B instead : Holiday amongst Northern Mosses. 1 1 5 



tenuis Schp. , and ai^ain had the pleasure of g-athering- a fair 

 quantity of it. Like some of its near relations, it has a way 

 of ripening- its capsules unevenly, and line tufts had to be left 

 undisturbed owing- to the fruit being immature. Other tufts 

 had capsules fully ripe and discharging yellow-green spores 

 in remarkable profusion. In 1885 I found it in open, swampy 

 ground, but on my recent visit all I could see of it was growing 

 in seclusion amongst heather. 



On 12th July [ went from KiUin to Fortingall, at the entrance 

 to the beautiful Glen Lyon, which is some 26 miles in length 

 and extends nearly to Ben Douran and the West Highland 

 Railway. The botanist contemplating a visit to this Glen would 

 do well to provide himself with a cycle : the road up the Glen 

 looks good, and near its head are some mountains but little 

 known on account of their distance from everywhere. The 

 principal attraction oi the lower part of the Glen, from the 

 point of view of the bryologist, and undoubtedly of the tourist 

 also, lies in the wild river-gorge, with its profusion of great 

 rocks. On these, as might be expected, occur some interesting- 

 mosses, foremost amongst which are Bryum Mildeanum Jur., 

 which is fine there. Other interesting species are Grimmia 

 robusta Ferg. , Gr. comnintata Hiib. , and Gr. ovata var. 

 cylindrica Hiib. 



I refrain from expressing an opinion with regard to the 

 specific value of Gritnmia robusta Ferg-., which to the student 

 of GrimmicB is at any rate a very interesting moss. The 

 Glen Lyon specimens, though good, are not so fine as some 

 I g-athered on rocks by a small lake in the mountains near 

 GlengarifT, in Ireland. For the benefit of bryologists wishing- 

 to become acquainted with it, it may be worth while to observe 

 that it seems to evince a preference for large rocks near water 

 it being- in this respect like Gr. subsquarrosa, which, though 

 found in other habitats, is never so fine as when growing- very 

 near water — for instance, upon boulders on the shore of Loch 

 Tay. Gr. cotnnititata Hiib. is generally a rare species in Britain, 

 at any rate in our hills, where, if any where, one would naturally 

 expect to find it. It grows plentifully on old stone-tiled roofs 

 of buildings to the west of Hereford, and in Radnorshire I have 

 found it growing on basalt and fertile. In Scotland and the 

 English Lake District, however, it seems rare. Specimens from 

 Glen Lyon are very slender and elongated. Gr. ovata var. 

 cylindrica is another rare moss, and, like that just mentioned, 

 was found in a slender and elongated state on rocks by the 

 Lyon. Indeed, so much alike are the two forms that it is 

 difficult to distinguish them with the naked eye. 



x^a% April I. 



