•2-2 INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS, 



mit of Britain.* Unfortunately, the day proved most im- 

 propitious for accurate observations, turning out excessively 

 wet during the hours spent on the hill ; a dense mist, 

 equally dark as the thickest winter fog in London, en- 

 shrouded all the upper half of the mountain ; and the wind 

 was blowing vehemently over the summit, at a temperature 

 of 39° Fahr. Thoroughly soaked with rain and snowy 

 sleet, benumbed by the cold, and nearly blinded by wind 

 and mist, it will excite no surprise in him, if some other 

 botanist, ascending under more propitious circumstances, 

 should ascertain that he failed to detect all the species on 

 the" extreme summit of the mountain, or tardily detected 

 some of the smaller species in descending. Those phaeno- 

 gamic plants which he did see around the cairn on the ex- 

 treme summit, were referred to the following six speci&s ; 

 namely, — 



Silene acaulis. 



Carex rigida. 



Festuca (vivipara ?). 



Luzula arcuata. 



Liizula spicata. 



Salix herbacea. 



At a short distance from the cairn, and very little below 

 the base, was another plant ; the identity of which, with the 

 Linnean species so named, has been lately called in ques- 

 tion ; but it is well known to British botanists, under the 

 name — perhaps, after all, not incorrect — of 



Gnaphalium supinum. 



* Ben Nevis, reputed some feet higher than Beu-muieh-dhu, was as- 

 cended thrice under more favourable weather ; but the upper part of that 

 mountain is so covered by enormous piles of broken rocks and stones, 

 that plants scarce find soil wherein to fix their roots. On that hill, the 

 comparative altitudes of species are greatly modified by the nature of the 

 surface. 



