Mr. J.T. Syme on some Plants observed in Orkney. 267 
flower), growing among the nettles at the sides of the lanes. 
About two miles from Kirkwall there is a pond and marsh at 
the side of the road, where Menyanthes trifohata was growing 
along with Equisetum limosum and Carea ampullacea ; and in the 
moors along the sides of the roads, I saw Luzula multiflora, Ly- 
copodium Selago, Salix repens and Primula acaulis, but nothing 
of any interest until I reached Swanbister, where Scilla verna 
was in great profusion, and Gymnadenia albida just coming into 
flower. 
A few days after I found at Smoogro a curious variety of 
Plantago lanceolata, with very woolly leaves, lying flat on the 
ground and much broader than usual. Near this place Séen- 
hammaria maritima used to occur, but there was no appearance 
of it. I suppose it must have been covered up with shingle by 
the sea, during the winter. 
On the 12th of June I went to Howton Head, about three 
miles west of Swanbister, to see the station for Primula scotica, 
which was easily found, but appeared to have flowered very 
sparingly, as I only saw two plants in seed. Here I also found 
Lycopodium selaginoides and Thalictrum alpinum, about 200 feet 
above the sea; a curious fact, as where alpine plants are found at 
so low a level, it is usually where there is high ground behind, 
from which they have been brought down by burns, &c.; but 
here there are no hills of any considerable height near, and, in- 
deed, I never found this nor any alpine plant elsewhere on the 
mainland. 
On the 25th of June I had an excursion, in company with Mr. 
Robert Heddel, to Kirbister Loch, about two miles north-west of 
Swanbister. Here we found Potamogeton filiformis, 4 or 5 feet 
long, and with the peduncles 18 inches long (a form which I 
afterwards observed in the lower Loch of Stennis growing in the 
brackish water along with dwarfed and discoloured plants of 
Fucus vesiculosus). 
In old marl-pits in the loch we found Zannichellia palustris and 
Potamogeton heterophyllus and P. perfoliatus. After completing 
the survey of the loch we went to Neversdale, where Dr. Duguid 
used to find Ajuga pyramidalis abundantly, but which had dis- 
appeared for the last four years; and after a very careful search, 
Mr. R. Heddel found a single plant of it, of which of course the 
root was carefully left. Here we also saw Eleocharis uniglumis, 
Melampyrum pratense B. montanum, and Botrychium Lunaria. 
But by far the most interesting excursion | made was to the 
Wast hill of Hoy, on the 28th of June, which I owed to the 
kindness of Mr. Heddel, who took me across in his yacht and 
pointed out the habitats of most of the very interesting alpine 
plants which are to be found there. Unfortunately our time 
