IV PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
ing species in our list. The other plant is a variety of Rhinanthus 
minor , the common Yellow Rattle of the low country. Years ago 
I had noticed on Ben Lawers, at an elevation of over 3000 feet, a 
colony of this plant, and had been particularly impressed by it, since 
the species does not usually attain a high altitude above sea-level. 
Except in their small stature, these specimens did not apparently 
show any difference from their lowland comrades. On more care¬ 
fully examining dried specimens in our Herbarium not very long ago, 
I found that the calyx is shortly pubescent all over, a character which 
no lowland specimen that I have seen shows, but which pubescence 
of the calyx is characteristic of some other species of the genus. 
Except this pubescence, I can find no other essential mark of dis¬ 
tinction between these alpine examples and lowland specimens, but 
this character seems so constant that the mountain form seems 
to deserve a name. I have therefore distinguished it as a variety, 
and called it after our fellow-worker, Colonel Drummond Hay. I 
may mention that it has now been observed, not only on several 
of our own hills, but also in Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire. My 
chief object, however, in alluding to it just now is to point out how 
important it is to examine carefully all plants met with. Many 
botanists have doubtless seen this alpine Rhinanthus, and thought it 
the same as the lowland one—in fact, I have seen botanists, who 
knew of the variety, gather specimens, and, because they did not 
apply their lenses to the calyx, fail to distinguish it. In dried speci¬ 
mens the difference is certainly more marked. 
The fourth day we went further afield, and paid a visit to Ben 
Heasgarnich, near the head of Glenlochay. Ben Heasgarnich is, 
I think, identical with the Ben Teskerney of Lightfoot and Stuart, 
and seems to have been rather a favourite of the latter—at least, it is 
not unfrequently mentioned. Since Stuart’s time Ben Teskerney 
appears to have dropped out of remembrance; but last year Ben 
Heasgarnich suddenly became important, for on it Mr. Brebner 
gathered the long-lost Carex ustiilatci —long-lost, that is, to Britain, 
for, since Don first disovered it in 1810, British specimens had not 
been found, although his locality is the much-explored Ben Lawers. 
For this reason many botanists have refused to admit the species into 
the British list. It is a question whether Don got his specimens on 
Ben Lawers, or whether he used the name “Ben Lawers” to indicate 
the range of hills rather than the individual mountain, in the same 
way as he speaks of the “ Clova Mountains ” for all the hills that lie 
about Glen Isla, Glen Callater, and Clova proper. If this is the case, 
Don may have been actuated by the desire to conceal the exact 
locality, or perhaps he may not have known on what hill he got the 
specimens, for it is likely that he did not know the name of the 
species when he found it, and put down Ben Lawers as being the 
chief hill visited during that excursion. At any rate, the re-discovery 
of Carex ustulata in Breadalbane is another fact in Don’s favour. 
Guided by Mr. Brebner, we had the great pleasure of seeing 
Carex ustulata “ at home,” and near it we found another interesting 
species, Carex rupestris. This sedge, though long ago recorded as 
having been found on Ben Lawers, has not apparently for many 
