182 FERNS OF BALTHAYOCKj ETC. \June, 



small stream of the purest crystal^ often shaded from view by 

 an umbrageous canopy of trees. This den in many places is a 

 mere ravine — precipitous cliffs on either side above a hundred feet 

 in height. Entering this den at its southern end^ and after tra- 

 versing the margin of this tiny brook^ the traveller is, after 

 rounding a rugged cliff, suddenly ushered into the presence of a 

 gentle cascade, gently rushing beneath the covert of the shady 

 trees. Looking to the right, on the verdant and rocky slopes, 

 grow abundance of Polystichum aculeatum, frond two feet long ; 

 also Cystopteris fragilis, with its fragile fronds, and Asplenium 

 Trichomanes, with pinnated leaves nine inches in length. Asple- 

 nium Adiantum-nigrum was frequent in several other parts of the 

 den, among loose stones. The season being too far advanced for 

 collecting the flowering plants, I failed to detect Paris quadri- 

 folia and Lychnis Viscaria, said to grow in this den. Perhaps, 

 if health and strength permit, I may pay it another visit earlier 

 in the season, when I expect to reap a richer harvest of Flora's 

 choice treasures. On ray way home, near the den's southern 

 end, I observed many plants of Cynoglossuni officinale and Ana- 

 gallis arvenis, neither of which is of frequent occurrence in this 

 part of the country, however common they may be elsev/here. 

 Asplenium Rura-muraria is abundant on stone walls on either 

 side of the road, a little to the northward of the small village of 

 Glen Carse. On the margin of the stream which issues from 

 the den, and about a mile from its southern end, Petasites vul- 

 garis grows luxuriantly in great abundance. Near the same lo- 

 cality, in a grassy ditch by the wayside, I saw several plants of 

 Mentha viridis, a rare plant in Scotland. I collected near the 

 same place a fine specimen of Sparganium ramosum, of rare oc- 

 currence in the neighbourhood of Perth, although abundant in 

 several parts of Aberdeenshire, particularly on the banks of the 

 Ythan, where the peasantry cut it down for litter to their cattle. 

 Should any reader of the ' Phytologist ' ever arrive in the ' fair 

 city ' during the flowery months of summer, if time will permit, 

 I would strongly advise him to pay a visit to the Den of Bal- 

 thayock, it will well repay him for his trouble. 



jNiy next trip was to the Wood of Scone on the following Mon- 

 day, being the 6th, The part I visited is where the Moneses is 

 found, and is tlu'ee miles north-east from the town of Perth. I 

 soon gathered a fine specimen of Blechnum Spicant, var. ramosum, 



