natural history .society of glasgow. 251 



March 31st, 1874. 



Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. 

 Mr James Duncan was elected an ordinary member. 



specimens exhibited. 



Mr James Thomson, Kelvingrove Museum, exhibited an albino 

 variety of the Water Vole (ArviCola amphihms). He also placed 

 on the table specimens of the brown and black varieties. 



Mr James Lumsden remarked that albinos of this species are 

 not uncommon ; but the one exhibited was of considerable interest, 

 from the albino condition being only partially developed. Mac- 

 gillivray mentions having seen one with yellowish-white hair and 

 pink eyes ; but the specimen before us was unfortunately so much 

 damaged about the head when received, that the colour of the 

 eyes could not be noted. The black variety, which was first 

 described in the " Transactions of the Wernerian Society," Vol. vi., 

 is much more frequently met with in many parts of Scotland 

 than the brown one, and is also to be obtained in certain 

 districts of England ; but there it is somewhat local in its 

 distribution. 



Mr George E. Paterson exhibited a large series of the Sparrow 

 Hawk {Accii:)iter nisus), illustrating some of the differences of 

 plumage, which are very great in this species. Amongst those 

 shown there was a female, which when in the fiesh measured 

 19 inches in length, the usual measurement of these birds being 

 about 16 inches. 



Mr Paterson also exhibited two examples of the Hen Harrier 

 (Circus cyaneus), one an old female, and the other a young male, 

 from Sutherland; also, two of Montagu's Harrier {Circus cineraceus) 

 from Normandy, France, upon which the Chairman and Mr 

 W. C. Angus made some remarks. 



Mr Peter Cameron, jun., exhibited and described a small 

 collection of saw-flies, including Lycla hetulae, L. JiavicejJS, L. eryth- 

 rocepluda, Poecilostoma jmlveratum, and Emphytus perla. 



Mr James B. Murdoch submitted a list of plants exhibited 

 before the Helensburgh Horticultural Society in January last, and 

 kindly forwarded by the Secretary of that Society, Mr George 

 Galloway. The plants all had been grown in the open air, in 

 Helensburgh and neighbourhood, and the extraordinary number of 



