436 EEPOET— 1889. 



themselves, and of botanical exchange clabs, has been a potent factor in 

 the changes which have taken place. It is too often forgotten that the 

 very rarity of a plant is the sign, and in great degree also the measure, of 

 the acuteness of its struggle for existence, and that when a plant is in a 

 state of unstable equilibrium with its environment a small disturbance may- 

 have disproportionately great effects. 



It will be observed that the ' dealer ' and * collector ' figure largeh", 

 especially in connection with the disappearance of ferns. Thus one of 

 the correspondents indicates (and oflFers to name) a dealer who has extir- 

 pated, or well-nigh extirpated, a considerable number of species in the dis- 

 trict of Dumfries, and whose conduct he had brought under the notice of 

 the local Natural History Society, of which the correspondent is secre- 

 tary. ' He had also removed and sold almost all of the plants of NympJicea 

 alba from the lochs of this district before discovery ; but now I am happy 

 to say he is forbidden access to any estate in this district under penalty of 

 prosectition for trespass.' The attention of Natural History Societies 

 may well be drawn to this case, as it happily illustrates at the same time 

 one phase of the disease and a cure. 



' Summer visitors ' do not appear to be directly responsible for much 

 damage, as their wanderings are probably over too restricted an area to 

 produce much effect. Tliere is no doubt, however, that they provide the 

 larger portion of the customers of the ' collector,' and so are indirectly 

 answerable for his ravages. The temptation to bring home some rare 

 and beautiful fern, like AspicUum (PolysticJmm) Lonchitis, as a relic of s> 

 northern trip, is too great to be resisted, though something may possibly 

 be done by persuading tourists that equally good plants, taken up with 

 all proper care, and at a season when transplanting is not dangerous, can 

 be obtained from any great fern nursery, for a price which is practically 

 lower, often much lower, than that charged upon some Highland railway 

 platform or roadside. 



The Committee feel, however, that neither local dealers nor their 

 customers are as a rule amenable to any ordinary appeal or to sentimental 

 considerations, and would suggest therefore that the local Natural History 

 Societies or Field Clubs should keep careful guard over any rare plants to 

 be found within their respective spheres of action, and by appeal to the 

 owner, or in other preferable way, should endeavour to effect their preser- 

 vation. At the same time many coi-respondents draw attention to the in- 

 sertion by gardening periodicals of the advertisements of collecting dealers, 

 and express the hope that the amount of revenue derived from these 

 advertisements is not so great as to negative the possibility that the gar- 

 dening journals maybe induced, by discontinuing their insertion, to strike 

 a heavy blow at a process which is depriving many districts of our laud 

 of one of their chief natural beauties. 



39. Trollius europcBus, L. Extinct in Mid- Aberdeen, &c. ("VV. "W. and 

 J. M.). 



52. Nijmplicea alba, L. Ahnost extirpated from lochs in the district 

 round Dumfries by a dealer (J. W.). Has disappeared from the district 

 of Birnie, near Elgin, by drainage (G. and T. A.). 



68. Meconopsis cambrica, Vig. Relieved to be extirpated from bauka 

 of Water of Leith and Carrie, Midlothian (G. A. P.). 



59. Glaucium JJavum, Crantz. Recorded in 1776 for seashore at Bay 



I 



