SAXIFRAGA HIRCULUS, L., IN CAITHNESS 207 



the river Balder with the Black Beck. Discovered here by 

 J. Backhouse, iSio ; sp. in York Herbarium. 



58. Cheshire. Knutsford Moor, where it was associated 

 with Andromeda, Melanipyruvi prate?ise, Carex liinosa, curt a, 

 and stellulata ; ^ also with Siuni angustifoliu^n, Cicuta, Pota- 

 mogeton polygonifolius , Carex ampu/lacea, Lastrea spinulosa, 

 L. thelypteris, and Osuiunda regalis. 



The date of its first record here (and for Britain) is 1724, 

 Dill, in Ray, "Syn," 3rd. ed., p. 355; but the plant had 

 been gathered some time between then and 1696, as in an 

 old volume of coloured impressions of Cheshire plants ^ the 

 locality is given, and the names are those of the 2nd ed. 

 of the "Synopsis." Specimen sent from here by Mr. Okell 

 of Chester, and figured in " Eng. Botany," t. 1009,^ Aug. 

 1 80 1. Extinct in 1842. The species did not become extinct 

 here altogether through natural causes, as the following 

 extract will show : — 



"Still exists on Knutsford Moor, but is almost destroyed 

 by the rapacity of some individuals who have dug it up for 

 sale in the most remorseless manner. " — Dr. J. B. Wood, in 

 "Phytologist," i. (1842), p. 282. 



In Ireland in the middle and north-east {i.e. in six of Mr. 

 Praegers' divisions), but characterised as very rare. 



In Europe it is a species of Arctic Norway to 69" 29' 

 N. lat, Swedish, Finnish, and Russian Lapland, Iceland, 

 along the Siberian coast to Behring's Straits.'^ The American 

 Arctic coast to Labrador, south to Saskatchewan. E. and 

 W. Greenland, as var. alpina, Engler Mon. Warming, " Om 

 Groenlands Vegetation," 1886-7, does not give any height 

 for this, though citing many species up to 4000 feet. It will 

 bear intense cold, as on the island of Kolegew, where ' ' the 

 thermometer never rose above 9' R. in July and August 

 1841 " ;° there it is common. It also occurs on Spitzbergen 

 and Bear Island. 



I am not sure whether the first Scottish record was the 



^ Lord de Tabley, " FI. Cheshire" (1S99), p. 142. 

 2 Perry, "Phyt.,"i. (1843), p. 700. 



^ This plate is not quoted in the 3rd ed., iv. (1S65), t. 550. 

 ■* Kjellman, "Vega Expedition " (18S2), 263, 302. 



^ Erman, "Arch. Wiss. Kimde v. Russlandes" (1852), x. 313-16; quoted by 

 Fielden and Geldart, "Trans. Nor. and Norf. N. Soc."(iS96), p. 169. 



