Dec. 1892.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 553 



The other division of the party, consisting of ^Messrs. 

 Boyd, Paul, and Gunn, set out on a visit to Ben Lawers. 

 Driving up to ,the Lawers Inn, they followed thence the 

 old peat road to Lochan a' Chait. Leaving Mr. Boyd there 

 to botanize on the rocks by which it is bounded, the others 

 made their way to the summit, returning by the same 

 route to pick up their companion. Many of the well- 

 known plants characteristic of the hill were found, such as 

 Potcntilla salishurgensis, Hoenke ; Saxifraga nivalis, L. ; 

 S. cernua, L. ; Erigeron alpinum, L, ; Myosotis alpestris, 

 Schmidt; Carcx pjulla. Good.; Lycopodium cdpinum, var. 

 dccipiens (found by Mr. Boyd growing rather plentifully 

 about 200 feet above Lochan a' Chait). Quantities of 

 Potamogdon prolongus, Wulf., were found on the margin of 

 the lake, cast up by the waves. But a more interesting 

 plant than any of these — -Carex ustulcda, Wahl. — was found 

 by ]\Ir. Paul on one of the slopes of the hill that descend 

 towards the loch. It was said to have been found in 

 Scotland for the first time by Mr. George Don in 1810, on 

 Ben Lawers, but its occurrence as a British plant had 

 become generally di.scredited until it was rediscovered, as 

 members of the Society know, in July 1885, by Mr. 

 Brebner of Dundee, in the corrie of Ben Heasgarnich. It 

 was again found in the same spot in considerable abundance 

 in the following year, and was afterwards found in the 

 neighbourhood by Mr. A. H. Evans. But the discovery of 

 it this year gives more exact confirmation of Mr. Don's 

 accuracy and trustworthiness, as showing that it still 

 grows on the same hill on which he declared he found 

 it. The best specimen gathered was sent to the Botanic 

 Garden, and there seen by Prof. BIytt, of Christiania, 

 who pronounced it to be, " without doubt," Carcx ustulcda. 



Saturday, 23rd July. — The party left Killin this morn- 

 ing, at 7.15 A.M., and travelled via Stirling to Edinburgh, 

 where the party separated for their respective homes, all 

 greatly delighted with the excursion and sorry that it had 

 come to an end. 



On Lightning-StPvUck Trees at Methyen Castle. By 

 Prof. Bayley Balfoue. 



