FLORA OF SCOTTISH LAKES 
235 
Scirpus lacustris, and about the shores Carex rostrata and C. fiHformis 
abound. About the south-west end the growth of marsh vegetation 
is very dense, and merges gradually into moor through an area of 
bog. Occasionally the shore is stony, but generally only a peaty 
bank divides the water from the moor. The flora resembles that of 
the next loch. 
Loch Barg'atton occupies an open position on the moor, half a 
mile south-west of the last-mentioned. It is somewhat circular in 
outline, and the water is peaty. The eastern shores are stony and 
rocky and comparatively bare of plants. The western side is over- 
grown with dwarf Phragmites communis, which also occurs in bays 
at other parts of the loch. This loch and Loch Glentoo, although at 
an elevation of only about 200 feet above sea-level, resemble lochs of a 
highland type in their floras, because of their exposed position on the 
open moor and their peaty water. 
Carlingwark Loch forms a pleasing addition to the prosperous 
little town of Castle-Douglas. The loch is connected with the river 
Dee by a narrow canal, which is about a mile and a half long. This 
canal was cut for the transport of marl up the river Dee, even as far 
as the Glenkins. Marl was discovered in abundance in and about 
the loch, and was formerly in great demand by agriculturists for 
fertilising their land, instead of lime. There are several islands 
wooded with poplars, willows, alders, etc., which add to the picturesque 
appearance of the loch. An unpleasing feature is that the sewage 
of the town is drained into the loch, which, although about 105 acres 
in extent, is very shallow, except at the sites of the old marl-pits, so 
that in hot, dry summers the residents of the town are inconvenienced by 
unpleasant odours and the risk of disease. The water at the south 
end is fairly clear and bright, but at the north end it is somewhat 
turbid and dead-looking, which is probably the result of the drainage 
from the town. The vegetation also has doubtless been affected 
thereby, for the semi-aquatic flora is composed of a large number of 
species, most of which grow in great luxuriance ; whilst the submerged 
aquatics, although extremely abundant, are restricted in variety, 
possibly because the abnormal abundance of food-salts in the water, 
combined with the general shallowness of the loch, has favoured the 
excessive increase of a few species to the exclusion of others. I have, 
in fact, seen few lakes with such exuberant vegetation as occurs here. 
The margin is frequently marshy, and overgrown with a dense growth 
of reed or sedge, particularly in the south portion of the loch. At 
other places, especially at the northern end, the flat shore is either 
stony, or of muddy sand, and nearly everywhere such shores are 
covered near the water with Cladophora flavescens, mixed with 
QEdogonium, Spirogyra, etc., and the same species float on the surface 
