144 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OP NATURAL SCIENCE, 
(DONATIONS. 
The following were announced :— 
Perthshire Collection. —From Lady Willoughby de Eresby—A 
very fine red deer hind. A stag has also been promised by the 
same donor, and may be expected soon. These will be valuable 
additions to the Perthshire collection. From Colonel Drummond 
Hay—Nests of blackbird and thrush; and stands for birds. 
From Mr George Alexander, 3 St Paul's Square—Eggs of sedge 
warbler, garden warbler, and white-throat. [As the time for 
birds’ nests and eggs is now coming on, it may be mentioned 
that Perthshire specimens of both nests and eggs of many birds 
are still required. Though the Society desires to deprecate the 
practice, which is too prevalent, of taking the nests and eggs of 
birds with no special object in view, yet, since much instruction 
may be gained from a collection of nests and eggs, it is necessary 
that such a collection be formed. The lessons conveyed by it 
will, it is hoped, tend to diminish the indiscriminate robbing of 
birds’ nests.] From Mr W. Herd, Scoonieburn—Specimens of 
some Perthshire woods, and of woods injured by insects. From 
Mr David Martin, Canal Street Brewery—Specimens of wood and 
stone from the buried peat-bed, alluded to in the last report of 
donations. From Mr John Knox, Forfar—Specimen of Carez 
ustulata. From Mr Barlas, Pitcaithly Quarry—Specimens of 
building stone from that quarry. From Mr John Moir, builder 
—Three samples of stone from Huntingtower Quarries. [The 
collection of building stones, when completed, will, it is hoped, 
be found of considerable utility, as it will enable persons who 
think of building houses to see the quality and colours of the 
local building stones.] From Mr A. Sturrock, Rattray—Rare 
Perthshire plants. From Mr James Stewart — Specimen of 
hair eel (Gordius aquations). From Dr Trotter, Perth—Fossil 
diatoms from the brick clay bed at Tullylumb, and recent 
diatoms from the Tay at the North Inch; and specimen of mica 
schist, with garnets, from the boulder clay, Stanley. From Mr 
Thomas Peddie, Union Street, Perth—Specimen of lead ore from 
quarry at Taymouth. From Rev. Dr Milroy—Specimens of 
boulder clay, and stones from the boulder clay, at Moneydie. 
Index Collection.— From Mr E. P. Ramsay, F.L.S., Curator of the 
Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales—Skeleton and 
stuffed specimen of the Duck-billed Platypus, and other valuable 
specimens. From Mr D. M’Donald, Perth—Quartz contaiuing 
gold, and other specimens, from Australia. From Mr David 
Sharp, 216 High Street—A large Echinus or Sea-urchin. From 
Mr George Alexander, 3 St Paul’s Square—A pipe tish. From 
Mr R. P. Blair, chemist—“Guinea Worm” and other specimens. 
From Mr H. Wilkie, Perth—Photograph of a fossil fish (from 
Clashbennie Quarry, near Glencarse), now in the British Museum; 
and various pamphlets. From Dr Baird—Specimens of india- 
rubber in various states. 
EXHIBITIONS. 
Dr Buchanan White exhibited the specimen of Carez 
ustulata which had been presented to the Herbarium by 
Mr John Knox, Forfar, and made the following remarks : 
—When recording, amongst the donations, this gift by Mr 
Knox, I purposely made no comments, as the specimen is 
worthy of a special notice. We have here a Perthshire 
plant, which is possessed of considerable interest in several 
respects. First, in that it is one of George Don’s dis¬ 
coveries; second, in that the specimen was gathered by him; 
and third, in that no one but Don has gathered the plant 
in Britain. Some of us, doubtless, remember that Mr 
Knox once gave us an interesting paper on Don’s life and 
work, which was subsequently published m The Scot¬ 
tish Naturalist. Don, who flourished at the end of last 
century and the beginning of this, was a man whose love 
of botany exceeded his worldly wisdom, and who was con¬ 
sequently not so successful in the various occupations he 
followed as he deserved to be. He did much in the way 
of exploring the botanical riches of the Scottish hills, and 
added many species to our lists. Unfortunately, he some¬ 
times sent out garden specimens of the plants that he 
thought were the same as he had found on the hills, but 
which were really different species, and hence, those of his 
discoveries which have not been verified by others, are 
repudiated by many botanists of thepresent day. Amongst 
these is the plant now before us, which Hooker and others 
reject, but which Babington and Boswell accept. Dr 
Boswell, in his edition of English Botany, has remarked 
that Don has never been accused of sending out foreign 
specimens of the plants he said he had discovered in Scot¬ 
land, and that the specimen of Carex ustulata, which he 
(Dr Boswell) had seen was evidently a wild specimen, and 
still had on its roots bits of micaceous soil. Our specimen, 
like Dr Boswell’s, has all the aspect of a wild specimen, 
and bears on its roots abundant traces of a micaceous soil. 
Now, Don says that he discovered this plant on Ben 
Lawers, and as herbarium specimens of plants from that 
mountain are usually characterised by having on their 
roots soil exactly similar in appearance to that which this 
specimen bears, I have little doubt but that it came from 
Ben Lawers. No one but Don has found it there, and 
though it has not been rediscovered, it perhaps is only 
waiting for some energetic member of our Society to find it. 
Botanists usually search only on certain parts of the hill, 
and it is just possible that Don found it on some outlying 
portion which botanists rarely visit. The history of this 
specimen is as follows :—Don made up a volume of grasses, 
sedges, and similar plants, to which he attached the names, 
but seldom mentioned the locality. In this volume this 
specimen of Carex ustulata had attached to it, in Don’s 
writing, “ I discovered this plant on Ben Lawers in 1S10.” 
Don's effects were sold in 1S14, and the volume was 
bought by Mr Blackadder, land-surveyor, Glarnis, after 
whose death it came into the possession of his nephew, 
