1911-12.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 91 



13th August 1844 it was bombarded by the French under 

 the Prince de Joinville. After the bombardment the 

 neighbouring tribes sacked the city, massacring the in- 

 habitants. A short time after, when the war with the 

 French was ended, a messenger was sent by the Sultan 

 to tell the inhabitants of the conclusion of peace. When 

 he arrived there was not a soul left in Mogodor to whom 

 he could deliver the message. In 1873 the tribesmen 

 besieged the city closely, cut off the water supply, and 

 destroyed the gardens. These proceedings had a most 

 serious effect upon the besiegers, who could not storm the 

 walls as they had no cannon, could not continue the siege 

 without food, and so they had to retire. 



It is to Mogodor that almost all the Argan oil comes 

 that is sold, but I understand that at present there is such 

 a good home demand that very little leaves the country. 



The Scottish Alpine Botanical Club Excursion, 1911. 

 By Alexander Cowan. 



Owing to the visit to Edinburgh of His Majesty the 

 King and the postponement of the Highland Show to the 

 last week of July, it was decided to meet this year at 

 Barnstaple, in Devonshire, in the first week of August, as 

 several members of the Club had made arrangements to 

 attend the annual meeting of the British Pteridological 

 Society held there at the same date. 



Although several members had expressed their intention 

 of joining the excursion, most of them were prevented at 

 the last moment from going, and the party which left 

 Edinburgh on Tuesday, 1st August, consisted of only the 

 President, the Chaplain, and the Secretary. As a night had 

 to be spent somewhere on the way to Barnstaple, it was 

 decided to stay at Bristol in order that a visit might be 

 paid the following morning to the Clifton Zoological 

 Gardens, where the members were most kindly shown 

 round by Mr. Harris, the curator. Here a large quantity 

 of very tine specimen trees are to be seen, as well as a 

 collection of over a hundred varieties of Holly, and the 

 late Colonel Jones' extensive collection of British Ferns, 

 in which the varieties of Polystichum angulare and 



