GLASGOW SOCIETY OF FIELD NATURALISTS. 53 



climbing that one must move on some twelve miles for a bed, or 

 sleep on the heather. 



The drive from Killin to Ben Lawers is beautiful and varied — 

 first the woods surrounding the Lochy, then the sides of Loch 

 Tay, and the jagged slopes of the mountains. Craig Cailleach was 

 passed in a pour of rain, and things atmospherically began to look 

 bad. Still we were all well clothed, and never for a moment 

 dreamed of giving ujd our object. Craig Cailleach, as all botanists 

 know, is even a richer field than Ben Lawers, and not quite so 

 much hunted, and we hope it will long cimtinue so ; but our short 

 two days were promised to Ben Lawers, and we had to leave 

 Craig Cailleach for another year. We were very fortunate in 

 finding one of the servants of the Ben Lawers Inn on the top of 

 the coach j so, consigning our impedimenta to her care, we came 

 ofi" the coach about three miles on this side of the inn, and com- 

 menced the ascent. The first half-hour was through marshy, 

 soui'-looking ground, at first flat and then gently-sloping, the 

 weather having cleared up beautifully. But with the first stifi" 

 climb came a driving shower, and we were glad to push on for 

 shelter, although some good finds might have been got here. 

 However, after a little we were successful in finding a few mosses, 

 at about a thousand feet, where first the climber meets Alchemilla 

 alpina. Among these were Polytrichum strictum, Oligotrichum 

 hercynicum, Kacomitrium sudeticum, ericoides, etc. However, 

 we could not waste much time on the low parts, and pushed on 

 for the valley or gully to the Craig Cailleach side of the top of 

 Ben Lawers, and, arrived there, we found ourselves in a very 

 garden of mosses. Every step brought us to something rare, 

 beautiful, and interesting. This small spot, probably about a mile 

 long, must be surely the richest in Scotland. The following is a 

 list of the rarest : — ■ 



Bryum nutans, cirrhatum, Zierii; Hypnum atrovirens, rivulai-e, 

 glareosum, denticulatum, umbratum, Starkii ; Blindia acuta ; 

 Weissia crispula; Dicranum palustre, longifolium; Grimmia 

 patens, Tortula fragilis, Myurella julacea, Campylopus compactus, 

 Distichium capillaceum, Timmia norvegica, Pterogonium filiforme, 

 Meesia uliginosa, Leptostomum fiexicaule, etc. 



The little rare and beautiful flower, Gentiana nivalis, is found 

 on the rocks just at the saddle at the top of this valley, and some 

 went now to look for it, and the President to search another place 



