go THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Murchison of Taradale Memorial. An important bequest 

 of great interest to all Scottish students and naturalists has been 

 made by the will of the late Miss A. F. Yule, daughter of the 

 late Sir Henry Yule. We learn from Nature (nth January 1917) 

 that the birthplace of Sir Roderick Murchison, the house and 

 grounds of Tarradale or Taradale in Ross and Cromarty, are left 

 in trust "to be preserved for ever to the use and enjoyment of 

 my countrymen under the style and title of the Murchison of 

 Taradale Memorial." The wish is expressed in the bequest that 

 the house, with its fine library of more than 20,000 volumes, 

 and all its other contents, should become "a place of rest and 

 refreshment for poor scholars or other students, preferentially, 

 but not exclusively, those no longer young," and preferably also 

 of Scottish birth or descent. This place of rest is to be kept 

 open all the year round, unless limitation of funds necessitates 

 closure for several months. The grounds surrounding Taradale 

 House, it is desired, are to form a sanctuary or reserve for the 

 preservation of the wild life of the Highlands, more especially 

 for wild birds, and the trustees may lend the house to one or 

 more of the Scottish universities for scientific research over a 

 limited period, exclusive of experiments on living animals. The 

 whole residue of the estate, apart from a few small legacies to 

 servants and others, is left to the trustees to form a maintenance 

 fund to carry out the objects of the trust. Funds in excess of 

 the scheme, if any, are to be used to establish " Murchison of 

 Taradale Memorial Bursaries" at any of the Scottish universities 

 or places of secondary education in Scotland or elsewhere, for 

 the assistance of young natives of Ross-shire of either sex of 

 any age between fourteen and twenty-four, preferably those able 

 to write and speak the Gaelic language. 



European Forms of the Cormorant. In Novitates 

 Zoologies (xxiii., pp. 293-295 and 318) Dr Hartert discusses the 

 forms of Phalacrocorax carbo, of which only one had hitherto 

 been accepted by the ornithologists of the present day. He finds 

 that there are evident differences in size and colour among adults, 

 and that it is easy to recognise two distinct forms which may 

 be separated as follows : 



1. Phalacrocorax carbo carbo (Linnaeus). Generally larger, with 

 larger bill, and underside deep blue-black. This form is a native 

 of the North Atlantic, from Nova Scotia to South Greenland, 

 Iceland, Faroes, British Isles, coasts of Norway, and east to the 

 Kola Peninsula. 



