A FORGOTTEN PAGE OF ANTIQUARIAN LORE 31 



I should not be astonished to hear of the discovery of Mecostethus 

 grossus in some of our Highland marshes, especially in the west, 

 seeing it inhabits Ireland ; but it can hardly be admitted to the 

 Scottish list on the strength of the above records alone. Locusta 

 viridissima (a large insect with long slender antennae) and Meconema 

 varium (got on trees), though both fairly common in the south of 

 England, seem to have long ago disappeared from Scotland, if, 

 indeed, they ever inhabited it. The two most doubtful cases, how- 

 ever, are (Edipoda candescent and Psophus stridulus conspicuous 

 insects with blue and black, and red and black wings respectively. 

 The former is common in France and the Channel Islands, where 

 I have myself taken it ; and the latter, which I have taken plentifully 

 at Chamounix, is an inhabitant of the mountainous regions of Central 

 and Northern Europe ; but neither is known to have occurred in 

 Britain, except perhaps as a very rare casual importation. Curiously 

 enough, both are indicated as British in C. Stewart's "Elements of 

 Natural History," first published, I believe, in iSoi ; and it is quite 

 possible that Don, who was well known in Edinburgh, was the 

 author's authority on this point. 



My best thanks are due to Mr. Malcolm Burr, F.Z.S., 

 the well-known orthopterist, who has kindly examined a set 

 of my Scottish specimens, thus enabling me to make sure of 

 my identifications an all-important point. 



A FORGOTTEN PAGE OF ANTIQUARIAN LORE. 



By A. MACDONALD, M.A. 



THE man in the field is familiar with the fact that a few 

 trees left standing alone in the farmer's lands usually indicate 

 the spot where one of the numerous small holdings of former 

 days had its centre and housing. After the last wall has 

 been improved away, and when not a stone is left upon 

 another, there frequently remains a mountain-ash or two, 

 a common ash, a lilac, or a beech, to attest that near this 

 spot there resided and wrought for the natural term of their 

 lives several generations of horny-handed tillers of the soil. 



Whether arising from a lost superstition, or from a deep- 

 seated feeling of respect towards the past, there is usually 

 enough of veneration in the heart of the present occupier 

 to refrain from the removal of these ancient landmarks, 



