BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 123 



Greenland Shark in the Moray Firth. On the 5th of February 

 1902 a Greenland Shark (Ltzmargus microcephalns\ 10 feet long, 

 was stranded near Burghead, and hooked and pulled ashore by Mr. 

 Anderson, of that place. It was taken to the Elgin tamvorks to be 

 skinned. I saw it there and identified it : its teeth, narrow gill 

 openings, and small pointed dorsal fins being unmistakable. Its 

 last meal had been part of a porpoise or whale, as several pounds of 

 undigested flesh like dark-coloured beef, taken from its stomach, 

 indicated. As I know of no record of this species from the Moray 

 Firth during the past ten years, I thought the occurrence might be 

 worthy of a note in the " Annals."- WM. TAYLOR, Lhanbryde. 



Helix hortensis and Vertigo pygmsea in West Lothian. Last 

 July I found Helix hortensis fairly common in the valley of the 

 Avon, from Linlithgow Bridge downwards. In one locality I 

 counted twenty-seven broken adult specimens that had apparently 

 been devoured by thrushes. Mr. Wm. Evans had previously found 

 a single example of this shell at Philpstoun in June 1900. 



Of Vertigo pygnuza I discovered a colony on some rough ground 

 near Northbank Farm, Bo'ness, on i3th May 1901. I also took an 

 adult specimen of this shell in a wall at Jinkaboot Mill on 6th June. 

 -ROBERT GODFREY, Edinburgh. 



BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. 



Three Galls on the Ash (Fraxinus excelsior}. I have found 

 three forms of galls on this tree in the valley of the Dee that were 

 not included among the forms described by me in former years. 



(a) A twig remains short with the leaves crowded together, 

 rather stunted, with pinnae incurved, so as to form a roundish mass 

 three or more inches in diameter. Wingless females and larvae were 

 present in the only two examples of this gall met with by me, at 

 Murtle, a few miles from Aberdeen, early in June. They appeared 

 to belong to the genus Pemphigus. The gall agrees with the de- 

 scription of the work of P, nidificus, F. Low (? P. fraxinifolii, C. 

 Thomas). 



(b) A leaflet shows itself curled backwards in great part of its 

 extent, and irregularly swollen and thickened, pale or veined with 

 dull purple. In the space below the distorted leaflet lives a small 

 tree-hopper Psyllopsis Fraxini. This deformity is very common 

 in most parts of the country. 



(c) The inflorescences are changed into irregular masses like 

 small cauliflowers, the flower-stalks becoming swollen, and the flowers 

 aborting. The whole mass of such an inflorescence may be from 

 one to two or more inches in diameter. At first soft, it ultimately 



