Monthly M Icroscopican 
Journal, April 1, 1869. J 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
259 
name koo thaar), and some boomerangs. He read a few interesting 
particulars relating to the objects from Mr. Mc Donald's letters. 
Mr. G. E. Hunt read a paper, entitled " Notes of the Earer Mosses 
of Perthshire and Braemar," of which the following is an abstract : — 
Three alpine regions in Scotland stand pre-eminent for the variety 
of their cryptogamic flora : 1st, Ben Lawers, in Perthshire, with the 
adjoining peaks ; 2nd, the Clova district, in Forfar ; 3rd, Braemar. 
All these were long since searched by able botanists, as Hooker, 
Gardiner, Drummond, Wilson, Arnott, Greville, and others ; but such 
is their richness, that a year hardly ever passes without some discovery. 
There are several causes for this richness, viz. elevation, moisture of 
climate, and nature of soil. 
Ben Lawers is the highest mountain in Perthshire, and attains an 
elevation of 3984 feet above the level of the sea — its lower slopes 
consist of extensive moors, interspersed with peat bogs, which are the 
favourite abodes of various species of Sphagnum, Splachnum, Dissodon, 
Bryum, Mnium, and Hypnum. Its upper portion is composed of 
micaceous schist ; there it is that most of the great treasures of the 
mountain lie concealed — some of the species grow on precipitous 
ledges of rock, others in deep crevices, and others again on grassy turf. 
The additions of the last four years to the British flora from this 
ground are sufficient to attest its richness, viz. : — 
Neither the preceding species nor the following, viz. Hypnum plicatum, 
H. cirrhosum, H. Oalcessii, discovered at dates varying from 1823 to 
1850, have yet been found in Britain, elsewhere than on Ben Lawers. 
Altogether about 180 species of mosses have been recorded from 
this mountain ; and when those of the woods, rocks, and walls round 
its base are added, the total of species for the district will amount to 
about 330. 
In Braemar the character of the soil completjly changes, and with 
it the vegetation. The valleys and lower ridges are principally com- 
posed of slaty rocks — the higher mountains of the Cairngorm range of 
granite. In the valley Dr. Dickie has been fortunate enough to 
discover, on the decayed wood of dead fir-trees, the very rare Bux~ 
haumia indusiata, and he gathers the other species, B. apJiylla, at a 
somewhat higer level, on debris. The moors, streams, and rocks of 
Glen Callater and Loch Kandor are notable for their rarities, con- 
spicuous among which stand 
The latter species is specially interesting, from the fact of its having 
been re-discovered, in 1868, by Messrs. Fergusson and Eoy, in the same 
station when, in 1830, a single tuft had been found by Dr. Greville. 
The only other British locality is above Ingleby Greenhow, in York- 
Tortula fragilis. 
Mnium spinosum. 
Timmia megapolitana. 
Leskia nervosa. 
Hypnum sulcatum. 
„ Bambcrgeri. 
Andiecea faloata. 
Grimmia atrata. 
Tetraplodon angustatus. 
Hypnum dilatatum. 
, , arcticum. 
Mielichoferia nitida. 
