[8 



The Scottish Naturalist. 



this rare fundus as a specimen ; but he replied that he was unable 

 to account for the occurrence. Sir Richard Owen, to whom I 

 also applied, suggested that the peculiar " meaty " smell, which 

 many fungi possess, had attracted the bird. It is a singular fact, 

 however, that ravens are very fond of playing with such objects in 

 the air ; and I have seen them carrying common sticks — transferring 

 them from their bills to their claws, and evidently going through 

 some game or amusement. In the course of my inquiries on the 

 subject I found that the other specimen of the fungus mentioned 

 had been discovered at Ballachulish. Two years afterwards I 

 found what I believe was the spot where the raven picked up the 

 cone, for there were several like it there, but although I have looked 

 for it since I have never see any other specimens. If any of you 

 go to Kew, you may perhaps see this rare fungus found by the 

 raven, as it is still preserved and labelled there. 



The next circumstance happened nine years ago, when I was 

 on a visit to Lord Lome, who was then Governor-General of 

 Canada. During a voyage in a small steam yacht, we entered the 

 Saganay Loch, or Fiord, which branches off from the St. Lawrence ; 

 and landed on a point covered with rounded rocks of a peculiar 

 colour — dull grey mixed with green. ' I found that they were masses 

 of Laurentian gneiss, well glaciated, covered with bilberry, and 

 bearing an immense forest of lichens, such as I have never seen in 

 this country. They were like miniature trees. They stood upright 

 on the rocks to the height of several inches ; and they were of a 

 beautiful pearly grey, which gave the rocks their colour. I tried to 

 gather some of them, but they were extremely brittle and went to 

 dust in my hands. That sight made a great impression on my mind 

 as to the beauty that can be derived from grey lichens. In the drive 

 from Quebec with Lord Lome I noticed a flame-colour in one of 

 the fields towards sunset ; and on examination found that it arose 

 from the seed-stalks of mosses like some that I have seen in this 

 country — sometimes very beautiful in colour — but they attain a 

 size in Canada that we have no conception of here. They were 

 certainly not " cryptogams," in one sense, because their fructifica- 

 tions were exceedingly apparent, and made a beautiful colour in 

 the landscape. 



This experience of the extraordinary beauty of the mosses and 

 lichens in a northern climate raised some curious questions with 

 regard to the possible part which these cryptogamic plants may 



