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sea dashes over it. Judging from the soil and climate in which it 

 grows, there is every reason to believe that it might be most advanta- 

 geously sown on the western islands of Scotland. Seeds have been 

 sent home to this country, but only a few of them have germinated. 

 Those sent to the Glasgow garden have not sprouted. Besides the 

 tussac, Festuca i\.lopecurus of D'Urville, or Arundo Alopecurus of 

 Gaudichaud also deserves to be noticed as an important Falkland 

 Island grass found in peat-bogs. 



The climate of Islay is well adapted for oats, and much of the peaty 

 soil might be rendered highly productive. Wheat also thrives in 

 some places, but this crop probably requires a warmer summer than 

 occurs in the island in general. 



On the sandy shores at Laggan we found Convolvulus Soldanella, 

 and in the fields Lamium intermedium and Fumaria capreolata ; while 

 the banks of the river furnished luxuriant specimens of Hieracium 

 umbellatum, sylvaticum and boreale. The last mentioned species 

 has been usually regarded as a form of H. sabaudum, and is figured 

 as such in English Botany. It is distinguished by its upper leaves 

 being sessile with a round base, not with a cordate clasping base as 

 in sabaudum : the involucral scales are appressed in three regular 

 vows, and uniform in colour. 



In the woods near Ealabus and Islay House, which we examined 

 at different times, we found a number of plants which deserve at- 

 tention, such as Aquilegia vulgaris, Hesperis matronalis, Valeriana 

 pyrenaica. Campanula latifolia, Epilobium angustifolium. Polygonum 

 Bistorta, Prunus Padus, Lysimachia nemorum, Ruscus aculeatus, Ca- 

 rex remota and Scolopendrium vulgare. Some of these species, how- 

 ever, have undoubtedly escaped from the garden. Betula alba and 

 glutinosa were also seen. The latter is looked upon by most botanists 

 as a mere variety of the former, but Mr. Babington thinks that he has 

 found a marked character in the stipules, which in B. glutinosa are 

 rolled back, while in B. alba they are circinate. The form of the fruit, 

 he also thinks, is diflFerent in the two cases. In a pond near Ealabus 

 grow Lycopus europaeus, Potamogeton natans and Nymphaea alba. 

 On making a transverse section of the petiole of the Nymphaea, it was 

 observed that the large tubes had hairs in their interior, which gene- 

 rally came off in threes. Again, in making a similar section of the 

 peduncle, or flower stalk, we noticed generally four or five large tubes 

 in the centre and smaller ones around, but in none of them could any 

 hairs be detected. These tubes in the stalks of the flower and leaf 

 appear to contain air for the purjiose of floating the various parts of 



