Volume 9 - Electric Scotland

166 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY
The height of the summit is
3445 feet ;
and there is a considerable
quantity of white quartz in the cliffs, especially on
the northern side. The moorland on the ascent afforded a
very luxuriant growth of the Cloudberry, with more abundant
and more perfectly ripe fruit than I had before observed.
To me it is
very agreeable, although my companion, the Rev.
H. J. Riddelsdell, affected to it.
despise But the ascent was
made on the hottest day we experienced in Scotland of the
hot year 1899; and the toilsome ascent over heather and
have affected us in a
Molinia, and the plague of flies, may
different manner. One of the conspicuous features of the
rocks was the abundance of Saxifraga oppositifolia ; and
Sibbaldia was frequent and very luxuriant, notwithstanding
the dry season which allowed us to cross the extensive peatbogs
without difficulty.
In the following notes, for the sake of convenience, I
have practically followed the sequence adopted in the " Flora
of Perthshire " ;-
Thalictrum alpinum, .., ascends to 3250 feet on Glas Thulachan.
I should be glad of information respecting its
growth on dry
rocks'. I think I have seen it on dry rock ledges with
Woodsia.
T. Kochii, Fries. The Rev. E. F. Linton sent plants so labelled
from Fortingal, Mid Perth, to the Exchange Club in 1897;
but the specimens were not sufficiently complete for Herr
Freyn to report on them. I have collected material from the
banks of Loch Tay this season which will, I trust, be sufficient
for the purpose. The " Flora of Perthshire " does not assist
us, as the Loch Tay plants are grouped under T. mi/ius, L., as
var. montanum and var. majus.
* Ranunculus Nathorstii, A. Berl. (R. acris, var. Nathorstii). I met
with this plant many years ago on Ben Lawers ;
but although I
felt it was distinct from ordinary acris, it was not until 1897
that Herr Freyn identified it with the above ;
and on the
specimens I collected then and in 1898 he remarks that they
offer a considerable range of variation, some from Ben Lawers
being fairly typical, others are bracteate, as in 7?. auricomus,
while others are hairy and large-flowered forms. One, also
from Ben Lawers, is a very remarkable form, with a somewhat
elongated or else prsemorse rhizome covered with coarse hairs.
As the beak of the fruit is of marked length, he considers it
to belong to Nathorstii, although he had never seen specimens