The Scottish Naturalist. 235 



NEW BOOKS. 



The Capercaillie in Scotland. By J. A. Havvie-Brown, F,Z. S. Edin- 

 burgh: D. Douglas, 1879. 8vo, pp. ix, and 155. Map and two Plates. 



In this well-printed and got-up book Mr Harvie-Brown has brought to- 

 gether a host of information about the largest of our Scottish game birds. 

 Commencing with a discussion of the origin and orthography of the word 

 "capercaillie," the author proceeds to give in detail all that is known of the 

 history of the bird in Scotland prior to its extinction in or about 1760 ; its 

 reintroduction at Taymouth in 1837-38, and its subsequent spread over part 

 of the country. The details of the extension of the capercaillie's range is 

 treated m great detail, and is well shown in the illustrative map. It is 

 worthy of notice that in almost every instance where the bird has of itself 

 founded a new colony, that the first arrivals noticed were females, wlio 

 generally precede the males by one or two years, the colonies being estab- 

 lished in from two to four years after the appearance of the hen birds. From 

 this prior arrival of the females, it happens that in districts where black-game 

 are common, hybrids between the black-cock and female capercaillie are not 

 unfrequent, as might be anticipated from the great resemblance between the 

 hen capercaillie and grey hen. Finally, Mr Harvie-Brown brings his very 

 interesting work- to a conclusion by a consideration of the damage done to 

 pine-forests by the capercaillie, and shows that while undoubtedly damage is 

 done, yet that there is great lack of information as to the summer food of the 

 bird in Scotland. 



Mycologia Scotica : the Fungi of Scotland, and their Geographical Dis- 

 tribution. By the Rev. J. Stevenson. Edinburgh : printed for the Crypto- 

 gamic Society of Scotland. 1879. 8vo, pp. xx. and 443. With Map. 



Of late years the fungi have received a greater amount of attention than 

 had hitherto been bestowed on them. One result of this attention was the 

 foundation of the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland, to various meetings of 

 which the contents of this very creditable volume were pi-esented in the form 

 of reports. For the purpose of indicating the distribution of the species in 

 Scotland, the natural divisions by river-basins, as first set forth in the ' Tn- 

 secta Scotica,' have been adopted by the author, and, in addition, informa- 

 tion is given regarding the British and exotic distribution, &c,, of each 

 species. Every Scottish species added to the British list since the publica- 

 tion of Dr M. C. Cooke's Handbook has a description appended, and this 

 adds very greatly to the value of the work. No less than upwards of 2150 

 species are enumerated as Scottish by Mr Stevenson ; but some polymorphic 

 species are mentioned twice, and others — whose claims are equally great — 

 only once, so that it is difficult to form an estimate of what the actual num- 

 ber of known Scottish fungi is. We notice, also, that in the case of some of 

 the parasitic fungi, the host-plant is not always correctly given. This, and a 

 few typographical errors, are the chief faults of a work which marks an era in 

 Scottish mycology. We must not omit to notice that there is a good index 

 to the book, which enhances its value as a work of reference. 



