MAY 139 



holly oak essays an ineffective imitation of the splen- 

 didly successful armature of the holly, in order to 

 protect its lower and younger growth. But it is not 

 easy to see what purpose is served in the assumption 

 by the sycamore a true maple of the outward 

 characteristics of the plane. Maples and planes belong 

 to families widely separated in the natural order ; their 

 affinities are totally distinct. The fruit of the maple 

 takes the form of keys or winged nuts, that of the 

 plane being a globular and pendulous catkin. In this 

 respect there is not the slightest resemblance between 

 them, and it is not confined to the foliage. 



I am making these random observations on the 

 banks of the Tay, near Dunkeld. Fishing is rendered 

 more futile than usual by a sudden and rapid rise in 

 the water; the salmon, of which there is good store, 

 seem to have gone temporarily off what little heads 

 they have; they are cutting the most ungainly and 

 superfluous capers ; and it is about as profitable to offer 

 them a fly as to hand a dish of ceufs brouilles aux 

 truffes to a parcel of Highlanders engaged in dancing 

 a reel. So I have turned my attention to a large 

 sycamore, which exhibits more plainly than most of its 

 kind that habit of casting its bark in scales which it 

 has borrowed from the Oriental plane. This does not 

 extend to the younger branches, as in the true plane, 

 but the bark of the trunk and main limbs is scaling 

 off freely in the plane's best manner. I can offer no 

 solution. Both trees are natives of Southern Europe, 

 and exotic in this country, although the sycamore has 



