94 



The Naturalist. 



latter for water ; invariably blindworms get out of the water as if it 

 scalded them, whereas ringed snakes delight in it. They swim 

 rapidly and gracefully, with the head just above the surface, but if 

 alarmed, they dive out of sight like an eel. 



The paper was illustrated by specimens from the vivarium of Mr. 

 Piggott, who has noticed that frogs and toads invariably jerk the long 

 toe when their attention is aroused by anything to eat. He would be 

 extremely obliged if any person would kindly let him know if they 

 have observed the same thing. 



A FEW DAYS AT FIELD BOTANY IN SCOTLAND. 



( Continued.) 

 By Wm. West. 



We here notice that Phacidium Vaccinii occurred on the dead leaves^ 

 of Arctostaphylos. 



We had now another stiff climb which brought us to the finest 

 Sedum Ehodiola we ever saw, and close by Aira alpina and Polypodium 

 alpestre, the latter being very fine, the fronds attaining with the stipes^ 

 a length of nearly thirty inches. (I have just measured some of the 

 specimens we brought home and which have not the lower part of the 

 stipes, they measure on an average twenty-five and a haK inches, the 

 only specimen else in my herbarium having given me a poor idea of the 

 plant, being five and a half inches only in length). My companion 

 insisted at first that it was only Athyrium Filix-foemina, which it very 

 much resembles, as Hooker justly observes. Aira alpina, A. flexnosa^ 

 var. montana, and Saxifraga stellaris, soon began to be the only con- 

 spicu&us phanerogams observable, but rare mosses began to gladden 

 our eyes, and we soon realized that we had neither room to stow, nor 

 power to carry as much as v/e wished of the harvest that lay before us. 

 Having brought some smaller tubes for algse we filled them and they 

 have been partially examined, the following were among the species 

 noted : Tabellaria ventricosa, Diatoma vulgare, Zygnema cruciata, 

 Zygogonium ericetorum, Sirosiphon compactus, Tetraspora gelatinosa, 

 Cosmarium margaritiferum, and other species even commoner than most 

 of the above. Hypnum oehraeeum was here in great masses, unchosen 

 specimens of which measured sixteen inches ; Arctoa fulvella, Dicranum 

 arcticum, Webera Ludwigii, Mnium subglobosum, Hypnum exannula- 

 tum, var. orthophyllum, and Nardia eniarginata flourished in all their 

 Ibeauty, while a little higher up as we came to three successive masses of 

 aaow we gathered Cetraria islandica, Andresea nivalis, its var. fuscescens. 



