220 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
year it was laden with beautiful apples (many larger than 
the one shown), which proved to be of very good quality as 
“ eating apples.” Since the tree owes nothing to the care 
of the cultivator, having been neither grafted, pruned, 
nor manured, it affords a strong argument in favour of Dr 
Robertson’s plan of utilising waste ground by planting 
fruit trees thereon, though Dr Robertson did not, I think, 
urge that the care of the trees should be left to nature, 
but rather the reverse. 
3. Some specimens of nature-printed portraits of moths. 
OPENING ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT. 
Dr Buchanan White delivered the following address:— 
It has never been a regular custom in this Society to 
open the winter session by a Presidential Address, and if I 
do so on this occasion, it is of course within the discretion 
of my successors in office whether they continue the prac¬ 
tice or not. At the same time a good deal may be said in 
favour of so beginning the session. The work done during 
the by-gone summer can be passed under review, and the 
work to be performed during the coming winter can be 
discussed ; while attention can be called to many little 
things which it is desirable, for the welfare of the Society, 
to bring under the notice of members. 
To begin with the work of the past summer session. 
The programme of excursions that was arranged in spring 
was carried out with great success, and if our trips were 
not attended by so many members as might have been 
wished, the explorations were not the less successful. In 
addition to the excursions on the programme, several others 
were made by some of the members, and as no account of 
these appears in the “Proceedings,” it is desirable that a 
record should be made of some of the discoveries that have 
resulted therefrom. These are for the most part in the 
department of botany, and in alluding to them, I have 
also to notice some other remarkable Perthshire plants re¬ 
cently found. To our friend, Mr Brebner, of Dundee 
(lately an “Ordinary Member” of the Society, and now 
nominated as a “ Corresponding Member must be as¬ 
cribed the honour of having made the most note-worthy 
‘ finds.” Mr Brebner has for the last two or three summers 
spent part of his holidays in Perthshire, and, being aware 
of our desire to accumulate knowledge regarding the distri¬ 
bution of plants in the county, has kindly devoted part of 
his leisure to the. exploration of the districts in which he 
has been residing. In this way he has been eminently 
successful in adding to our knowledge, and the Society is 
very greatly indebted to him for many valuable and inter¬ 
esting specimens. The most remarkable of his discoveries 
are the following four species, examples of which I now 
exhibit:— 
1. Schcenus ferrugineus, L.—This sedge is new not 
only to Perthshire, but to the British Flora. It is rather 
locally abundant in Strathtummel, where, in company 
with Mr Brebner, I had the pleasure of gathering it last 
July. Though I include it in the list of the past summer's 
plants, it was firstTound by Mr Brebner in 1584. 
2. Garex u&tulata, Wahl.—This is another sedge, and 
though not new to Perthshire, is of very peculiar interest 
on account of its history. It was first discovered, as a 
British plant, on Ben Lawers, by Don, in August, 1810 
(through the kind generosity of Mr John Knox, of Forfar, 
our herbarium possesses one of Don’s original specimens). 
Since that time no one seems to have succeeded in finding 
it in Britain, and hence it has been relegated to the list of 
Don’s “reputed discoveries.” It is true that in the York¬ 
shire Naturalist there was a statement not long ago that 
the plant had been, within comparatively recent years, 
gathered on Ben Lawers, but as this statement was not 
authenticated by the name of the writer, it must bear the 
fate of all such anonymous records. Mr Brebner’s 
specimens were gathered on Ben Heasgarnich, near the 
head of Glen Lyon. It is worthy of note that Mr 
Brebner remarks that when growing, Carex ustulata much 
resembles C. atrata, an alpine sedge which is not uncom¬ 
mon on some of our hills. Hence it might be liable to be 
passed over. 
3. Polypodium flexile, Moore.—This pretty little fern 
was first discovered in Glen Prosen, in the neighbouring 
county of Forfar; but in this locality it has long been 
reported as extinct, having been eradicated by the 
rapacity of amateur or professional fern-collectors, * 
* Apropos of this eradication, I should like to ask the at¬ 
tention of the Society to the very serious fact that many of 
our ferns and other plants are being fast exterminated, or at 
least made very rare. In a few cases botanists may be to 
blame for this, though I hope not. More frequently the 
extermination is due to the indiscriminate ravages of the 
amateur fern-collector. But most of the mischief is done 
by certain persons who collect ferns, &c., for sale to the 
summer visitors. Most of the specimens thus collected 
and sold will never grow, which, as punishing those con¬ 
cerned in it, is a little consolation; but in the meantime 
our hills and woods are being robbed of their choicest 
treasures. I might give several examples of some of our 
plants which from this cause have become very rare, as, 
for instance, Lathyrus niger at Killiecrankie, Pytvla 
uniflora at Scone, &e. I do not know whether the Society 
can take any effectual steps for the preservation of the 
rarer native plants, but I think it is a subject that it 
would do well to consider. In some cases good might be 
done by calling the attention of the proprietors of the 
ground to the evil that is being done. 
