ing from beating, the sweeping net was used, and it produced among others Nematus rumicis. Next day an assault was made on the beautiful and singularly shaped Ben Laoghal, but the rain coming on, it proved fruitless. Altogether, I think that this district, as well as the northern coast, would yield, under favourable circumstances, many new and interesting Hymenoptera, and I shall look forward with pleasure to revisiting it.

Of Cynipidae no new species were met with among the gall makers. The white woolly gall of Andricus ramuli was a conspicuous object on the oak everywhere. A. amenti was also noticed, and Trigonaspis megaptera was abundant. At Bonar an addition to our fauna was found in Hexacola hexatoma, H., a parasitic form. Pezophycta brachytera was the only other noteworthy capture among the parasitics. Aculeata were extremely rare, as I don't think I saw a dozen species altogether.

After these introductory remarks, I will now proceed to enumerate seriatim all the species found among the Tenthredinidae, Cynipidae, and Aculeata, leaving the other families to be treated in a subsequent paper.

TENTHREDINIDAE.

Tenthredo livida, T. velox, Altnaharra; T. dispar, T. rufiventris, rare; T. balteata, T. mesomela, T. scalaris, T. punctulata, T. olivacea, T. viridis, L. (picta, Kl.), Lairg.

Perineura nassata, Lin., sec. Th.; P. brevispina, Th.; P. sordida, Kl., sec. Th.

Allantus nothus.

Athalia glabricollis, Th., Dornoch; A. rosae.

Macrophya albicincta.

Pachyprotasis antennata, P. rapae.

Dolerus vestigialis, D. gibbosus, D. aeneus, D. pratensis, L.

Emphytus serotinus, larva common on oaks; E. rufo-cinctus, Bonar

Bridge.

Taxonus glabratus, T. agrorum, Fall., Strath-Carron.

Strongylogaster cingulatus.

Poecilosoma pulveratum, P. submuticum, P. excisum.

Phyllotoma nemorata, Lairg.

Fenusa melanopoda, Cam., on alder.

Selandria serva, S. morio.

Blennocampa bipunctata, Bonar Bridge; B. albipes, B. luteiventris,

B. cinereipes, B. pusilla, B. alchemillae, Cam., Ben Clibrich (vide supra).

Hoplocampa crataegi, Altnaharra, on hawthorn.

Hemichroa rufa.

Dineura degeeri.

Camponiscus luridiventris.
Cladius padi.

Nematus appendiculatus, var. with black femora, Bonar Bridge; N. ruficornis, N. clibrichellus, Cam.; N. obductus, N. capreae, N. canaliculatus, Htg., Falls of the Shin, on birch; N. punctulatus, Dbm., Altnaharra; N. rumicis, Altnaharra; N. fallax, StrathCarron on Salix fusca; N. bilineatus, N. luteus, N. antennatus, Cam., foot of Ben Clibrich; N. dorsatus, N. abdominalis, N. ribesii, common in gardens, Golspie, etc.; N. myosotidis, N. miliaris, N. crassulus; ? N. pedunculi, Htg.; N. herbaceae, Cam., Ben Laoghal. Cryptocampus saliceti, Fall.

Andricus curvator, A. 4-lineatus, A. amenti, Invershin; A. ramuli, abundant, easily noticed from the train going from Invershin to Lairg.

Dryoteras terminale.

Neuroterus leuticularis.

Spathogaster baccarum, S. tricolor.

Trigonapsis megaptera, abundant.

Allotria minuta.

Pezophycta brachyptera.

Sarothrus canaliculatus.

Kleditoma albipennis; K. geniculata; K. nigra.

Hexacola hexatoma, Htg.

Rhoptrameris encerus, Htg.

Aegilips nitidulus.

ACULEATA.

Bombus lapponicus; B. vestigialis; B. schrimshiranus; B. lucorum;

B. lapidarius.

Andrena furcata; A. combinata; A. parvula; A. nana. (In swarms nesting at Creich close to the sea).

Halictus albipes; H. subfasciatus; H. nitidusculus; H. minutus. Nomada ruficornis.

Vespa germanica; V. norvegica.

OCTOBER 30TH, 1877.

Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Mr John J. Dalgleish, Edinburgh, was elected a life member; and Messrs. Robert Morton, Samuel M'Culloch Morrison, James White, and William Ferguson, ordinary members.

SPECIMENS EXHIBITED.

The President exhibited drawings and specimens of three new species of Carboniferous Polyzoa, one of them being a new species of Synocladia, from the limestone shales at High Blantyre, the other two being species of Glauconome, from the Gillfoot shales at Carluke. One of the forms of Glauconome belonged to a sub-genus, Diplopora, which had been established by Dr Young and Mr John Young, F.G.S., for the reception of certain forms of Glauconome, which have a second small pore below each cell aperture, a feature which they were the first to notice in connection with Carboniferous Polyzoa. Dr Young pointed out the probable use of this second small pore, as allowing of the passage of processes in connection with the Polyzoa, and also the affinity of this group with the Brachiopoda, a subject which was of interest, and to which he hoped more fully to direct the attention of the Society on a future evening.

Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited the test or shell of a large flexible Sea Urchin, of an apparently undescribed species, and which formed part of the large and valuable collection of natural history objects recently presented to the Hunterian Museum by Dr Allen Thomson. Mr Young stated that it was only of recent years that sea urchins with flexible tests were known to be living in our recent seas. During the cruise of H.M.S. Porcupine in the North Atlantic in 1869, two specimens of flexible Echini, belonging to different genera, were obtained, and were described

by Professor Sir Wyville Thomson, in the "Depths of the Sea," under the names of Calveria hystrix and Phormosoma placenta. The specimen from Dr Thomson's collection was probably obtained at an earlier date than the Porcupine's cruise, and appears to belong to a different genus from the above. Its locality is not known, and from its appearance it seems to have been lying past for many years, having lost its spines and dental apparatus, though otherwise the test is quite perfect. In its depressed form and flexible test it presents a strong contrast to the rigid shelled species of Echinus found on our coast, but in other respects clearly belonging to the same family group of the Echinodermata. The specimen measured 18 inches in circumference by 24 inches in height. The test is thin and flexible in all its parts, but its upper surface is much more elastic than the lower. As in other members of the same group, the test is composed of five double rows of ambulacral and interambulacral plates, all of which bear perforated tubercules, to which the spines were attached. The plates, so far as yet examined, appear to be arranged in an over-lapping series, as in Calveria and Phormosoma, but it is in the character of its interambulacral plates on the upper surface of the test that Dr Thomson's specimen is seen to differ from the above genera. These plates are divided into three areas, the middle space being flat, and free of tubercules. This peculiar character commences at the periphery of the test, where the middle area of the plate is seen to widen in each successive row, by the reduction or loss of the side tubercules towards the summit, where the genital disc is placed. At this point the primary tubercules disappear, leaving a wide flat space in each of the ambulacral rows, which, being of a spongy, membraneous texture, gives great flexibility to those plates. The interambulacral plates on the lower surface of the test have no intermediate flat spaces, the tubercules being continuous across. The ambulacral plates are perforated each by three pairs of pores, two pairs on the lower edge of the plates, and one pair on the upper edge, intermediate in position between the other two; they are likewise continuous in their rows, from the mouth to the summit of the test. Mr Young stated that he had already pointed out in the Transactions of the Society that Archaeocidaris Urii, one of the oldest of our fossil sea urchins, found in the limestone strata of the Glasgow district, had also a flexible test

formed of overlapping plates. This evening he exhibited plates of another species of the same genus, from the Ayrshire Carboniferous limestone, in which the overlapping character of the plates was very clearly seen.

Mr G. E. Paterson exhibited a dated series of specimens of the Black Guillemot, Uria grylle, showing the various changes of plumage from December to June, on which he made some remarks. He stated that he would endeavour to bring forward at a future meeting a series showing the variations from the plumage of the breeding season down to that of winter.

Mr James Coutts showed a collection of mounted specimens of small organisms, which had been in his possession for some years, and which he had obtained from the limestone strata at Dockra, Waterland, and other localities. In the collection were numerous specimens of sponge spicules similar to those obtained at Cunningham-Bedland, which were exhibited before the Society in October last, when it was stated that the remains of silicious sponges had not before been noted as being found in the Carboniferous strata of the West of Scotland. Mr Coutts' remarks on the specimens were supplemented by the President.

Mr James Lumsden, F.Z.S., exhibited a pair of Merlins, Falco aesalon (male and female), shot in July last, from the nest in a tree, on the banks of Loch Lomond. Mr Lumsden remarked that he exhibited these birds in order that the somewhat unusual position of the nest might be recorded. The Merlin in this country is usually found to nest on the ground or in rocks. What rendered the present case of greater interest, was the fact that the ground all round the situation of the tree was just of such a character as is usually chosen by the Merlin to nest in; showing that the tree could not have been fixed on for want of another suitable place. The nest occupied appeared to be a deserted one of Corvus corone or Corvus cornix. Although rare in this country, tree nests of the Merlin are not uncommon in Lapland.

PAPERS READ.

I.-Note on the recent occurrence of the Hoopoe (Upupa epops) in Arran. By Mr JAMES LUMSDEN, F.Z.S.

On the 23d of May, 1877, a Hoopoe, Upupa epops, was shot at Dougrie, in Arran. It had been observed for several days frequenting a sand-bank where some starlings had their nests, or