the only places worth 
visiting for mosses and hepatics. One has to get into 
Caenlochan in Forfarshire, or into Corrie Ceanmor in south 
Aberdeen, to botanise really good wet rocks, The marshes at 
the head of Caenlochan are very good for carices and 
hepaties. The rocks have flowering plants in abundance. 
There are comparatively few trees in the glens above the 
Spittal. Fir, birch, oak, and hazel are the chief, and they 
are much scattered. Above 1200 feet there are no trees at 
all, except in the gorges. In Caenlochan, at 1600 feet, there 
is a dense fir wood. The trunks are quite bare of mosses and 
hepatics, even foliaceous lichens are conspicuous by their 
absence — another indication of the comparatively dry 
climate. But you must not think it rains but seldom. I 
have lived there for a week, and it rained every day. Sleet 
and hail are not uncommon events in the middle of July. 
Then it is bitterly cold, and botanising is not a pleasure. 
My experience of Glenshee as a botanical centre was 
