i go ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



and a host of distinguished literary men. This portion of the 

 European Journal is of much interest. 



In the autumn of 1830, Audubon and his wife, coming from 

 America, returned once more to his old quarters in Edinburgh, and 

 then began that " Ornithological Biography " in which he was so 

 immensely assisted by William Macgillivray how much so we may 

 know by what his countryman Dr. Coues has written (Key to North 

 American Birds, 2nd ed., 1884, p. 22) : "Vivid and ardent was his 

 genius, matchless he was both with pen and pencil in giving life and 

 spirit to the beautiful objects he delineated with passionate love ; 

 but there was a strong and patient worker by his side William 

 Macgillivray, the countryman of Wilson, destined to lend the sturdy 

 Scotch fibre to an Audubonian epoch. The brilliant French- 

 American naturalist was little of a ' scientist.' Of his work the 

 magical beauties of form and colour and movement are all his ; his 

 page is redolent of nature's fragrance ; but Macgillivray's are the 

 bone and sinew, the hidden, anatomical parts beneath the lovely 

 face, the nomenclature, the classification in a word, the technicali- 

 ties of the science." 



In concluding this short and imperfect notice of Miss Audubon's 

 charming volumes, we feel assured that the life-work of the great 

 naturalist will abide, and his memory continue a joint heritage of the 

 English-speaking people on each side of the Atlantic, so that the 

 name and fame of Audubon will live in the hearts of the generations 

 which follow. J. C. 



FLORA OF PERTHSHIRE. By Francis Buchanan W. White, 

 M.D., F.L.S., F.E.S. Edited, with an Introduction and Life of the 

 Author, a list of his Scientific Publications, and an Appendix, by 

 James W. H. Trail, A.M., M.D., F.R.S. (Printed for the Perth- 

 shire Society of Natural Science by William Blackwood and Sons, 

 Edinburgh.) 



Those interested in the Botany of Scotland were aware that the 

 late Dr. Buchanan White had for several years been engaged in the 

 preparation of a " Flora " of his native county, and have anticipated 

 the issue of the work by himself. Few know any district so varied 

 as Perthshire as he knew it, and the width of his interests in botanical 

 problems, and also in zoology, gave promise of a work of much 

 value. Much of the manuscript of the systematic section was drafted 

 into shape a good many years ago ; but Dr. White felt that addi- 

 tional information was required on many points before he could 

 regard it as ready for publication. Illness, leading to his death, put 

 a barrier to the further progress of his work. The Council of the 

 P.S.N.S. felt that it would be a misfortune if the result of Dr. White's 

 investigations were lost, especially as it was believed that the MS. 

 was virtually ready to be placed in the printer's hands. Arrange- 

 ments were made to have it printed, and the editor undertook to 



