246 COL. FEILDEN ON VERTEBRATE AND PLANT LIFE ON BEN NEVIS. 
showed me a specimen of Sorex minutus, Linn. ( = S. pygmatus, 
Pall.), the Lesser Shrew, which his cat brought into the 
observatory kitchen on the morning of the 25th August. This 
cat he assured me, never wanders far from the house, her longest 
walk being with her owner to the well. There can be no question 
that this Shrew was taken on the summit of Ben Nevis, and at 
the highest altitude recorded for the species in the British Isles. 
The specimen was sent by Mr. Angus Bankin, superintendent of 
the observatories, to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art. 
I learnt both from Mr. Rankin and Mr. Niel that Ptarmigan, 
though still common on the sides of Ben Nevis, especially about 
1000 feet from the top, rarely visit the summit of the mountain. 
The Golden Eagle is seen at intervals around the top of Ben 
Nevis, but they do not nest on that mountain. I know of 
a breeding place in the neighbouring deer forest of Lord Abinger, 
where they are protected. 
In the interesting introductory notes by Mr. W. S. Bruce to 
the paper on Coleoptera from the Summit of Ben Nevis, by the 
Rev. A. Thornley*, he refers briefly to the botany, and mentions 
that one or two phanerogams grow there. He does not, however, 
mention the species. I therefore supplement His notes by giving 
the names of three flowering plants I found growing in the 
immediate vicinity of the well, on the S.S.E. side of the 
mountain, sixty-six feet below the cairn. There between the 
lichen-covered blocks of porphyry are small accumulations of peaty 
humus, moistened by the drippings from the springs that feed the 
well. Several plants of Saxifraga stellaris grow in this spot, and 
I observed seedlings just showing. This is the highest station for 
the plant in the British Isles, viz., 4340 feet, exceeding that from 
the summit of Ben McDhui, 4206 feet, which is recorded by the 
late Dr. Dickie. The other two plants are Deschampsia ccespitosa, 
and a Carex, possibly Carex rarijiora. Judging from the growth 
of these plants, it seems to me that the paucity of phanerogamic 
vegetation on the summit of Ben Nevis is not altogether 
dependent on its altitude nor low temperature, but more to the 
almost entire absence of suitable accumulations of soil wherein 
plants could take hold, the summit of the mountain being either 
bare rock or a chaos of splintered porphyry. As special interest 
# Aim. S. N. II., 189G, p. 29. 
