1 he Scottish Naturalist. 9 1 



MEETINGS AND PROCEEDINGS OF SCOTTISH SCIENTIFIC 



SOCIETIES. 



MEETING OF NORTHERN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES AT BANFF. 



The meeting this year, the third that has now been held by the combined 1 

 societies of the North of Scotland, was held at Banff on the third and fourth 

 August ; and proved very successful, being much enjoyed by those able to be 

 present at it. There were present representatives from the following societies 

 and field clubs : — Aberdeen Natural History Society, Alford Field Club, Banff- 

 shire Field Club, Caithness Field Club of Deer, Edinburgh Geological Society, 

 Elgin Literary and Scientific Association, Huntly Field Club, Inverness 

 Scientific Society and Field Club, Gaelic Society and Literary Institute, Keith. 

 Field Club, Nairn Literary Association, and Ross-shire Philosophical Society. 



The meeting opened on Friday afternoon with a visit to the Banff Museum, 

 where the visitors were welcomed by the President of the Banffshire Field Clulv 

 after which they were shown the chief objects of interest in the museum. The 

 inspection occupied about half an hour, after which the company divided into. 

 two parties, of which one visited Duff House, while the other visited the chief 

 places in the town and the Castle. An evening meeting was held at 6. 30 p.m. 

 in the Academy Buildings, nnder the presidency of Mr. A. Ramsay, and was 

 well attended. A number of papers were read : some of them were on anti- 

 quarian studies in the North of Scotland, and therefore need not be referred to 

 more fully in this report. The following papers relate to subjects that fall 

 within the scope of this magazine : — 



1. " The Flora and Fauna of Keig" (in Aberdeenshire), by Rev. Thomas. 

 Bell. Mr. Bell finds in the parish 290 Phanerogams, 10 Ferns, 4 Lycopods, 2 

 Equiseta, and 91 Mosses. Of these none require special mention here. In 

 the Fuana he finds that 71 species of birds have been observed, and that of 

 these 49 are permanent residents, 18 are summer visitors, and 4 come in 

 winter. Of butterflies 15 species have been taken, and he has also taken a 

 considerable number of spiders, the rarest being Salticus scenicus and Epeirat 

 conica. He also remarked on the existence of Formica rufa in Castle Forbes 

 Woods, as being the furthest point east known to him where these ants occur 

 in the district ; the nests are to be found by scores, and are in some cases, 

 as much as 4 feet high, and 25 to 30 feet in circumference. 



2. — A paper was read on the " Nudibranchiate Mollusca " of the Moray- 

 Firth, by Dr. A. Sutherland, Invergordon. The author stated that the number 

 of species yet found in the Firth was 27, distributed into the following genera, 

 — Doris (6), Goniodoris (1), Polycera (3), T?itonia{2), Doto {2),Dcndronotus (1),. 

 Eolis (11), Eimapontia{i). Arranging them by theirjdistribution in depth, 21 

 are found in the littoro-laminarian zone, 15 in the coraline zone, and 3 \vu 

 the deeper zones. Collectively they have a northern aspect. 



3. — Mr. W. Docherty read an interesting paper on " Caithness as a field for 

 scientific study ;" and called attention to its special advantages for the study 

 of botany, of zoology, and of antiquarian research. 



4. — "The Flora of Banff " was the subject of a communication by Rev. W. S.. 

 Bruce, in which he acknowledged the assistance that he had received from Mr*. 

 T. Edwards and from a manuscript of the late Dr. Todd of Alvah. The lis. 



