INTRODUCTION. 
XIX 
winter frosts. Every spring, when the snows begin to melt, 
vast masses of rock become detached from the heights above, 
and roll down their sides with a noise, the shepherds say, 
like that of the loudest thunder. The base of Craig Maid is 
strewed with multitudes of such rocky masses, which are now 
covered with mosses and herbage, and the intervening cavi- 
ties they form often afford a secure shelter to prowling Rey- 
nard. To the prowling botanist they are even more attrac- 
tive, presenting him with the beautiful Linncea borealis , the 
rare Hypnum Crista • castrensis, Jungermannia seliformis , 
Taylori , and concinnata, Dicranum poly carport , and nume- 
rous other rarities. A number of old-fashioned birch trees, 
that have seen “ the lisrht of other days,” are scattered about, 
and their trunks are invested with many mosses, lichens, 'and 
Hepaticse. Among them may be noticed Orthotrichum 
Drummondii, Sticta pulmonaria, and Jungermannia ci liar is 
in f ructification. Towards the foot of the cliffs the Lyco- 
podium annotinum is plentiful, and in rocky crevices the 
elegant Polystichum Lonchitis spreads out its circle of rigid 
fronds. Higher on the cliffs hosts of rare things court the 
attention, as Pi/rola rotundifolia, and secunda , Veronica 
sxxatilis, and alpina, Erigeron alpinus , Saussurea alpina 
Sonch us alp inus, Potentilla alpestris , with numerous Car ices, 
Grasses, Salices , Hieracia , &c., and many rare cryptogainic 
plants. 
The White Water and the Dole unite a lit t le below a 
rocky abutment of Cairn Lunkar, and on the right hand side 
of this a steep rugged path called “ Jock's Road," leads to 
the shieling of Lunkar. From this small domicile, where 
the botanist will find a hearty welcome to such shelter as it 
affords, excursions may be made to various interesting loca- 
lities. The original station for Carex rariflora is in the 
immediate vicinity; and the Little Culrannoch, on which 
the Lychnis alpina grows, is little more than a mile to the 
south-west, and may be reached most easily by following the 
Feula Burn (where Carex aquatilis, Phleum alpinum , and 
Splachnum vasculosum may be gathered) for a mile or so. 
