FIG. 11.-Lava dyke-Craig nan Filheach, west side of Great Cumbrae.

Dominants: Elder, Ivy, and Wood-sage.

FIG. 13. Scotch Lovage in crevice of rough, pebbly, red sandstone,

Avellana Linn., and Birch, Betula alba Linn., Oak, Quercus Rular Linn., Sloe, Prunus spinosa, Ash, Fraxinus excelsior Linn., Rowan, Pyrus Aucuparia Gaert., Hawthorn, Crataegus Oxyacantha Linn.; Sycamore, Acer PseudoPlatanus Linn., and Sallow, Salir, are frequent, Honeysuckle and Dog Rose, Rosa canina, occasional. Bracken and Gorse with Foxglove rising above them are perhaps the most frequent plants clothing the steep edges from one raised beach to the higher ones all round the island. On the east side of the island the ground vegetation of the scrub is composed largely of Self Heal, Prunella vulgaris Linn., Eyebright, Euphrasia officinalis Linn., Ground Ivy, Nepeta Glechoma Benth., Thymeleaved Speedwell, Veronica serpyllifolia, Strawberry, Fragaria resca Linn., Wood Avens, Geum urbanum Linn., Field Myosotis, Myosotis arvensis, Burdock, Arctium Lappa Linn., Figwort, Scrophularia nodosa, Tormentil, Thistles etc.- -a rich flora. Gorse, Bramble and Raspberry, Rubus Idaeus Linn., fringe the road at the base of the scrub and on the seaward side. In springtime and early summer the undergrowth of the scrub is composed of: Dog's Mercury, Mercurialis perennis Linn.; Bluebell, Scilla nutans Sm.; Primrose, Primula vulgaris Huds.; Lesser Celandine, Ranunculus Ficaria Linn.; Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa Linn.; Greater Stitchwort, Stellaria holostea Linn.; and Ground Ivy, Nepeta Glechoma. From the Targets to Clate Rock, on the west side of the island, the cliff face bears Hazel, Ash, Elder, Hawthorn, Crataegus Oryacantha Linn., Birch etc. Honeysuckle rears itself on some of the trees. undergrowth is composed of Bracken and Foxglove mainly.

The

The Ninian Brae, an inland brae on the west side of the Farland Hills, is clothed with Sycamore associated with Elm, Oak, Beech and Ash. On the top Pine and Ash grow, much battered by the wind. Red Campion and Foxglove with masses of Bracken occupy the open lower slopes.

(f) Maritime Vegetation (Fig. 13). The coast-line of eleven miles yields quite a variety of maritime types, but nowhere is there full development of maritime habitats. The species found are scattered, and of each there are few representatives. At Farland, Sea Pinks or Thrift, Armeria vulgaris Willd., Sea Milkwort, Glaux maritima Linn., Sea Arrowgrass, Triglochin maritimum Linn., Sea Campion, Silene maritima Wibel., Sea Plantain, Plantago maritima Linn., Buck's-horn Plantain, Plantago Coronopus Linn., and English Stonecrop, Sedum anglicum Huds., are found frequently. Scotch Lovage, Ligusticum scoticum Linn., is occasional in the joints of red pebbly sandstones. There are salty pads of Thrift, Armeria vulgaris, Sea Plantain, Plantago maritima, Sea Spurrey, Spergularia marina Pers., Sea Aster, Aster Tripolium Linn., Sea Poa, Glyceria maritima Wahl., Sea Milkwort, Glaux maritima, Sea Scurvy Grass, Cochlearia officinalis Linn., Sea Arrowgrass, Triglochin maritimum, and Round-fruited Rush, Juncus Gerardi Loisel. On the west shore there are in addition Sea Blite, Suaeda maritima Dum., and Sea Purslane, Arenaria peploides Linn.

On the NW. shore near White Bay the salty pads have Glasswort, Salicornia herbacea Linn., in addition.

At Fintray Bay the sand bears a few clumps of Maram Grass, Ammophila arundinacea Host., and Sea Matricaria, Matricaria maritima Linn. On West Bay patches of gravel bear Orache, Atripler patula Linn., with Dock, Rumer crispus Linn., Silverweed further back, and still further back from the sea Bird's-foot Trefoil and Thyme. The orangecoloured Lichen Xanthoria parietina and the grey-green fructicose lichen, Lichina confinis, form patches on the rocks and boulders all round the coast. On a sandy ridge in the shallow water of Millport Bay, Grasswrack, Zostera marina Linn., grows luxuriantly, a submerged flowering plant of the sea, its fleshy creeping stems rooting in the sand. It has long narrow leaves, and its submerged flowers shed thread-like pollen which floats to the filamentous stigmas. It reaches towards the land, growing between the tides.

Because they are subject to inundation by salt water, most of the maritime species mentioned above are succulents. The leaves are reduced in size, are thick and fleshy with a thick cuticle or, as in the case of Salicornia, the stem is succulent and the leaves minute. Such plants develop a very high osmotic pressure, which enables them to absorb water from a soil impregnated with salt water. In some cases, e.g. Glaux and Armeria, there are glands on the leaves which permit of the excretion of salt water. The stomata may be sunken, as in Suaeda, which is also further protected from loss of water by a waxy bloom on the surface. Aqueous or water-storing tissue is developed, as in Salicornia, Plantago and Arenaria. This gives succulence, which may be a result of changes in the chemistry of the leaf brought about by limited absorption of water. The whole problem, however, of succulence in these halophytes is one not yet satisfactorily explained.

(To be continued.)

GEOGRAPHY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

THE Oxford meeting of the British Association was held during the week of August 4-11, under the presidency of H.R. H. The Prince of Wales, and was particularly well attended and enjoyable. The president of Section E (Geography) was the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P., whose address we publish here on p. 257. The Section met on all the five working days of the meeting, and in consequence there was no overcrowding of the programme on any of the days. Indeed, except on Thursday, August 5, there were no afternoon meetings of the Section. This made it possible to arrange no less than three afternoon excursions, in addition to the whole-day one on Saturday, and these excursions, carefully organised and efficiently led, were an important feature of the meeting, and formed an admirable continuation of the series initiated at Southampton last year. Mr. H. O. Beckit, the Director of the Oxford School of Geography, and Mr. J. N. L. Baker

acted as leaders on all four occasions, with the addition of Professor H. L. Hawkins in the case of Tuesday's excursion to the Goring Gap. The excursion on Friday afternoon, August 6, was to Brill on the Oxford Heights. Saturday was devoted to a lengthy excursion to the Cotswold country, the visibility conditions being extremely favourable. The most notable points in a very successful day were perhaps the wonderful view from the Cotswold edge over the Severn Valley to the Welsh Hills beyond, and the hardly less striking one from a hill above Faringdon over the Thames Valley on one side and the Vale of the White Horse on the other, the White Horse being plainly visible. Monday afternoon was devoted to the Central Chilterns just south of the wind-gap at Princes Risborough, while Tuesday's excursion to the Goring Gap illustrated a paper read by Professor H. L. Hawkins to the Section in the morning of the same day.

In addition to the excursions, the members of the Section were invited to make a special visit to the Bodleian Library in the late afternoon of Thursday, August 5, to see a number of interesting maps and atlases in the collection which were laid out for their inspection. On this occasion Sir George Fordham gave a short address. When it is added that the social side of the meeting was well represented; that one of the evening discourses-that by Professor H. F. Osborn on "Discoveries in the Gobi Desert by the American Museum Expeditions," beautifully illustrated by lantern slides and cinematograph viewswas of direct geographical importance; that the museums, colleges, churches, and gardens of the city presented many and varied attractions to geographers with wide interests: it will be obvious that the time of members during the meeting was very fully occupied.

In accordance with the recent practice of avoiding, so far as possible, the delivering of presidential addresses in the different Sections at the same time, Mr. Ormsby-Gore's address was postponed till the end of the morning on the opening day. Parenthetically it may be remarked that this practice of spreading out the presidential addresses tends to increase the wandering from Section to Section practised by many members of the Association, and thus to diminish the attendance on general papers in any particular Section. For example, Professor Fleure's presidential address to Section H (Anthropology) on "The Regional Balance of Racial Evolution," on Monday, August 9, both on account of the subject and of its author's reputation as a geographer, exerted a strong attractive influence on the members of Section E, with a consequent drop in the attendance in the latter Section. On the other hand, Thursday afternoon was devoted to a joint discussion between Sections E and H on "The Effect on African Native Races of Contact with European Civilisation." This was supposed to have as its starting-point Mr. Ormsby-Gore's address delivered in the morning. But during the morning Section H met independently, so that its members must either have been listening in the afternoon to a discussion of an address which they had not heard, or have neglected