1909-10.] 
Flora of Scottish Lakes. 
107 
victory — simply by the softening of the evening breeze. From the strath 
one climbs to Loch Enoch by way of Pulskaig Burn, nor can I pass this 
without a word. Imagine some cyclopean staircase, 
“ Piled by the hands of giants 
For godlike kings of old/’ 
lifted into the hypothetical ether, and dropped pellmell into a gully on the 
face of a rocky and precipitous mountain, and you have some idea of 
Pulskaig Burn. But it appeals to a botanist by reason of the luxuriant 
splendour of its rare Bryophytes, as well as by the pleasing scenic effect. 
Here is a riser of the gigantic stair 20 feet high, now tilted to an angle 
of 45 degrees, over which the pellucid water swiftly glides in rippling 
dance to music of its own begetting. Scoured and ground by the rush of 
gravel in time of spate, the face of the granite is perfectly clean and sparkles 
in the snnlight. But look to right and left ! From that ruined balustrade 
hang masses of yellow-green or purple Mylia Taylori, interrupted with 
cushions of Trichostomum tortuosum or Rhacomitrium sudeticum, and, 
sheltering in the dampness below, the delicate Cephalozia bicuspidata, 
Heterocladium heteropterum, or Jungermannia Floerkii cover the granite 
with rare luxuriance. Yon purple-black rock, dripping with water, owes 
its colour to Andreaea alpina, and above it the bright green capital of a half- 
exposed column is due to the exquisite Metzgeria hamata, whilst the plinth 
is wreathed in a purple mass of Pleurozia cochleariformis. Look again ! 
This ruined corbel still supporting the floor of a balconette, from which beads 
of water drip into the current below, is almost hidden by the wealth of 
Hypnum molluscum and Breutelia arcuata, whilst the floor itself is 
covered with a domed mass of the beautiful Sphagnum rigidum. Scrambling 
upwards over a few steps that have scarcely been misplaced, we come to a 
semicircular excavation like a reversed ambo. The floor has been hollowed 
into a deep cavity, and the process of carving is still continued by the whole 
body of the burn dropping into it in foaming cataract from 8 or 9 feet 
above. The spray-splashed margins of this agitated pool are carpeted with 
masses of Blindia acuta, Hypnum scorpioides, Marsupella aquatica, and 
Campylopus atrovirens, whilst the surrounding chinks and crannies are 
gray with Anthelia julacea or green with Philonotis fontana. The surround- 
ing drapery is of richest form. Such Diplophyllum albicans ! Such Nardia 
emarginata ! But chief est of all are the glorious masses of Nardia com- 
pressa and Scapania undulata that cover the dripping rocks and hang in 
festoons below. What a list of Bryophytes a botanist might write after a 
day or two spent here ! But clambering on, we pass here a foaming cascade, 
