440 EEPORT — 1889. 



fern-collectors. It lias disappeared altogether from one of the stations 

 in which it was first found in Britain (F. B. W.). 



1,788. Polystichum LoncMtis, Roth. Almost extinct on Mealfour- 

 Touny Mountain, Inverness-shire, throngh the action of fern-collectors, and 

 especially of the one referred to under 1,772 and 1,782 (Gr.). Has been 

 cleared from the Raven's Rock, near Strathpeffer, Dingwall, Ross-shire, 

 by summer visitors (T. A.). Was plentiful near Castleton, Braemar, 

 foi'merly, but the guides learned that they could sell it at a shilling a 

 plant, and it is now difficult to get (T. A.). 



1,803. Phegopteris {Polypudiuvi) Pohertiana, A. Br. ; Polypodiwn 

 calcareuvi, Sm. Once abundant in the debris of an old limestone quarry 

 near Aberfeldy, but now nearly eradicated. Fern-hunting visitors and 

 tourists are largely to blame for this, but the destruction has been com- 

 pleted by persons who collect ferns for sale. That the species is not 

 altogether lost in the district is, however, shown by the fact that a 

 few weeks ago a local fern-hunter was ofiering plants for sale, and at 

 the same time plants of 1,787 Gystopteris montana (F. B. W., July, 

 1887). 



1,806. Osmunda regalis, L. Has disappeared from Ballingear Glen, 

 New Galloway, and from other places, as Col vend, through the ravages 

 of fern- hunters (J. M. A.). Extirpated from several localities in the 

 vicinity of Dumfries (J. W.). Has entirely disappeared from Loch of 

 Park, and nearly from the cliffs south of Aberdeen, in both of which 

 loca,lities it was formerly plentiful. Fern-collectors are mainly responsible 

 (J. W. H. T.). 



1,809. Botrijchium Lunm-ia, Sw. Formerly very local in the Pent- 

 lands ; now extirpated (G. A. P.). 



1,818. Equisetum hyemale, L. Extinct in Mid-Aberdeen (J. M.). 



The Incidence and Effects of Import and Export Duties. 

 By C. F. Bastable. 



[A communication ordered to be printed in extcnso among the Keports.] 



The most difficult part of the principles of State finance is undoubtedly 

 that which considers the incidence and effects of the various kinds of 

 taxation, and of the subdivisions of this difficult topic the most compli- 

 cated and obscure is to be found where it, as it were, intersects the field of 

 international trade, i.e., in the examination of the real effects of export and 

 import duties. 



It is true that for a full elucidation of the problem, or series of pro- 

 blems, different methods will have to be used in combination ; but we may, 

 I think, reasonably hold that a statement of the general conditions 

 found in operation, and a discussion of their 25robable action, is an essen- 

 tial preliminary to any fruitful inquiry into particular cases ; and it is to 

 this side of the question that the present paper is directed. At the out- 

 set it is important to remark that the systems of import and export taxes 

 in the various countries of the world should be treated as a whole. We 

 cannot — except provisionally — isolate a single tax, and consider it as 

 quite apart from the general fiscal system. Every tax imposed or 

 abolished is likely to have effects on the course of trade in general, and 

 the state of trade in turn reacts on each particular duty. Conclusions 



