8 
NATURE NOTES. 
As might be supposed, such showy plants as attract the 
attention of dealers are in especial danger. One such person 
had removed and sold almost all the plants of White Water-lily 
from the lochs of the Dumfries district ; but he was at last 
discovered, and is now forbidden access to any estate in the 
district. The Thames and its tributaries are almost stripped 
of the blossoms of this beautiful plant during the early summer, 
but the roots are less frequently interfered with. Ferns are, of 
course, in special danger ; and the Report gives a long list of 
places from which the rarer Aspleniums, the Cetrach, Hart’s 
tongue, Holly Fern, Osmunda, Limestone Polypody and others, 
have nearly or quite disappeared, owing to the rapacity of 
dealers and collectors. Tourists should not encourage these 
men by buying from them ; if there were no demand the supply 
would cease, and the ferns would be left alone. In the Killarney 
district, the rare Killarney Fern owes its safety in some measure 
to the ignorance of tourists, who buy the Hymenophyllum Wilsoni 
which is offered them under the former name, under the im- 
pression that they are obtaining the genuine article. 
The especial rarities of the Highlands — such as the two 
species of Oxytropis, Latliyrus niger, Phyllodoce tcixifolia and others 
— are always in more or less danger, and botanical collectors are 
occasionally wanting in discretion in their zeal for obtaining 
these rare plants. The Phyllodoce might easily be protected, if 
the Duke of Athol, who owns the Sow of Athol — the only 
British locality for the plant — would give orders to that effect, 
as “ the habitat is within sight of a gamekeeper’s house.” “ An 
appeal to the proprietor ” of the Pass of Killiecrankie might 
save Latliyrus niger from extirpation. 
A large number of extinctions are due to the grazing of 
cattle, drainage, cultivation of various kinds, building and 
similar unavoidable contingencies. In the first of these cases, 
the plant destroyed is likely to reappear under more favourable 
circumstances. The little Musk Orchis ( Herminiim ) has more 
than once almost entirely disappeared from Keep Hill near 
High Wycombe, which is, I think, its only Buckinghamshire 
locality; but it has asserted itself when the sheep which 
cropped it have been removed. 
The interesting but insignificant Scheuchzeria has been lost 
from Methven bog, “ probably from the settlement there of a 
large colony of about three thousand black-headed gulls, the 
result being the destruction of all but the rankest vegetation.” 
Certain plants named in the Report are well-known to be 
erratic in their appearance, such as Henbane ; others can 
hardly owe their disappearance to the rapacity of collectors, 
or to the causes above-named ; of these the Agrimony, which is 
becoming very scarce in its Inverness-shire station, is a type. 
Coming nearer home, a word of warning may be addressed 
to the enthusiastic supporters of a certain well-known political 
organisation, and more especially to the “ Dames,” to whom 
