168 THE FRESH- WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND 
margins. Their water, being generally poor in food-salts and rich in 
humic acids, has a restricted flora ; but the same conditions may 
obtain in the lowlands, when the flora of the lochs will be similar to 
the flora of those on the mountains. On the other hand, a highland 
loch having a supply of food-salts, with a suitable shore and sheltered 
from prevailing wmds, may quite well have the character of a low- 
land loch regarding its flora (see Plates). 
In the list of the plants hereafter, the numerals following the 
name of each plant after the authority, refer to the areas at the lochs 
in which the plant occurs, as follows : — 
Area I. The Ness district. 
„ II. The Island of Lismore. 
„ III. The Nairn district. 
„ IV. N.W. Kirkcudbrightshire. 
„ V. S.E. Kirkcudbrightshire. 
„ VI. Wigtownshire. 
„ VII. Fife and Kinross. 
My friend Mr James M'Andrew, who resided many years in 
Kirkcudbrightshire, and whose discoveries in the geographical dis- 
tribution of plants have so greatly enriched the written records of 
the flora of this and the adjoining counties, especially amongst the 
Cryptogams, has rendered me many services. Naturally, he has had 
opportunities of observation there that have been denied to me ; the 
records that he has kindly furnished, where my own were deficient, 
are acknowledged by being placed in brackets with his initials. 
PART IL— LIST OF THE PLANTS 
RANUNCULACE^ 
Ranunculus aquatilis, L., L, IL, III., IV., V., VI., VII. It was 
frequently impossible to determine the exact form of the 
Batrachian Ranunculi that were observed, owing to the absence 
of flowers, fruit, or other data by which the numerous forms 
are distinguished as species. When such was the case I have 
simply enumerated the specimen in hand as Ranunculus 
aquatilis. 
Ranunculus Drouetii, F. Schultz^ V., VI., VII. Not general, although 
occasionally found, in lowland lochs. 
Ranunculus Baudotii, Godr.^ VII. Preceding remarks apply to 
this species also, but it is more abundant. 
Ranunculus circinatus, Sibth. IL, very scarce. VI., VIL, occa- 
sionally abundant in lowland lochs ; at Kilconquhar Loch, 
