ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 197 



DETACHED BONES (SCOTTISH). One entire humerus with frag- 

 ments of three others, one entire coracoid and a fragment of another, 

 a portion of a tibia, and one vertebra, discovered in a shell mound 

 or " kitchen midden " in the Island of Oronsay by Mr. Symington 

 Grieve in iSSi, and figured by him in the "Journ. Linn. Soc. 

 Zoology," vol. xvi. pi. 9. These specimens, presented to the 

 Museum by Mr. Grieve, are exhibited in the British Collection. 



SKELETON. An entire skeleton formed of bones brought by Mr. 

 Lucas from Funk Island, and purchased in 1888 from Mr. E. 

 Gerrard for ^150. 



SKIN. A very fine stuffed specimen in full summer plumage, 

 purchased from Sir F. Milner in April 1895 f r ^35- This 

 specimen, in excellent condition and beautifully mounted, having 

 been recently re-stuffed by Cullingford of Durham, was purchased 

 by the late Sir W. Milner from a bird-stuffer in York of the name 

 of Graham, by whom its locality was given as Orkney ; it is, how- 

 ever, generally believed to have come from Eldey, Iceland. For 

 some years it was exhibited on loan in the Leeds Museum. 



Mr. Tegetmeier, in the "Field" for 2yth April, recalls the fact 

 that in 1870 a skin was offered to the Edinburgh Museum for^ioo, 

 but declined. This occurred several years before I came to the 

 Museum, but on looking into the matter I find that the feet of this 

 specimen were wanting, a circumstance which no doubt accounts for 

 its rejection. 



The specimen which has just been purchased is the only 

 example of the Great Auk in Scotland which is exhibited to the 

 general public ; for the only other specimens in the country, two in 

 number, are both in private collections. One of them, the property 

 of the Duke of Roxburghe, is at Floors Castle ; the other, belonging 

 to Colonel Malcolm, is at Poltalloch in Argyleshire. A report 

 having appeared in "Science Gossip" that Colonel Malcolm had 

 sold his specimen, I have the authority of a correspondent of that 

 gentleman for saying that such is not the case, and that bird and 

 egg " are still safe at Poltalloch." R. H. TRAQUAIR. 



Phycis blennoides in the Orcadian Seas. According to the 

 " Northern News " of the 23rd of April last three specimens of the 

 Blennoid Fork-beard were captured on the 1 8th of that month off 

 the west coast of Orkney, the largest of which measured 1 7 inches 

 in length. 



Sand Smelt OP Atherine in Scottish Waters : A Correction. 



An error has crept into the note on the Atherine. It ought to 

 read : " A full-grown Smelt is also larger than the Atherine, and a 

 more delicately constructed fish ; besides, the Atherine lacks the 

 peculiar cucumber smell. While most common in the English 

 Channel, the little Atherine cannot be considered a rare Scottish 

 fish." The Atherines sent to Edinburgh were, it seems, from Oban 



