I860.] BOTANICAL RAMBLES. 131 



from the damp situation, were very exuberant, upwards of forty 

 species being collected. The more interesting kinds were Neckera 

 crispa, N. comjjianata, Tortula tortuosa, Zygodon Mougeotii, 

 Aulacotmiion palustre, Mnium pundatum, M. undulatum (the 

 latter occurred very large, but in a barren state) , Fissidens adi- 

 antoides, Ajiomodon viticidosus, Isothecium alopecurum, Hypnum 

 plamoswn, H. ruscifolium, etc. 



On reaching the lower extremity of the ravine, we crossed the 

 railway, and retraced our steps in a somewhat different path to 

 Beattock Inn. Here our party divided, some going direct to 

 Moffat village, others across the dale to the Beld Craig, while 

 the greater number accompanied Mr. Little to the manse, to see 

 his admirable collection of growing native Ferns. We all met 

 again, however, at the Beld Craig Linn about two o'clock in the 

 afternoon, where we partook of luncheon, seated by the margin 

 of the gurgling waters. It is a moist secluded dell, a wild 

 ravine nestling in the bosom of a hill, containing a lofty exposed 

 cliff (hence its name), over which a sparkling brook precipitates 

 itself down a narrow channel, worn deep in the Silurian rock 

 by the action of the waters, and through which the descending 

 torrent brawls and tears with resistless impetuosity in wild and 

 gloomy grandeur, till reaching the bed of the burn, where, 



" Having sunn'd itself 

 Amid its beauty — as a tear might sleep 

 In joy awhile upon a maiden's cheek," 



it wanders on its way, down the rocky furrow, among flowery 

 banks, soothing itself with its own gentle music. 



This little wooded glen is a rich garden to the botanist. It 

 was here that many of us met, for the first time in our lives, the 

 rare Pyrola secunda and the beautiful Asplenium viride, which 

 had forsaken their highland homes to dwell beside this romantic 

 lowland waterfall. In the more immediate vicinity of the cas- 

 cade SieUaria nemormn grew in considerable abundance ; while 

 on the banks, and in the surrounding thickets, we met with such 

 plants as Lychnis diurna, L. Flos-cucidi, Stellaria graminea, 

 Geranium sylvaticum, Geum rivale, Epilobium montanwn, Va- 

 leriana officinalis, Pyrola minor, MelanqDyrum pratense, Mentha 

 sativa, Stachys sylvatica, S. Betonica, Lysimachia nemorum, L. 

 Nummularia, Habenaria chlorantha, Carex binervis, C. sylvatica, 



