1858.] BOTANY OF LOCH KINORD. 429 



way up that song-renowned mountain. In the boggy and heathy 

 ground that lies in its vicinity grow Potentilla Comarum (Nestl.), 

 Menyanthes trifoliata, Myrica Gale, and Briza media, with many 

 other plants^ which from their frequency with us we are apt to 

 overlook, though the botanist from the South might not pass them 

 by without more particular notice. 



As to the loch itself, we may remark that it appears to be the 

 last trace of a sheet of water which some time in the Tertiary 

 period covered the whole of the large, prosperous, and highly 

 cultivated district of Cromar (including five or si-x parishes in 

 itself), which, surrounded on all sides, save to the south, by hills, 

 lies at right angles to the narrow valley of the Dee, which itself 

 runs from east to west. Its southern boundary is the Muir of 

 Dinnat, a very bleak and lonely heath (we trow as bad as that 

 "near Forres^'), through which the old turnpike used to "drag 

 its slow length along," and remarkable for nothing save its 

 dreariness and the great number of tumuli that bestud its sur- 

 face, marking the last resting-place of many a brave Scot, and 

 (so Buchanan hath it) of many more of the warlike Danes that 

 descended on our land in the days gone by. In the shallower 

 parts of the water, a little patience will enable the collector to 

 secure plenty of Utricularia vulgai'is, U. intermedia, and U. minor. 

 There is a small and a smaller (so to speak) island, the latter 

 being thickly beset with Cqluma^grgstis Epigejos, while the other 

 presents nothing of importance, botanically speaking, though in- 

 teresting in another way, as exhibiting indubitable traces of old 

 buildings which tradition elevates (and we believe it) into the 

 rank of a castle, which was often selected as the summer resi- 

 dence of our good old Scottish kings in the brave days of old. 

 But however this may be, they have passed from thence, and the 

 wild and warlike songs of their bards have given place to the 

 more peaceful sighing of the breeze through almost interminable 

 ranks of reeds — Ar'undo Phragmites. Floating on the surface of 

 the water, stranded on the shores, or, still better, in situ, at the 

 western end of the loch, we may find plenty good specimens of 

 Callitriche autumnalis. Lobelia Dortmanna is really a beautiful 

 plant if seen under favourable circumstances, as here, and we 

 would not accept in exchange the sunniest and most brilliant of 

 flower-plots for its nodding colonies of meek-eyed flowers, bend- 

 ing in perfect harmony with every ripple of the sparkling wave. 



