230 
THE FRESH-WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND 
covered with a very luxuriant vegetation, as previously mentioned. 
There were great masses of Carex rostrata, which could be dis- 
tinguished at a considerable distance, when blown by the wind, by 
their glaucous leaves ; colonies of Carex vesicaria by their green 
leaves but otherwise similar growth to C. rostrata ; and associations 
of Carex elatior by their superior height and broad, green, flowing 
leaves waving in the breeze like a luxuriant field of grain. Then 
there were large areas covered with a dense jungle of Phalaris 
arundinacea and Deschampsia caespitosa growing 4 or 5 feet high, 
besides a variety of other plants in various places. Nymphiea lutea 
is very abundant in some parts of the loch, particularly near the 
head, where the surface of the water is covered for hundreds of yards 
by its leaves and flowers. Scirpus lacustris grows very luxuriantly 
throughout the whole area of the loch, and so, in some places, does 
the ordinary marsh vegetation of the littoral bogs. In some places, 
especially near the viaduct where shelter from wind is provided by 
adjoining woods and by the narrowness of the loch, Ranunculus 
heterophyllus covers the surface of the water with its wliite flowers and 
floating leaves, forming one of the characteristic features of this 
portion of the loch. Occasionally a dry stony shore is overgrown 
with a large prostrate form of Ranunculus Flammula which roots 
copiously at the nodes ; this is probably the R. radicans of Nolte. 
From the viaduct to below Crossmichael the general features are 
somewhat similar, but, being more remote from hills and moors, the 
lowdand type becomes quite assertive and the gently inclined shores 
quickly merge into meadow-land or bog. Here again Scirpus lacustris 
occupies large areas of the margin ; there are also large associations 
of Phragmites communis, Equisetum Hmosun], Heleocharis palustris, 
Carex aquatilis, C. rostrata, C. vesicaria, C. Goodenovii, etc. A large 
barren form of either Nitella opaca or N. flexilis occurs abundantly 
about and below the embouchure of the Dee: this variety is also 
found in Woodhall Loch, and was probably transported from there 
by water, as the eflluent of Woodhall Loch flows into the Dee near 
New Galloway railway station. Near Burned Island there are vast 
beds of Nitella opaca, but it does not extend beyond a depth of 
7 feet. Bryophvtes are generally scarce, and in many places even 
absent altogether from the littoral zone. The most favourable place 
for such plants is about the north end of the loch, and there a 
number of species occur on the shore, including a few rarities. 
Filamentous Algae are scarce. For the long list of plants found at 
this loch the original paper must be consulted. 
Barscobe Loch is about three miles north-east of New Galloway. 
It is about a quarter of a mile long, and is situated in the midst 
of a treeless, hilly, grass moor, which everywhere meets the water, so 
