NOTES ON THE FLORA OF SHETLAND 303 



with an ecological bearing ; the other and greater part of the in- 

 vestigation, to which most time was devoted, was cryptogamic, 

 the full results of which are not yet ready for publication. No 

 shore-work was attempted. 



I may also add that, as vascular plants were quite a secondary 

 consideration, I had never examined a Flora of Shetland, and the 

 only vascular plants I knew to occur there were Arenaria 

 norvegica and some Hieracia; as to the latter, I had some 

 recollection that I had seen a note of Beeby's on them some 

 years before, and I may here note that I did not come across one 

 species.''' I have made no attempt to make critical splits of such 

 genera as BhinantJms, Cochlearia, &c., only noting what could be 

 determined without any doubt, the only exception being Euphrasia, 

 and those named certainly fit Townsend's descriptions. A few of 

 the plants may be new to Topographical Botany, and others con- 

 firmatory of previous doubtful records. A few of the more critical 

 plants have not yet been examined. 



Lichens. 



I gave considerable attention to the collection of lichens in 

 the places visited, as I had never seen or heard of any records of 

 them from there. As native trees are practically absent, I did 

 not expect any corticolous or shade-loving species ; the few I got 

 were from some planted and stunted trees near dwellings. The 

 rocks in the places visited were mostly gneiss, mica schist, granite, 

 and Serpentine. The exposed mica schist and gneiss in different 

 places had a very similar and somewhat uniform flora. The 

 granite was usually very bare on account of rapid weathering, 

 and also by reason of this the outstanding rocks were scarce. 

 The Serpentine also weathers fast, and is very unproductive of 

 lichens. The following is a list of those that have been deter- 

 mined. As the list is a scanty one on account of the lack of 

 trees, &c., the names of the Tribes, Subtribes, and Orders have 

 been left out. The arrangement is that of A. Zahlbruckner in 

 Engler & Prantl's Die Natilrlichen Pflanzenfamilien. 



My old friend Mr. Thos. Hebden has kindly examined the 

 greater part of them, and I have to thank him for his invaluable 

 help. Miss A. Lorrain Smith, F.L.S., has also been kind enough 

 to clear up a few of the more doubtful species. 



Ticothecium pygmceum Koerb. (now considered as a fungus) 

 occurred near Ollaberry on barren crustaceous lichens. 



= near Ollaberry. S U = South Unst. 



E H = Ronas Hill. Sc. = Scalloway. 



U = Unst. H = Hillswick. 



BU = Baltasound, Unst. CF = Colla Firth. 



to IZ" — Ollaberry to Hillswick. L = Lerwick. 



NU = North Unst. N-to U = North-west Unst. 



* I had previously visited South Shetland for a few days, but my atten- 

 tion then was entirely devoted to the cryptogams. 



