RETURN TO LIBRARY OF MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY WOODS HOLE, MASS. LOANED BY AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY The Annals OF Scottish Natural History mM QUARTERLY NAGAZINE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED “Che Scottish Naturalist” EDITED BY j. A. HARVIE-BROWN, .F-R-S.E., F-Z.S. MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION JAMES W. Hi. RATE, MA M.D: PRs: 21:8. PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN AND WILLIAM EAGLE CLARKE, F.L.S., Mem. Brit. OrN. UNION NATURAL HISTORY DEPARTMENT, MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND ART, EDINBURGH 1899 EDINBURGH DAVID DOUGLAS, CASTLE STREET LONDON: R. H. PORTER, 7 PRINCES ST., CAVENDISH SQUARE The Annals ot Scottish Natural History No. 29] 1899 [JANUARY REE. AD EAN See iVe Teles: THE death of Dr. Hardy, which took place at his residence at Oldcambus Town Head, in the Parish of Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, on Friday, the 30th of September, 1898, has caused a blank in the ranks of Scottish Naturalists, which will not be easily filled. Born near Penmanshiel, on the Ist of June 1815, James Hardy had thus, at the time of his death, already entered upon his eighty-fourth year; but he came of a long-lived race, and, as recorded upon the tomb- stone in God’s acre at Coldingham Abbey, where his mortal remains were laid in their last resting-place, on Wednesday, the 5th of October last, his father had lived to the ripe old age of 100 years. The eldest son of a highly respected family, which had for many years been established as farmers in the Parish of Cockburnspath, James Hardy, after obtaining a good pre- paratory education at the village school, entered the University of Edinburgh about the year 1833. After four sessions of College life, one of which was spent at Glasgow for the purpose of attending a special class there, he returned home in somewhat indifferent health, and for a few years his course in life seems to have been uncertain. Although from early boyhood a most diligent student, he appears to have 29 B 2 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY evinced little predilection for any of the professions, and until 1846 he remained at home, busying himself about the farm, but all the time improving himself by close and attentive reading. In that year, what seemed a favourable opportunity of opening an Academy for higher education presented itself at Gateshead-on-Tyne, and he went there and laboured, not unsuccessfully, for a few years; but, his health again giving way, he was compelled once more to return to the parental roof. From this time forward, up to the date of his death, he continued to reside in his native parish, ostensibly engaged in farming, but neglecting no opportunity of making himself thoroughly acquainted with the Natural History, and Antiquarian lore, of the Border Counties, and extending his reading to a great variety of subjects. During his residence in Gateshead he became acquainted with many of the leading scientific men on Tyneside, and joined the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, as well as the Newcastle Antiquarian Society, and he was one of the earliest members of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club, formed in 1846. In 1848, in con- junction with his friend the late T. J. Bold, he undertook “A Catalogue of the Insects of Northumberland and Durham,” which was published, with Hardy as its editor, in the “ Transactions” of the Tyneside Club." The Catalogue extended to the order Coleoptera only, and, including, as it did, 353 genera, and 1170 species, was marvellously exhaust- ive, taking into account the somewhat meagre attention which had, up to that time, been paid to the Beetles of the district. Many other papers from his facile pen appeared from time to time in different scientific journals, always written with that accuracy, and careful regard to fact, which ever distinguished him; and he was soon recognised, not merely as an authority on all local subjects, but as one well versed in some of the least-known branches of Botany, and Entomology. The pages of the earlier numbers of the “Border Magazine” were frequently enriched by his essays, not always confined to prose work, and the Folk Lore Society was equally indebted to him. Amongst his contributions to the last-named Society may be mentioned his “ Popular 1 Vol. i. pp. 37-96, and vol. ii. pp. 21-97, and 164-287. THE LATE JAMES HARDY, LL.D. 3 History of the Cuckoo,”’ which contains a vast fund of information on this oft-written-upon, and almost inexhaust- ible subject; and the paper, which runs to over 40 pp., is an apt illustration of the resources of its author, and the thoroughness with which his work was always done. In 1892-95 the Folk Lore Society published, under his editorship, two volumes entitled “Denham Tracts,” com- prising a collection of folk lore by Michael Aislabie Denham; and interspersed throughout the book are to be found many additions by the editor from his own store of information, these being always distinguished by the initials (J. H.) appended to them. It was, however, in connection with the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club that Dr. Hardy was perhaps best known, and to the members of that club his loss is well-nigh irre- parable. Though he did not formally join the club till 1863, he had contributed considerably to its “ Proceedings ” for many years previously ;* and upon the death of Mr. George Tate, in 1871, he was appointed, along with the late Dr. Francis Douglas, to the Secretaryship. From that time forward the duties of editing the annual publications devolved almost entirely upon him, and the success with which he accomplished that work is written in every volume of the Club’s history. Losing the help of Dr. Douglas by that gentleman’s death in 1886, Dr. Hardy acted as sole Secretary of the Club till 1896, when the Rev. George Gunn was associated with him in that office. In recognition of his valuable and gratuitous services, his fellow members presented him, in the jubilee year of the Club (1881), with a valuable microscope bearing an appropriate inscription, together with a cheque for 4111 towards enabling him to bind up his voluminous collection of books, pamphlets, and manuscripts. In April 1890, Mr. Hardy had the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him, honorzs causa, by the University of Edinburgh ; and two months later, at its first meeting for the year, the members of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, in 1 Folk Lore Record, part ii. 2 His first paper, entitled ‘‘ Contributions to the Flora of Berwickshire,” appeared in 1839, vol. i. pp. 206-210. 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY tendering their congratulations to him, upon the distinction conferred upon him by his Adma Mater, made him the recipient of a handsomely illuminated address, together with a cheque for £400. Through the instrumentality of the late Sir William J. Hooker, James Hardy had become known, at an early period, to the late Dr. George Johnston, of Berwick-on-Tweed, and their acquaintance soon grew into a close friendship, which was only to be parted by death. How well and usefully they worked together is demonstrated in nearly every volume written by the gifted author of “ The Natural History of the Eastern Borders”; and a few years ago Dr. Hardy edited a volume of the correspondence of his late friend, which had been brought together, and was published by his daughter Mrs. Barwell Carter. Amongst the many contributions to our knowledge of the Border Counties, for which we are indebted to Dr. Hardy, may be instanced his “Popular Rhymes of Berwickshire,” “The Wild Cat in the Border District,” “Bowling as an Extinct Game in Berwick- shire,” the “ Lichen Flora,” and “ Moss Flora of the Eastern Borders,” his “ Contributions to the Entomology of the Cheviot Hills,’ “On Urns and Other Antiquities found round the Southern Skirts of the Cheviot Hills,” “ Ancient Stone and Flint Implements of Berwickshire and_ the Borders,” and his “ History of the Wolf in Scotland ”—all of which appeared in the “History of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club,” and are full of interesting details concern- ing the subjects treated. Many of them have been largely quoted, not always with due acknowledgment made, and one of them, “ The Wolf in Scotland,” was so appreciated by Mr. Harting, that it was very largely made use of in his “Extinct British Animals,’ with but very scanty reference to the scource from which his information was obtained ; and the writer has frequently heard Dr. Hardy refer, with considerable sarcasm, to the piracy so committed. Many other papers, too numerous to refer to here, were contributed by him ; and in these are to be found, not only additions to the local Fauna, and Flora, but many species are therein recorded, which had not previously been found in Scotland, or the British Islands, while not a few of them were entirely THE LATE JAMES HARDY, LL.D. 5 new to science. To enumerate even the latter is beyond the scope of this article, but several of his discoveries, still bearing the specific name of H/ardzz, will serve to keep for ever green the memory of one we all loved so well. In Ornithology, as in other matters, Dr. Hardy’s local knowledge was very extensive ; while the readiness with which he was always willing to place his information at the disposal of others is amply acknowledged in Mr. Muirhead’s “ Birds of Berwickshire,” scarcely a chapter of which but bears the im- press of his helping hand. His knowledge of local family, and county history was also very great; but enough has already been said to illustrate the varied, and extensive character of his work, and it is no flattery to say, quod tangit ornat. Dr. Hardy married in 1877 a daughter of the late Mr. Halliday of Wooler, who was a distant rela- tive, and she survives to mourn his loss; he had no family. A few years ago he had a severe attack of shingles, followed by heavy hemorrhage from the nose; but though this had greatly reduced his accustomed vigour, his friends had no reason to anticipate so sudden a collapse as that which occurred. The garden at Town Head, enriched from time to time by the attentions of a wide circle of botanical friends, contained a fine collection of alpine, and herbaceous plants, many of which were grown in a state of great perfection ; and it was Dr. Hardy’s almost invariable habit, when the weather permitted, to make a tour of inspection round his borders after tea-time. Owing to the fine open autumn, many of these were in full bloom on the 30th September, when he went out for the last time to take his accustomed walk. Thinking that he was lingering over them longer than was prudent, Mrs. Hardy shortly afterwards followed her husband into the garden, and was shocked to find him lying peacefully in his last slumber. At the annual meeting of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, which fell due within a few weeks of Dr. Hardy’s death, a most feeling tribute was paid to his memory by the President of the Club, Colonel Milne Home, and a scheme was inaugu- rated by which it is hoped to publish some suitable monument of one who had the best interests of the Club so much at 6 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY heart. As one of a small committee appointed at that meeting, it fell to the lot of the writer, a short time ago, to go through some of the papers left by the subject of this notice, and to say that the quantity of MSS. discovered was a surprise is to convey but an inadequate idea of its extent. Whenever a rare book, or document of interest, came within his reach it had been carefully, and literally transcribed, and the amount of physical labour entailed in this respect alone must have been enormous ; but in addition to the copied matter, a large quantity of original, and collated material was dis- closed, and from this it is hoped to publish as soon as possible one or more memorial volumes. GEORGE BOLAM. NOTES “ON THE EEPPECIS (OF lie hE Crna OCTOBER GALE UPON MARINE, LIFE ON THE COASTS OF THEO tEirANS: By WILLIAM Evans, F.R.S.E., M.B.O.U. THE outstanding feature of the weather experienced on the east side of Scotland during October 1898 was the severe easterly gale which set in on the 14th, and, but for a temporary lull on the 16th, continued without cessation till the morning of the 19th. A natural result of so protracted a gale from the direction of the open ocean was, of course, an exceptionally heavy sea in the Firth of Forth. The fact, too, that the storm was coincident with the spring tides rendered it) all the more destructive (“Uhe 7th andirsth were particularly stormy days, and it was during full tide on the morning of the latter day that the bulk of the extensive damage to property took place. Harbour works, sea-walls and embankments, shipping, etc., were everywhere more or less seriously damaged, while many houses in the low-lying parts of the coast towns and villages were flooded to an alarming extent. Sandhills and natural embankments closely abutting on the beach were in many places very considerably encroached upon, and numbers of pine trees THE EFFECTS OF THE RECENT OCTOBER GALE 7 erowing alongside the shore west of Granton were under- mined and overthrown. It is not, however, the object of the present notes to enlarge upon the damage done to property by the storm, but to give some indication of its effects on certain members of the marine fauna of the Firth of Forth as observed by myself on various parts of the coast between North Berwick and Cramond. On 20th October I walked along the beach from Levenhall to Cockenzie for the purpose of seeing what hade been cast) ashore there. “1 next "examined! the shore from Portobello westwards towards Leith. Then followed excursions from North Berwick to Gullane, Longniddry to Gosford, and Granton to Cramond. If one may judge by the paucity of positive evidence met with on the beach, the fatalities among the feathered frequenters of the Firth must have been wonderfully few—a young Gannet, two Shags, a Guillemot, a Herring Gull, and a Kittiwake being the only dead birds I noticed myself. A Storm Petrel, however, was picked up near Dunbar, and another was got at Cramond; and Mr. R. Godfrey found the remains of a Pomatorhine Skua near Bo'ness. I had hoped to find some of the rarer fishes washed ashore, but in this I was sadly disappointed ; for, with the single exception of a specimen of the Four-bearded Rockling (Motella cimbria) kindly handed to me by Mr. Godfrey from the shore between Leith and Portobello, nothing uncommon came under my notice. Indeed, examples of any species of fish, save one, were decidedly scarce. The Cat or Wolf Fish (Anarrhichas lupus) was this exception, and it was a notable one. Hundreds were cast up on the beach in the neighbour- hood of North Berwick. On 26th October I counted no less than 204 between the harbour and a point opposite the island of Fidra, and many more were no doubt buried beneath the tons of tangle (Laminaria), wrack (Fucus), and other sea-weeds heaped at the farthest corner of every little bay. Over thirty were to be seen in a small bay between Gosford and Aberlady, and numbers were also stranded, I was told, in the vicinity of Dunbar. The majority of those I saw were from two to three feet in length: the largest measured was 3 feet 5 inches, while a few were not more 8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY than one foot. That such wholesale destruction should have overtaken this particular fish, while others inhabiting the same localities escaped, is certainly somewhat puzzling. They must have been literally pounded to death amongst the rocks by the force of the waves, having probably in the first place been caught up by the ground-swell invading their haunts at low-water. The only other fishes I observed were half a dozen Anglers (Lophizus piscatorius), a few Sea-Bullheads (both Cottus bubalis and C. scorpius; one of the latter, got at Morrison’s Haven, being a well-marked example of the var. grwnlandica), a Whiting, and a small Coal-fish. Of the Invertebrates, none seem to have suffered more than the Mollusca; and perhaps the most interesting forms I met with were two Cephalopods, namely Rossza macrosoma, of which one specimen occurred at Morrison’s Haven, and Eledone cirrosa,.of which nine lay stranded on the beach west of North Berwick (see separate note on p. 53). An example of another Cephalopod, Zodarodes sagittatus (Lmk.), was cast ashore west of Portobello. Among Gastropods, the Common Whelk (Buccznum undatum) was a conspicuous sufferer, large numbers of shells, with the all but dead animals hanging half out of them, being thrown up by the waves in many places. The still larger Weptunea antiqua had also succumbed in considerable numbers. Shells of Philine aperta, with the animals attached, were fairly common among rejectamenta immediately to the west of Portobello ; and on the beach at Prestonpans, the day after the storm, I picked up two specimens of Capulus hungaricus still showing signs of life. But no forms seem to have fared worse than some of the Lamellibranchs. Living gregariously, as so many of them do, practically on the surface of banks of sand or mud in more or less shallow water (some not even beyond low-water mark), they fall a ready prey to the fury of storms of the present type. Whole colonies of certain species must have been literally ploughed up and swept bodily away by the terrific ground swell, and after much tossing too and fro deposited in a dead or dying state on the gently sloping beach. A few Oysters (Ostrea edulis) came ashore at Preston- THE EFFECTS OF THE RECENT OCTOBER GALE 9 pans, and also, I was told, to the west of Portobello ; but as usual it was the Scallop or Clam (Pecten opercularis) that was most in evidence. At Prestonpans they were stranded in great numbers, to the evident regret of the fishermen, who depend much on this species for bait. Many were also thrown up between Portobello and Leith, and to the westward of Granton, but in nothing like such numbers as I remember seeing in these localities after a storm about twenty-two years ago. The Common Mussel (Mytelus edulis) was like- wise conspicuously abundant, and its larger relative (J/odzola modtolus) was more or less plentiful in most localities. Many Cockles (Cardium edule) were to be seen scattered along the tide-mark, and in several places, as for instance on the Craigentinny shore, C. echznatum was common. Near Port Seton a specimen of C. xorvegicum occurred, and an example of Pectunculus glycimerts was picked up alive at Prestonpans. The large Cyprina tslandica was common between Preston- pans and Cockenzie and some other parts of the coast, as were also Venus gallina, Tapes pullastra, Mactra solida, and a few other species. Venus exoleta and V. fincta were both cast up alive on the beach between North Berwick and Dirleton, but only in very limited numbers. At the same place I picked up several detached valves of V. fasczata, and of Pholas crispata and P. candida, but I doubt if they were there as the direct effect of the storm. Jactra stultorum and JZ. subtruncata were both numerous on the Craigentinny shore and between Longniddry and Port Seton, and in the same localities many examples of Lutrarza elliptica were lying about—all I examined being empty, however, for the animal is soon separated from the shell. A feature of the beach at Levenhall was the abundance of TJel/ina balthica, which shell was also present in a number of other places. Other species cast up, but not in any quantity, as far as I observed, were TJellina tenuis, T. fabula, Scrobicularia alba (Portobello), Donax vittatus (Longniddry), and Corbula gibba (one specimen west of Granton). In several localities JZya arenaria and MW. truncata were numerous, and Saxcava rugosa was everywhere common in roots of tangle. Axomia ephippium, A. patelliformis, and Helcion pellucidum were also common on tangle roots, etc. 10 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Crustaceans, too, it was evident, had perished in large numbers. Hundreds of dead Hermit Crabs (Pagurus bern- hardus), many of them of large size and nearly all in the naked condition, were noticed on several parts of the shore ; and Spider Crabs (Hyas araneus), all more or less mutilated, were frequent. Among the heaps of sea-weed and other debris, mangled remains of the Common Shore-Crab (Car- cinus ni@nas) were abundant, while here and there many examples of its swimming relative Portumnus depurator were met with. On the Craigentinny beach, two specimens of the small Porcellana longicornis were obtained. At North Berwick a good many Lobsters (Homarus gammarus) were cast ashore, and near Prestonpans I picked up a broken specimen of WVephrops norvegicus. To all appearance, the destruction of Echinoderms had not been less heavy. On the shore west of North Berwick many large Sea-Urchins (Echinus esculentus), battered and rubbed, were scattered about, and they again occurred in considerable numbers a mile or so west of Aberlady, while odd ones were noticed much farther westwards. At Bogle- hill, Longniddry, two specimens of £. mzliaris were found. Echinocardium cordatum was cast up, but not in any abundance, at several points between North Berwick and Gullane, and at Longniddry. Great numbers of the Common Cross-fish (Asterias rubens), dead and broken, were lying about ; and the Sun-star (Crossaster papposus), though less numerous, was likewise common. Solaster endica, Crib- rella oculata, and Ophtothrix rosula (=O. pentaphyllum ?) occurred, but not plentifully, at Prestonpans and Dirleton ; and among rejectamenta at Morrison’s Haven a couple of Ophiopholis aculeata were obtained. Of other groups I took little note, but I could not help being struck with the great numbers of the two common Sea-Anemones (Actinia mesembryanthemum and Teaha crassicornis), and also of Alcyonium adigitatum and an Ascidian (A. virginea ?), mixed up in the general wreckage at several points between North Berwick and Port Seton. The Sea Mouse (Aphrodite aculeata) occurred in some numbers at Gosford, Prestonpans, and Portobello. Any one interested in Hydroid Zoophytes could, no doubt, have NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF BALLINLUIG DISTRICT II got quite a number of species: I noted Thuzaria thuja and a few other conspicuous forms in several places. The list, it will be seen, is almost entirely made up of veritable “common objects of the sea-shore,” as indeed it was bound to be. It is, perhaps, unnecessarily long, but my object in making direct references to so many species is to show more clearly how widespread the influence of the gale really was. NOTES ON THE BIRDS, OF BALEINEUIG DIST RIGS PE RIG Srl By Bruce CaMPBELL. DURING the last five years, in the months of May, June, July, or August, I have spent my annual holiday at Ballin- luig ; and having paid considerable attention to the bird -life during my rambles in the district, I now venture to put my notes on record. The district is situated between Dunkeld and Pitlochry, and is noted for its exceedingly mild climate. The lower ground is well wooded, and consists chiefly of Scotch Fir, Larch, and Oak; the higher ground is principally moorland, and somewhat rocky. For other information regarding the ornithology of the Upper Day area, 1 may refer readers to “Notes on the Birds of North-West Perthshire, by William Horn, “Proc. Natural History, Society of Glasgow,” vol. ii, 1881, Pp. 54-69. Wuincuat, Pratincola rubetra.—A scarce summer visitor. spedenotes staat a specimen was sent me, and ! denotes that I have seen a specimen labelled as from the county. 74. WIGTOWN. Ranunculus auricomus Sa) L Gorrie (ex M‘Andrew). Cichorium Intybus j Mentha sylvestris, 7, A/‘Andrew, sp. 84. LINLITHGOW. (Messrs. Somerville and Renwick.) Hypericum dubium, s/. Atriplex erecta, sf. Leontodon autumnalis, sf. Polygonum Bistorta, sf. Veronica agrestis, sf. 95. ELGIN. Epilobium obscurum l Hieracium angustatum, Lindeb. { Pe ad 96. EASTERNESS. Potamogeton obtusifolius, Z. S. Marshal. 97. WESTERNESS. Rubus Borzeanus, Genev., S. M. Macvicar. Determined by Rev. Moyle Rogers ‘‘ new to Scotland.” 7Sambucus Ebulus ) ae +Galium Mollugo y Mega RECORDS OF SCOTTISH PLANTS FOR 1898 93 98. Main ARGYLE. Helianthemum vulgare, 5f., S. JZ Macvicar. Recorded for 97, “Tsle of Lismore,” in error. Polygala eu-vulgaris, MWacvicar / Rubus rhamnifolius, f., C. £. Salmon. Sparganium neglectum, s/. Potamogeton coloratus, sf. 3 minimum, fers. auth. Carex vulpina, sf. Potamogeton przlongus, sf. Avena pubescens, s/. - perfoliatus, sf. Too. CLYDE ISLEs. Bartsia viscosa, Ballantyne (ex Somerville), sf. or. CANTIRE. Bartsia viscosa | ieee (CO Carex levigata Jj (J. MRae, ex Somerville.) Ranunculus bulbosus. Adoxa Moschatellina. Papaver Rheeas. Cichorium Intybus. Erophila vulgaris. Euphorbia Peplus. Trifolium arvense. Orchis mascula. Prunus Avium. Habenaria bifolia. Cherophyllum temulum. Botrychium Lunaria. (C. £. Salmon.) Rubus rhamnifolius, f. a Suleatus 5, pulcherrimus All determined by Rez. » | dumnoniensis Moyle Rogers. » Radula, var. anglicanus corylifolius, var. cyclophyllus Agrimonia Eupatoria. Utnicularia minor. Pyrus Aria. Potamogeton alpinus. Eupatorium cannabinum. 3 heterophyllus. Gnaphalium sylvaticum. Rhynchospora alba. Lobelia Dortmanna. Isoetes lacustris. Gentiana baltica. (Messrs. Somerville and Piayfair.) Hypericum elodes, s/. Veronica Buxbaumii. Myriophyllum alternifolium, sf. Scutellaria minor, sf. i spicatum, sf. Betula verrucosa. Scandix Pecten-Veneris, sf. Juniperus communis. Taraxacum palustre, sf. Sparganium minimum. Erythreea littoralis. Scirpus fluitans. 94 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 103. Mip EBUDES. +Inula Helenium ) SM B : : -S. MW. Macvicar. Potamogeton prelongus, sf. Arctium minus = 3 ; 8 12 gus, Sp 104. NortTH EBUDES, Epilobium obscurum (Eigg), S. JZ, Macvicar. 106. East Ross. Festuca arundinacea, Marshall and Shoolbred, 1897. 107. EAST SUTHERLAND. (Marshall and Shoolbred, 1897.) Cardamine flexuosa. Circeea alpina. Cochlearia groenlandica. Conium maculatum. 7Sisymbrium Sophia. Pimpinella Saxifraga. ms Thalianum. Arctium nemorosum., Cakile maritima. Hieracium buglossoides, Arv. Viola canina. Touvet. ee untIsiL Erythreea littoralis. Lychnis alba. Myosotis collina. Sagina maritima. 7 Verbascum Thapsus. 4) SHodesa. Atriplex Babingtonii. Spergularia rubra. »» laciniata. * marina. Salicornia herbacea. ss neglecta (media). Sueeda maritima. ;Malva sylvestris. Juniperus communis. Rosa hibernica, var. glabra. Carex extensa. Sedum anglicum. Holcus mollis. 108. WEST SUTHERLAND. (Marshall and Shoolbred.) Thalictrum collinum. Solanum Dulcamara. Caltha ‘‘ radicans.” Anagallis tenella. Rubus Balfourianus. Salicornia herbacea. Hieracium stenolepis, Lindeb., Goodyera repens. var. anguinum, W. R. Linton. 110. OuTER HEBRIDES. (W. A. Shoolbred, sps.) Hieracium Boswelli, Linton. Potamogeton crispus. re Oreades, var. sub- Sparganium microcarpum. glabrum, F. J. Hanb. Carex teretiuscula. Hieracium rivale, F. J. Hanb. 5 wadlen, Linton: 112. SHETLAND ISLEs. Petasites officinalis l Beeby, s Phragmites communis (confirmed) § ae TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY OF SCOTLAND 95 TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY OF *S€OLLAND: By James W. H. Trait, A.M., M.D., F.R.S. (Continued from p. 235, October 1898.) [Names of plants in z¢a/écs, except as synonyms within curved brackets, denote that the plants were certaznly introduced into Scotland by man. + after a district-number denotes introduction by man into the district; ‘‘ cas.” denotes casual occurrence, and ‘‘ esc.” evident escape or outcast from culti- vation, both being due to man’s agency. Square brackets enclosing the name of a plant or a district-number denote that the record was made in error. ? after a district-number denotes, at least, need of confirmation ; after + it denotes doubt as to whether the plant owes its presence in the district to man. ] SOLANACE. 1Solanum Dulcamara, Z., except 75, 79, S4, 97, 98, 101, 103, 104, HOS REO eh LO LT, 2S) nigrum, 2, 745 751) OO}, OTT, 83> O41, S5 ts SOn, bextismmre:y, got, 92 Ccas., 987, 100f. S. tuberosum, L., a frequent casual; sometimes in unexpected places, e.g. near top of Corryhabbie Hill, in Banffshire. Lycopersicum esculentum, L., casual, e.g. in 92. Lyctum barbarum, V., 857. Atropa Belladonna, L., +, or casual, in 72, 75-77, 81-83, 85-88, 89 (?), 90, 95, 103. Datura Stramonium, L., casual in 73, 74. ’ Hyoscyamus niger, Z., 72, 747, 75, 76 (?), 80-83, 85, 86, 887, 897, 90, 91, 927, 107 Cas. (NoLANACEEZ.—LWVolana prostrata, \., casual, e.g. in 92.) SCROPHULARIACE. 4Verbascum Thapsus, Z., 72-78, 81-84, 85+, 86-90, 917, 927, 95T; 967,299, LOO, LO7 Cas., LOO}, ILI 7. [V. pulverulentum, /7//, reported, but in error, from 94. | V. Lychnitis, L., escape, 85+, 867, Perthshirey, 99f. V. nigrum, L., 817, 827, 837, 857, 867 88 cas., 89 Ccas., QQF. Linaria Cymbalaria, Mill., + or casual, in 72-75, 77, 82-86, 88, 89, 95, 99. L. Elatina, Mill., 867, 997. Li; purpurea, \., 74. CaS., 927. 1 Solanum Dulcamara, L.—In north-east Scotland this grows only in habitats suggestive of man’s agency. 2S. nigrum, L.—Probably introduced by man into every habitat in Scotland. 3 Hyoscyamus niger, L. \ Both species should probably have t+ after most * Verbascum Thapsus, L. (perhaps all) of the vice-comital numbers. 96 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH. NATURAL HISTORY terepens, Mill, 757,837 S015 Ooty OOtnnD OTRO 2 17. vulgaris, Mill., except tn 96, 97, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, HOS. LOD, 110, o loleleligs 21, yiscida, Moench (2. minor, Dest)! 7257 iS aii O°, S1,005 1 867, 887, 8907, 917, 99T-. Antirrhinum majus, L., 74 esc., 83 esc., 85 esc., 86 esc., 89 esc., g2 esc. Scrophularia aquatica, Z., 72, 73, 74, 75, [76, 77], 81, 83 (°), [84, 35, 87), cua): b. cinerea, Dum., 88 cas. S. umbrosa, Dum. (S. Khrhartt), 75, 76 (2), 77, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85. S! nodosayeZin cxcepe li, ale 9: Uernalis, W.. F2its 1S isk OF Osh RO Ip NO Ola lOO ECO Tato eie Mimutlus luteus, L., ¢ in 72-75, 83, 85-94, 99, 100, 102. M. guttatus, 91}, 927- MM. moschatus, casual, “on river-shingles,” in Perthshire, 92 cas. Limosella aquatica, Z., 74 (?), 75, 82, 90, QI. Digitalis purpurea, Z., except 112. D. ambigua, Murr., casual, in 88. 3 Veronica hedereefolia, Z., except 78, 98, 100, 103, 104, 105, 110. V. polita, P75 except 73, 70, (6,99, G4, 90, 96,97, Gort O2 Oa LOL NOG, LOT, LOS, LL0; V, agrestis, 2; all: 4 V. Tournefortii, C. Gmel. (V. Buxbaumit, Ten.), except 76, 79, 97, GD NOL NOD, HO tne hOS: V. peregrina, \.., weed in nurseries at Perth. V. arvensis, Z., all. V. serpyllifolia, Z., all. 6. humifusa (Dicks.), 72, 87-90, 92, 94, 96-98, 105, 108. 5V. alpina, Z., 72, 86-90, 92, 94, 96, 07. V. fruticans, Jacg. (V. saxatilis, L.), 88-90, 94, 97, 98 (?), 108 (?). V. officinalis, Z., all. V. Chamedrys, Z., except 110. 1 Linaria vulgaris, Mill., of frequent occurrence by waysides, indicates human agency in its introduction by its habitat in many localities. 2 L. vtscida, Moench, should probably be ranked as an introduction into Scotland by man. It tends especially to spread along railway lines in the “* ballast.” 3 Veronica, L.—Several of the species are so much weeds of cultivation as to probably owe their wide diffusion, if not their introduction into Scotland, to man. 4 Veronica Tournefortit, C. Gmel.—This has become much more abundant, at least in north-east Scotland, in recent years. It now appears quite as much at home in many fields as does V. agrestis. 5 V. alpina, L.—In ‘Top. Bot.” this is given from ‘‘86, Stirling, Ben Lomond”; but I do not find it in the list in ‘‘ Notes on the Flora of Stirling- shire,” by Colonel Stirling and R. Kidston. TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY OF SCOTLAND 97 V. montana, Z., except 74, 78, 84, 85, 91, 92, 93, 97, 100, 101, 105, WOT AOS, LOD, 170, 111, 712 V. scutellata, Z., except S4. V. Anagallis-aquatica, Z., except S4, 94, 99, 104. 6. anagalliformis, Bor., 109. V. Beccabunga, Z., all. Eupurasia, L. ‘The records for this genus chiefly follow Mr. F. Townsend's paper in the “Journal of Botany” (1897), with additional records since its publication, ‘Notes of a Tour in North Scotland,’ by Rev. E. S. Marshall and W. A. Shoolbred, and ‘Notes from Cantire,’ by Mr, C. E. Salmon, both in the same journal (1898, pp. 173-174). . borealis, W¢tst., 92, 96, 98, 106-109, 111, 112. . brevipila, Burn. and Gremlt, 87, 88, 92, 95, 98, 101, 105, 108, 109. . nemorosa, Mart., 92, 112. mCliltaw77. berth) 92, 97,108, Too, var. glabrescens, IV¢ts¢., 106, 107. . occidentalis, W7tst., 97, 108. . latifolia, Pursh, 108. var. grandiflora, IWV7¢tst, 108. . foulaensis, Zowmns., 88, 92, 107-109, III, 112. METACIIS 7727 O05 G2, 00-98, TOI, 105, 108, 109, 112: var. Friesil, Sanio, 92. var. primaria, 27., 92, 105. E. scotica, Wetst., 92, 96-98, 101, 105, 108, 109, 112. E. Rostkoviana, A77e., 98, 105, 109. Bartsia Odontites, Huds., except 112. a. verna, Reichb., 88, 110. b. serotina (Reichd.), Perthshire, 110. c. litoralis, Reschb., 97, 107, 108. B. viscosa, Z., 73, 74, 76+ (reported by Sonntag for, 85, 86), 98-1or. B. alpina, Z., 88, 97 (?), 98, 105 (?). Pedicularis palustris, Z., all. P. sylvatica, Z., all. Rhinanthus Crista-galli, Z., all. 6. Drummond-Hayi, / 4. Waite, Perthshire, 108. Re Major, Leh, 81,85, 90, O11, 921, 93%).95, 00; LOO; FRI, 12 Melampyrum pratense, Z., except 78, 112. ad. montanum, Johzst., 72 (?), 74, 86-89, 95, 96, 103. é. hians, Druce, 74, 95, 108. M. sylvaticum, Z., 73, 75, 80, 81, 83 (?), 87-92, 94, 95 (?), 96, 99, 105,100, 109, 111 (?). He Fe Se 1 Rhinanthus major, Ehrh., has been observed only within quite recent years in 91 and 92 in a stackyard and among cereals and artificial pastures. These habitats clearly indicate human agency. 30 D 98 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY OROBANCHACEE. Orobanche major, Z., 72, 73, [85, 88]. @-cubra, S7., 73, 745 055 975190) 2O2-1Os, ane. [O. elatior, Sw¢ton, recorded from 98, probably in error. | O. cruenta, Zerfol., 98. O. minor, Sm., 857. Lathreea squamaria, Z., 72, 73, 75-77, 79-81, 83, 86-89, 97. LENTIBULARIACE&. Utricularia vulgaris, Z., except 76, 77 (?), 78, S4, 86, 87, 101, 102, LOS OA OF OVE moon OD: U. neglecta, Zehm., 72, 73, 75, 79 (), 80, 90, 97, 98, 99 (?), 100 (?), 105, 106 (?), 110 (?). U, minor, 2%, except 76, 73: 79,80) S284, 90, 103, LOG, LOT, HOg. U. intermedia, Hayne, 72-74, 81, 87-92, 95-108, 110, I12. (PU Beem, /7eer07 40.) Pinguicula vulgaris, Z., except 7S. Po alpimay 7, 104, 106, 108 (7), mn 1(?). P. lusitanica, Z., 73-75, 88, 96-98, 100-111. VERBENACEA, Verbena officinalis, L., 85+, 88 cas., 92 cas. LABIATZ. Mentha rotundifolia, L., 837, 85+, (got (?) extinct), 947. 1M. alopecuroides, [/w//, 74, 867, 88, 100. M. longifolia, Huds. (MZ. sylvestris, L.), 72-73, 81-83, 867, 88-90, 951, 96, 99, [100], 1077. 6. nemorosa, 89. c. mollissima (Borkh.), 88, 89. M. viridis, L., 724, 731; 747. 751%, 837, 851, 881; 89T, 92 ESC., 100. 2M. piperita, 25 72%, 7311 741 75t1979-O% 63,005, 180;50o-09; 9IT, 927, 99, 106. M. hirsuta, Z., all. b. subglabra (Baker), 74. M. sativa, Z., 72-77, 80-89, 91, 92, 95, 97, 99-102, 105, 108. b. paludosa (.So/e), 74, 88, 89. c. subglabra, Baker, 88, 89. M. rubra, Sv. (?), 88, 89. M. arvensis, 2, except 104. 107, LO, 112: ! Mentha alopecuroides, Hull. \ The species of AZentha have so long been 2 MW. piperita, L. J favourites in cottage-gardens, and have such powers of establishing and spreading themselves along streams, that some, or many, of the habitats of the favourite kinds must certainly be relics of man’s agency. TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY OF SCOTLAND 99 M. Bulegium, Z,, 727, 75; S82, 93%, S519 LOOt Lycopus europeus, Z., 72-78, 80 (reported by Sonntag from, 82, 83), 84-89, 91, 92, 95-98, 100-102, 105, 106. Origanum vulgare, Z., 72+, 731, 74-77) 79-81, 83-91, 92t (?), 94, Qs iloO2, Log. Thymus Serpyllum, 77, all. 6. prostratum, Hornem., 105, 108, 112. T. Chameedrys, #7, 74 (82, Sonntag), 96, 103, 104, 109, 110. Calamintha Clinopodium, Sfexz., 72 (?), 74, 75 (?) 76, 77, 79-81, 83-92, 94-96, 99. C. arvensis, Lam. (C. Acinos, Clairv.), 73+, 74, 75, 77, 80-83, 85, 88-92, 95> 96, 107. C. officinalis, Moench, 877, a doubtful record. Salvia Verbenaca, Z., 75, 81, 83, 85, 86, go, 106. Nepeta Cataria, L., 77+, 81+, 867, 87 cas., 107+, 1124. N. Glechoma, Benth., except 78, 104, 107, 108, 110, 111+ (?), 112. Scutellaria galericulata, Z., except 78, 85, 924, 109, 111, 112. S. minor, Huds., 73-75, 77 (?), 86, 97-104, I10. Prunella vulgaris, Z., all. Marrubium vulgare, Z., 72+, 731, 751 (?), 807 (?), 81+-83T, 85 (°), 87 cas., 95+ (?). Stachys Betonica, Benth., 72-75, 76(?), 77+, 80, 81, 83, 84(?), 85, 88, 89, 104 (?). S. palustris, Z., all. var. canescens, Lange, 105. palustris x sylvatica (ambigua, Sm.), 72 (?), 73, 74, 76 (2), 17 (2); 80, 8x(?), 82, 83(P), 87, 88, 92 (2), 96), 07, OGn LO0(T) ToT (2), 102, 104, 105, 107, 1a8;(r), cog: cor, Fiz, S. sylvatica, Z., all. wD alwvensis, 2, carepe 75,79, 56, 98, LO9, 112, S. ttalica, Mill., 92 cas. Galeopsis Ladanum, Z.) The name G. Zadanum, L., is recorded G. angustifolia, Zirh. § from the following—7s5, 807, $2, 83, 85, 86, 927, 957, 99, 104 (?), 111 (??); while G. angustifolia, Ehrh., is recorded from 8g: but since these plants were not s9i9.c clearly distinguished in the earlier lists, reliance can be placed on the records only as regards G. Ladanum in the aggregate. G_ versicolor, Curt, except 74, S2, 84, 107, 10S, 109, 110), L712. 1G. Tetrahit, Z., all. Lamium amplexicaule, Z., except 97, 99, 102, 104, 112. L. intermedium, /7., except 79, 81, 84, 86, 88, 94, 97, 99, 104, 106, 107; 1 G. Tetrahit, L.—Varies greatly in the flowers. The variety d7#da (Boenn. ) probably grows in many districts. It has been recorded from 72, 74, 87-89, 91-93, III. 100 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY L. hybridum, Vi//., except 72, 73, 74, 75 (2), 79, 82, 91, 98, 96, 97, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109. L. purpureum, Z., all. 6. decipiens, Sozder, 86. L. maculatum, L., an escape in many counties, ¢.g. 73, 75, 86, 88, 89, 91, 92,93. AL. album, Z., excepr 93, 97, 98, 100, LOURVOZ TAOS. 10, Oo: 106, 107, LOS, ALO! T12. L. Galeobdolon, Crantz, escape in 72, 75, 82, 83, 84, 97, 98 (?). Ballota nigra, Z., 75, 76(?), 777, 80, 81, 82(?), 83, 85(?), 864, 87 cas., 927, 957. a. foetida, Koch, 87 cas. 6. ruderalis, Koch, 86. Teucrium Chamedrys, L., 75+, 89+ (extinct), 927 (extinct). T. Scorodonia, Z., except 112. Ajuga reptans, Z., except 78. A. pyramidalis, Z., 72, 96 (?), 97, 98, 104, 106-111. PLANTAGINEA. Plantago major, Z., all. ee media, L., 72, 73) 75> Vile 80-83, 85; 86, 877; 887, 897, 99; 91, 927, 931, 971, 99T, 111 (?), 1127. P. Nanceolata, 7. alle var. eriophylla, Dene. 112. var. Capitata, Pres/., 112. Pimaritima, 7.5 excep 7/70, (a, OO O4, SO. var. minor, ffook. and Arn., 108, 109. var. hirsuta, Syme, 111. var. pygmea, Lange, 110, 112. P.\Coronopus, 777, Cx0cpt (7, 615,00 os (OOOO, 70! var. pygmea, Lange, 108, 109g, 112. var. ceratophylla, Ragin, 108. P. arenaria, Waldst. and Kit., introduced here and there, e.g. near Aberdeen. It does not seem to keep its footing. Littorella juncea, Berg, except 78. ILLECEBRACE. (Herniaria glabra, Z., has been recorded from 81, and from 88 or 89, but is not sufficiently vouched. 4. swbctliata, Bab., has been found as a casual at Perth.) Scleranthus annuus, Z., except 98, 103, 104, 110, 111, 112. (S. perennis, Z., has been recorded from Forfarshire, in error.) 1 ZL. album, L.—This seems in many localities in Scotland, if not in most, to be an introduced plant. * P. media, L., may not be native anywhere in Scotland. Wherever I have seen it, there seemed little doubt of its introduction among agricultural seeds. TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY OF SCOTLAND IOI AMARANTHACEE. Amaranthus retroflexus, 1, an occasional casual, e.g. near Aberdeen. CHENOPODIACE. 1 Chenopodium polyspermum, Z., 81, go (?). C. Vulvaria, Z., 73 cas., 82 (?), 83, 85 (?). album: £all: The varieties zzcanum, Mogq., viride, Syme, and viridescens, St. Am., have been recorded from various counties in Scotland. C. opulifolium, Schrad., casual, in 92. (C. murale, Z., has been recorded from 80 and go, but the records have not been confirmed.) C. hybridum, L., reported as rare introduction in, 82, 83, 84, 85. C. urbicum, L., 72 cas. b. intermedium, Moq., 817, 837. (Recorded for 92, but not confirmed. Probably an error.) C. rubrum, Z., 74-76, 777, 81, 83, 85, 87+ (92, an error), 997, 108. C. glaucum, L., 85+. 2C. Bonus-Henricus, Z., except 97-99, 101-104, 108, 110-112. Beta maritima, Z., 73, 74, 82+, 83-85, 877 (?), 102. Atriplex littoralis, Z., 74, 81, 82, 83(?), 84, 85, 87, 92 cas., 97, [106, 108], 111. b. serrata, Mog., 73, 74. Ae patula, 72, except 78, 79, 34, 97, 101, 103, 105, 107. b. erecta, Huds., 72-74, 76-78, 81-86, 90, 96, 100-104, I10- Di. ¢. angustifolia (.Sw.), 72-78, 81-87, 90, 91, 95-97, 99-102, 104, 107-112, A. calotheca, /7zes, 74 (shingle at Stranraer, in August 1898, G. C. Druce, named by Herr Freyn), 106, 107 (?), (see Ann. S. V. Hf, 1899, p. 119). A. hastata, Z., 72-74, 87, 105, 110. A. deltoidea, Bad., 72 (“ Top. Bot.,” but not in “ Fl. of Dumfries ”), 73, 74, 80}, 81, 83, 86, 104 (?), 107, {112 ?]. A. Babingtonii, Woods, except, 72, 77, 78, 79, SO, 86, 88. b. virescens, Lange, 74. A. laciniata, Z., 74-76, 83 (?), 85 (?), 87, 90(?), [92, error], 95 (°), 96-98, 99 (?), 100-104, 106 (?), 107, 108, 110, 111 (?). 1 Chenopodium, L.—The records for this genus are unreliable, the species being so frequently mistaken. Some records are certainly erroneous, and others marked as requiring confirmation are probably so. The habitats of all the species (rubbish-heaps, near houses, and waysides) indicate the probability of introduc- tion and diffusion by man. Even C. a/éwm shows this dependence markedly, 2 Probably an introduction in all parts of Scotland, though now well estab- lished in many counties, and recorded without comment from a good many. Its habitats, as I have seen them, are always suggestive of man’s agency, 102 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY A. portulacoides, Z., 74, 75, 83 (?), 89 (?). Salicornia herbacea, Z., except 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 86, 88, 89, 93 (2), 94-109. (S. radicans, .S7., has been recorded from go, probably in error.) Sueeda maritima, Dam., except 72 (2), 77, 78, 79, SO, $1, 83, 89, 94, 96, 108, 109. 6. procumbens, Syme, 75,-L00, 106, 107,010, 111. Salsola Kali, Z., except 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 86, 88, 89, 99, 105, 10S, Ler S: Lragus, I, casual, ani92. POLYGONACE. Polygonum Convolvulus, Z., except 111}, 1172. PR) aviculares 2 all: Too little attention has been given to the occurrence of the varieties of this species in Scotland to permit of indicat- ing their distribution. P. equisetiforme, Sibth., casual, in 92. P, Ran, Bab: 72-76, 82,33, 85, 37; 03, 100-103, 120) £12 (0) (P. maritimum, Z., has been recorded from 74 and 75, perhaps in error for P. Razz.) PE Slydropiper, 72, except 73, 99, 106, £07, 103, HOD iT Ie) 112 (?). P. minus, Auds., 72, 73, 76, 77, 85 (Sonntag), 87-89, 90 (?), 91, 92. P. Persicaria, Z., all. 6. elatum, Gr. and Godr., 89, 110. P. lapathifolium, Z., except 79, 84, 93, 94, 103, 104, 107. P. maculatum, Dyer and 77imen, 85, 87, 97. P. amphibium, Z., all. P; Bistorta, Z., 72-74, 70-75, So, S1, 94-95; 98, 100, 102, LOAF 106, tog-112. Certainly an introduction in most of the counties north of the Forth, perhaps throughout Scotland, though now so well established as to appear in many localities to be indigenous. P. viviparum, Z., except 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, S82, 83, 84, 100, LOL, LOZ, LOZ, 105, 3107, 109. 6, alpinum, Wadir., 112. Fagopyrum esculentum, Moench, casual, in cultivated fields usually, é.8; In OI, O2: Oxyria digyna, A7//, 72 (“ Pentland Hills, Lomond Hill,” Sozntag), 86-100, 103-112. Rumex conglomeratus, Alurr., except 72, 79, 95, 96, 98, 101, LPI?) 112 (a): R. sanguineus, Z., except 79, 90+ (2), 96, 97, 98, 103, 104, 108, £06, LOT, 108, 109, ALO 1d te lhe d. viridis (Szb¢h.), 72-75, 83, 85-87, 89, 92-94, 103, 106, 108. ON MOSSES OF THE GENUS CAMPYLOPUS 103 R. maritimus, Z., 72 (?), 817, 85 (?) 86 cas., 87, [92, 94, probably errors], 1047, 111 (?). (R. limosus, Zzwz//., recorded from 75, 82, 90, requires further proof.) (R. pulcher, Z., recorded from 75, 77, requires further proof; 80, casual on ballast.) R. obtusifolius, Z., except 102. R. crispus, Z., all. crispus x domesticus (propinquus, Avesch.), 112. crispus x obtusifolius (R. acutus, Z.), 78, 80, 81, 83, 85, 87-80, 92,97, LOO, LO5ssEUt, tie. R. domesticus, Hartm., except 82, 99 (2), 100, 101, 102, 103, 106. domesticus x obtusifolius (R. conspersus, /Zartm.), 78, 80, 81, 85, 87, 88, OI, 92, 96, 97, 105, III, 112. R. Hydrolapathum, Huds., 73+, 75,771, 80, 81, 85, 88, 89, go (?), 93 (?), 96, 99 (?), To2. 6. latifolius, Borr., 88. Rapinws, Wa 725 731s 741, 754s S3ls O51, Sots COT R. Acetosa, Z., all. R. scutatus, L., rare escape in, 83, 85. R. Acetosella, Z., all. (Zo be continued.) ONS MOSSES, OF THE GENUS CAVPYTORYS By James Stirton, M.D., F.L.S. THE western portions of Scotland, and more especially the outer Hebridean Islands, are singularly prolific of species of the genus Campylopus— a genus only meagrely represented in Europe, although largely so in America. There is, however, a strong probability that the species are not yet sufficiently investigated. The diversity in form and appearance of the species, especially from the Outer Islands, forms a barrier to their study, inasmuch as this diversity renders them some- what puzzling and even perplexing to the bryologist. Ben- becula, one of this group of islands, is perhaps the richest in species and varieties. In places such species seem to consti- tute the usual undergrowth instead of grass, and one may tread over patches of Campylopus brevipilus many yards in extent. I have again gone over my large collections of species gathered in these islands, and have picked out two which 104 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY cannot be identified with any hitherto known to me. The first described has peculiarities such as to warrant its being included in a new subgenus. In the following measurements of cells, etc., the micro- millimetre, or the millionth part of a metre, is taken as the unit. This unit is now generally indicated by the Greek letter p. This letter will, however, not be appended in any case, so that 8, for instance, means 8 micro-millimetres. A review of species of Campylopus sent to me from various parts of the world has enabled me to associate the moss in question with one from New Zealand, placed by Mr. Mitten in the genus 77zchostomum, under the name Tr. leptodum. This is Campylopus leptodus of Montagne. The habit of the moss is entirely that of a Campylopus, but Mr. Mitten, finding the teeth of the peristome slender and split nearly to base, decided, on this peculiarity alone, to classify it with the Z77ichostoma. I prefer to refer it to a subgenus which Mitten has named Pi/ofogon. ‘There is, however considerable dubiety as to whether the specimens in my possession from New Zealand are identical with the moss described by Mitten in Hooker’s “ Flora of New Zealand,” inasmuch as my specimens have the broad nerve of Campylopus, whereas the nerve is there spoken of as “ slender.” As I have not hitherto been able to obtain authentic specimens of Mitten’s moss, it might be as well, in the absence of fruit in the Scottish specimens, to constitute a new subgenus under the name 7vachypogon. The following is the diagnosis of the Scottish species :— CampyLopus (TRACHYPOGON) AURESCENS.—Tufts densely caespi- tose, yellow or golden yellow above, pale brown beneath; stems 1 to 2 inches in height, stoutish, sparingly dichotomous, often fastigiately branched above, sparingly radiculose below, fasciculate- leaved ; leaves lanceolate or lanceolate-subulate above, tipped with a longish denticulate hyaline hair, margin incurved throughout ; nerve } to 4 the width of leaf a little up from base—a cross-section shows it thickened in middle and often bulging behind, with two rows of opaque cells, the anterior row showing cells 5 to 9 in diameter, the posterior 4 to 6 diameter. In the middle of nerve in front are occasionally seen traces of very minute cells, 3 to 4 in diameter, and 3 to 6 in number, as in Dicranum or Campylopus alpinus, but these cells are often entirely suppressed. The cells of ON MOSSES OF THE GENUS CAMPYLOPUS 105 pagina near apex are long, thin, and undulating, 30 to 45 by 3 to 5. The lower cells next nerve are large, irregularly rhomboid, 35 to 50 by 10 to 14, and have numerous osculating mammilleform prom- inences, which are occasionally seen connected by slender tubes, lateral as well as apical, 1.5 to 2 in diameter. External to these cells are long undulating cells, with numerous oil globules in single series as in Dicranum scoparium, 50 to 80 by 5 to 8: the marginal cells are long and very narrow. ‘The alar spaces are as a rule well developed, composed of large hexagonal cells with thick walls, colourless at first, then coloured red next the nerve, ultimately coloured red throughout. On the ground, Benbecula, 1886. The main points of distinction are, the constitution of the nerve, the presence of connecting pores, the peculiar character of the rest of the areolation, and the absence of any projecting posterior cells on the nerve. An examination of my specimens of the New Zealand C. leptodus revealed a structure of the leaf similar to that of the present moss, viz. large irregular cells near the central base, having mammilleform prominences connected occasionally by slender tubes. The rest of the areolation is, however, quite different, having cells much shorter and thicker, and therefore of a different shape; but the apices have longish denticulate hyaline points. Projecting posterior cells are also present in upper third of nerve. CAMPYLOPUS SUBCINEREUS, 7. 5f.—Tufts densely czespitose, from one to two inches in height, fuscescent below, greenish or glaucous green near apex, sparingly rufo-radiculose; leaves, dense, erecto- patent, straight, narrowly lanceolate-subulate from a slightly ovate base, denticulate at the apex ; nerve $ breadth of leaf near the base, not sulcate on back, in section shows 3 strata of cells, the anterior row consisting of large pellucid cells, 12 to 22 diameter, the middle row of small, mostly opaque, but here and there pellucid, cells, 4 to 7 diameter, the posterior row of smaller opaque cells, 3 to 5 diameter ; cells of pagina near central base oblongo-hexagonal, 25 to 40 by 8 to 10, marginal cells numerous, very narrow and elongate ; auricles either absent or only slightly developed. On the ground, Benbecula, 1886. This moss differs in several important particulars from C. pyr?- Jormis. The tufts are much denser, nerve broader, different in constitution, smooth on back, with no projecting posterior cells. In C. pyriformis the cells of the anterior row of the nerve are pellucid and from g to 12 diameter, the cells of the middle row only slightly smaller, 7 to 11 diameter, and areolation near base much Jaxer. I cannot close this record without referring to another Cammpylopus from the summit of Snowdon gathered in 1865 by the late Mr. G. k. Hunt, who sent me specimens of it. In a note appended, he says: 106 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY “Has laxer structure of nerve than usual.” I have now had an opportunity of re-examining the nerve in cross-section, and I am of opinion that this moss deserves a varietal (if not a specific) place amongst the Campylopi. CampyLopus Hunti.—Stems loosely aggregated, from one to two inches in height, stoutish, sparingly pallido-tomentose ; leaves erect, slightly secund, loosely set, elongating upwards until at apex they form a somewhat cuspidate cluster, lanceolate acuminate, den- ticulate at apex; nerve } breadth of leaf near base, of 4 strata of cells, those of the anterior row large and pellucid, 12 to 20 diameter, behind this another pellucid row, 7 to 12 diameter, next a row of cells very often pellucid, 5 to 9 diameter, on the back projecting detached pellucid cells, 6 to 9 in height. The cells of the first three rows are enlarged downwards, until near the base the nerve is of a spongy texture, composed of large pellucid cells with very little con- nective or intercellular tissue. The cells of the posterior projecting row become shallower downwards, and nearly disappear just above the base. ‘There are auricular spaces at base composed of large colourless cells, about 60 by 30; but these spaces do not bulge beyond the margin, but resemble the corresponding spaces in some Dicrana. ‘The lower cells of the pagina are quadrate, 30 to 40 by 12 to 17, and diminish in size upwards, until near the apex of pagina (which extends only one-third up the leaf) they are still sharply quadrate or at times somewhat rhomboid, and 8 to 11 by 4 to 6. ‘The marginal basal cells are narrow, but not so narrow as usual. Mr. Hunt remarks: “On the ground with Bryum gracile. Between C. fragilis and C. Schwarsziz.” I agree with him. ‘The auricles, which are distinct and composed of cells differing in size and appearance from the rest of the areolation, remain, at times, on the stem, unless care is taken to detach the leaves from the stems slowly backwards. Lastly, I may be allowed to remark generally that the pellucid bulging posterior cells on the nerve seen in many Campy/opi are apt to be flattened or even squashed if sections of the nerve are made after the leaves have been tightly bound in cork for some time, or they collapse in a few instances after the specimens have been re- tained for years in the herbarium. I may take an early opportunity of reviewing the Euro- pean species of the genus Campylopus, more especially as I am beginning to perceive that I must modify my views of one or two of the species. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 107 THE: WILD BIRDS, PROTECTION ACTS. [WE desire to call special attention to the important and praiseworthy action taken by the Perthshire Society of Natural Science towards furthering the cause of the Pro- tection of Wild Birds and their Eggs in County of Perth. This is set forth in the circular reproduced below. We are convinced that it is mainly to the landed pro- prietor to whom we must appeal for co-operation if much good is to accrue from the efforts now being made by the County Councils to protect the rarer and persecuted species which inhabit or visit the areas under their administration. We heartily congratulate our Perth friends on their admirable and initiative action, and we cordially commend their excellent example to kindred Scottish Societies and Associations.—EDsS. | PERTHSHIRE NATURAL Hisrory MUSEUM, TAY STREET, PERTH, /az. 23, 1899. Sir—At a Meeting of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, held on Thursday, 12th inst., the subject of the Protection of Wild Birds in Perthshire was brought forward by Col. Campbell, H.M. General Prison, Perth. After full consideration, it was resolved to communicate with the principal Proprietors in the County, drawing their attention to the scheme for the Protection of Wild Birds, formulated by the Secretary of State for Scotland, and adopted by the County Council of Perthshire, and to ask their earnest co- operation in this matter. The Council of the Society are convinced that if the Land Owners in Perthshire will use their influence with the Farmers, Foresters, Gamekeepers, Gardeners, Shepherds, and others on their estates, to prevent the catching or killing of the Birds which are scheduled, and the taking of the eggs referred to, the present destruction of bird life will be greatly diminished. The Council beg to enclose a copy of the Order, and trust you will use your best endeavours to have its provisions carried into effect.—We are, etc. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. Badger in Dumbartonshire.—The Glasgow evening papers of the 17th of February last announced that yesterday morning, while the head keeper to Mr. Alexander Crum Ewing of Strathleven, 108 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Dumbartonshire, was going his round in the Murroch Glen, he found, caught by the leg in one of his vermin traps, a very fine female Badger. ‘The specimen captured yesterday weighs 21 Ibs., and its length is 35 inches. Mr. Wright, it may be stated, had some days previously noticed in the glen footmarks which he thought to be those of a fox, and for which the trap was set. When captured, the Badger was living, but had to be destroyed.— J. PATERSON and HuGu Boyp Watt, Glasgow. Stoats in the Winter Pelage.—Has any one ever formulated a reasonable theory or rule that would cover the various apparently erratic changes that the fur of the Stoat (A/uwstela erminea) under- goes? It is very evident these changes do not depend on season. It may be that the age of different individuals is the ruling factor. At the very middle of the coldest winters, brown-furred individuals prevail alongside those clothed in white raiment. To-day (7th March) I have received a couple of Stoats clad in fur of a colour I was certainly not prepared to see at this late season, and more especially after such a winter—rather, I should say, after such a period of warm, muggy weather, distinguished by the almost entire absence of winter. ‘These Stoats were from an inland locality, at an elevation of well under 200 feet above sea-level. One was as white as the Ermine ever is in this country, beautifully suffused with that fine tint of lemon colour which fades so soon. The other was not quite so white, as the brown was starting into view, but still sufficiently white to be notable at this time of year. Both were females.—ROBERT SERVICE, Maxwelltown, Dumfries. Common Dolphins in the Tay Estuary.—On the rrth February of this year, some Broughty Ferry fishermen observed two Dolphins stranded in shallow water on the north side of the Tay, near its mouth—between Monifieth and Buddonness. Both were captured, and proved to be a female with its young one. The mother was easily caught, as it was quite stranded ; but the babe, being able to swim in shallower water, was, unfortunately, so much injured in catching it as to be useless as a specimen. ‘The Dolphin proved to be Delphinus delphis, was 6 feet 6 inches long, and was in milk. I understand that this species is rather a rare visitor to our coasts. I at once got a plaster cast made of the specimen, and we are also stuffing the skin and mounting the skeleton. The cast, skilfully painted, will be a better representation of the Dolphin than the stuffed skin.—JoHN MacLaucHLaN, Free Museum, Dundee. [The authentic occurrences of this species in Scottish seas are few.in number, though it is not uncommon on the southern shores of England. It has, however, occurred on our coasts as follows :— Firth of Forth (twice), Moray Firth (several), Shetland (once), off Mull (once), and is possibly not so rare in its visits as it is supposed to be.-—Ebs. | ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 109 Bird Notes from Carmichael, ‘‘Clyde” Area.— KINGFISHER (Alkcedo tspida).—\Last season this species nested on the banks of Carmichael Burn, beside the Manse. Four young ones were observed (4th June 1898). During the winter this bird has been by no means rare, and it is to be hoped that the pleasant experience of last season may be repeated. BRAMBLINGS (/7ringilla montifringilla) appeared on the 12th October, and have continued throughout the winter to be abnormally abundant. During frosty weather they simply swarmed wherever there were beech trees. At this date (16th March) they are still here. There is no more interesting sight than to watch the move- ments of an enormous flock of this species foraging, so active and graceful are they. PocHarD (fuligula ferina)—On 24th November 1898, Robert Barbour, Esq., younger, of Bolesworth, Cheshire, when duck shooting by the Clyde, killed a Pochard ¢, the first noted for this district. In addition to the Pochard, the following varieties were shot: Teal, Mallard, Golden-eye, Scaup, Tufted Duck, and Widgeon. On the 21st July, on coming from Glasgow, I saw a small flock of Pochard sitting quietly within stone-cast of the passing train on the sheet of water to the south of Wishaw Station. At this date, for a few days, the species was common in the district, as I also observed several small parties on the Clyde, near Prett’s Mill Bridge. TREE SPARROW (Lasser montanus).—On toth December a few individuals of this species were seen in the hedgerow beyond Cross- ridge Smithy, the place where they were observed in January 1897.— J. D. W. Grsson. Bramblings in Argyllshire.—During the past winter a large flock of Bramblings (/7izgi//a montifringilla) frequented the island of Innis Chonain in Loch Awe. They were first reported to me, as Snow Buntings, on the 12th of December, and it is possible that there may have been some birds of that species with them, though I was unable to find any. The people here seem to know the Snow Bunting, but not the Brambling. ‘The winter had been exceptionally mild, but very stormy. The bird is said (“ Fauna of Argyll,” etc.) to occur apparently only in excessively severe seasons, and very few instances are known of its visits to the faunal region of Argyll.— CuHarRLEsS H. Aston, Allt-Garbh, Loch Awe. Lesser Whitethroat in the Outer Hebrides.—A Scottish speci- men of the Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) is a vara avis, and the occurrence of an example in the remote island of Barra worthy of record. A specimen shot on the 24th of October last was submitted to me for determination by my friend Mr. W. L. Macgil- livray, of Eoligary, Barra, who obtained the bird on the west side of the island. This species has not hitherto, I believe, been obtained in the Outer Hebrides. Mr. Macgillivray shot another Hebridean 110 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY rarity, a Garden Warbler (.Sy/véa hortensis), at the same time, so that, in all probability, a number of migrants, blown out of their course, visited the western islands about that time. While writing on this subject, I should like to remark that the statements made regarding the Lesser Whitethroat as a Scottish summer bird are, in my opinion, highly unsatisfactory. It is un- doubtediy a summer visitor to South-Western Scotland, but in extremely limited numbers. On the other hand, we have no satis- factory evidence whatever concerning it as a breeding bird in South- Eastern Scotland ; though it probably occurs annually on the eastern seaboard as a bird of passage. Reliable data regarding this species as a Scottish bird would be welcomed for publication in the ‘‘ Annals.” —Wm. EacLe Criarke, Edinburgh. Great Gray Shrike in Solway.—For some years past Zavzzus excubitor seems to have been entirely absent in these counties. During the 80’s more especially, it was an annual visitor in small numbers. In October last one was shot in the woods at St. Mary’s Isle by one of the keepers there. It has been added to the many good local birds contained in the Kirkcudbright Museum.—RoBeEeRtT SERVICE, Maxwelltown. Occurrence of the Black-bellied Dipper in Shetland.—On the 27th of November last, a Black-bellied, or Scandinavian race of Dipper, the C7xclus melanogaster of C. L. Brehm, was observed on the shores of Loch Spiggie, in the south of the main island of the Shetland group, and was shot the next day. There was a moderate gale from the north at the time, with frost and snow. Mr. T. E. Buckley informs me that this is the first known occurrence of the Dipper in the Shetland Islands. We had some Mealy Redpolls about the same time.—THomas HENDERSON, Junr., Dunrossness, Shetland. Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Lochbroom, West Ross-shire.— The Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) was seen during December in the woods of Braemore, and has been observed daily to the gth March, the day of writing. One was shot on Inverlael. ‘They had never been seen before in this parish. I can- not say how many were seen, but probably not less than three or four.—J. A. FowLer, Inverbroom. Great Spotted Woodpecker in Kirkeudbright.—A fine specimen of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) was procured last October on St. Mary’s Isle, near Kirkcudbright, and is now added to the collection of birds in the Museum of that town.— ROBERT SERVICE, Maxwelltown. Note on the Nesting Habits of the Cormorant.—Apropos of a discussion now going on in the pages of the “ Zoologist,” on the ZOOLOGICAL NOTES Ill subject of Moorhens covering their eggs when leaving their nests, I am reminded of a visit I paid, a few years ago, to a nesting colony of Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo), on a small island off the coast of Sutherland. On landing on the island, our party at once climbed to the rocky terrace above, and inspected the nests with a view to photographing them ; they contained clutches of two, three, and in one instance five eggs. Having chosen the points of view for our pictures, we withdrew a short distance off. On returning to the nests with our cameras, in a quarter of an hour’s time, great was our astonishment to find that the eggs were not to be seen, and on closer inspection, we discovered that they were concealed under pieces of seaweed, which the Cormorants had placed over them during our absence.—W. H. M. Duruir, Doune. Occurrence of the King Eider in the Shetland Islands.—A beautiful specimen of the King Duck (Somaterta spectabilis) was obtained by Mr. Eustace Bankart, of Melby House, Sandness, on Friday last week [24th February]. The last time a bird of this species occurred in Shetland was in 1846, and the following reference is made to it in Saxby’s ‘Birds of Shetland,” p. 252 :—‘‘The occurrence of this species in Orkney has doubtless led to the conclusion that it 1s also an occasional visitor to Shetland, and accordingly erroneous statements to that effect have been frequently repeated. Although constantly upon the watch for many years, I have never obtained a glimpse of it, nor can I meet with any person who has shot it, or even seen it. Thomas Edmondston, without giving either date or authority, says (‘ Zoologist,’ 1844, p. 463), that it is ‘sometimes seen.’ Also in the ‘ Zoologist ’ for 1848, p. 2188, one is recorded by Mr. Dunn as occurring at Wensdale Voe, near Hoy, Shetland, on 20th May 1846, but this statement is scarcely sufficient. There is the well-known island called Hoy, in Orkney, and possibly a voe near it bears the above name, but though there is a [Versdale Voe in Shetland, there is neither a Wensdale Voe nor is there a Hoy. I am very doubtful, therefore, whether the King Duck has any right to a place in this work, but I allow it to remain for the present, being unwilling to remove it from the list simply upon my own responsibility, observing Shetland so often referred to by our best ornithologists as a locality.” There can be no doubt that Dr. Saxby has been in error over this paragraph, as there is an island named Hoy situated in Weisdale Voe, as any one may see by consulting an Ordnance Survey map. ‘The misspelling of Weisdale Voe probably led to this doubt on Dr. Saxby’s part, but the most material reason that weighed with him was doubtless the extreme rareness of the bird in Shetland. Be that as it may, Mr. Bankart has for all time coming put the matter beyond question as to the King Duck deserving a place among “The Birds of Shetland.” . . . The female bird was also caught at the same time along with the Tae ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY male, and Mr. Bankart has had both specimens forwarded to London for preservation.— V7de “‘ SHETLAND TIMES,” 4th March 1899. [We are informed that there is some doubt as to the identity of the female bird.—Ebs. | Water Rail and Frog.—lIn the stomach of a Water Rail caught on the Pentlands on 7th January, and brought to me, I was surprised to find a medium-sized Frog. This seems to indicate that the Frog had been on the move on that date, and not lying dormant at the bottom of a pool, as is usually the case in winter.—R. GODFREY, Edinburgh. Lead-poisoning in Pheasants.—I had recently handed to me by a gamekeeper sixteen pellets which he had taken from the gizzard of a hen Pheasant. These had evidently been picked up by the bird while scraping among soil in search of food. The Pheasant was unable to fly any distance, and when it was put up it went off noiselessly, moving its wings after the manner of an owl. The pellets had evidently remained in the bird’s gizzard for some time, for they were very much worn by the action of that organ. The keeper, who has large experience, tells me that he has on several occasions, in different parts of Scotland, picked up Pheasants that had died from the result of lead-poisoning through having picked up pellets in the manner here described.—BrucE CAMPBELL, Edinburgh. The Spotted Redshank on the Solway.—So far back as October of 1876 a friend of mine, Mr. Robert Douglas, who at that time resided near Gatehouse of Fleet, shot at the head of Fleet Bay what he always insisted was a Spotted Redshank (Zotanus fuscus). I never saw the specimen, but as Mr. Douglas had a very good knowledge of birds there need be little difficulty in accepting the record. ‘The bird in question was preserved as a mounted specimen, and was sent to England, and I lost trace of it. So far that was the only Spotted Redshank that has occurred on the Scottish side of the Solway that I] am aware of, although every now and again a lively imagination would seem to hear, from amongst the hosts of waders that frequent the banks in the neighbourhood of Souther- ness, the echoes of its peculiar call. But an individual about which there is no doubt has now turned up. About the New Year Mr. Robert M‘Call of Carsethorn noticed a peculiar Redshank amongst the others. It nearly always forgathered with the Common Redshanks, but was markedly different in flight and voice. Shy and wild, it could not be approached within gunshot, and long shots were tried without success. At last, at the mouth of the Kirkbean Row, on 13th February, Mr. M‘Call stalked it by crawling up a “runner,” and was successful in bringing it down. Next day I saw it, and confirmed its identification. Mr. M‘Call has preserved ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 113 it, and it makes a most interesting addition to his little collection of birds of his own shooting and mounting. ‘The body was sent to me for dissection, when the bird proved to be a female. The plumage still shows a few traces of immaturity, so that the bird is probably a young female of last year.—RoBrerT SERVICE, Maxwell- town. Whimbrel in the Firth of Forth in Winter.—The Whimbrel (Mumenius pheopus) is so seldom met with in this district, except on passage in spring and autumn, that I send you the dates of two occurrences I have noted recently. The bird first observed was at Longniddry Bay on 11th February; the other was seen at the mouth of the Tyne on the 16th of the same month. I am unaware of any previous records of this bird’s presence in the Firth of Forth and its vicinity in the winter months.—T. G. LarpLaw, Edinburgh. The Food of the Brown-headed Gull.—The question as to whether the Brown-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) consumes the fry of Salmonidz in large numbers has lately agitated the County Council of Cumberland. Perhaps some readers of the “ Annals” may be in a position to speak positively as to the truth of the suggestion that this Gull zs ichthyophagous. In my own experience, the evidence points to this bird being largely insectivorous. In the spring of the year, the Brown-headed Gulls swarm upon freshly ploughed land in this neighbourhood. ‘They are then feeding chiefly on grubs and earthworms, but corn is sometimes swallowed, particularly barley. As the season advances, beetles of different kinds are eagerly sought for, and are supplied to the young along with earthworms. When the young are fledged, many of them join the adults upon the sandy flats of our estuaries, where they feed on small mussel shell and other bivalves, as well as any stray animal substances, of small bulk, that may be washed up on the beach. I have never seen this Gull feeding on carrion, though it will devour most kinds of refuse. The Herring Gull will occasionally tear at the carcase of a dead dog as eagerly as a Great Black-backed Gull. But the Brown-headed Gull is more fastidious. Perhaps winged insects are most to its taste, particularly certain moths, species of Noctue, for which it hawks over the hay-fields with grace and beauty. But on the sands this Gull follows flocks of Waders, particularly of Bar-tailed Godwits (Zimosa Jlapponica). When a Godwit catches a marine worm, the attendant Gull darts at its neighbour, and endeavours to compel the long-billed bird to drop its prey. If this manceuvre proves successful, the Gull bolts the wriggling worm before it has time to burrow in the wet sand. Iam told that the Brown-headed Gull often feeds upon sand-eels, but though I have watched individual Gulls for hours at a stretch, I cannot say that I have ever seen them capture any little fishes. I 30 E 114 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY do not, in the least, question the accuracy of those who maintain that this Gull diets itself on young fry—zw/en it can get them; Larus fuscus 1s far from guiltless in that respect, but I believe that even this rapacious bird prefers a small crab or the entrails of any animal to small fish. The habits of most birds vary in different districts. In some parts of the country the Rook (Corvus frugilegus) is asserted to do more good than injury to the farmers. In my present neighbourhood, it frequently taxes a farmer to the extent of 420 in a season, by the havoc which it wreaks upon his turnip crop. Another misdeed of the Rook is that it attacks stacks of grain, and not only draws out quantities of corn for its own consumption, but also allows rain to enter the stack through the holes which it has driven in the top of the stack. It is easy to understand that the Brown-headed Gull may damage the interests of anglers in certain districts ; especially in situations in which insect life is scantily represented.—H. A. Macpuerson, Allonby. Iceland Gull near the Solway Firth.—On the roth of February 1899, a stormy day with strong westerly winds, my friend Mr. R. Mann was driving along the coast near Maryport, when he observed a single Iceland Gull flying over a meadow near the sea. He stopped his horse and watched the bird very closely. It was in creamy immature dress, and conspicuous among the Herring Gulls to which it had joined company. Another specimen of this Arctic Gull was shot in a field about two miles from Carlisle, on the 28th of February 1898. I did not see the bird in question until a day or two later, when it was already mounted; it was a white bird, mottled with pale brown, but much lighter in coloration than a bird of the first year. I had not the good fortune to secure this bird for the Carlisle Museum, as it belonged to a keen local collector. The Carlisle Museum contains only a single Lakeland specimen of this Zarus, and that is immature. I cannot say that either the present species or Larus g/aucus occur with any frequency on the coast of the Solway Firth. I live with a telescope in my window and a field-glass in my hand; but some years have elapsed since I last had the privilege of identifying any of our rarer Gulls in life—H. A. Macpuerson, Allonby, Cumberland. Note on the Moulting of the Flight Feathers in the Divers.— I believe it has been hitherto unrecorded that any of the Divers (Colymbus) moult the flight feathers ez masse, thus losing all power of flight for the time. It is, of course, well known as regards the Ducks, and has been recorded of sundry other birds—Moorhen and Land Rail, for instance. At the end of September and beginning of October 1898 I had, at intervals, several Red-throated Divers (C. septentrionalis) sent in. The adults were in all stages of the ‘‘moult”; the majority being entirely devoid of flight ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 115 feathers, both primaries and secondaries having been shed. This shedding of the flight feathers would appear to take place at a fairly advanced stage of the general moult, as in most specimens without these feathers the red and gray plumage of the neck had nearly all disappeared, and the new feathers were appearing on the back.— WILLIAM FARREN, Cambridge. -Oceurrence of the Loggerhead Turtle in North Uist.—On 26th November last a young example of the Loggerhead Turtle ( Zhalassochelys caretta) was washed up on a sandy beach on the island of Vallay, North Uist. It was apparently only just dead, and the carapace was 64 inches long and 5 inches broad, both measure- ments being taken along the curve. I have been told that large specimens have frequently been washed up in the vicinity, but no one has recorded the fact, and I much doubt the accuracy of the statement.—C. V. A. PEEL, Oxford. [In Scotland this sub-tropical species has only, to our knowledge, been recorded for Pennan, on the coast of North Aberdeenshire, in August 1861.—Ebs. | Chrysomela hzemoptera, Z., in Ayrshire.—In going over a small collection of Coleoptera belonging to Mr. William Gilmour of Greensland Farm, Stewarton, I came across a specimen of this species. Mr. Gilmour informs me that he found it crawling on grass near his farm last summer. Chrysomela hemoptera is an addition to the Clyde list. It has only been recorded for “ Forth” by Dr. Sharp in his catalogue of the Coleoptera of Scotland.— ANDERSON FERGUSSON, Glasgow. Enallagma ecyathigerum in Shetland.—This common British dragon-fly I found in 1896 and 1897 in some abundance about the moorland lochs of North Delting and the peat-holes of Gluss Isle, in Shetland. Iam indebted to Mr. W. J. Lucas for the identification, and send this note with a view to help in working out the distribu- tion of the species. —R. Goprrey, Edinburgh. Notes on some Crustacea from Granton, Firth of Forth, obtained from a Ship’s Hull.—About a year ago, Captain Campbell (of the Fishery Board for Scotland) brought to me some scrapings from a ship which had been brought into the harbour at Granton to be cleaned of the barnacles and weed adhering to it. The ship, which was called the “ Echo,” had arrived some time previously from the Cape of Good Hope. The species of Crustacea obtained amongst the scrapings brought to me comprised two Cirripeds, two Copepods, one Isopod, and three Amphipods, all of which appeared to have been recently alive. The Cirripeds belong to the two well-known forms Leas anatifera (Linn.) and Badlanus tintinnabulum (Linn.), both of which 116 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY have already been mentioned in published catalogues of the marine fauna of the Firth of Forth. These two species of Cirripeds, though widely distributed, and from time to time brought to our shores adhering to ships’ sides, as well as by floating wreckage, etc., are scarcely entitled to rank as members of our fauna. The Copepods are Harfacticus, sp., and /dya minor, T. and A. Scott. The /arpacticus resembles a form described by me from the Firth of Forth under the name of Harpacticus obscurus. TIdya minor has been obtained in the Clyde, but I do not know of any previous record of it from the Forth estuary. The single species of the Isopoda observed belongs to (Vesa, and agrees generally with (Vesa didentata (Adams). The only specimen observed was a male, the sixth segment of the pereon being produced backwards into a bidentate process. This species has been recorded from the Clyde by the late Dr. Robertson of Millport, but it does not appear to have been obtained in the Forth. Vesa is sometimes found inside the shells of dead Badani, and in such circumstances may easily escape notice. This Isopod appears to vary considerably in form, either from age or sexually. ‘The Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, in his “‘ History of Recent Crustacea,” says it “seems not improbable that the species named Dynamene rubra and Dynamene viridis by Leach, and Campecopea versicolor by Rathke, may represent the female, and Dyzamene Montagui the young male, of esa bidentata.” The Amphipoda comprise Stenothoe(?) monoculodes (Mont.), Podocerus falcatus (Mont.), and Cafrella equilibra, Say. The Stenothoe appears to agree perfectly with the species named, except that the telson has two or three small spines on each side near the margin, as in Stenothoe marina; usually the telson of Stenothoe monoculodes is unarmed. Podocerus falcatus was repre- sented by both males and females; a few of the males had the gnathopods fully developed, but the greater part of them were more or less immature. Both this species and Stenothoe monoculodes have already been recorded from the Firth of Forth. The Cafrella equilibra, though a member of the British fauna, has not hitherto been recorded from either the Firth of Forth or the Firth of Clyde. Most of the specimens obtained were immature, and differed con- siderably from the typical mature form ; this difference was specially noticeable in the immature males, which had the cephalosome and first free body segment much shorter than in a full-grown specimen. The difference was so great in this respect, that had one or two mature males not turned up, I should have hesitated to ascribe the specimens to C. eguilibra. The occurrence of these Crustaceans under the circumstances described is of interest from its bearing on the dispersion of species, and as an example of one of the various means by which forms ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 117 hitherto unrepresented in our faunas, local and otherwise, may be introduced; and may, if the habitat happens to be favourable, become permanently resident where they were before quite un- known.—TuHomas Scott, Leith. Vertigo pygmzea and other Molluses in ‘ Perth E.’’—Seeing Vertigo pygme@a is not recorded for the “ vice-county ” of ‘‘ Perth E.” in Mr. Roebuck’s “Census” of Scottish Land and Fresh Water Mollusca, I may mention that in September 1898, while staying at Fenderbridge near the foot of Glen Tilt, I obtained a specimen off grass by the side of Loch Moraig. It has been submitted to Mr. J. W. Taylor, F.L.S., for authentication. The following shells, all of which, except the Prsidiaum, have, however, already been authenticated from the vice-county, were also collected in the neighbourhood of Fenderbridge, namely :—V¢rina pellucida, Hyalina alharia, Hf. nitidula, H. radiatula, H. pura, Hl. crystallina, H. fulva, Flelix rotundata, H. pygmea, 1. hortensts, H. arbustorum, LH, hispida, Vertigo edentula, Clausilia bidentata, Cochlicopa lubrica, Succinea elegans, S. putris, Carychium minimum, Limnea peregra, L. truncatula, and /isidium pusillum. The small brown slug Agrtolimax levis was frequently seen, as were also A. agrestis, Limax marginatus, Arion ater, A. subfuscus, A. minimus, A. circumscriptus, and A. hortensis. By mistake, Glen Tilt, as a locality for the last-named slug, is entered in the “Census” under “Perth Mid” instead of “Perth E.,” or “Perth N.” as it is there called. Ina paper on the ‘Fauna and Flora of Glen Tilt’ contributed a number of years ago to the ‘Scottish Naturalist” (vol. iv. p. 247), the late Dr. Buchanan White drew attention to the great abundance in which /e/7x arbus- forum occurs on the hill side opposite Forest Lodge.—WILLIAM Evans, Edinburgh. Monomorium pharaonis and Blatta germanica as pests in an Edinburgh Hotel.—About two years ago I was informed that a small insect had appeared in great numbers in a hotel in Edinburgh. A request for specimens resulted in the production of some dozens of the small ant JZonomorium pharaonis, a species which Mr. E. Saunders, F.L.S., who has kindly confirmed my identification, tells me is ‘very common in many of the London eating-houses, etc.” It is not indigenous to this country. Along with the ants there were also sent a number of specimens of the small cockroach Alatta germanica, from the same hotel. The occurrence of this insect in a newspaper office in Glasgow in 1880 was recorded by Professor Trail in the ‘Scottish Naturalist ” (vol. vi. p. 14).—WILLIAM Evans, Edinburgh. 118 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. Rosa involuta, S7., in Forfarshire.—In July last, whilst staying at Carnoustie, I fell in with rather a remarkable colony of A. zzvoluta. It consists of eleven distinct clumps scattered at intervals over a distance of more than half a mile. Three of them occur at a short distance from Muirdrum, by the side of a cross road which branches off from the road to Carnoustie. The others grow here and there on the bank of a small stream which crosses the main road a little farther on, and which winds through the bottom of a den with high and often steep banks. Some of these clumps are rather extensive. One stretches along the top of a bank for a distance of about 25 yards, interrupted, however, by a couple of young trees, and with some other bushes intermixed. Others stretch over a length of 15 to 30 feet. I shall reserve for another occasion a detailed description of their resemblances and differences, as well as the discussion of that question which Professor Crépin has recommended to British botanists, viz. whether the second parent be A. fomentosa or R. mollis. This is generally a difficult problem, at least in Scotland, where, in most districts, 7. 7zol/rs is at least as plentifulas #. fomentosa. In this case, it is peculiarly difficult owing to circumstances which I need not now detail. In fact, I have as yet been unable to come to any definite opinion, except in the case of one clump which I believe to be R. pimpinellifolia x tomentosa. The others, which are different in several respects, require further study. Can any of your Forfarshire readers give any information as to the distribution of 2. zvo/uta in their county. Don found it, accord- ing to Baker, on a rock on one of the mountains of Clova, near the limits of perpetual snow! In Gardiner’s Flora it is said to be common in the Highland valleys of the county, but I do not know what ground he had for this statement. In those districts where R. pimpinellifolia occurs, it should be looked for.—W. Barctay. R. hiberniea in Midlothian.—In Professor Crépin’s “ Rosz Hybrid,” page 146, he refers to specimens of #. Azbernica gathered by Gorrie in 1866, between Melville Hall and Bellyford Burn, and which are now in the Herbarium at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. Gorrie’s plant, like 2. /Azbernica of the North of Ireland, has the leaves pubescent below, and, so far as I know, it is the only bush of this variety of A. Azbernica which has yet been found in Scotland. Wishing to study the plant if it was still to be found, I visited the locality in the end of August 1895. I failed to find it, but was not surprised at that, as all the bushes on one side of the road had, a short time before, been cut close to the ground. As the roots were left, however, I felt certain that the plant, if still there, would come up BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 119 again. In September of last year, on again visiting the locality, I had no difficulty in finding what I sought. Many and vigorous shoots of what was plainly Gorrie’s plant were growing to a height of three or four feet. The bush had not flowered since the cutting down, but it will probably do so next year. The Edinburgh botanists might look after it and try to prevent its being destroyed. As I have already said, I believe it to be as yet unique in Scotland. I may add that at a distance of about 100 yards I found a bush of &. zxzvoluta which had also been cropped, and was recovering. It had flowered, as I found on it the remains of several abortive fruits ——W. BARCLAY. Atriplex calotheea, /7ies (“Nov. Fl. Suec. Mant.,” 3, p. 164, 1842). A. hastata, var. calotheca, Rafn., ‘‘ Danm. FI.,” p. 240, Zes¢e Fries, Zc.—I was very pleased to see Mr. Druce’s report of A. ca/otheca, Fr., in Wigtown, in the last number of the ‘‘ Annals.” For some time I have expected this would occur as a Scottish plant, and I have several Scottish specimens that are probably it; but they are all too immature to be sure of. If found in good fruit, there is no difficulty in separating this from the other British forms; but it is not so easy to separate the Scandinavian ones placed under it. In Hartman’s “ Handbook” (p. 350, 1879) it is separated into four forms : viz. a, genuina (“ Fl. Danica,” t. 1608) ; B, stpztata (Westerl.) ; y, longipes (Drejer), “ Fl. Danica,” t. 2714, and 6, parviflora, Lange. Lange (‘‘ Danske Flora”) makes ca/otheca into three varieties and one subspecies with a variety. Westerlund, in 1861, published a critical account of the Swedish species, entitled ‘‘ Bidrag till kinnedomen af Sveriges Atriplices.” The possible stations for ca/otheca in Scotland are: E. Sutherland, Rev. E. S. Marshall!; E. Ross, Rev. E. S. Marshall!; Wigtown, J. M‘Andrew. A remarkable variety of A. littoralis, 1.., simulating the var. Jongipes of calotheca, I have from Abercorn, Linlithgow, Dr. Playfair—ARTHUR BENNETT. Scottish Forms of Juneus.—Among several Junci that I lately submitted to Dr. Buchenau were several from Scotland of interest, if only from the queries they may suggest. To small specimens of J. lamprocarpus from Islay (V.C. 102), gathered by Dr. Gilmour, he adds: “ Ad var. /ttoralem accedens”; to another from the same island: “7. alpinus x lamprocarpus? differt a_/. lamprocarpo sepalis obtusioribus.” Specimens from Orkney (coll. J. Boswell Syme, com. F, J. Hanbury) are marked by him: “7. anceps x lamprocarpus, vel J. alpinus x lamprocarpus? is perhaps a hybrid plant which has become gradually fruitful. This would have to be proved on the spot.” So far /. a/éinus has not been recorded for the Orkneys ; but it is very likely to occur—more so, one would think, than /. anceps (although Dr. Buchenau writes: “/. anceps x lamprocarpus is now known to me from Borkum also”). Out of the 23 North Sea 120 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY islands (of which Borkum is one), /. a/pznus, Vill., is recorded from 15 (L. Vuyck, ‘‘ De Plantengroei der Dunen,” 1898). _/. anceps, De la Harpe (‘ Ess. mon. vraies Joncées’ in “ Mem. Soc. Nat.,” Paris, iv. 126, 1825), has a restricted distribution, and would seem more likely to occur on the coasts of Eastern England than Scotland. / alpinus, Vill; : -anceps, De la arpes: J.) atvicapiiis, Drejer; and v/; Requienit, Parl., are closely allied, and often difficult to separate. Dr. Buchenau makes /. atricapillus, Drejer (‘‘ Bid. t. d. Flora,” Kroyers Tidss., 2, p. 182, 1838), a variety of anceps (in “ Krit. Zus. der europaeischen Juncaceen,” 1885). This occurs in Norway, Sweden, | Denmark, and Saxony. Specimens from ‘‘ Ardneil Bay, W. Kilbride, Ayrshire, 7.7.96, A. Somerville, growing in damp sea-shore sand,” are doubtfully named by Dr. Buchenau /. anceps x lamprocarpus, vel alpinus x lamprocarpus??; forma vara radicans.” Similar speci- mens to those from Orkney, from the Outer Hebrides, are named in the same way by Dr. Buchenau, and he remarks on them: “In the Hebrides there probably occurs a form of anceps as well as lampro- carpus.” It would seem that, looking at the forms and distribution of anceps, the var. atricapillus (of Drejer) would be the most likely to occur in Scotland, one of its stations being ‘in dunetis maritimis a Hallandia (Suec.),” Buchenau, 7c.—ARTHUR BENNETT. Orchis cruenta, J/i///er, in Britain.—Mr. Herbert Goss records in the “Journal of Botany” (January 1899, p. 37) that he found this plant last summer, moderately common, in two or three bogs on the fells of Cumberland, at about tooo feet above the sea-level. Regarding it at the time as a very stunted form of O. datifolia, he took only about a dozen examples. The plant has a pretty wide distribution in Scandinavia, especially in bogs at from 1000 to 1600 feet above the sea-level in the north. It should be looked for in Scotland. In Blytt’s “Norges Flora” (pp. 341,342), it is said to closely resemble O. zzcarnata, and especially O. latifolia, var. brevi- Jolia, Rchb., from which it differs chiefly in the very dark purple spots of the leaf, the rather smaller and darker red flowers, the square undivided lip, and the very short slightly curved spur. New Varieties of Scotch Carices.—I again visited Ben Lawers in last July and August in order to see Carex helvola, and found that owing to the protracted drought it had somewhat suffered ; but specimens which I collected were submitted to the Ffarrer Ktikenthal, and he again corroborated the name of C. /e/vola, and he still con- siders the plant to be a hybrid of C. apfroximata (lagopina) and canescens (curta). With it I gathered a somewhat interesting form of Carex flava which I also found on Ben Heasgarnich and Ben Laoigh, which the Ffarrer Kiikenthal identifies with C. //ava, var. pygme@a, Andersson. This is described by Andersson in the “Cyperaceee Scandinavie” of 1849, p. 25, as “culmo_ unciali- BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 121 digitali foliis multo breviori, spicis parvis subrotundatis confertis.” On Ben Heasgarnich, on a shoulder of the mountain near the summit, my companion for the day, Mr. H. N. Dixon, the well- known bryologist, found a form of Carex canescens which had much of the appearance of C. Ae/vo/a, but on dissection proved to be dis- tinct. This the Ffarrer Kiikenthal names C. canescens, var. dudia, Bailey. I may mention that the interesting Carex atrofusca (ustulata) was rather frequent over a limited area of Ben Heasgarnich, choosing for its habitat the edge of some sloping rock-shelf which is kept moist with dripping water. I think the two varieties mentioned above are new to the Scottish flora-—G. CLARIDGE DRUCE. Botanical Exchange Club of the British Islands—Report for 1897, by G. Claridge Druce M.A., F.L.S. (issued 20th Sept. 1898).— As usual, there are numerous notes on plants from Scotland in this Report. With regard to a good many of these, diverse opinions are expressed by the senders and the referees, but the subjoined extracts embody the more important conclusions arrived at :— R. acris, L., var. tomophyllus (Jord.), Melvich, N. coast of Suther- land (108); /umaria Borei, Jord. near Dunblane (97); Dyraba incana, L.., var. degitima, Lindblom (fruits glabrous), at Ardnane Point, Islay (102); Stsymbrium officinale, L., var. letocarpum (Jord.), DC., Ullapool, W. Ross (105); Polygala oxyptera, Reichb., var. co/ldina, Reichb., near Tain, E. Ross (106); A/ypericum pulchrum, 1, var. procumbens, Rostrup, Holburn Head, Caithness (109); Audus villt- caulis, W. and N., var. Se/mert (Lindeb.), Claddach (99); &. echinatus, Lindb., Shandon (99); Aéripflex calotheca, Fries? is the name assigned by Herr Freyn to a plant gathered by Rev. E. S. Marshall at Golspie (107), the specimens not warranting certainty ; A. Babingtonit, Woods, var. virescens, Lange, Golspie (107), E. S. Marshall; Betula pubescens, var. parviflora, Wimm., near Tongue (108), W. A. Shoolbred ; Carex approximata, Hoppe (= C. dagopina, Wahl.), Corrie Sneachda (96), G. C. Druce; C. aguatilis, Wahl., var. e/atior, Bab., Altnaharra (108), W. A. Shoolbred ; “gutsetum sylvaticum, 1., var. capillare (Hoffm.), Dunphail (95), E. S. Marshall. Andromeda polifolia, Z., in Midlothian.—On 8th May 1895 I found the Wild Rosemary, Avdromeda polifolia, in flower on Auchencorth Moss, Midlothian. I noticed only a single plant, which I gathered. I cannot find any previous record for the species in Midlothian, and am indebted to Mr. Wm. Evans for the following note on the plant’s occurrence in ‘ Forth’:—‘‘ Thanks for the specimen of Andromeda folifolia, the occurrence of which on Auchencorth Moss is most interesting. So far as I know, this plant has not previously been found nearer Edinburgh than the neighbourhood of Stirling in the upper section of ‘Forth.’ Light- foot recorded it fully a century ago from Blair-Drummond Moss on 122 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY the authority of Mr. Yalden (‘Flora Scotica,’ vol. ii. p. 1123), and Graham, in his ‘Sketches of Perthshire’ (2nd ed., 1812, p. 211), mentioned it as then plentiful on Flanders Moss. I have a note of its presence in the former of these localities down to 1882, and Mr. R. Kidston tells me it still grows in Flanders Moss, and also on a moss near Old Polmaise, a few miles on this side of Stirling.”— Ropert GoprRey, Edinburgh. CURRENT LITERATURE. The Titles and Purport of Papers and Notes relating to Scottish Natural His- tory which have appeared during the Quarter—January-March 1899. [The Editors desire assistance to enable them to make this Section as complete as possible. Contributions on the lines indicated will be most acceptable and will bear the initials of the Contributor. The Editors will have access to the sources of information undermentioned. ] ZOOLOGY. REPORT ON A VISIT TO SANDA AND GLUNIMORE. By John Paterson and John Renwick. Zyans. Glasg. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. v. pt. il. (1897-98), pp. 197-204.—Notes on the Fauna, Flora, and Geology. THE SUMMER BIRDS OF THE SUMMER IsLANDs. By J. B. Dobbie, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S.; M.B.0.U. Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., vol. xiv. pt. i. pp. 46-57 (1897-98).—A list of thirty-five species. NOTES ON SHETLAND Birps. By F. S. Graves and P. Ralf. Zoologist (1899), pp. 72-77. RARER BIRDS OF THE SHETLANDS. R. Kearton. Zhe Field, 7th January 1899, p. 2. THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE IN SHETLAND. Thomas Edmonston. Zhe Field, 28th January 1899, p. 134. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER IN ARGYLLSHIRE. F. W. Frohawk. The Field, 28th January 1899, p. 134.—The supposed breeding of this species in Argyll disproved. Tay LAND-LOCKED Satmon. D. T. Steil. Zhe Field, 2nd February 1899, p. 146.—Several thousand “ American land-locked Salmon” were introduced ‘‘some years ago” into Loch Tay by the Marquess of Breadalbane. On THELODUS PAGEI, PoWRIE, SP., FROM THE OLD RED SAND- STONE OF FORFARSHIRE. By Ramsay H. Traquair, M.D., LL.D., F.RS. Zrans. Roy. Soc. Edin. vol. xxxix. pt. iii, No. 21, pp. 595- 602, plate.—The object of this paper is to show that the ‘‘ Cephadop- terus” Paget of Powrie belongs to the genus 7elodus of Agassiz, a genus hitherto known only by scattered scales in the Upper Silurian CURRENT LITERATURE 123 of England and Russia, and also in the Upper Devonian of the latter country. This recognition of its affinities throws a new light on the family Ccelolepide, to which Thelodus belongs, and shows that, though related to the Elasmobranchii, they were not Cestracion- like sharks, and that the spines from Silurian and Lower Devonian rocks known as Ozchus did not belong to them. On a New SPECIES OF CEPHALASPIS DISCOVERED BY THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF SCOTLAND IN THE OLD RED SANDSTONE oF Osan. By Ramsay H. Traquair, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. Z7ans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxix. pt. iii. No. 20, pp. 591-593, plate.—The species is named C. Lornensis ; and the specimens were collected in the Lower Old Red in the neighbourhood of Oban. It has also been found in the island of Kerrera. NoTES ON THE MICRO-FAUNA OF AILSA CRAIG, FIRTH OF CiypE. By Thomas Scott, F.L.S. Zvrans. Glasg. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. v. pt. ii. (1897-98), pp. 153-158.—Treats of the Mollusca, Crustacea, and Insecta. OccURRENCE OF SIREX GIGAS, LINN., IN ARRAN AND BUTE. By J. Ballantine. Zvans. Glasg. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. v. pt. 1. (1897-98), pp. 187-189. ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM GLEN LocHay AND LocuH Tay, INCLUDING RECORD OF AN OXYETHIRA NEW TO Brirain. By Kenneth J. Morton, F.E.S.—£xt. Mo. Mag. (2), vol. x. pp. 53-55 (March 1899).—Twenty species of Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, and Trichoptera are noted as observed or captured during July 1898. The new species is Oxyethira simplex, Ris. THE LEPIDOPTERA OF OBAN AND District. By W. G. Sheldon. Ent. Record, vol. xi. pp. 13-14 (January 1899).—Notes on thirty-one species captured in July 1898. CIDARIA RUSSATA SINGLE-BROODED IN SCOTLAND. W.G. Sheldon. Ent. Record, vol. xi. pp. 55, 56 (February 1899).—From observations made upon specimens captured near Oban, it seems doubtful if either this species or C. immanata have more than one brood in Scotland. Two SPECIES OF EPHEMERIDZ NEW TO Britain. By C. A. Briggs, F.E.S. Zyxt. Mo. Mag. (2), vol. x. pp. 68, 69 (March 1899).— Leptophlebia meyeri, Etn., taken in June 1898 above the Black Wood near the lochan called Rusg-a-Bhiora, near Loch Rannoch ; Ameletus inopinatus, Etn., taken on 8th June 1898 from a bush on the shore of Loch Rannoch. ON THE BRITISH SPECIES OF THE DIPTEROUS GENUS LOXOCERA, Mc. (Fam. PsILiDa:) WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF A NEW VARIETY. By Ernest E. Austen. Zt Mo. Mag. (2), vol. x. pp. 65-68 (March 1899).—The new variety is named Loxocera aristata, var. Yerburyi. It was obtained at Kingussie (three examples) and Nethy Bridge (two examples), Inverness-shire, by Colonel Yerbury, in July and 124 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY August 1898. A table is given for the determination of the British species of this genus, and the following Scottish specimens in the British Museum collections are referred to:—L. aristata, Pz., from Loch Rannoch, Perthshire, and Nethy Bridge, Inverness-shire. Nores ON THE TIPULIDZ OF THE GLascow DistrRicT. By George W. Ord. Trans. Glasg. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. v. pt. i. (1897- 98), pp. 190-196.—Includes about 50 species. ON THE BririsH PanpALIDA. By W. T. Calman, B.Sc. Azz. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (7), vol. iii. pp. 27-39, plates i.-iv.—Reference made to Scottish species. BritisH Lanp Isopopa. By Canon A. M. Norman, M.A., F.R.S., etc. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (7), vol. iil. pp. 70-78, plate vii—Reference is made to Scottish species. ON SOME NEW MyRIAPODS FROM THE PAL#OZOIC ROCKS OF ScoTLanD. By B. N. Peach, A.R.S.M., F.R.S. Proc. Koy. Phys. Soc. Edin., vol. xiv. pt. i. pp. 113-126, plate iv. (1897-98).—A description of new genera and species from the Lower Carboniferous rocks of East Kilbride, and of Lennel Braes, Coldstream, Berwick- shire; from the Lower Old Red of Kerrera, near Oban ; and the Ludlow Beds of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire. BOTANY. BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF BRITISH AND IRISH Boranists—FIRrst SUPPLEMENT (1893-97). By James Britten, F.L.S., and G. S. Boulger, F.L.S. Journ. Bot. 1899, pp. 77-84.—From Rev. Andrew Robertson (1780-1845) to William Young. Scotch botanists included in this instalment are:—Rev. Andrew Robertson, David Robertson of Cumbrae, John Rotherham (died in 1804 at St. Andrews, where he had been a professor), John Roy, LL.D., John Sim, William Alex. Stables of Cawdor, George William Traill, Francis Buchanan White, M.D., Rev. Alexander Williamson, Alexander Stephen Wilson. CERASTIUM ARCTICUM, LANGE. By E. S. Marshall. Journ. Bot., 1899, p. 38.—Upholds that in Britain there is a species distinct from C. alpinum. Rusus Baker, F. A. Lees. By C. E. Salmon. Journ, Bot., 1899, p. 39.—Records this, identified by Rev. W. Moyle Rogers, from Cantire and Argyll. It had not been recorded from Scotland. CHENOPODIUM CaAPITATUM, ASCHERS. (= BLITUM VIRGATUM, L.). By J. C. Melvill. Journ. Bot., 1899, p. 85.—Mentions this plant as gathered by Dr. Boswell Syme at Fisherrow, near Edinburgh. CLASMATOCOLEA CUNEIFOLIA (HOOK.), SPRUCE, IN SCOTLAND. By W. H. Pearson. Journ. Bot. 1899, p- 38.—Records this Hepatic new to Scotland from Moidart, collected by Mr. S. M. Macvicar, REVIEWS 125 PLANTS OF Novaya ZEMLYA—continued. Journ. Bot, pp. 468-474. CERASTIUM ARCTICUM, Lance. By F. N. Williams. /ourn. Bot., p. 493.—Is a reply to Mr. Marshall’s note on p. 38, adhering to the view that C. arcticum is not a distinct species. JUNGERMANIA oOBTUSA, LINDB., IN Britain. By W. H. Pearson. /ourn. Lot., p. 493.—Records another addition to British Liverworts, by Mr. S. Macvicar, from West Inverness. TRANSACTIONS OF THE P.S.N.S. Vol, a part. 6 contains: — Preliminary List of Perthshire Mosses, by R. H. Meldrum. lant Associations of the Tay Basin, by R. Smith. Zhe Geological Factors in the Distribution of the Alpine Plants of Perthshire, by P. M‘Nair. EXCURSION OF THE SCOTTISH ALPINE BoTaNicaL CLUB. TO KILLIN IN 1897. By William Craig, M.D., F.R.S.E. Zvans. Edin. Bot. Soc., December 1897, xxi. pp. 104-109.—Many of the alpine plants of the Breadalbane hills were gathered, but no novelties are recorded. ASTRAGALUS ALPINUS, ALBUS. By Robert Lindsay. TZyvazs. Edin, Bot. Soc., December 1897, xxi. p. 117.—Records occurrence of white flowers on plants brought in June 1896 from Ben Vrackie. MEASUREMENT OF THE GIRTH OF CONIFEROUS TREES AT BRAEMAR IN 1894. By R. Turnbull, B.Sc., and Percival C. Waite. Trans. Edin. Bot. Soc, December 1897, xxi. pp. 87-94, with plate of curves.—This paper gives measurements of radii, diameters, and girths of trees blown down in November 1893. THE DIAMETER-INCREMENT OF THE WooD oF CONIFEROUS. TREES AT BRAEMAR IN RELATION TO CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. By R. Turnbull, B.Sc. Zvans. Edin. Bot. Soc., December 1897, xxi. Pp. 94-104, with plate. APODYA LACTEA, CORNU (LEPTOMITUS LACTEUS, AGARDH.). Described by R. Turnbull, B.Sc. Zvans. Edin. Bot. Soc., December 1897, xxl. pp. 109-113, with plate—From streams flowing into the Spey. The relation of the fungus to organic impurities in water is discussed. REVIEWS. THE CAMBRIDGE NaTurRAL History. Birps. By A. H. Evans, M.A. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1899.) Mr. Evans’s welcome volume forms the ninth of “‘ The Cambridge Natural History,” and is the fourth issued of that admirable series. The author has evidently realised the fact that other recently published works—more especially Professor Newton’s masterly 126 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY “ Dictionary ”—have contributed largely to our knowledge of ornith- ology generally, and this has led him to treat “ Birds” from the standpoint of the Systematist, devoting only a few pages—perhaps some may consider too few—to structure and general introductory matter. There can be no doubt that such a book was a desideratum. Here we have, compressed into a single handy volume, a really honest attempt to give, so far as is possible, an adequate account of each family of birds, treating all alike. The scrupulous and painstaking care bestowed upon this volume has resulted in its affording a marvellous amount of information of a varied nature, and in the highest standard of accuracy being maintained. Thus has the attempt alluded to been converted into a success. The secret of the excellence attained by Mr. Evans lies in the fact that his book took years to prepare, and was not dashed off in a few weeks, as, alas! too many books are nowadays. We have only one regret to express in connection with the book, namely, that our author has not thought well to recognise the very generally accepted view that the Corvide are the most specialised family of the Passeriformes, and should be placed at the head of that order, and hence of the class Birds. ‘The Crows are here deposed in favour of the Finches. The great objection to this departure from the views of the majority is that it leads to a state of unrest, which it is most desirable should be avoided; unless, indeed, there are important and valid reasons for such departure, which, in this case, have certainly not been demonstrated.* The book abounds in excellent original illustrations from the pencil of Mr. Lodge, and a few others which are old friends, while a useful map forms a frontispiece. We have no doubt that Mr. Evans’s book will meet with the high appreciation it so thoroughly deserves. Tue PEeNycuIK EXPERIMENTS. By J. C. Ewart, M.D., F.R.S. (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1899.) This attractively got-up volume is mainly a reissue in book form of three papers already published in the “ Veterinarian” and the “ Zoologist” ; but in addition we find an introduction of nearly a hundred pages, in which the author sets forth, in a lucid and interesting fashion, the general principles of breeding, and the problems which constantly present themselves for both theoretical and practical solution. After a short sketch of the characters of interest possessed by the nine zebra hybrids bred by the Professor (described more fully in a later portion of the book), a discussion is entered upon as to the meaning of the various principles known to the student of heredity as reversion, prepotency, telegony, saturation, and other subjects. Here we find reference to numer- ous experiments with pigeons, dogs, and rabbits, conducted by REVIEWS 127 the author with a view to proving the fact of reversion, and also to throw light upon the subjects of inbreeding and _prepotency. Reversion is regarded more as a negative than a positive influence, and “mainly due to the development being abruptly arrested so as to reproduce a lost ancestor.” Instances of reversion in horses are given, including remarks on the teeth, digits, and forearm. One conclusion arrived at from the experiments with regard to pre- potency in the male is that the possession of such a quality may not necessarily make up for any deficiencies in the female. In summing up the results of his “telegony” experiments, the Professor states that the evidence in support of undoubted “infection” having ever occurred is most unsatisfactory, and he regards the “reversion” hypothesis as sufficient to account for all the supposed cases of infection. Part I. consists of two papers, the first on the Birth of a Hybrid between a Burchell’s Zebra and a Mare, the second on Zebra-Horse Hybrids; Part II. is a discussion on Telegony, with observations on the striping of Zebras and Horses, followed by a section on Reversion in the “guide. All the papers are beautifully illustrated. Science is much indebted to Prof. Ewart for the interesting, elaborate, and costly experiments that he has so successfully con- ducted at Penycuik. It is these original investigations, mainly, that render the book under consideration so eminently worthy of careful study by the practical breeder, the theoretical evolutionist, and the naturalist alike. CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS A “‘ CYBELE HIBERNICA” ; BEING OUT- LINES OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS IN IRELAND. Second Edition. Founded on the papers of the late Alexander Goodman More, F.R.S.E., etc. By Nathaniel Colgan, M.R.I.A., and Reginald W. Scully, F.L.S. (Dublin: Edward Ponsonby, 1898.) The flora of Ireland is of very considerable interest to the botanists of Scotland alike in its likenesses and in its unlikenesses to the flora of Scotland. The “Cybele Hibernica” issued in 1866 by the well-known Irish botanists Moore and More has passed out of date (in no small degree owing to the stimulus given by it to a fuller knowledge and research), and a very great deal has been done since its issue to extend what was known as to the geographical distribution of Irish plants. Many systematic investigations have been undertaken, largely under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy ; and reports on these, and papers in the Z77sh Naturalist and elsewhere, added much to the records of earlier date. Mr. More hoped to be himself able to prepare and issue a second edition of the ‘‘Cybele”; but this his health did not permit him to accomplish. He left, however, numerous notes prepared for this end, set apart funds to pay the necessary expenses, and named Messrs. Colgan and 128 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Scully as the editors. These gentlemen have discharged as a duty the trust committed to them, and to their labours we owe the hand- some volume just issued. A comparison of the two editions shows how much has been done during the past thirty-two years in filling gaps in the earlier records; while the small number of actual additions to the flora as a whole (18 species and subspecies, of which one-third are more or less open to suspicion of having been introduced recently by man) warrants the belief that few plants not introduced by man remain to be discovered in Ireland. The total number of plants accepted as Irish is actually less than in the first edition, owing to the exclusion of several that had been included on evidence since proved insufficient. The “ Editors” have not merely edited the book. While endeavouring to give full effect to the views of Mr. More, they have made several innovations, which are clearly indicated in the preface. ‘The orders, genera, and species are rearranged in accordance with the sequence in. the ninth edition of the ‘“ London Catalogue,” though the names of species have not been followed. Among the new features are ‘reference to the soil- relations of plants where well marked ; vertical ranges of all species not distinctly lowland ; and introduction of the more widely current Irish plant names.” ‘The ‘‘Introduction” also has been recast and expanded. It treats of the origin and relations of the varied consti- tuents of the flora, and is worthy of careful perusal. An “ Alpha- betical List of the principal Books, Papers, MSS., and Herbaria relating to the Flora of Ireland,” coming down to 1897, forms a valuable aid to students of topographical botany. “Excluded species,” z.e., “errors, casuals, and aliens not fully naturalised,” are grouped together in an appendix. There is room for difference of opinion on the best mode of treating such plants ; but, in view of the fact that the line of division is often very difficult to draw (and, indeed, is often dependent on the personal view of the recorder), while many of the weeds of cultivated ground, though admitted without question into “floras,” are only introductions of very early date, there are strong reasons in favour of the more convenient method of including all in one series, with clear indications of their actual rank in the flora, as native or otherwise. The book can be warmly commended to all interested in topographical botany, especially of the British Islands. The Annals of Scottish Natural History No. 31] 1899 [Juy ON TWO RECENTLY DESCRIBED MICE FROM ST. KIEDA: By G. E. H. BarretTT-HamILTON, F.Z.S., etc. AT a meeting of the Zoological Society of London, I recently described as new two species of Mice from St. Kilda, and, at the request of the Editors of this journal, I practically reproduce my original contribution for the benefit of Scottish naturalists. The existence of any wild species of Mouse on the isolated rock of St. Kilda is an occurrence so apparently unlikely, that when in 1895 a specimen resembling the Long-tailed Field Mouse (JZus sylvaticus) was found amongst some examples of the House Mouse (Mus musculus) sent to the British Museum in spirit, it was received with an amount of surprise certainly equal to the importance of the discovery. The specimen, a young male, had been collected and was presented to the Museum by Mr. J. Steele Elliott.1 It was a very remarkable one, and bore unmistakable evidence of having come from an out-of-the-way part of the world. Its characteristics were, a larger foot and a smaller ear than the corresponding organs of typical AZus sylvaticus ; while, what was no less noticeable, the very characteristic snow-white belly of our common Field Mouse was in this individual replaced by a uniform rufous colour shading 1 Mr. Steele Elliott appears to have been the first person to collect specimens of the Mice of St. Kilda. Their occurrence on the island was, however, known previously to the outer world, and Seton states that ‘‘a cat is to be seen in almost every cottage, the mouse being the only wild animal on the island, and rats are still unknown” (‘*St. Kilda, Past and Present,” 1878, p. 132). 31 B 130 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY imperceptibly through the flanks to the peppery reddish-brown of the upper surface. All these peculiarities seemed to clearly point to a new species or subspecies of Mouse; but, the animal having been in spirit, its colour was regarded as unsatisfactory, and the unusual proportions of its ears and tail were ascribed to individual variation. And so the specimen was put on one side in the hope that in due time further examples might be procured. Early in the spring of the present year I happened to come across the specimen, and, being greatly struck by its remarkable appearance, I at once endeavoured to procure some more of these St. Kilda Mice, with the result that my friend Mr. Henry Evans, during the course of a yachting cruise, put in at St. Kilda and landed some traps for me. ‘Thanks to Mr. Evans, I have now before me, in addition to Mr. Steele Elliott’s specimen, a fine adult pair, male and female, as well as a young female, of the St. Kilda Mouse. The dimensions, in millimetres, of these St. Kilda Mice are as follows :— Head Tail Hind war and body. 2 foot. : & (skin: J. Steele Elliott, 1894) : 8I 85 25 ~- &6(;, H. Evans, 1898) ‘ : 107 gI 24.5 17 2 (spirit : e aes : : 110 94 24 15 ON sese INE ss sae is : : 82 ola) 24.5 15.5 They are thus remarkably large Mice for typical Jus sylvaticus, and the adults equal in size the largest measurements of the form known as Mus flavicollis, Melchior. The skull of the adult male is as large an example as I have ever seen, reaching a total length of 29 mm. The following list of total lengths of the skulls of various sylvaticus-like forms will illustrate this point :— mm M. flavicollis' g j : ‘ 29 Suffolk. 5 3 : ; : : 28 Hereford. Bs ee : E : ‘ 27 33 ” 2 . : . . 28 a5 5 : ; ‘ ‘ 28 M. hebridensis, (type). : : 27 MM. sylvaticus (old) : : é ; 26 33 (in general) . 5 : 26 to 27. In form and proportions these Mice resemble A/us hebridensis, the form of sZyvaticus described by my friend Mr. W. E. de Winton from the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides (“ Zoologist,” Oct. 1895, p. 369). The adult female from St. Kilda (which is in spirit) may possibly 1 The majority of these specimens have been placed at my disposal by my friend Mr, De Winton, ON TWO RECENTLY DESCRIBED MICE FROM ST. KILDA 131 not be so stout in foot nor so small in ear as the Hebridean Mice, but the two forms are very close to each other, and there can be no doubt that the St. Kilda Mice belong to the Hebridean type, although their rufous belly has carried them a little further along the same line of development in which JA/us hebridensis deviates from typical sy/vaticus. In this respect I find that the most rufous skin of all is the first one collected by Mr. J. Steele Elliott. In it there is no perceptible line of demarcation between the colours of the upper and under surfaces, the transition from the one to the other being, as stated above, quite a gradual one. As regards the specimens obtained by Mr. Evans, the colour of the belly of the adult female, which is in spirit, agrees with that of Mr. Steele Elliott’s specimen ; but in the male, which has been made into a skin, the belly is slightly lighter, the median broad buff belly-line of Mus hebridensts is more evident, and there is a just perceptible line of demarcation between the colours of the two surfaces. ‘The colour of the upper surface of the body of all the specimens is also, as in Mus hebridensts, more evenly distributed than in typical sylvaticus, there being less tendency to the development of a dark dorsal line. It is exceedingly interesting to find this graduating series, and to have the gap between AZus sylvaticus and the St. Kilda Mouse partially bridged over by the occurrence of JJws hebridensis on the intervening islands. This slight variation of the St. Kilda specimens in regard to the colour of the belly, the white colour of which is so extremely constant in and characteristic of J/Zus sylvaticus, is worthy of note, being exactly what we should expect to find in a comparatively new species which has not yet finally settled down into its new groove of development. We find thus that while in the colour of the belly some of the St. Kilda Mice may vary in the direction of J/us hebridensts, it is in this very respect that the latter form may vary in the direction of Mus sylvaticus. Indeed, in this point JAZus hebridensts is very variable, and I have examined some Isle of Lewis specimens, especially those from the eastern coast, which come very close to Mus sylvaticus in the colour of the under side. In addition to the above Mice, Mr. Evans also procured for me five specimens of the House Mouse of St. Kilda, of which the Museum already possessed five specimens collected on previous occasions, and preserved in spirit. These Mice are, if possible, of even greater interest than the JZus sylvaticus-like species, since they are characterised by the possession of a buff-coloured under side clearly marked off from the colour of the upper side by a distinct line of demarcation, and are thus very different from the ordinary almost uniformly smoky-brown coloured House Mice with which every one is familiar. The upper surface is also not of the typical 132 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY smoky musculus tint, but of a sepia-brown with a grizzled appearance due to many of the hairs being tipped with rufous. The lower parts of the hairs are exactly of the same shade as in Mus sylvaticus, for a dark specimen of which, at a casual glance from above, the animal might almost be mistaken. All these Mice—even the very young one: in presenting similar characters, and altogether are quite the most distinct local form of Mus musculus which I have ever examined. In form and proportions these Mice are well-developed large House Mice, only differing in this respect from ordinary Mice in being above the average size. The dimensions of the series which I have been able to examine are as follows (in millimetres) :— Head -, Hind and Loa. aul foot. Har. 9 skin (suckli Coll. ) Gu siieen ye SB OB (Spinit) ene SOMERO Las 12 1898. e) 9 » 3? ° 78 79 15 12.5 je) es x % : 87 84 16.5 13 ¢ (spirit), suckling. 33) 78) 1S 13) Buty Mus Colle presented OF Es. be 85 85 17.5 13 J by Mr. J. Steele Elliott. (Bat Mus. Coll., presented 3S (juv.) (spirit) . : fs 08 HO © by the Kelvingrove Mu- { seum, © (spirit), very young CoS 2a LO 1898. mote ate Eas 65 67 15 xo Brit. Mus, Coll.; presented za 5B) OO) 16) 1025 f) Sby Mr. js Steele Elliotts 39 be) > The arrangement of the mamme is as in JZws musculus, there being ten pairs in all, of which three are pectoral and two inguinal. The skulls and dentition of these Mice are in general appear- ance and size very mzsculus-like in character, but the triangular narrowing of the internal opening for the nostrils is even more strongly marked than in ordinary specimens of JZus musculus. _ All the St. Kilda skulls possess this peculiar narrowed palate, a character which I can only find in one out of over fifty specimens of AZus musculus-like Mice in the British Museum Collection, and that one is a specimen of the subspecies A/Zus jalape (Allen and Chapman) from Mexico. ‘The greatest lengths of four skulls from st. Kilda are 22, 22:5, 22, and 923 millimetres: It is obvious that, according to the custom of modern naturalists, these two forms of Mice need new names. I therefore proposed the following names, leaving the question as to the exact status of the two new forms to be decided when we are in possession of a fuller knowledge of the other species or subspecies of Mice of the respective groups. As to the desirability of bestowing names on the two Mice from St. Kilda, I can have no doubt whatever, but as to whether they are fit subjects for a $ ¢ ‘ ON TWO RECENTLY DESCRIBED MICE FROM ST. KILDA 133 binomial or for a trinomial treatment I am less certain, until I have had time to study the mzsculus- or sylvaticus-like Mice of the whole Palzarctic Region. For many reasons it would seem convenient to apply the trinomial system to all forms which can be clearly shown to be local developments of any other form. By such a method a clue is given to the relationships of the various local forms—a matter of no small importance to the student of a large and difficult genus like that of JZzs. On the other hand, we have, in the present instance, two forms which, although obviously coming within the above definition, are perfectly isolated and do not intergrade with the parent form. Regarded from this point of view, they have as much claim to be accorded full specific rank as any other island species, and the latter is, perhaps, the most satisfactory method whereby to deal with them. The following are the names which I propose :— Mus HIRTENSIS, Larrett-Hamilton. Closely allied to Mus hebridensis, from which, however, it differs in its slightly larger size, as stated above, and also in the greater amount of buff or yellowish-brown coloration on the under side. Like AZus hebridensts, it differs from typical sy/vatecus in the more uniform coloration of the upper surface of the body, in the absence of the clearly defined white under side, and in the longer feet and smaller ears. The skull is similar to that of M/us hebridensis, but appears to be larger, equalling in size that of the largest specimen of Mus flavicoltis. Mus MmuRALIS, Larrett-Hamilton. In shape and proportions allied to J/ws musculus, but more robust and larger in size. In general colour of the upper surface resembles a dark specimen of Mus sylvaticus typicus, the base of the hairs being of the same colour as in that species, but having the extremities of the majority of a sepia-brown colour; mixed among these are a certain proportion of rufous-tipped hairs, which give the animal a grizzled appearance. ‘The colour of the under surface is very remarkable, being buff, clearly separated by a well- marked line of demarcation from the colour of the upper surface of the body. The skull, as compared with that of typical JZus musculus, is remarkable for the greatly exaggerated narrowness of the posterior opening of the nostrils. The interest possessed by these two Mice, which undoubtedly represent local developments of AZus sylvaticus and Mus musculus, will be better appreciated if I briefly discuss the variations to which Mus musculus and sylvaticus are subject in other localities. I assume, however, from the outset that in neither case am I dealing with an animal which may have been recently introduced 134 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY to the island. The great amount of variation from the type of a species which varies so little as AZus sy/vaticus, as shown in the one case, and the evolution of a perfectly uniform and distinct type of coloration in one so variable as J/us muscudus in the other, are both characters which would seem to have taken no inconsiderable time for their development. So that even if, as is possible, the presence of a Mus musculus-like species of Mouse on St. Kilda be due in the beginning to a case of introduction, such an introduction could not have taken place at a very recent period in the history of the island, which is known to have been inhabited for at least several centuries. The distribution of Aus sylvaticus is almost coterminous with the limits of the Palearctic Region, the species only just reaching the confines of the Oriental Region “in Gilgit, where it is common from 5000 to 10,000 feet elevation” (Blanford’s ‘‘ Mammals of India,” p. 416). In the former region it is probably as widely spread as any other mammal, as it seems to be almost regardless of the influence of temperature, and is found far up the slopes of the mountains. It is equally at home in all the countries, except probably the great sandy deserts, from the Eastern coast-line of China to the Atlantic. It has reached Morocco, Algeria, and Palestine, and has found its way to most of the islands, such as those of the Mediterranean, the Channel Islands, Great Britain, Ireland, the Scotch Islands, the Shetlands,! and even Iceland, where the local form (AZus islandicus, Thien.) is said to be the only indigenous species of mammal. Its presence in such isolated, yet widely separated islands, as Iceland and Corsica, seem to mark it as a species which has for long maintained a wide area of distribution, and which had already occupied the greater part of its present range before these and the other islands, where it is now found, were finally separated from the Continent as such, but still formed a part of the continuous Palzearctic land area. And of its antiquity we have sufficient proof, for its bones have been found in numerous caves on the Continent and in the English Forest-bed ; and we have no trace of its ancestry, the Pleis- tocene species Jus orthodon, Hensel, and adbdotti, E. T. Newton, being at least as specialised as itself. Not only is AZus sylvaticus of exceedingly wide distribution, but throughout the immense area where it is found it remains remarkably constant to a single well-marked type. Throughout the Palzearctic Region it is distinguishable at a glance from every other Mouse with which it might possibly be confounded by the pattern of its teeth, its 1 A set of four from Dunrossness, for which I am indebted to Mr. Henderson, has recently reached me; I am unable to separate them from J/us sylvaticus of Western Europe and Great Britain, and the same remark applies to some specimens collected for me by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke on Alderney. ON TWO RECENTLY DESCRIBED MICE FROM ST. KILDA 135 long foot, large ears, and pure white belly, separated from the rufous colour of the upper side by a strong and clearly marked line of demarcation. It is true that these peculiarities show a slight tendency to local variation, so that two or three local forms of Mus sylvaticus may be recognised ; but the variation is so slight that it takes a specialist to distinguish JZws chevrieri, M.-Edw., of Tibet and China from J/us artanus, Blanf., of Persia and Afghanistan, or Mus sylvaticus, Linn., of Europe. Within the confines of Europe the animal seems to hold quite firmly to one particular type, so that I am unable to distinguish specimens from Corsica from those of Ireland or France. Mus sylvaticus is then obviously a species which, in its long- standing and successful struggle for existence, has attained to a height of specialisation from which it has either very little power of variation, or else which is such as to fulfil all the needs of the species in almost any conditions with which it may be brought into contact. It is a species which further and even minute study may find un- profitable, or even impossible, to split into local subspecies. Not that I wish to imply that local variations are absent or even rare in Mus sylvaticus. They are by no means so, but their presence is infinitely less abundant or conspicuous than is the case with other and perhaps equally widely spread mammals. It is then extremely interesting to find that the representatives of Aus sylvaticus in the Hebrides and St. Kilda show as much divergence from the type as examples from any other locality with which we are acquainted, and it is an evident sign of the antiquity of the animal at St. Kilda, and a seemingly irrefutable argument against any theory of its introduction into the island—apart from the fact that its presence in the Channel Islands, in Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the Shetlands, Ireland, and the Inner and Outer Hebrides marks it out as the species par excellence of all others in the Palearctic Region which we should most expect to find in an out-of-the-way island. And, to judge by its large size and robust form, it has had no difficulty in maintaining its existence at St. Kilda. I think, then, that we have a good deal of evidence to support us in supposing that AZus hirtensis is indigenous to St. Kilda; and, indeed the very position of this rock, facing as it does the Western Hebrides and with a channel of no very great depth between it and them, throws no difficulty in the way of the hypothesis that the continuous land-area which enabled JZus sylvaticus to reach the Shetlands, Scotland, the Hebrides, and Ireland, should have included also St. Kilda in its surface—an event which might be brought about by an elevation of about 60 fathoms only. That such a land connection must have been of geologically quite recent existence is a matter of no difficulty for a zoologist, since the whole of the Mammalian fauna in Ireland and Britain is so 136 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY similar to that of the Continent, that it is inconceivable (unless a// the species are introductions) that it can have existed in our islands for any, geologically speaking, long period of time. Even the most plastic of British Mammals, such as the Squirrel, have only advanced a comparatively short distance on the road of differentiation ; and as regards Birds there is a precisely similar story to be told, there being only one really well-differentiated peculiar British species, the Red Grouse (Lagopus scoticus). In fact, one of the strongest arguments against my friend! Dr. R. F. Scharff’s brilliant theories as to the age of the Irish fauna is, that were it so old as he would make it, we should expect to find not only peculiar species but even peculiar genera among the mammals of Ireland, whereas a most careful study has hitherto only sufficed to distinguish one certainly peculiar species, the Irish Stoat (Putorius hibernicus), and that bears in itself very clear evidence of its recent origin. Another species or subspecies, the Irish Hare (Lepus hibernicus), seems also to be distinguishable, but it is not nearly so distinct as the Stoat. Among Birds, Reptiles, and Amphibians naturalists have hitherto failed to find any peculiar local forms, although it is evident that the Grouse of Western Great Britain and of Ireland is following on the same route as the Irish Stoat and Hare. Can there, then, be any great difficulty in supposing that AZus hirtensts is indigenous to St. Kilda, and that it reached the island at a (geologically speaking) comparatively recent period, when there was in existence a land-surface connecting the Shetlands, Orkneys, Scotland, the Hebrides, St. Kilda, and Ireland; and that that connection must have been so (geologically speaking) recent that few of our native mammals have had time to develop into species or even subspecies distinct from those of the continent of Europe? That the Mouse of St. Kilda should be the one in which variation has proceeded further than in other localities is quite in accordance with the isolated situation of and confined space on the rock, together with its full exposure to the Atlantic winds. To assert that the Mouse of Iceland has reached that island along a formerly continuous land-area would be a very different matter, since not only is there a deep channel between the Faroes and Iceland, and even between the former islands and the Shetlands, but, if we consider that AZws zs/andicus is native to Iceland, then we should expect to find a similar or representative species in the Faroes, and of that we have as yet no record. Yet that there has ever been such a land connection will not, I suppose, be contended by anybody, so that the question in reality resolves itself into one dealing with the time at which such a con- nection existed, and whether it has been sufficently recent to allow of a passage along it of such a presumably recent mammal as a ISee “°Proc. R. I. Acad.” July 1807,9p. 427, ON TWO RECENTLY DESCRIBED MICE FROM ST. KILDA 137 Mouse. Although we cannot expect to decide such questions from a mammalian point of view alone, it is profitable to remember that such “an old land extension connecting Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Scandinavia with Scotland and Ireland ” is relied upon by the editors of the recently published second edition of the ‘‘ Cybele Hibernica ” (Introduction, pp. li., lii.) as the only reasonable explanation of the presence in Ireland, and undoubtedly native there, of three plants of North American habitat, two of which are unknown in continental Europe ; nor would there seem to be any better explanation forth- coming to account for our share in Ireland of Invertebrates ! indis- tinguishable from certain North American forms. Similarly Mr. A. H. Keane,? although writing on a widely different subject, regards the “submarine bank, which stretches from Scotland through the Faroes and Iceland to Greenland,” as representing a ‘‘ vanished continent of great age, which would appear to have still formed dry land in late Tertiary times.” But the present paper deals not with the question of a submerged Euro-American continent, but with the Mice of St. Kilda, and I must content myself with pointing out in conclusion that the recent expedition of exploration to Rockall,? the most westerly rock-islet off the European continent, found that when trawling at a distance of about 15 miles south of that rock, ‘‘the water shoaled to 80 fathoms, and there was brought up in the net a most unexpected assortment of shallow-water shells, evidently long since dead. Amongst these were several kinds of Pecten, Venus casina, V. fasci- ata, Mytilus modiolus, etc.” In the words of the Rev. W. S. Green : ‘““How, under present conditions, such shells could be found living anywhere on the bank was difficult to understand. It would seem to afford the strongest confirmation to the theory that the time is not so very long distant when there was more land, with a shallow coast-line, and possibly extensive sandbanks, where now the pinnacle of Rockall is the only speck acting as a memorial stone to what tradition has called the ‘Sunken Land of Buss.’ After the shallow sandbanks had vanished, these molluscs may have accommodated themselves to a deeper sea than is usual for such organisms to live in, and it may be that it is only now that the conditions are becoming too severe for their further existence. There is, of course, the possibility that these shells may have come from the bottom of icebergs which had grounded in Greenland or Spitzbergen bays, but I doubt if in times sufficiently recent such bergs have visited the position occupied by Rockall, and therefore the former theory seems the more probable. “The possibility of the shells having been brought as bait for 1 See ‘Irish Naturalist,” vol. iv. pp. 25, 122; vol, vi. pp. 225, 257. 2 « Ethnology,” 1896, p. 231. 3 See ** Trans. R. I. Acad.,” vol. xxxi. pt. 3, pp. 45-46 (1897). 138 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY the lines of the fishing-boats visiting the bank is, I think, disposed of by the mixed character of the deposit, some of the shells being unsuitable for such a purpose. It would be interesting to trace out the area occupied by these dead shells, and, possibly, to search in a similar manner for the lost land of Hy. Brassil on the Porcupine Bank, but the time at our disposal only gave us the chance for one dip into this deposit.” Turning to AZus musculus, we have to deal with a very different species, and I do not in this case attempt to prove that this animal has reached St. Kilda without the help of man. ‘That it must have existed there for a considerable time, perhaps for hundreds of years, is, however, as I hope to show, very probable. Well known and widely spread in almost all regions where the habitations of man afford it a refuge, it is impossible to state what is the native home of the species. Not only is the domestic form of J/us musculus widely spread and readily susceptible of introduction into the houses of its unwilling protector, man, but its variability is as remarkable as is the constancy to type of AZus sylvaticus. Still it has never, I believe, been asserted that the species is anything but an introduction into Western Europe, including the British Islands. Light or yellowish varieties of AZus musculus have from time to time received names such as JZ. hortulanus, Nordmann, JZ. nord- mannt, Keys. and Blasius, AZ. flavescens, Fisher, and JZ. flaviventris, Lataste ; the last two preoccupied by names applied to other species of the genus. In addition, however, to these almost domestic members of the JAZws musculus group of Mice, we have in many parts of the world wild forms of Mice which, though differing to a more or less extent in their size, length of tail, and colour, cannot be distinguished from JZus musculus in their skull and teeth. Such Mice are WZ. éactrianus, Blyth, and AZ. gentilis, Brants, which are widely distributed in the deserts respectively of Asia and N. Africa, and JZ, wagnert, Eversm. (= JZ. pachycercus, Blanford), of Central Asia; the latter a true House Mouse, often found inhabiting houses, and differing in no cranial characters from JZus musculus proper. Lastly, we have a set of Mice, also of varied colours, size of body, and proportion of tail, but mostly characterised by the possession of a white belly, which are found in many of the regions where typical Mus musculus occurs. Such are AZ. spretus, Lataste, of the Barbary States, and JZ. spicilegus, Petenyi, of Hungary, France, Portugal, and Western Europe. ‘These Mice may occur in close propinquity to the typical JZus musculus, as was found by Mr. Oldfield Thomas in Portugal and by myself in Morocco. Among all these perplexing forms it is indeed difficult to assign a proper place to JZ. murads, and more so to hazard even a guess as to the possible origin of the domestic races of M/us musculus. We know, however, that almost everywhere where there are deserts ON TWO RECENTLY DESCRIBED MICE FROM ST. KILDA 139 there a dactrianus-like Mouse is found, so that JZ. dactrianus is perhaps as widely distributed in deserts as is Aus musculus typicus in houses. It seems to me, therefore, probable that both JZws bactrianus and Mus musculus are developments of some original parent form to suit particular conditions, and we may perhaps look for the latter to some Central Asian species like JZ. waguert. Some of the white-bellied forms which are found in a wild state in Western Europe, and in other countries where J/us musculus typicus occurs in houses, may be cases of reversion from the latter, which is no doubt almost certainly the origin of such races as are found on islands, such as the Salvage Islands, where AZus musculus must have been accidentally introduced. But it by no means follows that this is the case with Jus spicilegus, the size and pro- portions of which are so much finer than in true JZus musculus and the tail shorter. AZus sficilegus, indeed, might even be regarded as a wild parent form of Jus musculus, and it is not with it, but the forms which are certainly reversions from true Jus musculus, that we must associate A/us mural?s of St. Kilda; and it is interesting to note that the similarly derived Mice of the Salvage Islands resemble those of St. Kilda very closely in their robust form. That a wild race of A/us musculus can be rapidly evolved from Common House Mice when living in a wild state has been recently shown by my friend! Mr. H. Lyster Jameson. ‘This gentleman has clearly made out his case for the formation of an incipient species of Mouse on the North Bull, Dublin Bay, Ireland, a tract of sand- hills about three miles in length and almost completely isolated from the mainland. This sandbank is known not to have been in existence longer than about roo years, so that the coloration described by Mr. Jameson must have been evolved in at most a period of that length. Mr. Jameson lays great stress on the value of the change to these Mice as a protective feature, and so he has not, I think, given sufficient emphasis to the fact that we have here a clear instance of the rapid development of an incipient subspecies of Mouse with an exact period laid down in which the change occurred ; and we may fairly, I think, use Mr. Jameson’s results in dealing with other species or subspecies of Mice. If we are to judge from the analogy of Mr. Jameson’s Mice, we must conclude that the Mice of St. Kilda have been in that island for a considerable time. Not only are they more distinct in colour than any other local form of MZus musculus with which I am acquainted (and I have been through the whole of the specimens in the British Museum Collection), but their line of development seems to have become fixed, and is, as in the case of Mr. Jameson’s Mice, no 1 «Journ, Linn. Soc. Zool.,’’ vol. xxvi., ‘On a Probable Case of Protective Coloration in the House Mouse (Jus musculus, Linn.),’ pp. 465-473. 140 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY longer in a state of uncertain evolution. On the North Bull sand- hills, indeed, Mr. Jameson found not only Mice which had _pro- gressed for a considerable distance along the path of their new development, but also Mice which showed every kind of gradation from those which had white bellies to those which exhibited the characters of perfectly typical AZus musculus. I think, then, that we may safely conclude that AZus musculus is of at least several hundred years’ standing at St. Kilda. There is one extremely interesting point which should not be forgotten in connection with these two St. Kilda Mice, namely the fact that we have here a clear opportunity of studying the effect on two distinct species of the same genus of isolation side by side on the same island. Here we have, on a circumscribed space, two species in the course of evolution, the progress of which may be easily studied from time to time. The species having now been described, we can in twenty or thirty years’ time, by comparing specimens taken then and now, estimate the amount of change which they will in that time have undergone. It is interesting to note, however, that so far the effect of isolation on the island is not similar in the case of the two species, since apparently the Mouse which must be supposed to have been the longer time at St. Kilda is the very one which has varied in a lesser degree than that one which we must regard as an introduction. For Jus hirtensis, which appears to have been on St. Kilda since that island was in connection with the mainland, is certainly not much more different from JZus sy/vaticus than is AZus muralis from AZus musculus, yet Mus muralis can only be an introduced species of at most a few hundred years’ standing. Nothing can give stronger emphasis to the fact that different species possess different powers of variability and follow a different course of evolution, so that it seems that we cannot predict what will happen under certain circumstances to one species from our experience of what has happened to another. Every species, it would appear, has its own rules for evolution and development, which must be applied to it and to it alone. REPORT ON THE MOVEMENTS AND (OCCUR RENCE, ;OF BIRDS IN SCOTLAND DURING 1898. By T. G. Larpiaw, Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union. THE Schedules returned for 1898 number fifty-three, an increase of seven over those received for the preceding year. The Lighthouses and Coast Stations furnish twenty-three MOVEMENTS OF BIRDS IN SCOTLAND DURING 1808 141 schedules; the remaining thirty coming from inland ob- servers. It is a matter for satisfaction that the number of observers who send in records continues to increase; but there are still many districts inadequately represented. The important faunal areas of Moray, West Ross, and Solway may be specially mentioned in this respect. Any one desirous to assist by transmitting their obser- vations may obtain schedules from Mr. Eagle Clarke, Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh. We have to record our hearty thanks to all those who have assisted in these inquiries by forwarding schedules or notes. The following list gives the names of the observers from whom reports have been received. The localities are arranged under the different faunal areas, proceeding from north to south, along the East and West Coasts. SHETLAND. Locality. Name of Observer. North Unst L.H. The Lightkeepers. Foula Francis Traill. Dunrossness Thomas Henderson, jun. Various Localities Robert Godfrey, M.A. ORKNEY. North Ronaldshay L.H. John A. Mackay, Lightkeeper. Pentland Skerries L.H. Robert A. M‘Harrie, Lightkeeper. SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS. Cape Wrath L.H. Neil M‘Donald and William Crowe, Lightkeepers. Thurso Lewis Dunbar. Various Localities Robert Godfrey, M.A. Moray. Forres William Brown. DEE. Rattray Head L.H. Robert Clyne, Lightkeeper. Peterhead Rev. William Serle, M.A. Aberdeen L. G. Esson. 142 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Locality. Auchinblae, Fordoun Blair Atholl Ballinluig Tayfield Isle of May L.H. Row, Doune Lothians and Aberfoyle Edinburgh District Dalmeny Park Various Localities Broughton Halmyre Chirnside Island Ghlais L.H. North Bay, Barra BAY: Name of Observer. John Milne. William Evans. Bruce Campbell. William Berry, B.A., LL.B. FORTH. T. E. Arthur, Lightkeeper. Lt.-Col. Duthie. William Evans. Bruce Campbell. Charles Campbell, Robert Godfrey, M.A. TWEED. A. C. Gairns. D. G. Laidlaw. Charles Stuart, M.D. OUTER HEBRIDES. James M‘Guffie, Lightkeeper. John MacRurie, M.B. ARGYLL AND INNER HEBRIDES. Skerryvore L.H. Dhuheartach L.H. Skervuile L.H. Scarnish, Tiree Ben Nevis Lamlash L.H. Turnberry Point L.H. Carmichael, Thankerton Various Localities Mull of Kintyre L.H. J. Nicol and William Ross, Light- keepers. William Begg, Lightkeeper. Robert M‘Intosh, Lightkeeper. Peter Anderson. The Observatory Staff. CLYDE, James Edgar, Lightkeeper. Thomas J. Wallace, Lightkeeper. Rev. J: DW.) Gibson: John Paterson, John Robertson, H. B. Watt, and Robert Wilson. SoLway. William Quine, Lightkeeper. MOVEMENTS OF BIRDS IN SCOTLAND DURING 1898 143 GENERAL REMARKS, The series of mild winters was not broken by that of 1897-98, and the spring was also of the same character as the preceding year ; namely, wet and cold for the most part, and therefore retarding migration. To some extent the summer visitants were late in arriving, and conspicuously fewer in number than usual in most districts. The pronounced spring movements were few in number. At North Ronaldshay, on April 21st, Wheatears and other small birds were in swarms all night; and at Dunrossness there was a remarkable rush, culminating on April 30th, details of which are given in “ Annals,” 1898, pp. 178-179. At Tiree, on April 19th and 26th, White Wagtails in numbers were passing north, and on April 29th and May 6th the usual passage of Whimbrels was observed. At Skerryvore, on April 22nd, a rush of Pipits, Whinchats, Wheatears, and Warblers took place. The principal autumn migratory movements on the East Coast occurred on Oct. 8th, 20th, and 21st, when Song Thrushes, Redwings, Fieldfares, Starlings, etc., were in swarms at Dunrossness, N. Ronaldshay, and Rattray Head. On the West Coast, from Sept. 7th to gth, rushes of Wheatears, Wagtails, Pipits, and other small birds are recorded from Dhuheartach, Skerryvore, and Lamlash. Other rushes are noted from these stations, and from Skervuile and Mull of Kintyre, on Oct. oth to 22nd, Nov. 8th and oth, and 19th and 2oth, the birds mainly being Thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwings, Fieldfares, Goldcrests, and Woodcocks. The appearance of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, in unusual numbers, in many widely separated districts, and the flocks of Jays that in the autumn invaded the south- western counties, may be alluded to as special features of the fall movements. The interesting occurrence of Macqueen’s Bustard at Pitfour, Aberdeen, on Oct. 22nd, the first Scottish example, is the chief ornithological rarity of the year. Among other casual visitants to Scotland may be mentioned the Black-bellied Dipper, at Dunrossness, on Nov. 27th; Golden Oriole, Arbroath, June 8th; Red-backed Shrike, 144 ANNALS -.OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY from Dee, Tay, and Forth; Waxwing, from Moray and Clyde ; Ortolan Bunting, Dunrossness, April 30th ; Hoopoe, Isle of May, April 30th, and Dunbar, Oct. 17th; European Hawk Owl, Aberdeen, Nov. 21st; Marsh Harrier, Kirk- michael, Solway, in May; Garganey, Pitfour, Oct. 22nd; Spotted Crake, Dunbar, Oct. 18th; and Baillon’s Crake, Caithness, Sept. 13th. The following species, obtained in Scotland in 1897, were not included in the Report for that year :—Rose-coloured Pastor, Inverbroom, West Ross, Aug. 16th; Lesser Kestrel, Bognalie, Aberdeen, Oct. 25th; and Great Shearwater, St. Kilda, Aug. 7th. The nesting of the Pintail at Loch Leven, as described by Mr. William Evans in “ Annals” (1898, pp. 162-164), and the extension of the breeding range of the Fulmar in Shetland, as reported by Mr. Robert Godfrey, are points worthy of note. TurRbus musicus (Song Thrush). Orkney—North Ronaldshay, Oct. 21, all night, swarms, 110 killed at lantern; Pentland Skerries, Oct. 21, with Fieldfares and Starlings. Swtherland—Cape Wrath, March 7, several with Black- birds. Dee—Rattray Head, Oct. 20, at lantern, with Starlings and Redwings ; Peterhead, Oct. 29, strong rush. /orth—lIsle of May, Oct. 7, flocks at lantern. Argyll and Lsles—Skerryvore, Oct. 19, a rush of Turdidze, Larks, etc., many killed; Nov. 8-9, rush; Nov. ro, great rush with Larks, Goldcrests, etc. Dhuheartach, Oct. 19-20, great rush of birds; Nov. 17, midnight, at lantern; Nov. 19-20, rush of Turdidz, etc. Skervuile, Oct. 19-20, a great many with Starlings and Blackbirds. ‘Tiree, March 14, left; Oct. 15, arrived. Clyde— Lamlash, Oct. 25-26, a rush. So/way—Mull of Kintyre, Nov. 9, very numerous at light. Principal movements, Oct. 20-21, E.; Oct. 17-20, Nov. 19-20, West Coast. TuRDUSs ILiacus (Redwing). Shetland—Dunrossness, April 30, many ; Oct. 8, very numerous ; Oct. 20, numerous with Blackbirds. Dee—Rattray Head, Oct. 20, many killed. For¢h—Boghall, Oct. 6, a few; Isle of May, Oct. 29, several at lantern. Zaeed—Channelkirk, Oct. 1, seven; Chirnside, Oct. 24, with Fieldfares. Outer Hebrides—Barra, Oct. 19. Argyll and Isles—Skerryvore, April 22, with other birds ; Oct. 13-14, many striking ; Oct. 22, striking hard all night; Nov. 8-9, with Fieldfares, etc.; Nov. 19, great rush of birds. Dhuheartach, Oct. 19-20, rush, MOVEMENTS OF BIRDS IN SCOTLAND DURING 1808 145 numbers all night; Nov. 20, in flocks round lantern. Skervuile, Nov. 8, 1 A.M., with Starlings. Tiree, March ro, several; Nov. 4. Clyde—Mearns, Oct. 9, 15-20. Carmichael, Oct. 21, many. Earliest observed, Oct. 1, Channelkirk. Principal movements, Oct. 19-20, Nov. 19-20. TURDUs PILARIS (Fieldfare). Shetland—Dunrossness, April 30, many; Oct. 21, large flock. Orkney—Pentland Skerries, Oct. 21, rush; Oct. 31, killed at light ; Nov. 2, flock. Dee—Peterhead, April 24; Oct. 29, rush with Thrushes, etc. Zay—Fordoun, Nov. 13, very large flock. Forth— Midcalder, May 24, small flock; Heriot, Oct. 14; Isle of May, Oct. 29, large flock. Zweed—Halmyre, May 12, large flock passing N.W.; Chirnside, Oct. 24, many. Outer Hebrides—Barra, Nov. 9. Argyll and Isles—Skerryvore, Oct. 22, striking all night ; Nov. 8-9, rush with other birds; Noy. 19, great rush of birds. Dhuheartach, Oct. 19-20, flying round all night ; Nov. 9, at light with other birds. Clyde — Gartcosh, April 30, one; Carmichael, Oct. 12, flock; Lamlash, Oct. 25-26, a rush. Earliest observed, Oct. 12, Carmichael. Principal movements, Oct. 20-22, Nov. 9-19. TURDUS MERULA (Blackbird). Shetland—Dunrossness, Oct. 20, numerous. Swtherland—Cape Wrath, March 7 ; Dec. 3, 8, several with Thrushes. ee—Peterhead, Oct. 29, strong rush. /orth—Isle of May, Nov. 16, few at lantern. Argyll and Isles—Skerryvore, Oct. 7-8, caught at light; Oct. 19, in rush of Turdidz, many killed; Nov. 8, 19, in rush of birds. Dhu- heartach, Oct. 19-20, many all night; Nov. 9, many round light ; Nov. 20, at lantern. Skervuile, Oct. 19-20, many killed. Tiree, March 21, have left. | CZyde—lamlash, Oct. 2, 5, at light with Thrushes, etc. ; Oct. 25-26,a rush. So/zwway—Mull of Kintyre, Nov. 9, in rush with Thrushes, etc. TURDUS TORQUATUS (Ring Ousel). Shetland—Dunrossness, April 30, many in rush of birds. Forth —Aberfoyle, April 16. Zweed—Halmyre, April 28,a ¢. Argyll and Isles—Skerryvore, Sept. 15, killed at light, numbers flying about. Clyde—Lamlash, April 7. So/way—Mull of Kintyre, March 3, one seen; April 1, one. Earliest observed, March 3, Mull of Kintyre. PRATINCOLA RUBETRA (Whinchat). Shetland—Dunrossness, April 30, adult 3, ‘‘new to Shetland ” (“ Annals,” 1898, p. 178). Zay—Ballinluig, May 2. /orth—Braid Hills, May 4. Zzeed—Broughton, April 11; Chirnside, Aug. 12. 2 Cc 146 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Outer Hebrides—Barra, May 1. Argyll and Isles—Skerryvore, April 22, a rush with Wheatears, etc. Dhuheartach, Aug 17-18, at lantern with other birds; Sept. 8-9, many passing. CZyde—Lamlash, April 19. Earliest, April 11, Broughton. SAXICOLA CENANTHE (Wheatear). Orkney—North Ronaldshay, April 17, a few; April 21, swarms all night. Pentland Skerries, May 8; Sept. 13, three. ee—Peterhead, Sept. 5-12, migrating; Sept. 27, last seen. /or/i—Harlaw Mur, April 13. Isle of May, April 26, first arrival; Oct. 10. Tweed Broughton, April 11; Halmyre, April 14, three seen ; Chirnside, Sept. 30, last seen. Argyll and Lsles—Skerryvore, Feb. 5, one flying about rock; April 18, three; April 22, a rush with other birds; Sept. 8-12, many striking light; Sept. 15-18, at lantern till daylight. Dhuheartach, Aug. 17-18, great numbers round light, mostly young ; Sept. 8-9, many with other birds ; Oct. 19-20, great rush with other birds, many killed. Skervuile, Aug, 18, many, several killed. Tiree, April 11,.arrived. C/yde—Lendalfoot, March 19. Lamlash, April 5, a pair; May 3, arush with Wagtails and Willow Wrens; Sept. 7-8, a rush with other birds. Turnberry, April 18, two at lantern. Balgray Dam, Oct. 1. So/zvay—Mull of Kintyre, April 11, one. Earliest, Feb. 5, Skerryvore; latest, Oct. 19, Dhuheartach. Principal movements, April 21, Aug. 17-18, Sept. 8-12. RUTICILLA PHGNICURUS (Redstart). ! Shetland—Dunrossness, April 30, many with other birds. Orkney—North Ronaldshay, May 1, a few. ce—Rattray Head, May 22,a ¢. Zay—Fordoun, Sept. 15, left; Ballinluig, May 1. Forth—Aberfoyle, April 17. Zzeed—Chirnside, Aug. 4; Broughton, April 21. Clyde—Turnberry, April 18, one at lantern ; Thornlie- bank, April 22. Earliest, Aberfoyle, April 17 ; latest, Fordoun, Sept. 15. ERITHACUS RUBECULA (Robin). Shetland —Dunrossness, April, end of, astonishing numbers. (“Annals,” 1898, pp. 178-179). Orkney—North Ronaldshay, May 6, one at lantern. Suther/and—Cape Wrath, March 7, several. Dee —Peterhead, Sept. 5, a few arriving; Sept. 11, numerous. . stolonifera, Linn. + A. vulgaris, With. + 22 D 226 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Deschampsia czespitosa, Beauv. Holcus lanatus, Z. Avena.—As in 1897. Arrhenatherum avenaceum, Seauv. Dactylis glomerata, Z. Poa annua, Z. — P. nemoralis, 2.—More common. P. pratensis, Z. + Py trivialis. 2. Glyceria distans, Wahdend. + Festuca elatior, Z., and c. pratensis, Huds. Bromus sterilis, Z.—One plant. Bamollisted. Lolium perenne, Z.—Rather more abundant. e. ztalicum (Braun).—Several examples. Agropyron repens, Beauv.—Still increasing, the varieties in pro- portions as before. Triticum vulgare, Vill. — Secale cereale, ..—; Hordeum distichum, L.; H. hexastichum, L. Equisetum arvense, Z.—A fair-sized patch of barren stems was observed in July—for the first time on this ground. A comparison of the above list with those for previous years confirms the general conclusions stated in them as to the inability of most of the introduced plants to hold their ground against the encroachments of the native weeds, especially of the larger forms, and of those that grow socially, such as Conium and the grasses. The absence of a very large number of the commonest weeds of waste places is still very noteworthy, as is also the continued scarcity of some that have occurred on the ground year after year, and that one might have anticipated would soon become abundant after they had gained a footing. As a whole, the vegetation is year by year becoming more stable in its character, the changes constantly diminishing ; though a few tend to drop out and casuals may not reappear, while others appear for the first time or recur after an interval of a year or more. Comparing the list of this year with that of 1897 we FLORULA OF A PIECE OF WASTE GROUND AT ABERDEEN 227 find that Geranium molle, G. dissectum, Lotus tenuts, Potentilla recta, Epilobium montanum, Carum Petroselinum, Scandix Pecten-Veneris, Caucalis latifolia, Chrysanthemum Parthen- zunt, Helianthus tuberosus, Lycopsis arvensis, Mimulus luteus, Lamium purpureum, and Carex ovalis have not been observed in 1898. Of these, several were mere casuals, represented only by one or two examples, while none were at all com- mon. Several species were noted as diminishing in frequency. On the other hand, some were evidently more abundant. A few observed in the earlier years, but not in 1897, were again found in 1898. These may have been due to casual reintroduction by seed from the mills or brought in the cinders, or some may have been undetected last year. The species that recurred were: Lepidium Draba, Viola arvensis, Silene Cucubalus, Lotus uliginosus, Peucedanum sativum, Chrysanthemum segetum, Cichorium Intybus, Glyceria distans (almost certainly present in 1897). The following were observed for the first time: Lotus corniculatus, Arctium intermedium, Polygonum cuspidatum (all single plants), and Lguzsetum arvense. The single example of Populus, though not mentioned previously, has been some years on the ground. REPORT FOR 1899. THE foregoing report, written in September 1898, has remained unpublished owing to want of room in this journal during the past year; but it appears better to allow it to stand unchanged, and to confine the report for 1899 to those features only of the locality and flora that show conditions changed as compared with those of the previous year. The railway lines have been increased in number; and both they and the cart tracks to (and in some parts between) them now occupy much of the surface covered with cinders. The latter area has also been extended in some places; and some of the plants previously observed and recorded have been destroyed during the year. In two or three places small rubbish-heaps have been deposited, on 228 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY which some plants not previously obtained have been found, while others believed to have disappeared have been again found, probably the result of seeds casually introduced with the rubbish. The most careful examination made this year was on 22nd June; but several visits were made to the ground both before and afterwards. On that day the coarser grasses and other large weeds, such as thistles and hemlock, were found newly cut down rather closely. They did not regain their former size, or flower and seed as in former years. Thus the lower plants were enabled to grow more vigorously than for some time previously. The report for 1898 is taken as the basis of the following notes. All species named in that report but not referred to here were observed in 1899 in practically the same quantities as in 1898. All changes of any kind are noted below. The same abbreviations and signs are used as before. Ranunculus acris, Z. + *Papaver Rhceas, Z.—Not seen. Barbarea vulgaris, &. 47.—One plant, in flower. Cochlearia Armoracia, L.—One plant much injured by larve, the other flowering. Sisymbrium pannonicum, Jacq.—Two or three seedlings were noticed y . . 4 . . 5 a little distance from its former habitat, but none flowered. Viola arvensis, JZurray.—None seen. Saponaria Vaccaria, L.—Several, in flower, on rubbish ; last noticed in 1896. Cytisus scoparius, Zzz#.—Seems destroyed. Malva parvifiora, L..—Several on rubbish, flowering ; last noticed in 1895. Geranium molle, Z.—Two flowering plants ; last noticed in 1896. *Medicago falcata, Z.—Flowering and fruiting very freely. *Melilotus officinalis, Zam.—Not seen. Lotus corniculatus, Z.—Spreading a little. L. uliginosus, Schkuwhr.—Not observed, probably covered up. Vicia sepium, Z. + Potentilla anserina, Z. + *Pyrus Malus, Z. + FLORULA OF A PIECE OF WASTE GROUND AT ABERDEEN 229 *Lythrum Salicaria, Z.—Quite covered with cinders and destroyed. Conium maculatum, Z.—Checked by being cut down in June. Scandix Pecten-Veneris, Z.—Several plants on rubbish; last seen in 1897. Peucedanum sativum, B. and H.—Not observed, perhaps destroyed. Caucalis latifolia, L., one ; found previously in 1897. *Sambucus nigra, Z.—One young plant on the levelled-up ground near lines. *Galium tricorne, Stokes. —Several plants in fruit on a rubbish- heap. Bellis perennis, Z.—Increasing slightly in opener places. Anthemis Cotula, \..—A good many small plants on a rubbish-heap. Chrysanthemum segetum, Z.—Not observed. Artemisia vulgaris, Z.—Not observed. Arctium.—A few plants of this genus were seen, but as they were cut down with the other coarse herbage it was impossible to determine the form with certainty, except one 4. mznus. Cnicus.—The species were a good deal checked in their luxuriance by being cut down in June. Centaurea nigra, Z. + C. Cyanus, Z.—A few plants near the mills; last seen in 1896. Cichorium Intybus, L.—Not observed, perhaps covered with cinders. Sonchus oleraceus, Z.—Not observed. S. asper, Z.—One young plant; last seen in 1895. Echinospermum Lappula, Lehm.—A few small plants in flower and fruit on rubbish. It had not been previously observed on this ground, though several times found as a casual near Aberdeen. *Scutellaria galericulata, Z.— Both patches covered up and destroyed. Phalaris arundinacea, Z.—One patch in flower ; last seen in 1896. Festuca rubra, Z., Zhui//.—A few plants in flower; not previously seen since 1896. Bromus sterilis, Z.—Not observed. An examination of the above notes will show consider- able changes when contrasted with those for 1898. Several species have dropped out, viz. Papaver Rheas, Cytisus scoparius, Melilotus officinalts, Lotus uliginosus, Lythrum Salicaria, Peucedanum sativum, Chrysanthemum segetum, 230 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Artemisia vulgaris, Cichortum Intybus, Sonchus oleraceus, Scutellaria galericulata, Bromus sterilis, Almost all of these were present in 1898 in only small numbers, except where they grew in clumps that were destroyed by the extension of the area covered with cinders. The following species observed in former years, but not in 1898, recurred in 1899, chiefly on rubbish-heaps :— Saponaria Vaccaria, Malva parviflora, Geranium molle, Scandix Pecten-Veneris, Caucalis latifolia, Centaurea Cyanus, Sonchus asper, Phalaris arundinacea, Festuca rubra. The following, also chiefly on rubbish-heaps, had not been previously observed on this ground :—Sarbarea vulgaris, Sambucus nigra, Galium tricorne, Anthemis Cotula, Echino- spermum Lappula. ON FAVEROGHLOA BOREALIS, Ris S., owe SCOTMSEH SENCHES. By ARTHUR BENNETT, F.L.S. THE discovery of this species by Miss Mittelbach on the shore of Kirkcudbrightshire makes it perhaps possible that it may be found in other localities; but it must be searched for early, since from the first week in May to the first week in June seems the time in Scotland when this grass is in its best condition. In cultivation of the plant, however, from the Thurso station, I found it begins to flower as early as 13th April, but is at its maximum about the middle of May. It flowers profusely when grown in a pot, but very sparsely in the ground, among Carex tomentosa, Sisyrinchium, etc. In this note I propose to give an outline of its history as a Scottish species (with extracts from various sources, letters, etc.), its distribution in Europe, etc. The first notice of it as a British plant seems to be in Hooker’s “Flora Scotica,” p. 28, 1821, where it is recorded as “in a narrow mountain valley called Kella, Angus. G. Don. A valuable discovery of the late acute Mr. G. Don ; called Hvierochloé by Gmelin, because in some parts of the 1 Gmelin, ‘‘ Fl. Sib.,” i. p. 101 (1747), wrote ‘* Hierochloé.” ON AIEROCHLOA BOREALIS AS A SCOTTISH SPECIES 231 Prussian dominions it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and strewed before the doors of the churches on festival days. It has, like others of the genus, an agreeable scent, resembling that of Anthoxranthum odoratum.’ Linneus tells us “it is a soporific, and sold in the towns in Sweden to be suspended over the beds, and induce sleep” (Hooker, Zc, toth April 1821). Inthe same year, in the ‘Additions and Corrections’ to Gray’s “ Nat. Arr. of British Plants,” p. 731, the plant is described under the same name, except that the genus is spelt //zerochloa, instead of Hzerochloé as in Hooker. Ingr3e23, sir J. E.. Smith (British Plora,” vols inp mu) uses the same name as Hooker, and remarks that he has not examined British specimens. In “English Botany Supple- ment,” t. 2641 (1830), it was figured, and the note added that it was discovered by Mr. G. Don in 1812. In 1847, in the second edition of his “ Manual,” Professor Babington (p. 378) amplifes the station to “in a narrow mountain valley called Glen Kella (or Cally, near the Spital of Glen Shee).” In 1848 Gardiner’s “ Flora of Forfarshire” appeared, and he remarks that the head of the glen had been carefully searched in 1843; and Arnott (“British Flora”) says ““minute search’ had been made”; but Mr. Druce notes that “one of the searchers afterwards stated that although he had made a careful search, from what he had since learned from Mr. Dick about the flowering of the plant, ze. that it flowers in Caithness early in May, after which it withers, and becomes impossible to find, and considering that his search was made much later in the year, he with- draws his previous statement.” Gardiner says: “The upper part of Glen Cally has been searched; but it is more likely to occur in the lower portion of the glen, by the stream, than among the rocks at the head” (“Scottish Naturalist,” 1884, pp. 268-269). In the “Annals of Natural History,’ October 1854, the Thurso station is recorded. The account quoted below was contained in a communication made by Mr. R. Dick to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in July of the same year. “ About ten minutes walk from the town of Thurso there is, by the river side, a farmhouse known by the name of the Bleachfield, opposite to which, on the eastern bank of the 232 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY river, there is a precipitous section of boulder clay. Opposite to the clay cliff, and fringing the edge of the stream, any botanist can, in the last week of the month of May, or in the first or second weeks in June, gather fifty or a hundred specimens of //rerochloé borealis. Passing upwards along the river bank, and at no great distance, there is another clay cliff, where a few hundreds of Azerochloé may be got. It also fringes the edge of the river. But the plant must be looked for at the time indicated ; for by the third week of June the beauty of Hzerochlot has passed away, and by the first of July the herbage has become so rank that the Holy Grass, now ripe, and turned of a silky brown, is completely hidden from view. Further up, between Giese and a section of boulder clay a little below Todholes, the plant may like- wise be picked in hundreds. Azerochloé has never failed to appear in these localities during the last twenty years.” In the “ Phytologist,” 1855, p. 117, Mr. J. T. Syme, in some notes on specimens distributed by the Exchange Club, remarks : “But the plant which will be most prized is the long lost Hzerochloe borealis: for which the Society is indebted to Mr. Notcutt, who received the species from Mr. Dick, its discoverer, near Thurso. Mr. Dick has known the plant in this station for twenty years, but was not aware it had been lost in the original station found by Mr. G. Don. Flowering early in the year, it was no wonder it was passed unnoticed by botanists, who make excursions in autumn, when nothing but the leaves of the plant are visible. It may be expected to occur in other places, if looked for in the end of May or beginning of June.” In the same year (1855) Mr. Gourlie of Edinburgh sent specimens (gathered by Mr. R. Dick) to the Linnean Society. In 1859 Mr. H. C. Watson, in his “ Cybele Britannica,” vol. iv. (April 1859), strange to say, does not notice the discovery, either in the Summary of Distribution, p. 221, or in the Census of Species, p. 27089 Wt) was not unt 1860, in his “Supplement to Cybele Britannica,” p. 106, that the Caithness record appears in his books; yet Babington in his fourth edition, p. 390 (1856), and Bentham in his first edition (1858), both duly record it. In 1861, in Sowerby’s “British Grasses,” p. 57, Mr. ON AIEROCHLOA BOREALIS AS A SCOTTISH SPECIES 233 Johnson states: “It has since been met with in two or three other places in Scotland.” I have failed to find on what authority this is based; and Miss Charlotte Gower, who probably could have given some explanation, I do not know where to address, if living ? The plant had now become a recognised Scottish species, and was gathered by Mr. Backhouse, among many others. For some time before 1880 it had disappeared, or was not found, and on 16th December 1880 Mr. J. Grant wrote : “ No one has found the Holy Grass since Dick’s time. Thurso river has been searched for [it] again and again, but without success.” In some ‘Caithness Botanical Notes’ in the “ Northern Ensign,” 31st January, 1884, Mr. J. Grant remarks: “Of the causes here mentioned (of the disappearance of plants), none will probably account for the disappearance of the Holy Grass from the banks of the Thurso River; and as the reasons for its removal may perchance never be known, we can but designate that mysterious cause the 1oth.” In 1885, in ‘Botanical Notes of a Tour in Caithness and Sutherland, July 1885,’ in the “Journal of Botany,” p- 333, Messrs. Fox and Hanbury write: “ An evening stroll along the banks of the Thurso River did not yield us the Fiterochloe, which grows almost opposite the spot where the Caithness Naturalist lies buried. The plant is at all times difficult to be found, and has probably suffered at the hands of collectors ; its season, too, was long passed. A single head, however, was gathered about three weeks before our arrival by Mr. A. H. Bremner of Thurso, which he kindly gave us.” On the 11th of June 1888 Mr. J. Grant wrote: “ You will be interested to hear that I came on the Holy Grass at last. It was growing below the Cemetery where Dick is buried, and not above it, as Smiles makes out. There were only a few heads, so I did not take any. There is just one left at the place mentioned by Smiles; but Mr. Lindsay informs me there are at least 500 heads of Hverochloe on a moist bank several miles up the river.” On the 7th of July this year Mr. Lindsay writes: “The Northern Holy Grass is spreading on the banks of the Thurso River. I have pulled specimens within a hundred 234 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY yards of Thurso Bridge, and up four or five miles, this year, and for a number of years back.” This brings the history of the grass to the present summer. I now give the principal references to it, and figures of it in British works :— SINCLAIR, ‘‘ Hort. Gram. Wob.,” p. 167 (plate 14), 1825. “ENG. Bot. SUPPL.” tab. 2641, May 1, 1830. BAXTER; “Brits Phan. PLZ volwigpa46) taba sito a5. Murray, A., ‘The Northern Flora,” p. 57, 1836. PARNELL, “ Grasses of Scotland,” tab. 31, p. 72, 1842. ““PHYTOLOGIST,, 1842,-pp: 420, 462 59 1643,°p.. 40a ; 1855,,.p) 017 = 1857, p. 36. GARDINER, “ Flora of Forfarshire,” p. 199, 1848. Watsons HG. "CybysBrit. tip. 1535 Los 2. LINNEAN Society's “‘ Proc.,” 1855, ll. p. 374. LowgE, ‘‘ Nat. Hist. Brit. Grasses,” p. 91, tab. 29a, 1858. Irving, Ay; “dik andb:.Bnt: Pl, pr 1975, 1858. SoweErRsy, “Grasses of Great Britain,” p. 57, tab. 48, 1861. BENTHAM, ‘‘ Handb.,” illust. ed., p. 9409, f. 1148, 1865. SYME, “Eng. Bot,” ed. 3. vol: x1. p: 116, tab: 1605, 7057/2: “SCIENCE GOSSIP,” 1873, p. 1395 1875,-p: 177,.with figs. 232, 2625 LO ODD aA. BOOZ. 2765 O77, p- AAs SMILES, “ Life of Robert Dick,” pp 73, 255, 344, 1878. DrRucE, “Seot, Nat. 1834, p: 268: BENNETT, A., in “Scot. Nat.,” 1888, p. 89. ‘ANN. SCOT. NAT. isn, july 2So0,; p) 135. ‘OURN.< BOD,? 11899, 0.1325: Among others, the following names are given under the species by Richter in “Pl. Europ,” p. 31, 1390 :— Holeusodoratdas, Ne, “Spe Ply edt ag -ps 1043.07.53 Poa nitens, Weber, ‘ F).. Holst.” supp., n. 6, 1787. Avena odorata, Persoon, “ Syn.,” i. p. 100, 1805. Flol.us borealis, Schrad., ‘‘ Fl. Germ.,” i. p. 252, 1806. ffierochloa repens, Pal. Beauv., “ Agrost.,” p. 62, 1812. LMierochloe borealis, R. et S., “Syst.,” i. p. 513, 1817. fTierochloa odorata, Wahlb., “ Fl. Ups.,” p. 32, 1820. Hartmann, “Hand. Sk. FI.,” ed. 11, p. 529, 1879, gives one subspecies and two varieties :— B microstachya, le. ed. 5, p. 308, 1849. y firma, E. Ny, ‘Sp. Fl Kenn, di, (p10, 844 aad HT. fragrans, Raet Ss. “ Syst, lp 15 Use hole See eee MEMORIAL TO THE LATE REV. DR. GORDON 235 Anderson, “Gram. Scand.,” p. 110, 1852, gives as a subspecies *setifolia, Hartm., “ Bot. Not.,” 1846, and “Sk. Fl.,” ed: 5, p. 308, 1849, gathered by A. Luhr in 1846; while he places /ragrans as a variety. Of these, firma is stated by Hjelt, “Fl. Fennica,” p. 343, 1895 (on the authority of Hackel), to be merely a form of the species. Bluff and Fingerhuth, ‘“Consp. Fl. Germ.,” ed. 2, ee pa Lr2, 1846, have a “B pedicellis infra spiculum hispidis, ‘¥\. Sil., p. 53.” Our plant seems to be fairly typical. The name comes from the Greek “zeros, “sacred,” and chloe, “ grass” ; hence it signifies “holy grass.” In Iceland it was used for “scenting apartments and clothes ” (Hooker). According to Mrs. Lankester, in English Botany it is also called “ Vanilla Grass.” Distribution, principally in Europe :— Iceland, North and South Norway. Sweden, in 12 provinces. Finland, generally distributed to 68°30’ (Blom, ex Wainio). On the coast it occurs, in South Finland—Aland Isles, Borgio, Lovisa ; West Finland—Raumo, Vasa, Neplot, Remi; North Finland— Ponjoj, Svjatoj-noss. Coast of Pomerania, Prussia. Coast of Schleswig-Holstein. East Friesian Islands. In four of the North Sea Islands, Holland, Bavaria, Moravia, Bohemia, Hungary, Transylvania, Russia, France (rare), Tyrol (formerly), Switzerland, North America to 62° N. Lat. (Dawson), New Zealand. Its place is taken in the extreme north, in Nova Zembla, Spitsbergen, etc., by H a/pina, R. et S., and H. pauciflora, R. Br. Memorial to the late Rev. Dr. Gordon, Birnie.—We have received the following circular, and desire to bring it before our readers :—BIRNIE, August 1899.—At a recent meeting of the Kirk Session of Birnie it was resolved to take steps to raise a Fund to defray the Expenses of Erecting a suitable Memorial in the Church to the memory of the late Rev. Doctor Gordon, who for upwards of fifty years was Minister of the Parish. The Session being aware that Dr. Gordon had many friends and admirers outside the Congregation of Birnie Parish Church, agreed to open the Subscription List to all 236 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY such who may wish to contribute towards the object in view. Any contribution you may kindly send will be gratefully acknowledged by—Your obedient servants, WILLIAM Morrison, Zveasurer. ALEX. Murray, Session Clerk. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. Lesser Rorqual (alenoptera rostrata (Fabricius)) in the Firth of Clyde.—On 7th August 1897 the small steam whaler “‘ Thrasher,” belonging to the Cape Fisheries Company, Ltd., while on her trials on the Firth of Clyde, harpooned and killed a whale off Largs. The carcase was towed to Messrs. Caird and Co.’s shipbuilding yard, Greenock, and in an advertisement offering it for sale at #5 it was said to be thirty (30) ft. long. The lips found their way to Paisley Museum, where I recently saw them, and Mr. J. M. B. Taylor, the curator, kindly gave me a photograph of them. From the illustrations accompanying Professor Sir Wm. Turner’s article ‘On the Lesser Rorqual (Lalenoptera rostrata) in the Scottish Seas’ (“ Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin.,” 1893, vol. xix. pp. 36-75), I formed the opinion that this was the species of the Largs whale, and on submitting the photograph to Mr. Oldfield Thomas of the British Museum (Natural History), he has favoured me with the following reply: ‘‘ The whale appears to be the Lesser Pike Whale (Lalenoptera acuto-rostrata), commonly known simply as B. rostrata, though the above is its correct name.” (As regards} the name, see Mr. Thomas’s article in the “ Zoologist,” March 1898; and also Mr. F. W. True, ‘On the Nomenclature of the Whalebone Whales of the roth edition of Linneeus’s Systema Vature,’ in the ‘‘ Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, 1898, vol. xxl. pp. 617-635, where a conclusion independently arrived at, but similar to that of Mr. Thomas, is expressed.) So faras I am aware, this is an addition to the known fauna of the Clyde waters, although it is not improbable that whales which we occasionally hear of in the Firth as ‘“ finners” may belong to this species. I would take this opportunity of saying that I shall be glad to receive definite information, with details, regarding Clyde cetaceans and seals, and particularly news of any recent occurrences, as I am endeavouring to ascertain the present status of the marine mammalia of our waters. — HucH Boyp Watt, tor St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. The Bottle-nosed Whale in the Clyde.—Judging from the extreme paucity of records of the occurrence of the Common Bottle-nosed Whale (//yperoodon rostratus, Miill.), one might be led to consider it as a rare species in Clyde; but, while little known ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 237 to naturalists in this area, it is so frequently seen by yachtsmen as to receive little attention from them. I recorded one in the “ Annals,” which I saw on exhibition in Greenock in July 1896. One was stranded at a later date on the Argyll side of the Firth, and I have reason to believe that it was correctly assigned to the species above named. On the 8th of June, when steaming up Loch Fyne in Mr. Andrew Bain’s ss. “ Romany,” one was several times seen by our party; and on the following day, in the evening, I watched one, about 20 feet long, for fully half an hour, in Kilchattan Bay, Bute.—JOHN PaTeERsON, Glasgow. Bottle-nose Whale (//yperoddon rostratus (Miull.)) at Ayr.— Reports of ‘“ Bottle-noses” in the Firth of Clyde are far from infre- quent ; thus this summer I have heard of them from Loch Fyne, Kilchattan Bay, Fairlie Roads, and Corrie (Arran). Definite records, however, are scarce, so it may be worth stating that on the morning of the 7th September, Mr. Henry Cowan of Ayr found on the North Beach there, and apparently very recently dead, an almost uninjured example of Ayperoddon rostratus, which he disposed of to a show- man at Ayr, in whose booth I saw it, and took the following measurements :— Ft. Ins. Length, along dorsal ridge, from tip of beak to notchof tail . 16 2 x5 to dorsal fin Q 2 Asstustione curve of cereal fin . Lig 33 Spread of tail from tip to tip in straight line a across. 33 11) Anterior curve of left lobe of tail 2A 5 “5 left flipper . u {0) Tip of beak to angle of mouth nl Upper curve of blow-hole oO & Girth was said to be 6 feet, weight 3 tons, and sex 2. Forehead sloped upwards from base of beak at a moderate angle only ; colour was a uniform solid black, extending, as far as I could see or was informed, to the underparts also.—HucH Boyp Watt, Glasgow. The White-sided Dolphin off the East Coast of Scotland.— A damaged skull of Lagenorhynchus acutus was dredged and brought to Aberdeen by eae and as the hyoid bones and cartilages and the ear bones were still in position, I conclude that the speci- men was not an old one. ‘This species is seldom found on the Scottish coasts, so I thought it worth recording in the ‘ Annals.” The skull measured :— Inches. Length, including lower jaw : : . 5 ue Breadth, behind orbits 6 . : ‘ a °9 Height : : : 2 : oe ik Length of lower j jaw é . LS This species of Dolphin is easily dunes from the White- beaked Dolphin, Zagenorhynchus albirostris, by its narrower and 238 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY less massive skull, narrower anterior and posterior nares, arched orbits, much smaller tympanic bones, and by its much smaller and more numerous teeth—the lower jaw has 32 teeth on each side, the upper jaw is broken.—Wm. Taytor, Lhanbryde. Blue Shark (Carcharius glaucus) at Ayr.—At the same place as the Bottle-nose Whale recorded above I also saw a specimen of the Blue Shark which had been captured in Ayr Bay by Wm. Morrison, fisherman, in his nets on the 6th September. It measured :— Ft. Ins, Length, from nose to tip of upper lobe of tail-fin : @ 6 Anterior curve of upper lobe of tail-fin : ¢ i atts! i 43 pectoral fin (right side) : F I 4 Hucu Boyp Watt, Glasgow. Pied Flyeateher at Peterhead.—In the early summer, two specimens of the Pied Flycatcher were taken at Grange Gardens ; several other birds answering to the description of the Pied Fly- catcher were seen along by the Convict Prison at the same time.— WILLIAM SERLE, Musselburgh. Albino Magpie near Peterhead.—A nearly pure white specimen of the Magpie has been seen for some time on the farm of Clubs- cross, July. Nearly twenty years ago one frequented this district for a considerable time: the older people are always ready to talk about it yet—WILLIAM SERLE, Musselburgh. Peculiar Variety of Jackdaw near Edinburgh.—To- day, 29th August, when between Craigleith and the Dean House, I noticed a peculiarly marked Jackdaw in a little flock of Daws. Fortunately I had my binoculars in my pocket, so with them I watched it for some time. It was cream-coloured on the body, shading into light chocolate on the wing-coverts ; its forehead and cheeks were dark ashy blue.—WILLIAM SERLE, Musselburgh. Rose-coloured Starling at North Berwick.—On the morning of the 26th of July, a Rose-coloured Starling (Pastor roseus), well known to Anglo-Indians as the Cholum or Jowarree bird, was seen on the lawn of my house here. It remained feeding for a few minutes, when something frightened it, and it flew away. I had, however, a good view of it through a field-glass, and am satisfied as to the identity of the bird, with which I was familiar in India. It was in adult plumage.—WILLIAM Loupon, North Berwick. The White Wagtail (J/ofaci//a alba) in Ayrshire.—The White Wagtail was not included in Gray and Anderson’s paper ‘On the Birds of Ayrshire and Wigtownshire’ (“ Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow,” vol. 1.). Of its regular occurrence in Ayrshire at the present time, however, there cannot be any doubt. I first met with it on 8th May ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 239 1897, on the shore, near Portincross, West Kilbride, a single bird only coming under observation on that occasion. In the present year, on 13th May, when walking from Ardrossan by the shore to Seamill with my friend Mr. John Robertson, we saw not less than twenty, but on going over this same part of the shore on the 5th of June, on which occasion I extended the walk twice the distance by continuing it to Fairlie, no White Wagtail came under notice. Between the dates last named (on 21st May) I had had a walk over the sands between Irvine and Troon, and saw one White Wagtail there. Mention of Irvine Sands brings to my recollection that the late Morris Young told me he had found the White Wagtail nesting there. Young’s statement was quite categorical. It was not included in Messrs. Barr and Craig’s ‘ List of the Birds of Beith,’ published in the ‘‘Western Supplement” in May 1894, but it was shortly after- wards included, having been identified by them on 2oth April 1895 or 1896. I cannot be sure of the year at the moment of writing. A “large flock” was seen by them on 6th May 1898 at Kilbirnie Loch, and it was first seen by the same observers this year on 3rd May, also at the locality just named. —JoHNn PaTERson, Glasgow. King Eider in St. Andrews Bay.—Mr. R. Canch writes me as follows :—‘‘ John Lonie, my brother’s man, first saw the bird in the Eden in company with some breeding Eiders ; the smallness of the bird and the beak-tubercle drawing his attention. On the 6th June he shot the bird, and it proved to be a King Eider drake in full adult dress. Lonie stuffed the bird, and tried to sell it. I purchased the specimen from him ; but, not caring for the manner of stuffing, I had it re-stuffed.,—J. A. Harviz-Brown. Great Shearwaters at St. Kilda.—It may be remembered that a specimen of Puffinus major, now in the Edinburgh Museum, was taken within a mile of St. Kilda on 7th August 1897. When at St. Kilda on 11th August 1899, two skins of P. mayor were awaiting me. These birds were both killed during the last week of July 1899, on different days and on different sides of the island, and about a mile from it: one was close to Levenish Rock. No others were seen.—HENrRyY Evans, Jura Forest. [To the above notes Mr. Evans adds: ‘“‘I saw two of them flying between Barra Head and St. Kilda, about four miles from Barra Head, on the 11th June 1899.”—J. A. Harvis-Brown. | Nyssia zonaria, Sc/zf, in the Inner Hebrides.—Among a number of insects and other objects of natural history recently brought to me by Mr. R. Godfrey for identification, I was delighted to find an unset example of the male of this local moth, which had been captured by Mr. James Baxter on the island of Tiree, Inner Hebrides, in April of the present year. The larve of this species 240 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY are said to have been common in 1847 on a hill in Skye, and on ‘‘Bernarah”; but apparently only one of those taken reached maturity—it was a female, which is wingless (“Zoologist,” 1847 and 1849). I know of no other record of the occurrence of /Vyssza zonarta in Scotland.—WILLIAM Evans, Edinburgh. Acherontia atropos in Solway.—We have had a very remark- able and altogether unprecedented series of occurrences of the larve of the Death’s-head Moth in Kirkcudbrightshire. The first was picked up at Kirkbean village on 12th August. The following week no fewer than fourteen fine larve were found feeding upon the leaves of a ti tree (Lyciwm barbarea) growing against the front of a house at Rockcliffe on the coast of Colvend parish. On 26th August another larva was captured at Kirkandrews in Borgue, which is also, be it observed, a seaside parish. ‘Two individuals were picked off bushes of lilac in the vicinity of Maxwelltown on 30th August and 3rd September respectively. They were fully half a mile apart. The last occurrence that has come to my notice is a larva, also from Colvend, but found miles away from the Rockcliffe examples. Thus nineteen larve have been got to my certain know- ledge. I have previously recorded the taking of the larve of A. atropos in Solway (‘‘ Annals,” 1897, p. 257) as a most uncommon event ; and although Mr. Taylor, with reference thereto, has made (‘“‘ Annals,” 1898, p. 118) some singular statements as to the unique habit a¢ropos larve have in Renfrewshire of harbouring in potato- pits (!), it seems to me that the authenticated finding of caterpillars of this species in Scotland is a contribution of value in the geo- graphical distribution of this insect. I am strongly of opinion that it is only at wide and infrequent intervals that a combination of favourable meteorological conditions together with an immigration of these great moths may take place, so as to account for the simultaneous appearance of larvee over such a wide extent of country as I have detailed above. From the latter half of May till past mid-June we had extremely fine hot weather. During the earliest days of that hot wave very numerous individuals of the Humming-bird Moth put in an appearance throughout Solway. It was quite a sight to observe scores of them at the flower trusses of the rhododendrons. In early August only a few were seen, but since May these pretty and interesting moths have flown con- tinuously, and on some hot days lately they were quite numerous again. I cannot help correlating the appearance this season of A. atropos and M. stellatarum. J should have the utmost difficulty in believing that the imagos of M. stellatarum that have been so abundant most of the summer were Scottish bred. Did any one observe their larve? Similarly the larvae of A. atvopos that are now recorded can hardly be other than the produce of immigrant females. —ROBERT SERVICE, Maxwelltown, Dumfries. BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 241 Hawk-moths in Moray.—A larva of the Death’s-head Moth, Manduca (Acherontia) atropos, L., almost full grown, was found on 4th September last by a woman working in the garden at Earnside, near Forres. Not knowing what to do with it, she put it into boil- ing water! Another larva of the same moth was found at Alves, which is not far from Earnside, on 8th September, by Mr. Scott, carpenter. A fine specimen of the Convolvulus Hawk - moth, Philegethontius (Sphinx) convolvuli, L., was taken by Mr. Gill on 8th September at Bishopmill, near Elgin——HerEnry H. Brown, Rosefield, Elgin, Humming-bird Hawk-moth in Moray.—In addition to the Scottish records noted in the July number, it should be mentioned that Mr. Gordon Taylor captured a specimen of this moth (AZacro- glossa stellatarum) at Bishopmill, near Elgin, about zoth June.— Henry H. Brown, Rosefield, Elgin. Stenhelia blanchardi in the Firth of Forth.—I was examining recently a small sample of dredged material from the ‘Fluke Hole” (off St. Monan’s), Firth of Forth, collected in 1896. Several interesting, though familiar, Crustaceans were observed, and amongst them was this Copepod. Stenhelia blanchardi (T. and A. Scott) was obtained amongst some material dredged off Arisaig, Argyll- shire, in 1892, and was described and figured in the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural History” for November 1895. So far as I know, the present is the only other occasion on which this species has been observed. It is quite a distinct species: the secondary branches of the fifth pair of thoracic feet in the female possess at the apex a lateral process exteriorly that assumes a hook-like form, -and it is the only Stenhelia I am acquainted with in which the secondary branches of the fifth feet are so modified.—T. Scort, Aberdeen. BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. Notes on the Flora of Wigtownshire.—As supplementary to Mr. G. C. Druce’s paper on the ‘ Flora of Wigtownshire’ in ‘‘ Annals of Scottish Natural History ” for January 1899, and to Professor Trail’s notes thereon, I would desire to add the following :—Audus nessensis, Anders., Rubus Scheutzit, Lind., and Rubus Selmeri, Lind., are additional new records for Wigtownshire, z.e. additional to my list. Daucus maritima = gummifer, Lam., likely is from Hooker and Arnott’s “British Flora,’ but probably a mistake. Saxifraga oppositifolia is in 72 (Gray Mare’s Tail) but not in 74. Jnula flelentum is an outcast or escape. Pulmonaria officinalis has no record for 74. Without doubt both Sedum rupestre and Carex a2 E 242 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY pendula, and also Osmunda regalis, are all planted at Lochnaw, though I have gathered Carex pendula in 74 im at least two stations, and Osmunda regalts, once frequent and plentiful, can yet be gathered in certain localities. The following are not yet recorded for 74 :—Leontodon hispidus, Senecio viscosus, Ulex nanus (but Galli is in abundance), (Hypericum hirsutum, Reseda luteola, Viola odorata, Prunus domestica, Callitriche verna (but almost certain to occur), and Lpzlobium tetragonum. Dianthus deltoides, Saponaria officinalis (Saponaria Vaccaria in 72), and Tanacetum vulgare were recorded by the late Rev. George Wilson, Glenluce, but are out- casts or escapes. Leontodon hirtus, Ranunculus auricomus, Aquilegia vulgaris, “Trans. Phil. Soc. Glasgow,” 1841-44, vol. i.), and Stellaria palustris (almost certain). The following plants have yet to be recorded or re-discovered for 74, though the majority of them occur in the neighbouring counties :—Lepidium campestre, Viola lutea, Galium Cruciata, Stachys Betonica, Ranunculus Lingua, Ranunculus arvensis, Erysimum alliaria, Cardamine amara, Gentsta anglica, Silene inflata, var. puberula, Geranium sylvaticum, Chrysosplentum alternifolium, Myosotis collina, Carex riparia, Cicuta virosa, Cinanthe fistulosa, Sambucus Ebulus, Valeriana dioica, Lathyrus sylvestris, Carduus heterophyllus, Anthemis nobilis, Vaccinium Vitis-Idea, Galeopsis versicolor, Rumex Hydrolapathum, Scirpus sylvaticus, Blysmus compressus, Phleum arenaria, Lepturus Jjiltformis, Limosella aquatica (almost certain), Rumex sanguineus, Brassica monensts, Partetaria officinalis, Malaxis paludosa, Melica nutans, etc.—JAMES M‘ANDREw, New Galloway. Mistletoe in Scotland.—I am informed, although I have not seen it, that Mr. H. D. Geldart has an interesting paper on ‘Mistletoe, its Hosts and Distribution in Great Britain,’ in vol. vi. part 5, of the ‘‘ Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society,” and that he alludes to its presence in Scotland not as a native, but introduced. Now it is quite possible that mistletoe was once indigenous in Scotland, and disappeared with other woodland flora and fauna in the process of excessive denudation. One thing is certain, that there is nothing inimical to the plant in the climate of Scotland, because when sown properly it grows luxuriantly. I have sown it abundantly here on apple, hawthorn, poplar, and lime, and there are many large plants on the two kinds of trees first named. Of the two last I cannot speak as yet. I have forgotten where the seeds were placed on the limes ; the poplars were only treated three years ago,—several scores of them,—and it requires a ladder to examine them, which cannot be done till the leaves are fallen. The mistletoe has been established on apple trees for many years at Loch Ryan House in this county (Wigtownshire), and at Comlongan Castle, Dumfriesshire. The mode of propagation is very simple. Do not cut any CURRENT LITERATURE 243 notch ; simply squeeze the berry on the smooth bark of first or second year twigs; the seed adheres by the viscous matter in the berry. The following summer a green shoot like a small caterpillar may be seen: this bends downwards, and seems to enter the bark, disappearing altogether the following winter. Then the twig of the host begins to swell; it may be one year, or two or even three years before the mistletoe reappears with a brace of small leaves, after which growth is rapid. One small apple tree in my garden carries two huge bunches, which threaten ultimately to destroy their host— HERBERT MAXWELL. Wilson’s Filmy Fern on Foula.—On the 25th May last, while climbing the steep hillside on Foula towards the Kaim in company with Mr. P. G. Ralfe, we found, under large boulders, and growing among the moss, many plants of Hymenophyllum Walsont.—FRANK S. GRAvES, Ballamsar, Alderley Edge, Cheshire. CURRENT LITERATURE. The Titles and Purport of Papers and Notes relating to Scottish Natural His- tory which have appeared during the Quarter—July-September 1899. [The Editors desire assistance to enable them to make this Section as complete as possible. Contributions on the lines indicated will be most acceptable and will bear the initials of the Contributor. The Editors will have access to the sources of information undermentioned. ] ZOOLOGY. Witp Cat IN ArGYLLSHIRE. D. A. Maccoll. Zhe Field, 5th August 1899, p. 234.—A specimen captured on, or in the vicinity of, Craig Deer Forest, Glen Orchy, a few miles to the north of Loch Awe. LARGE SEAL IN ORKNEY. Geoffrey Ellis. Zhe /ie/d, 2nd Septem- ber 1899, p. 401.—Specimen of gray seal (Halichcerus grypus) shot during the second week of August, weighing 370 lbs. and measuring about 7 ft.inlength. An editorial note refers to other large specimens. Pirp FLYCATCHER IN SHETLAND. Wm. Eagle Clarke. Zhe /ield, 8th July 1899, p. 84.—Corrects a statement in Z%e Field for 24th June (p. 907) to the effect that the species had not been met with until this year in these islands, and draws attention to the record in the Annals, 1898, p. 178, of its occurrence at Dunrossness on 3oth April 1898. The note refers also to the Ortolan Bunting. PROTECTION OF PLovers’ Eccs. “B.G.J.” Zhe Held, 15th July 1899, p. 100.—Refers to the scarcity of the Plover in Forfarshire, and expresses regret that the eggs of the species are not protected by law in this county. 244 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY NESTLING SNIPE IN JULY. Dalziel MacKenzie. Zhe Field, 29th July 1899, p. 227.—Two birds just hatched found on a nest near Farr, Inverness, on 23rd July. BEWICK’s SWAN IN SouTH Uist. Donald Guthrie. Zhe Field, 12th August 1899, p. 315.—Six birds reported as remaining during the summer. LaTE Grouse Nest. “W.F.L.” Zhe Field, 26th August 1899, p. 394.—A hen found sitting on three eggs on the Strontian shooting, Argyllshire, on 17th August. HEBRIDAL SMELT OFF ARRAN. W. B. Tegetmeier. Zhe Field, 26th August 1899, p. 394.—Specimen caught by Mr. H. Knox Dicks in Brodick Bay on 18th August 1899. THE INVERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE INLAND WATERS OF ScoTLAND — REPORT ON SPECIAL INVESTIGATION. By Thomas Scott, F.L.S. 17th Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scotland, pt. iii. pp. 132-204, pl. vii. (July 1899).—This valuable paper is a description of the results of a special investigation of eleven Scottish lochs. Each of the lochs is described, and temperature observations, lists of pelagic entomostraca and shore invertebrates given. A general list is appended (pp. 182-185) of all the Crustacea and Mollusca recorded in the previous pages, showing in which lochs they were observed. The paper concludes with notes on some of the species mentioned in the general list. REVISION OF BriTISH Mo.Luiusca. By the Rey. Canon A. M. Norman, M.A., DG...) L-D., FR:S.,.ete.. -Annvand Mas. War. Fiist. (7), vol. iv. pp. 126-153 (August 1899).—The present instal- ment, which is the last, ‘‘ brings the list of British Mollusca on the descending arrangement as far as the Cerethiopside.” A large number of Scottish records are given. NoTES ON RECENT GATHERINGS OF Micro-CRUSTACEA FROM THE CLYDE AND THE Moray Firtu. By Thomas Scott, F.L.S. 17th Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scotland, pt. iii. pp. 248-273, pls. x.-xili. (July 1899).—Notes are given on forty-four species of Copepoda, five of which are described as new, and two of which form the types of new genera. Brief notes are also given on several species of Amphipoda, Isopoda, Cumacea, and Schizopoda. CONTRIBUTIONS TO FossiIL Crustacea. By Professor T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., F.G.S., and Henry Woodward, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. Geol. Mag., Dec. IV. vol. vi. pp. 388-395, pl. xv. (September 1899). —The following Scottish species are described and figured as new :— Hibbertia orbicularis, Burdiehouse, and Anthrapalemon _ glaber, Kilmaurs, Ayrshire. Both are from the Coal Measures. EREBIA A.THIOPS (BLANDINA) IN THE ISLE oF SkyE. G. W. Kirkaldy. £xtomologist, vol. xxxii. p. 236 (September 1899).— CURRENT LITERATURE 245 Reports the species as not uncommon, on the first day of August, near a stream running into the sea between Staffin and Portrigh (Portree). Five other species of Butterflies are mentioned, one from the Pass of Brander, near Loch Awe. EXTRAORDINARY ABUNDANCE OF MACROGLOSSA STELLATARUM (at Galashiels). James C. Haggart. Lxtomologist, vol. xxxii. p. 187 (July 1899). NOTES ON THE ADDITIONS TO THE BritTisH List OF COLEOPTERA SINCE CANON FOWLER’S ‘‘COLEOPTERA OF THE BritTisH IsLEs” (continued). By Horace Donisthorpe, F.Z.S., F.E.S. xt. Record, vol. xi. pp. 184-186 and 216, 217 (July and August 1899).—The following species and localities are given:—Helophorus obscurus, ab. Shetlandicus, Kuwert, Shetland Isles; H. griseus ab. bulbipalpis, Kuwert, Shetlands; Quedius riparius, Kelln., Beauly, Inverness ; and Telephorus figuratus, ab. cruachanus, Chitty, near Ben Cruachan. ABERDEENSHIRE FORM OF TRICHIURACRATAGI. Arthur Horne, F.E.S. £nt. Record, vol. xi. p. 191 (July 1899). A note describing the northern variety of this insect. COLEOPTERA IN SCOTLAND. ‘Theodore Wood. £x+¢. Mo. Mag. (2), vol. x. p. 214 (September 1899).—Nine species are referred to. QUEDIUS TRISTIS, GRAV., IN SCOTLAND. T. Hudson Beare. Lnt. Record, vol. xi. p. 242 (September 1899). Found in numbers under stones on Arthur’s Seat and at North Queensferry in July 1899. Two ADDITIONAL BRITISH SPECIES OF ANDRENA. By Edward Saunders, F.L.S. zt. Mo. Mag. (2), vol. x. pp. 154, 155 (July 1899).—One of the species referred to is A. ruficrus, Nyl., and the specimens are those recorded in the Anmals by Mr. Evans (see p. 158). PHILOPOTAMUS MONTANUS, VAR. CHRYSOPTERUS, ON THE PENT- LAND Hits. Kenneth J. Morton. xz. Mo. Mag. (2), vol. x. p. 157 (July 1899).—Two examples taken at a streamlet near the source of the Logan Burn on 17th April. NoTES ON ASSCHNA CRULEA, AND SOMATOCHLORA ARCTICA AND METALLICA, IN INVERNESS-SHIRE. By James J. F. X. King, F.ES. £xt. Mo. Mag. (2), vol. x. p. 206 (September 1899). BOTANY. ' CriTICAL NOTES ON SOME SPECIES OF CERASTIUM. By Frederic N. Williams, F.L.S. Journ. Bot., 1899, pp. 310-315.—The only Scotch Cerastium referred to is C. Edmonstoni (H. C. Watson, as variety, Murbeck and Ostfeld, as species), which is regarded as identical with C. arcticum. ALSINE IN THE BriTisH FLora. By W. P. Hiern, M.A., F.L.S. Journ. Bot., 1899, pp. 317-322.—Deals with nomenclature, but the 246 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY reader must be referred to the original article to understand the value of the changes advocated in it. SAGINA APETALA IN WESTERNESS? By W. F. Miller. Journ. Lot., 1899, p. 36.—Advises that the record in Journ. Bot., 1895, Pp. 345, should be regarded as in need of confirmation. HIEROCHLOE BOREALIS IN KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE. By Arthur Bennett, F.L.S. Journ. Bot., 1899, p. 328.—Refers to the discovery reported in our last issue. BRYOLOGICAL NOTES FROM THE WEST HIGHLANDs. By H. N. Dixon, M.A., F.L.S. /ourn. Bot., 1899, pp. 300-310. —Is an important paper, with records new to various districts, and even to Scotland. NEW AND RARE SCOTTISH HeEpatic&. By W. H. Pearson. Journ, Bot., 1899, pp. 274-275.—Enumerates three new to Scotland, and twelve others new to West Inverness, collected by Mr. S. M. Macvicar. HeEpaATICA OF MOIDART, WEST INVERNESS. By Symers M. Macvicar. Journ. Bot. 1899, pp. 348-356.—Is an exhaustive list, with localities of all species found by the author. It includes numerous new records. REVIEWS. THE CAMBRIDGE NaTuRAL History. Insects. Part II. By David Sharp, M.A., M.B., F.R.S. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1899.) Dr. Sharp is to be congratulated on the completion of his treatise on Insects, which occupies the greater part of the fifth and the whole of the sixth volumes of this estimable a¢ural History. We were very favourably impressed with JZvsects, Part I., which appeared some four years ago, and our estimation of the author’s ability as a clear and careful expounder of his subject has certainly not diminished on perusal of the volume now before us. The whole treatise is quite a masterpiece in its way. While giving a vast amount of detailed information on the various groups, yet the style is sufficiently lucid to render the book an eminently readable one. Add to this the excellence and profusion of the illustrations and the elegance of the printing, and we are led at once to remark that it is certainly the most acceptable introduction to the science of Entomology in the English language, or at any rate to the subject treated from the systematic standpoint. The volume just published treats of the Hymenoptera, Tubulifera, and Aculeata, the Coleoptera, Strepsiptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Aphaniptera, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, and Anoplura. The various groups of REVIEWS 247 Bees are elucidated in a particularly interesting manner, including a detailed account of the anatomy of the proboscis of Bomdus. The sections devoted to Wasps’ Nests, Features of Ant-life, Structure of the Imago in Lepidoptera, Blood-sucking Diptera, Vocal Struc- tures of the Cicadide, and Parthenogenesis in the Aphidze and Coccidze, are also worthy of special notice. It is difficult, however, to particularise, as the numerous groups of Insects are looked upon with varied degrees of interest by different readers. We can only say that all are we// treated of, and both volumes can be thoroughly recommended as containing an invaluable summary of our present state of entomological knowledge. Poa. FLORA OF CUMBERLAND, containing a full list of the flowering plants and ferns to be found in the county, according to the latest and reliable authorities. By William Hodgson. Witha Map ofthe County. (Carlisle: W. Meals and Co., 1898.) Pp. xxxvi. and 398. The appearance of this Flora was looked forward to with con- siderable interest, since it treats of a very charming district which is well known to all English pedestrians, and it was known that it comprised many local plants, and that the highest English moun- tains were to be found in the area it embraced. In this volume Mr. Hodgson has given the results of his arduous labours ; and he must be congratulated on filling up another gap in the list of counties of England of which there were no published Floras. Each compiler of a county Flora has his own idea as to the manner in which a Flora shall be written, and therefore consider- able latitude must be given to the authors of such works; but there appears to be a consensus of opinion on certain points. Among these are, that a Flora, to be complete, should contain, as far as possible, all the references which have appeared in botanical literature to the plants of a county. In this respect the authors of the “Flora of Middlesex” set a noteworthy example of general excellence. Then, a local Flora should give the general reader some idea of the frequency or otherwise of the plants which occur in the area treated of, the kinds of soil or geological formations on which they occur, and the times of flowering in the county; and in these respects the excellent Floras of North-West Yorkshire and Herefordshire are good instances. The altitudes of the chief lakes and tarns would also have been useful and interesting. Some of the misprints are curious. The use of capitals in the specific names follows no rule, and the absence of them in the text for the genera is not a pleasing innovation. The “ Flora” proves that there is an immense amount of work still to be done in the Cumberland hills, and we must thank Mr. Hodgson for having given us this important contribution towards the history of their floraa—G. CLar1pGE DRUCE. DN DEX Acherontia atropos in Solway, 240 Aiscthna cerulea, Strom, a_ boreal Dragon-fly, 26; in Inverness-shire (Curr. Lit.); 24'5 Aglazs urtice, abundance of larvee of, in Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 60 Ailsa Craig, notes on the micro-fauna of (Curr. Lit.), 123 Alsine in the British Flora (Curr. Lit.), 246 ALSTON, CHARLES H., Bramblings in Argyllshire, 109 Altitude, effects of, on the time of appearance of Insects, 22 Amara alpina and other Insects in Sash Perth an54: Anabolia nervosa, note on the occur- rence in June, 22 ANDERSON, PETER, bird notes from Tiree, 46 Andrena, two additional British species of (Curr. Lit.), 245; xzficrus, Nyl., occurrence in Scotland, 158 Andromeda poltfolia, L., in Midlothian, 121 Apodya lactea, Cornu (Curr. Lit.), 125 ARKWRIGHT, WILLIAM, Baillon’s Crake in Caithness, 50 Astragalus alpinus, albus (Curr. Lit.), 12 fee calotheca, Fries, 119 Auk, Little, in Barra in April, 183 Badger in Dumbartonshire, 107 BARCLAY, WILLIAM, Rosa znvoluta, Sm., in Forfarshire, 118; Rosa hibernica in Midlothian, 118; further notes on Scottish roses, 172 BARRETT-HAMILTON, G. E. H., F.Z.S., on two recently described Mice from St. Kilda, 129 BAXTER, JAMES, Szvex gigas in Peebles- shire, 55 BENNETT, ARTHUR, F.L.S., records of Scottish plants for 1898, addi- tional to Watson’s ‘‘ Topographi- cal Botany,” 2nd ed. (1883), 92; Atriplex calotheca, Fries, 119; Scottish forms of /zscus, 119; Carex curta, Good, var. dubia, Bailey (sub. cazescens), 1873 on Hierochloa borealis, R. and S., as a Scottish species, 230 BERRY, WILLIAM, White-fronted Geese in Fife, 182 Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, report for the year 1896 (Curr. Lit.), 61 Bird notes from Carmichael, ‘‘ Clyde” area, 109; from Tiree, 46 Birds’ eggs in Scotland, obstacles to.the protection of, 179 Birds in Scotland during 1898, report on the movements and occurrence of, 140; increase and decrease of certain species in the Tay area, 198 ; list of, observed in the district of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, from October 1896 to February 1897 (Curr. Lit.), 59; notes on Shetland (Curr. Lit.), 122; of Ballinluig district, Perthshire, 11; of Berwick- on-Tweed, list of, 65 ; of the moun- tain tops (Curr. Lit.), 59; of the islands of Tiree and Coll, 206; rarer, of the Shetlands (Curr. Lit.), 122; summer, of the Summer Islands (Curr. Lit.), 122 Blatta germanica in an Edinburgh hotel, 117 BOLAM, GEORGE, F.Z.S., the late James Hardy, LL.D., 1; a list of the birds of Berwick-on-Tweed, with special reference to ‘‘The Birds of Berwickshire,” and notices of the occurrence of some of the rarer species in the adjoining districts, 65 Boreophausta tnermis in the Firth of Forth, 56 Botanical Exchange Club of the British Isles, report for 1897, 121 Botanists, biographical index of British and Irish, first supplement (1893- 97) (Curr. Lit.), 62, 124 Botany, topographical, of Scotland, 95, 16 Bramblings in Argyllshire, 109 Brown, Henry H., Hawk-moths in Moray, 241; Humming-bird Hawk- moth in Moray, 241 INDEX 249 Bruce, D.,*Hoopoejnear Dunbar, 47; | Clasmatocolea *§ cunetfolia’> (Hook.), Spotted Crake at Dunbar, 50 Bryological notes from the West High- lands (Curr. Lit.), 246 BUCKLEY, T. E., B.A., F.Z.S., solitary Snipe near Elgin, 51 Bustard, Little, in Aberdeenshire [error], 51; Macqueen’s, in Scotland [Aber- deenshire], 73 Buzzard, Honey, in Aberdeenshire, 49 ; at Peterhead, 49; Rough-legged, in East Lothian (Curr. Lit:); 60 Buzzards, Rough-legged, in East Lothian, 50 CAMPBELL, BRUCE, notes on*the birds of Ballinluig district, Perthshire, 11; Goldfinch in West Lothian, 47; a habit of the Black-headed Gull, 52; lead-poisoning in Pheasants, 112 CAMPBELL, Col. JOHN, M.B.O.U., increase and decrease of certain species of birds in the Tay area 198 Campylopus, on mosses of the genus, 10 Carabus glabratus, Payk., in ‘* Clyde,” 183 Carex curta, Good, var. dubia, Bailey (sub. canescens), 1873 vostrata x vesicaria in Glen Callater, 58; Sadlerz, Linton, in North Uist (Curr. Lit.), 61 Carices, new varieties of Scotch, 120 Carmichael, ‘‘ Clyde” area, bird notes from, 109 Cat, Wild, in Argyllshire (Curr. Lit.), 243 Cephalaspis, on a new species discovered by the Geological Survey of Scot- land in the Old Red Sandstone of Oban (Curr. Lit.), 123 Cerastium arcticum, Lange (Curr. Lit.), 61, 124, 125 Cerastium, critical notes on some species of (Curr. Lit.), 61, 245 Characee from Scotland, 58 ; notes on British, 1895-98 (Curr. Lit.), 61 Chenopodium capitatum, Aschers (Curr. Lit.), 124 Chrysomela hemoptera, L., in Ayrshire, 115 Cidaria russata, single -brooded, in Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 123 CLARKE, WM. EAGLE, F.L.S., remark- able variety of the Black Grouse, 50; onthe occurrence of the Asiatic Houbara (Houbara Macqueenzz) in Scotland, 73; Lesser Whitethroat in the Outer Hebrides, 109 Spruce, in Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 124 Coleoptera in Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 245; notes on additions to British list, etc. (Curr. Lit.), 189, 245 Colias edusa in Wigtownshire (Curr. Lit.), 60 Cormorant, note on the nesting habits of, I10 CowPer, Rev. JAMES, Golden Oriole in Clackmannanshire, 181 Crake, Baillon’s, in Caithness, Spotted, at Dunbar, 50 Crategus Oxyacantha, Linn., 185 Crustacea, fossil, contributions to (Curr. Lit.) 244; notes on recent gather- ings of Micro-, from the Clyde and the Moray Firth (Curr. Lit.) 244 ; notes on some, from Granton, Firth of Forth, obtained from a ship’s hull, 115 50; DEWAR, T. F., M.D., B.Sc., Great Spotted Woodpecker in Forfarshire, 49 Deyeuxia stricta, var. borealis, in Perthshire, 58 Dianthus deltoides, L., 188 Dipper, Black-bellied, in Shetland, IIo Diptera, British, unrecorded or un- described by English authors (Curr. Lit.), 189 Diptera Scotica: I.—Perthshire, 84, 161 Diver, Great Northern, in Argyllshire (Gunseleits) san22 Divers, note on the moulting of the flight-feathers in the, 114 Dogfish, Black-mouthed, off Aberdeen, 53 Dolphin, White-sided, off the East Coast of Scotland, 237 Dolphins, Common, in the Tay estuary, 108 Druce, G. CLARIDGE, M.A., F.L.S., notes on the flora of Wigtownshire, 29; Carex rostrata x vesicaria in Glen Callater, 58; Deyeuxza stricta, H. B. K., var. dorvealzs, in Perth- shire, 58; Saxifraga grenlandica, L., 58; new varieties of Scotch Carices, 120 ; Wigtownshire plants, 185; Crategus Oxyacantha, Linn., 185; an early Scottish locality for Sparganium affine, Schizl. (S. natans, Linn.), 186 Dryas octopetala, earliest Scottish record of, 57 Duck, Long-tailed, in the Firth of Forth (Curr. Lit.), 60 250 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY DunBAR, LEWIs, Great Spotted Wood- pecker in Caithness, 49 DuTHIE, Lieut-Col. W. H. M., note on the nesting habits of the Cormorant, I10 Eider, King, in St. Andrews Bay, 239 ; in the Shetland Islands, 111, 183 Eledone ctrrosa on the East Lothian shore, 53 Enallagma cyathigerum in Shetland, 115 Entomostraca, fresh-water, of Aber- deenshire, 216 Ephemeride, two species new to Britain (Curr. Lit.), 123 Lrebia ethiops (blandina) in the Isle of Skye (Curr. Lit.), 244 Esson, L. G., Great Spotted Wood- pecker in Aberdeenshire, 49 Luplexta luctpara in February (Curr. Lit.), 189 Eurypterid-bearing rocks of the Pent- land Hills (Curr. Lit.), 61 Evans, Henry, Great Shearwaters at St. Kilda, 239 EVANS, WILLIAM, F.R.S.E., M.B.O.U., notes on the effects of the recent October gale upon marine life on the coasts of the Lothians, 6; note on the eggs of the Wood Sandpiper (Zotanus glareola) taken in Elgin- shire, 14; the Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus niajor) in the south-east of Scotland, 47 ; Rough-legged Buzzards in East Lothian, 50; ossta macrosoma and #iledone cirrosa on the East Lothian shore, 53; Amara alpina, F., and other insects in ‘‘ East Perth,” 54; Sphinx convolvult, L.., in East Lothian, 55; Pachnobia hyperborea, Zett., in Inverness- shire, etc., 55; Vertigo pygmea and other molluscs in ‘‘ Perth E.,” 117; Jonomorium pharaonis and Lilatta germanica as pests in an Edinburgh hotel, 117; on the occurrence in Scotland of Azdrena ruficrus, Nyl. (a bee new to the British list), and other rare aculeate Hymenoptera, 158; the Pied Flycatcher in East Lothian, etc., 181; the Humming-bird Hawk-moth in the Edinburgh district, 184; Myssta szonaria, Schiff., in the Inner Hebrides, 239 Falcon, Iceland, in Shetland (Curr. Lit.), 60 FARREN, WILLIAM, note on _ the moulting of the flight feathers in the Divers, 114 FERGUSSON, ANDERSON, Chrysomela hemoptera, L., in Ayrshire, 115 ; Carabus glabratus, Payk., in Clyde, 183 Fern, Wilson’s Filmy, on Foula, 243 Fishes, some scarce, in the Solway, 53 Flora of Wigtownshire, 29; notes on, 241 Florula of a piece of waste ground at Aberdeen, 221 Flycatcher, Pied, at Peterhead, 238; in S.E. Scotland, 181; in East Lothian, etc., 181; in Shetland (Curr. Lit.), 243 FOWLER, Sir J. A., Bart., Kingfisher in West Ross-shire, 473; Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Lochbroom, West Ross-shire, 110 Frog and Water Rail, 112 Gadwall, Garganey and, in Aberdeen- shire, 50 Gale, effects of the recent October, on marine life on the coasts of the Lothians, 6 Garganey and Gadwall in Aberdeen- shire, 50 Geese, White-fronted, in Fife, 182 Gisson, Rev. J. D> W., BoD.) Bird notes from Carmichael, ‘‘ Clyde” area,w109; Humming-bird Hawk- moth in the Upper Clyde, 184 Glasgow Natural History Society, Reports on Excursions (Curr. Lit. ), 189; Proceedings of (Curr. Lit.), 190 GODFREY, ROBERT, M.A., Pomatorhine Skua in West Lothian, 52 ; Fulmar Petrel breeding on Noss, Shetland, 53; Four-bearded Rockling in the Firth of Forth, 53; Szvex gtgas in East Lothian, 55; Water Rail and Frog, 112; Axallagma cyatht- gerumin Shetland, 115 ; Andromeda polifolia, L., in Midlothian, 121 Goldfinch in West Lothian, 47 Gordon, the late Rev. Dr., Birnie, memorial to, 235 Grampus, Risso’s, occurrence on the East coast of Scotland, 197 GRAVES, FRANK S., Wilson’s Filmy Fern on Foula, 243 GRIMSHAW, Percy H., F.E.S., Diptera Scotica : I.—Perthshire, 84, 161 Grouse, Black, remarkable variety of, o) rae late nest (Curr. Lit.), 244 Gull, Black-headed, a habit of the, 52; Brown-headed, food of, 113; Ice- INDEX 251 land, near the Solway Firth, 1143 Little, note upon the changes of plumage, 16 Habenaria viridis, var. bracteata (Curr. Lit.), 61 Hardy, the late James, LL.D., 1 HARTING, J. E., F.L.S., F.Z.S., King Eider in the Shetlands, 183 HARVIE- Brown, J. A., F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., notes on some Scottish Salmonide, 75; King Eider in St. Andrews Bay, 239; on the breeding of the Scaup in Scotland, 215 Hawk-moth, Humming-bird, in the Edinburgh district, 184; in the Upper Clyde, 184; in Norway, 241; extraordinary abundance at Galashiels (Curr. Lit.), 245 Hedge-sparrow, a white (Curr. Lit.), 60 Hlemerobtus, notes on certain Palzearc- tic species of the genus (Curr. Lit.), 189 HENDERSON, THOS., jun., occurrence of the Black-bellied Dipper in Shetland, 110 Hepatice, new and rare Scottish (Curr. Lit.), 190, 246; of Moidart, West Inverness (Curr. Lit.), 246 Hterochloa borealis as a species, 230 Hierochloé borealis, in Kirkcudbright- shire, 185, 246 (Curr. Lit.) Hoopoe near Dunbar, 47 Houbara, Asiatic, occurrence in Scot- land, 73 Huntemannia jadensis, S. A. Poppe, extension of distribution, 183 Hymenoptera, rare aculeate, in Scot- land, 158 Scottish Invertebrate fauna of the inland waters of Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 244 ireversieuts-Coleloott. phe Wesel Los observations on the birds of the islands of Tiree and Coll, 206 Isopoda, British land (Curr. Lit.), 124 ase Chelzfera, British (Curr. Lit.), 159 Jackdaw, peculiar variety, near Edin- burgh, 238 Juncus, Scottish forms of, 119 Jungermania obtusa, Lindb., in Britain (Gitte Ite) HAG Kingfisher in West Ross-shire, 47 LaIpLaw, T. G., M.B.O.U., Whim- brel in the Firth of Forth in winter, I13; report on the move- ments and occurrence of birds in Scotland during 1898, 140 Lepidoptera of Oban and district (Curr. Lit.), 123 Leptopsyllus minor, T. and A. Scott, in the Clyde district, 184 Lichens and Mosses from Argyle, 41 Limnophilus borealis and L. nigriceps from Glen Tilt, 56 Lochay, Glen, entomological notes from (Cure pet) se123 Lophocolea spicata, Taylor, in Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 62 Loupon, WILLIAM, Rose-coloured Starling at North Berwick, 238 Loxocera, on the British species of the Dipterous genus, with the descrip- tion of a new variety (Curr. Lit.), 123 Carsaig, M‘ANDREW, JAMES, notes on the Flora of Wigtownshire, 241 Macgillivray, William, M.D., LL.D., proposed memorial to, 45 MACGILLIVRAY, WM. L., Little Auk in Barra in April, 183 MACLAUCHLAN, JOHN, Common Dol- phins in the Tay Estuary, 108 MacpHERSON, Rev. H. A. M.A., M.B.O.U., a note upon the changes of plumage of the Little Gull (Larus minutus), 16; Gray Phalarope on the Solway Firth, 51; Pomatorhine Skua on_ the Solway Firth, 52; the food of the Brown-headed Gull, 113 ; Iceland Gull near the Solway Firth, 114 Macvicar, SyMErs M., plants of Lis- more, 36; earliest Scottish record of Dryas octopetala, L., 57 Magpie, albino, near Peterhead, 238 Marine life on the coasts of the Lothians, effects of the recent October gale on, 6 MAXWELL, Sir HERBERT, Mistletoe in Scotland, 242 Meteorological notes, and remarks upon the weather during the year 1897, with its general effects upon vege- tation (Curr. Lit.), 190 Mice, on two recently described, from St. Kilda, 129 Microfungi observed near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire (Curr. Lit.), 190 Mistletoe in Scotland, 242 Mollusca, revision of British (Curr. Lit.), 244 Molluscs in ‘‘ Perth E.,” 117 Monomorium pharaonis in an Edin- burgh hotel, 117 Bart., 252 MorTon, KENNETH J., F.E.S., note on the occurrence of Anabolia nervosa in June, with remarks on the effect of altitude on the time of appearance of insects, 22 ; 4schna cerulea, Strom, a boreal Dragon- fly, 26; distribution of Pachnobia hyperborea, im Scotland, 55; Limnophilus borealis, Zett., and L. nigriceps, Zett., from Glen Tilt, 56 Mosses, lichens and, from Carsaig, Argyle, 41 Mosses of Campsie Glen (Curr. Lit.), 190; of the genus Campylopus 103 Moths, Hawk-, in Moray, 241 Moulting of the flight-feathers in the Divers, note on, 114 Mycetozoa, notes on (Curr. Lit.), 190 Myriapods, on some new, from the Paleozoic rocks of Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 124 Novaya Zemlya, etc., the flowering plants of (Curr. Lit.), 61, 125 Wyssia zonaria in the Inner Hebrides, 239 Orchis ‘cruenta, 120 Ord, George Walker, In Memoriam, 193 Oriole, Golden, in Clackmannanshire, 181; in the ‘‘ Solway ” area, 182 Orthotenia ericetana in Scotland (Curr, Lit.), 60 Ospreys, destruction of, 181 Owl, European Hawk-, in Aberdeen- shire, 49 Miller, in Britain, Pachnobia hyperborea, distribution in Scotland, 55 ; occurrence in Inver- ness-shire, etc., 55 Pandalide, on the British (Curr. Lit.), 124 PATERSON, JOHN, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, and Curlew Sandpiper in East Renfrewshire, 51; notes on the Lesser Whitethroat (Sy/uza curruca, Linn.) as a Clyde species, 210; In Memoriam, George Walker Ord, 194; the White Wagtail (Motactlla alba) in Ayrshire, 238 ; the Bottle-nosed Whale in the Clyde, 236 PATERSON, JOHN, and JOHN Ros- ERTSON, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, and Curlew Sandpiper in East Renfrewshire, 51 PATERSON, J.,and HuGH Boyp WaTT, Badger in Dumbartonshire, 107 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY PEEL, C. V. A., F.Z.S., occurrence of the Loggerhead Turtle in North Uist, 115 Peronosporee of North Ayrshire, addi- tional notes on (Curr. Lit.), 190 Perthshire Society of Natural Science, transactions of the (Curr. Lit.), 12 Petrel, Fulmar, Shetland, 53 Phalarope, Gray, on the Solway Firth, 51; Red-necked, in Shetland (Curr. Lit.) 122 Pheasants, lead-poisoning in, 112 Phibalapteryx lapidata (Curr. Lit.), 60 Philopotamus montanus, var. chrysop- zerus on the Pentland Hills (Curr. Lit.), 245 Phoca grenlandica on the Aberdeen- shire coast, 46 Plants of Lismore, 36; records of Scottish, for 1898, additional to Watson’s ‘Topographical Botany,” 92; Wigtownshire, 185 Plovers’ eggs, protection of (Curr. Lit.), 2 Pochard in the ‘‘ Clyde ” area, a correc- tion, 182 Protection of birds’ eggs in Scotland, obstacles to the, 179 breeding on Noss, Quedius tristis, Grav., in Scotland (Curr. Lit.), 245 Rail, Water-, and Frog, 112 Range of plant-species, limits to the (Curr. Lit.), 190 Rannoch, Pseudo-Neuroptera, Planz- pennia, and Trichoptera collected at, in June 1898 (Curr. Lit.), 189 Raspberry roots, note on (Curr. Lit.), 190 Redshank, Spotted, in East Renfrew- shire, 51; on the Solway, 112 Reviews— The Structure and Classification of Birds, by Frank E. Beddard, M.A., Ta IRoShon (2 A Classification of Vertebrata, Recent and Extinct, by Hans Gadow, INNS 1esIOS, IIb, (0%) Wild Life at Home: How to Study and Photograph it, by R. Kearton, HiZeSe5 03 A Dictionary of Bird Notes, by Charles Louis Hett, 64 The Cambridge Natural History. Birds. By A. H. Evans, M.A., 125 The Penycuik Experiments, by J. C. Ewart, M.D., F.R.S., 126 INDEX 253 Reviews— Contributions towards a ‘‘ Cybele Hibernica”; being Outlines of the Geographical Distribution of Plants in Ireland. Second Edition. Founded on the papers of the late Alexander Goodman More, F.R.S.E., etc., by Nathaniel Colgan, M.R.I.A., and Reginald W. Scully, F.L.S:, 127 A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera, by J. W. Tutt, F.E.S., I9I A List of European Birds, including all those found in the Western Palearctic Area, with a Supple- ment, by Heatley Noble, F.Z.S., 192 The Naturalist’s Directory, 1899, 192 The Cambridge Natural History. Insects. Part II. By David Sharp, M.A., M.B., F.R.S., 246 Flora of Cumberland, by William Hodgson, 247 Rhynchomyzon purpurocinctum in the Moray Firth, 57 ROBERTSON, JOHN, and JOHN PATER- SON, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, and Curlew Sandpiper in East Renfrewshire, 51 Rockling, Four-bearded, in the Firth of Forth, 53 Rorqual, Lesser, in the Firth of Clyde, 236 Rosa hibernica in Midlothian, 118; znvoluta, Sm., in Forfarshire, 118 Roses, further notes on Scottish, 172 Rossta macrosoma on the East Lothian shore, 53 Rubi, Scottish (Curr. Lit.), 190 Rubus Bakert, F. A. Lees (Curr. Lit.), 124 Ruff in East Renfrewshire, 51 Sagina apetala in Westerness (Curr. Lit.), 246 Salmon, Tay land-locked (Curr. Lit.), 122 Salmonide, notes on Scottish, 75 Sanda and Glunimore, report on a visit to (Curr. Lit.); 122, 19x Sandpiper, Curlew, in East Renfrew- shire, 51 ; Wood, note on the eggs taken in Elginshire, 14 Saxtfraga grenlandica, L., 58 Scalia Hookert in West Inverness (Curr. Lit.), 62 Scaup, breeding of, in Scotland, 215 Scott, THomas, F.L.S., on the oc- currence of oreophausia tnermzs (Kroyer) and Zhysanoessa longi- caudata (Kroyer) in the Firth of Forth, 56; on the occurrence of Rhynchomyzon purpurocinctum (Thomas Scott) in the Moray Firth, 57; TZhalestris hibernica, G. S. Brady, in the Cromarty Firth, 57; notes on some Crust- acea from Granton, Firth of Forth, obtained from a ship’s hull, 115; Huntemannia jadensis,5. A. Poppe —extension of distribution, 183; Leptopsyllus minor, T. and A. Scott, in the Clyde district, 184 ; some notes on the fresh - water Entomostraca of Aberdeenshire, 216; Stenxhelia blanchardz in the Firth of Forth, 241 Scottish Alpine Botanical Club, excur- sion to Killin in 1897 (Curr. Lit.), 125 Seal, large, in Orkney (Curr. Lit.), 243 Seed-production in Dianthus deltotdes, L., 188 SERLE, WILLIAM, M.A., Great Spotted Woodpecker in Aberdeenshire, 49 ; Honey Buzzard at Peterhead, 49; Pied Flycatcher at Peterhead, 238 ; albino Magpie near Peterhead. 238; peculiar variety of Jackdaw near Edinburgh, 238 SERVICE, ROBERT, some scarce fishes in the Solway, 53; S¢vex gigas in Solway district, 55; the Convol- vulus Hawk-moth in Dumfries- shire, 55; Stoats in the winter pelage, 108; Great Gray Shrike in Solway, 110; Great Spotted Woodpecker in Kirkcudbright, 110; the Spotted Redshank on the Solway, 112; Golden Oriole in the ‘‘Solway” area, 182; Acherontia atropos in Solway, 240 Shark, Blue, at Ayr, 238 Shearwaters, Great, at St. Kilda, 239 Shrike, Great Gray, in Solway, 110 SIM, GEORGE, A.L.S., Great Spotted Woodpecker in Aberdeenshire, 49 ; European Hawk -Owl in Aber- deenshire, 49; Honey Buzzard in Aberdeenshire, 49 ; Garganey and Gadwall in Aberdeenshire, 50; occurrence of the Black-mouthed Dogfish off Aberdeen, 53 Strex gigas in East Lothian, 55; in Peeblesshire, 55; in Solway dis- trict, 55 Strex gigas, Linn., occurrence in Arran and Bute (Curr. Lit.), 123 Skua, Pomatorhine, on the Solway Firth, 52; in West Lothian, 52 Smelt, Hebridal, off Arran (Curr. Lit.), 244 254 Snipe, nestling, in July (Curr. Lit.), 244; solitary, near Elgin, 51 Somatochlora arctica, and metallica in Inverness-shire (Curr. Lit.), 245 Sparganium affine, Schizl., an early Scottish locality for, 186 Sphinx convolvuli, L., in Kast Lothian, 55; in Dumfriesshire, 55 Starling, Rose-coloured, at North Ber- wick, 238 Stenhelia blanchardi in the Firth of Forth, 241 STIRTON, JAMES, |) MODE RIES: Lichens and Mosses from Carsaig, Argyle, 41; on Mosses of the genus Campy lopus, 103 Stoats in the winter pelage, 108 STUART, CHARLES, M.D., Great Spotted Woodpecker in Berwick- shire, 49 SUTHERLAND, J., Great Spotted Wood- pecker in Caithness, 49 Swan, Bewick’s, in South Uist (Curr. Lit.), 244 Swift, late stay of (Curr. Lit.), 60 TayLor, WM., Phoca srenlandica on the Aberdeenshire coast, 46; the White-sided Dolphin off the East coast of Scotland, 238 Thalestris hibernica in the Cromarty Firth, 57 Thelodus Paget, Powrie, sp., from the Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire (Conaaeits) 22 Thysanoessa longicaudata in the Firth of Forth, 56 Tipulide of the Glasgow district, notes on the (Curr. Lit.), 124 Titmouse, Marsh, in the Tay valley (Curr. Lit.), 60 TRAIL, JAMES W. H., A.M., M.D., F.R.S., topographical botany of Scotland, 95, 165 ; seed-production in Dianthus deltoides, L., 1883 florula of a piece of waste ground at Aberdeen, 221 DRAQUATRS Ra El i.e ez. 1D F.R.S., on the occurrence of Risso’s Grampus on the East coast of Scotland, 197 Trees, measurement of the girth of coniferous, at Braemar in 1894 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY (Curr. Lit.), 125; the diameter- increment of the wood of coni- ferous, at Braemar, in relation to climatic conditions (Curr. Lit.), 125 Trichtura crategt, Aberdeenshire form of (Curr. Lit.), 245 Turtle, Loggerhead, in North Uist, 115 Typhilopsylla spectabilis, a new British Flea (Curr. Lit.), 61 Osttlaginee of North Ayrshire, addi- tional notes on (Curr. Lit.), 190 Vertigo pygmea and other Molluscs in (oP erthebascatiie7 Wagtail, Pied, abnormal occurrence through the winter in Aberdeen- shire (Curr. Lit.), 188; White, in Ayrshire, 238 WALKER, J. G., Little Bustard in Aberdeenshire, 51 Watt, Hucu Boyp, Lesser Rorqual (Galenoptera rostrata, Fab.) in the Firth of Clyde, 236; Bottle- nose Whale (Ayferoddon rvostratus, Mill.) at Ayr, 237; Blue Shark (Carchartas glaucus) at Ayr, 238 Watt, HucuH Boyb, and JOHN PATER- sON, Badger in Dumbartonshire, 107 Whale, Bottle-nosed, in the Clyde, 236; at Ayr, 237; White, sup- posed capture of, in the Tay estuary, 4 Whimbrel in the Firth of Forth in winter, 113 Whitethroat, Lesser, as a Clyde species, 210; in the Outer Hebrides, 109 Wigtownshire, flora of, 29; notes on the flora of, 241; plants, 185 Wild Birds Protection Acts, prosecution under the, 180 Woodpecker, Great Spotted, in the south-east of Scotland, 47; in Berwickshire, 49; in Forfarshire, 49; in Aberdeenshire, 49; in Caithness, 49 ; in Ross-shire (Curr. Lit.), 60; at Lochbroom, West Ross-shire, 110; in Kirkcudbright, 110 107 ; END OF VOL. VIII. Printed by R. & R. 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