1909-1910-] ^^ Account of the Excursions (1910). 273 



which the Logan water flows are chiefly porphyry, and beauti- 

 ful sections of the rock are to be seen on each side of the 

 burn a little above Glencorse Bridge. The leader pointed out 

 House of Muir, and conducted the party to Bullion Green, 

 where the battle of Pentland Hills was fought on 28 th 

 November 1666. The Covenanters, commanded by Colonel 

 Wallace, were defeated by the Eoyal troops under the com- 

 mand of General Dalziel. The position which the Covenanters 

 took up on that day was pointed out on a rising ground a 

 little to the south of Turnhouse hill. A stone is erected at 

 the spot to the memory of those who fell on that occasion, 

 called " The Martyrs' Tomb." While resting at this spot, a 

 curious story was related about Major Learmont, commander 

 of the Horse, who escaped at Bullion Green and hid himself 

 from his pursuers for sixteen years, although the major's life 

 and fortune were both forfeited in absence. The walk was 

 continued along the foot of the Pentlands, and then down 

 through the woods and Lowrie's Den to Penicuik. Among the 

 plants gathered on the ramble were Doronicum pardalianches, 

 Achillea Ftarmica, and Lysimachia nemorum. 



The next excursion was held on the 1st October, and it 

 was a cryptogamic one, to the grounds of Eaith, near Kirk- 

 caldy. The party, numbering upwards of thirty, were joined 

 by the members of the Kirkcaldy Field Naturalists' Society. 

 In the unavoidable absence of the leader, Dr Watson, through 

 illness, Mr D. A. Boyd kindly undertook to act in his stead. 

 Tlie larger fungi were scarce, and in spite of the number of 

 members searching for them, not more than twenty species 

 were collected. The best of these were the sweet-scented 

 Clitocyhe fragrans, Claudojpus variabilis, and Tremella fdbacea. 

 The harvest of micro -fungi was much larger, and included 

 several interesting species, some of which have only recently 

 been added to the British list. Among these were Botrytis 

 deprcedens, on the leaves of Acer pseudo-plafanus, — a fungus 

 fatal to the young tree ; Ascochyta philadelphi, on leaves of 

 PhiladelpMis coronarius ; and Glmosjporium salicis, on leaves of 

 willow. 



The following Saturday the second of the cryptogamic excur- 

 sions was held in Currie Glen, Fushiebridge, and the number 



