breeding birds flocking at certain localities are young birds of the previous season. The grassy knolls and pastoral country round one loch in particular, present extremely favourable feeding grounds, perhaps better than any others in Assynt. The growth of the young birds taken this year was very rapid. They were quite small when taken; by the 16th July few remains of down were visible, while by the end of the month they were beginning to fly, and the white patches on the shoulders were quite conspicuous. BLACK SCOTER. OEDEMIA NIGRA (L.) 121. Dr Joass of the Dunrobin Museum informs me that this species does breed, or at least did breed this year, within the boundaries of Sutherland. In this instance, the eggs were taken and both old birds shot. Let us here entreat that such rarities be most carefully preserved, alike by proprietors and lessees of shootings. Only in very exceptional cases is there any need of shooting any Scotch species from its nest, in order to establish it as a breeding species in the country. Obs. Pochard-Fuligula ferina, (L.)—Although eggs of a Duck in the Dunrobin Museum are supposed to belong to this species, there is want of minute and careful authentication in connection with the specimens. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. COLYMBUS ARTICUS, L. 122. I am glad to say that almost all the old localities still hold their pair of birds, although the eggs have been taken pretty often. Few, if any, are shot, and in many localities they are seldom or never disturbed. Even close to the public road they breed every year as formerly. RED-THROATED DIVER. COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS, Lath. 124. The same cannot be said of this species as of the last. Although never plentiful in the Assynt district, they are even scarcer now, according to all reports. It is difficult to account for this, as they are, I understand, equally preserved and unmolested-at least by the keepers and those who carry guns. Possibly the situation of their nests may lay them open to more molestation from foxes and vermin than the other species. Obs. Great Northern Diver (Colymbus glacialis, L.)—I may add I have additional evidence regarding the breeding of this species at the same inland locality where I saw them in 1868. The actual proof is, however, still awanting. A report also was circulated that they had bred at another locality, and that the eggs had been taken, but I obtained no corroborative evidence; and in this instance, written evidence or ocular proof is all that I could pay attention to. LITTLE GREBE. PODICEPS MINOR (Gmel.) 126. Mr Mackenzie notes this species as common in the neighbourhood of Dornoch, and also at certain small lochs near Durness. In the Assynt district one was shot, a year or two ago, on Muloch Corrie Loch, at the base of Ben More. It was the first seen in these parts by the keeper, or by the shepherds. RICHARDSON'S SKUA. STERCORARIUS CREPIDATUS, Gmel. 130. Mr Mackenzie informs me that Mr Houstoun's gamekeeper on Kintradale (Kintradwell?) got a nest with eggs. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. LARUS MARINUS, L. 130. Some 40 pairs of this species breed on an island on Loch Lee. Their nests are robbed twice, sometimes thrice, in a season, and 70 to 80 eggs taken each time. Yet the species shows no symptoms of diminishing. The last sets of eggs want much of the colouring matter on the shells. A far-inland locality for this species is on a loch near Oykel, where I saw one pair this year. My former statement, that the Arctic Tern is of more frequent occurrence in Sutherland than the Common, is queried by Mr Mackenzie; and he adds that, in his experience, the reverse is the case. LITTLE TERN. STERNA MINUTA, L. 133. This can now be definitely added to the list of birds breeding in Sutherland, as the collection at Dunrobin contains eggs taken in the east of the county. III. A contribution to the Hymenoptera of Sutherlandshire. I have again the pleasure of bringing before the Society the results of my exploration of the Hymenoptera of the Highlands, in continuation of my two former papers, published in the last two Parts of our Proceedings. This time I proceeded further north, viz., into Sutherlandshire. Knowing from experience that a well wooded district would yield the best results, I chose Bonar Bridge, on the Dornoch Firth, as my head-quarters, not only because the country around there is better cultivated and wooded than elsewhere, but also from the facilities it afforded of making excursions northward, as well as southward into the neighbouring county of Ross. I reached the village on the 15th June, but that for the late season was rather too early; for even then insects whose normal time of appearing is May, were just beginning to put in an appearance, and the more common species, which can usually be had everywhere in abundance, were remarkably scarce. This, however, was not the fault of the country, but of the extremely bad It is many years since we have had such an unfavourable season for Entomology; for not only were insects scarce when one season. could get out after them, but the opportunities of collecting them were very few, as scarcely a day passed without rain. In Sutherlandshire a good many of the species occurred only in the male sex (which appear about a week in advance of the females); while as for larvae, scarcely any were to be seen. Although then, as regards quantity, my journey did not yield much, yet several things were found that well repaid the visit, and indeed showed how much better I would have done if the season had been more favourable. Around Bonar Bridge the most interesting species met with was Cyphona geminata, Dbm., of which one specimen turned up by sweeping on the banks of the Carron; this insect is rare everywhere, and hitherto only found in the South of England. At the same place I bagged three males of Taxonus agrorum, Fall. (nitida, Kl.), an insect which I was well pleased to see, as I was doubtful of its British nativity, which was thus placed beyond question. The male differs from the female in having the neuration of the posterior wings formed as in Perineura, a difference which led Eversmann to describe it as a new species under the name of Taxonus anomala. Near Lairg I captured among the birch woods a Nematus, which I have no doubt is the N. canaliculatus of Hartig, not hitherto recorded for Britain. Near the Falls of the Shin I fortunately came across several larvae of Nematus betulae, Retz., this also being new to the British fauna. Of known British species the most noteworthy met with was Fenusa melanopoda, Cam., on Alder, a circumstance which seems to show that it was its larvae and not that of pumila which Zaddach and Goureau described under that name. Nematus fallax occurred on Salix fusca, thus considerably extending the northern range of this species in Scotland. N. dorsatus, Cam., was captured not rarely; Athalia glabricollis at the mouth of the Dornoch Firth; and Nematus appendiculatus on the banks of the Shin at Invershin, this form having only hitherto been found in Braemar in Scotland. Towards the end of my stay I paid a visit to the interior, and stayed at Altnaharra, where my best captures were made. On the first day it poured, but the next was very fine, and an ascent was made of Ben Clibrich, the second highest mountain in the county. In ascending I found a dipterous gall (formed of thickened terminal leaves), on Vaccinium vitis-idaea, which had been found previously by Prof. Trail at Braemar, but the maker has never been bred. At an elevation of about 2000 feet, what turned up but the Blennocampa alchemillae, which I described before the Society last session, and published in Part II. of the Proceedings. It was found among Alchemilla alpina. At the same place I found several interesting Oxyura, which I have not yet succeeded in naming, and they are probably undescribed. When the top was gained, I sat down to enjoy the glorious view. I had not been seated five minutes, when lo! a Saw-fly landed on my trousers. He was instantly pounced upon and safely bottled, when he soon paid the debt of nature. An hour and a half was spent searching for more, but not one was discovered. On coming home this specimen was found to be undescribed, although closely allied to Nematus hyperboreus, Thoms. I purpose calling it Clibrichellus. During the search for this insect several interesting ichneumons were found. Afterwards a descent was made to a loch in a corry at the foot of the mountain, but nothing of importance was discovered there. Botanically, Ben Clibrich is very poor; scarcely a plant of any rarity was found, and even the common alpine saxifrages, etc., were conspicuous by their absence, or very sparingly represented. After the bootless journey to the loch, some time was spent beating the birch and alder bushes along the banks of the Clibrich burn (very much to the astonishment of some natives who happened to be passing at the time), and here another new and very distinct species of Nematus was found. This last discovery is of some interest, as it is the second new species of the luteus group that has been found in Scotland. In the "Entomologists' Monthly Magazine" for August, 1877, I have described it under the name of N. antennatus. An attack was then made on the birches on the banks of Loch Navar, but this turned out to be no easy matter, for all the trees were infested with thousands of a Geometer larva. It literally swarmed on them, especially on the old and scraggy trees, so much so that after only two or three taps of the beating stick I had hundreds not only in my umbrella, but all over my clothes, and as when cast off they hang by a thread, the subsequent process of clearing them, and making myself, to say nothing of the umbrella, fit to enter a hotel, was a work of some trouble. Many of the birches had been completely stripped of their leaves by these wretches, and the whole plantation had quite a withered and forlorn appearance. However, the wood yielded some interesting ichneumons, as also Hoplocampa crataegi. Desist |