1859.] FERNS OF BALTHAYOCKj ETC. 181 



bruary and March the thin rocky soil is covered with myriads of 

 Liliaceous plants of every hue and form, but towards May, when 

 the rains cease and the summer heats set in, they speedily 

 dwindle away, and by the middle of June hardly a single blade 

 of grass or herbaceous plant is to be seen (those under cultivation 

 excepted, which are supplied with water by the hand of man), 

 all being scorched up, and the country presents a very sterile and 

 uninviting appearance ; still, amid all this seeming destruction of 

 the vegetable tribes, a few plants thrive vigorously on the arid 

 rocky knolls and military fortifications of the island, I may 

 record Antirrhinum majus and Capparis herbacea, whose local 

 habitat seems confined to the walls and fortifications, and the 

 numerous Sedums, which prefer the rocky soil. Some members 

 of the AcanthacecB grow in Malta, but at that period (1836) I 

 was not so well acquainted with plants as now, so therefore un- 

 able to determine the species. An under-shrub belonging to the 

 Labiat(B is plentifully distributed over the more elevated por- 

 tions of the island ; its fragrance greatly resembles our common 

 garden Thyme. A botanic garden is situated at the south end 

 of Valetta, and contains many rare exotics, both herbaceous and 

 arborescent. 



Bridge Tlnd, Perth. 



FEENS OF BALTHAYOCK, etc. 



Rambles to the Ben of Balthayoclc, Woods of Scone and Craigie, 

 in search of Ferns. By John Sim. 



On Saturday, 4th September, 1858, I left Perth by rail pr 

 Glencarse (six miles east of Perth), and from thence tra- 

 velled to the Den of Balthayock, two miles northward from Glen- 

 carse station, I expected to find Scolopendi'ium vulgare and 

 Grammitis Ceterach (reported to grow there) ; in this I was 

 sadly disappointed. In this romantic and highly pictiiresque 

 den. Ferns abound, perhaps not the very rarest species, yet 

 some are far from common in this part of the country. The 

 glen runs longitudinally from north to south, and is densely 

 wooded on both sides — many of the trees no doubt planted by 

 Nature and not by man. In the bottom of the glen flows a 



