CURRENT LITERATURE 189 



discovery of Saxifraga tridadylites, L., by Dr. T. F. Gilmour, on 

 the Machrie Links, Islay. On gth April of the present year Dr. 

 Gilmour was fortunate in adding another Saxifrage to the known 

 flora of his island and of the South Inner Hebrides, v.-c. 102, viz., 

 S. oppositifoha, L., a plant very different from the other, and from 

 all the other seventeen British species of the genus prostrate and 

 creeping, and possessing a relatively large flower of rich purple. 

 What renders Dr. Gilmour's discovery the more interesting is that 

 he found the plant growing luxuriantly at what we may call the zero 

 of altitude, viz., on exposed sea-coast rocks of the Mull of Oa, Islay, 

 almost within reach of the waves, a habitat greatly differing from 

 the shifting soil of the Machrie sand-dunes, six miles distant. We 

 are accustomed to look on S. oppositifolia as a true "alpine," 

 inhabiting the higher levels, the "Student's Flora" giving its altitudinal 

 range as extending to 4000 feet. Yet we find this plant is in the 

 short list of those which are happy either at high altitude or at the 

 lowest levels, along with the Sea-pink, the Sea-campion, or the Sea- 

 plantain. It should not be omitted that the late Professor J. H. 

 Balfour met with S. oppositifoha near the Lighthouse at the Mull of 

 Kintyre in 1844, that Mr. H. C. Hart records it as occurring in 

 County Donegal, from sea-level upwards, and that Professor Trail 

 informs me of its occurrence on the sea-coast in Aberdour and 

 eastern Gamrie, in northern Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. ALEX. 



SOMERVILLE. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



The Titles and Purport of Papers and Notes relating to Scottish Natural 

 History which have appeared during the Quarter April-June 1906. 



[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. 



MIGRATORY NOTES FROM ABERDEEN. W. Wilson. Zoologist, 

 May 1906, p. 196. -Reference made to Ring-Ousel, \Vheatear, and 

 Cuckoo. 



SCOTTISH PTARMIGAN. Seton P. Gordon. The Field, yth April 

 1906, p. 560. Deals with nesting habits, period of incubation, and 

 other matters of general interest. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SCRAPS FROM A LEPIDOPTERIST'S NOTE-BOOK 

 DURING A MONTH'S SOJOURN IN THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND IN THE 

 SUMMER OF 1905. John G. Gardner. Ent. Record, April 1906, 

 pp. 92-95. A racy article, describing the results of collecting in the 

 neighbourhood of Forres. 



