TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 79 



the opposite pole, the strife generally appearing light-coloured when contrasted 

 ■with the darker intervening spaces. On the nature of these strife no further light 

 could be thrown ; but the atithor had little doubt that they are what Ilensen has 

 incoiTectly interpreted as " auditory hairs " in a medusa which he refers to the 

 geniis Ohelia, but which probably belongs to the present type. It will be seen, 

 too, that the structiu'e of the lithocyst in CcDiqninuhria differs in many respects 

 from that of the same body in the Geryonidce as described by IIa3ckel, though the 

 meridional strife with which the surface of the central pulp is marked in Cam- 

 pamdnria may suggest a comparison with the two supposed " senae-nerves " which 

 HfBckel has observed rimning in two opposite meridians on the inner side of the 

 wall of the capsule in Carmarina and Glossocodon. 



Notice of some rare Plants recentli/ collected in Scotland. 

 By Professor Baltoue, M.'D., M.A., F.M.S. 



In this communication Professor Balfour alluded to the localities for rare plants 

 in Scotland, and referred to the statements made as to the supposed disappearance 

 of plants from the zeal of botanical collectors. He stated that a prize had been 

 offered by the Maharajah of Jeypore to the Botanical Class of the University of 

 Edinburgh for the best collection of Scotch plants, and that the announcement of 

 this had called forth a severe remonstrance fi-om a London correspondent, who 

 warns the University against allowing such a prize to be given on account of the 

 risk of extirpating rare plants. Professor Balfour showed that such fears were 

 groundless, and that the localities of rare plants had suffered, not so much from 

 botanists as from nurserymen and others who collected for the purpose of sale, as 

 well as from the improved cultivation of the country, drainage, and other agricul- 

 tural improvements. One rare plant, Phyllodoce ccendea, had been nearly destroyed 

 by the rapacity of a Scotch nurserj'man ; but Professor Balfour was happy to say 

 the plant still existed on the Sow of Athole, and he showed a specimen which had 

 been collected in August last. Drainage was affecting seriously the localities in 

 which Corallorrhiza innata was known to grow, but several new stations had been 

 found in Scotland. Pinf/iucula alpina was becoming very scarce, owing to the 

 drainage of the Black Isle. The greatest injury had been caused in the case of 

 fems, which were now cultivated for sale to a very large extent; and Professor 

 Balfour Imew of instances where English collectors had robbed stations for 

 Woodsia hyperhorea and ilvenm, Cystopteris montana, Asplenimn septentrionale, 

 A. germanicum, and others. In these cases money-maldng was the object. He 

 was glad to saj^, however, that new localities were constantly being discovered, 

 and that botanists were now becoming cautious in their communication to ruthless 

 vendors of plants. New localities had been found for Goodyera repens near Edin- 

 burgh and near Melrose. Corallorrhiza innata had been found in several places in 

 Fife and Perthshire. 



Professor Balfour then noticed an addition to the flora of Scotland in the case of 

 Apera interrvpta, which occuixed in large quantity on Dirleton Common, about 

 twenty miles east from Edinburgh. He then gave an account of a trip to Dal- 

 whinnie in August last, duiiug which he and his party had visited the Sow of 

 Athole, the Boar of Badenoch, Loch Ericht and Loch "Laggan, Ben Aulder, and 

 Corryarder. He described the occurrence of snow in large quantity on the hills, 

 and mentioned that he observed Polypodium alpestre and P.Jlexilc in abundance. 

 He had gathered in Glen Tilt Bicramnn Grevillianmn and several other rare mosses 

 which had been recently discovered by Miss Mclnroy of Lude. He had visited the 

 station of Polypodium calcareum, near Aberfeldy, and observed the fern growing 

 plentifully in an old limestone-quarry. He noticed also the occurrence oi Aster 

 .yaliffnus in considerable qu",ntity in several stations on the banks of the Tay, par- 

 ticularly near Dalguise and Sgggieden. In the latter place it had been seen for many 

 years hj Colonel Drummond-Hay. 



On the Claims of Arhoricidture as a Science, By William Beowx. 

 The author said that those points in the scientific culture of trees the elucidation 

 of which is so much wanted to guide and assist the practical forester^ or those 



