552 



the branched stems, bearing from two to four heads of flowers, on 

 longish stalks. All the lateral heads were plainly of secondary 

 growth, and inferior in size to the terminal one. 



Ranunculus Lenormandi, if so it must be called, is plentiful on our 

 peat mosses. Besides the differences already mentioned, the leaves are 

 much rounder and less ivy-like than those of E,. hederaceus. Talking 

 of these plants, I may perhaps be allowed to observe, that I used to 

 experience great difficulty in drying them, from the curling of the 

 leaves, and the twisting and entangling of the stalks during the pro- 

 cess of removal. All this I now avoid by the following simple me- 

 thod : having carefully washed the plant in clear water, 1 lay it down, 

 while dripping wet, upon a sheet of drying paper, to which, in that 

 state, it will stick like a plaster, and so put it into the press. On the 

 following day, without attempting to detach the half-dried plant from 

 the sheet on which it lies, I take the sheet and plant both together, 

 place them between thick folds of dry paper, and return them to the 

 press. This process I repeat every day, until the specimen is tho- 

 roughly dried, when it may be finally removed, as perfect in form and 

 colour as on the day it was gathered. The same method may be em- 

 ployed with all those plants, such as Callitriche, the Potamogetons, 

 &c., whose weak and flaccid habit makes them difficult to deal with 

 by the ordinary process. 



E. S. Wilson. 



Buglawton, Congleton, 

 May 13, 1846. 



Linn<Ea horealis, 8fc., on Ben Beck, Braemar. 

 By William Gardiner, Esq. 



On the 28th of July last I found this sweetest gem of our native 

 Flora in considerable abundance on Ben Beck, a hill bounding the 

 valley of Castleton, on the south-east. The station is not ten minutes 

 walk from the village, the plants spreading over little hillocks, among 

 birch trees, about half-way up the hill, and were at the above date 

 partly out of flower. I am not aware that this locality has been no- 

 ticed before. Pyrola media, minor and secunda also occur upon this 

 hill, and among the more interesting cryptogamic plants observed 

 were Tetraphis pellucida, Hookeria lucens, Hypnum cordifolium, &. 

 purpureiwi, Splachnum mnioides, Dicranum scoparium, B. fuscescens, 

 Jungermannia minuta, concinnata, Taylori, ciliaris, multifida and bi- 

 cuspidata, Gyrophora erosa, pellita, cylindrica, polyphylla and pro- 



