The Annals OF Scottish Natural History A QUARTERLY MAGAZINE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED Naturalist' EDITED BY J. A. HARVIE-BROWN, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S. MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION JAMES W. H. TRAIL, M.A., M.D., F.L.S. 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 I 892 EDINBURGH DAVID DOUGLAS, CASTLE STREET LONDON: R. H. PORTER, 18 PRINCES ST., CAVENDISH SQUARE A PREFACE THE completion of the first year and volume of the ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY affords the Editors the opportunity of expressing their thanks to their Contributors and Subscribers for the kind reception and support which have been accorded to the Magazine. It is their earnest wish to make the Annals worthily represent the Zoology and Botany of Scotland, and they confidently appeal to all interested in these sciences to continue to aid their efforts of and Notes and by the contribution Papers ; by bringing the Magazine under the favourable notice of all Naturalists who are not subscribers. They would remind their friends interests of the that all profits will be employed in the direct Annals. It is hoped that the attention of the Editors will be called to any omissions that may from time to time be detected in the section devoted to Current Literature. There has been some difficulty in obtaining short Botanical notes the but it is believed that the mere during year ; mention of the deficiency will bring about its remedy. 32514 LIST OF PLATjES I. Anarrkichas minor. II. of Forms Echinus esculentus M\&'Goniaster plirygianus. III. Salrno fario from I slay. IV. Salnio fario from Stirlingshire. V. Salmo fario from Loch Enoch. VI. Lichomolgus aberdonensis, n. sp. VII. Lichomolgus arenicolus. VIII. n. Notops pygmceus, sp. ; Copens ehrenbergii ; Triarthra terminalis. LIBRARY 30 The Annals of Scottish Natural History No. i] 1892 [JANUARY EDITORIAL " IN this, the first number of The Annals of Scottish Natural History," a brief statement regarding the important part it is hoped the new magazine will fulfil in furthering the progress of Natural History in Scotland, may not be considered inappropriate. Limited as our pages must be to original matter relating to the Biology of Scotland, Recent and Fossil, it is evident that they cannot and should not be devoted to general ques- tions relating to minute anatomy and physiology, for such more fitly find a place in Journals and Transactions of less restricted scope. Nor are monographs of a purely systematic nature, dealing with subjects not strictly Scottish, suitable for our Magazine. Yet, despite these restrictions, the field of work is both wide and varied, and there should, indeed, be no lack of Papers and Notes of value and interest to our " " readers, and ample room for The Annals in the serial literature of British Natural History. In ZOOLOGY there is yet much very much to be ascer- tained regarding the innumerable species of the various Classes of the Invertebrata inhabiting Scotland, and their distribution, i B 2 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY Among the Mammalia generally supposed to be well- known we may remark that two species of Bats are included in the Scottish fauna on the strengtho of singleo specimens, and one of these was obtained as long ago as 1858. Some of the larger species of Carnivora are becoming very rare, and their occurrence in many districts is well worth placing on record. The visits of the less common Cetaceans and Pinnipeds are also fit subjects for communications to our pages. The life -history of several species of the Micro- Mammalia is still more or less enshrouded in mystery. Among the Birds and Fishes classes possessed of remark- able powers of locomotion the occurrence of rare wanderers always affords material for interesting records : while the details of the migratory movements and distribution of many species are desiderata. Much useful work remains to be done towards the elucidation of the life-history of the Fishes. In BOTANY it is scarcely needful to remind those who have followed the records of the subject in Scotland during the past twenty years, that much has been done in that time towards filling up the many gaps in the census of distribution " of both flowering plants and cryptogams. The Scottish Naturalist," the "Journal of Botany," and the Transactions of the various scientific societies of Scotland, all afford most valuable materials for the completion of a Topographical Botany of Scotland. Yet even in this field much remains to be the nor is there done, especially among Cryptogams ; reason to fear lest soon there will be no more regions in Scotland to explore, or able botanists to pursue the work with zeal and success. Not less interesting to the worker, and often more so to the reader, are certain branches of botanical study that have in the past received less notice among us, but which we trust will receive the attention in Scotland that they deserve, and which is given to them on the continent of Europe. The life -histories of even our commonest wild plants have scarcely been studied here, with respect to their habits EDITORIAL 3 and behaviour under changed conditions, either in the wild state or when cultivated. That relations exist between insects and flowers is familiar to every one as a statement, and some may be more or less familiar with a part of the extensive literature on this but how few such subject ; observations are on record from Scotland. A comparison of these relations as observed in Scotland with the records of naturalists in other countries could not fail to be interest- ing and instructive. The diseases of plants have been investigated by very few workers in Scotland, despite their practical importance, and the light they are certain to shed on the processes of disease in animals and in man. The Galls of Scotland have not by any means been exhausted even as regards their mere enumeration, and their distribution is very imperfectly known : while there is very much to be done in tracing their modes of formation and development. The Cryptogams, especially the Thallophytes, will long afford material for investigation sufficient to absorb the powers and opportunities of many botanists. The life- histories of the Fungi and their relations to their environments, and to other living beings, can scarcely be said to be fully understood with regard to a single species. The popular names and folklore of plants in the various districts of Scotland deserve to be recorded if this is not done ; speedily the opportunity will be lost under the advancing wave of elementary school education. Communications on such subjects as the above will be welcome and information that we can with ; any give regard to subjects of investigation, books, etc., will be most willingly supplied. Queries for information, or for discussion, will be inserted when sent by our readers with that view. There will be a space for brief notes of observations, methods of preparing material for study, and for other topics likely to prove of interest to Botanists. Papers and notes by specialists will give information with regard to groups or species of plants that should be looked 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY for in Scotland as reputed to have occurred or as likely to occur in the country. Of the FOSSIL FORMS, in both Zoology and Botany, many remain to be discovered to be better under- species ; many stood through further investigation. NEW BOOKS will be noticed or reviewed when they deal with the Natural History of Scotland, or are fitted to facilitate its study, or are necessary and useful to naturalists. A short bibliography of CURRENT LITERATURE dealing with the Zoology and Botany of Scotland will be given. To render this as complete as possible the kind assistance of our readers is requested. There now only remains the agreeable duty of offering hearty thanks for the kindly support and goodwill so freely shown by the naturalists of Scotland and England. Such a response is our best encouragement, and augurs well for the undertaking. THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER (PICUS MAJOR, L.) IN SCOTLAND. By J. A. HARVIE-BROWN, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S. A TREATMENT of the phenomena connected with the dis- appearance of this species seems to us naturally to be divisible under several headings, viz. a consideration of the old and forests of the decrease and young pine Speyside ; almost extinction of the squirrel, followed by its rapid the correlation resuscitation and enormous increase ; and of these two sets of phenomena, and possibly of others in a minor degree. This is a subject to which we have given some attention 1 before. But we are still of the opinion that each of the 1 "The History of the Squirrel in Great Britain" (Macfarlane and Erskine, vol. Edin., 1 88 1). Reprint from Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Ediii., v. 1880. With " map of dispersal, etc. On the Decrease of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker in Scotland" (Zoologist, 1880, pp. 85-89). GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER IN SCOTLAND 5 headings treated of is, and are, collectively, worthy of the attention of Scottish Naturalists, with a view to greater elaboration of details in each, and in all. THE WOODPECKER. Perhaps the oldest record of the presence of Woodpeckers in Scotland referred to quite another species, viz. the Green Woodpecker (Gecinus viridis), and at a period when oak forests flourished even to the north of the mainland. It has thus been recorded and the record has become stale from frequent quotation, but must serve " its turn again by Sir Robert Gordon in The History of the Earldom of Sutherland," 1630, and in which he speaks of " the lairigigh or knag (which is a foull lyk unto a paroket or parret, and makes place for her nest, with her beck in the oak trie.") Although specimens of the Green Woodpecker have not lately been recorded and added to our list of Scottish birds there is strong evidence to show that it does occasionally occur in autumn.