290 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



twenty years ago, where he says it is got in one or two places 

 abundantly, but locally ; and that it seems to maintain its hold 

 there, neither spreading nor diminishing. 



PAPER READ. 



Notes on Hymenoptera observed in Inverness-shire. By 

 Mr Peter Cameron, jun. 



In Scotland the study of the Hymenoptera has been so much 

 neglected that our knowledge of the distribution of the species 

 inhabiting the country is very limited. There are, indeed, some 

 notices scattered throughout the works of Smith and Stephens, as 

 well as in the various magazines ; but unfortunately in most 

 cases the writers do not give the particular localities for the species 

 they mention, so that such records are of no "use for local faunistic 

 purposes ; while any districts that are specially mentioned are 

 mainly situated south of Perthshire, the districts north of that 

 being totally unworked. This is the more to be regretted, as it 

 is precisely in the north of Scotland where most novelties are 

 likely to occur; indeed, there seems no reason why the great 

 majority of the boreal and alpine species of Scandinavia should 

 not be met with there ; and no doubt they will eventually be 

 found, if they are only sought after. 



The following small contribution to the Hymenopterous fauna 

 of the north of Scotland is principally of interest as recording 

 the occurrence of insects in districts hitherto unworked, as well 

 as some species not previously mentioned as natives of Scot- 

 land ; and the list of species may be at some time or other of 

 use in furnishing materials for illustrating that highly interesting 

 subject, the distribution of species — a branch of Natural History 

 that is now attracting the attention which it undoubtedly 

 deserves. 



The districts that I explored were Strath Glass and Strath 

 Affaric, Glen Urquhart, Glen Moriston, and Kintail, and also 

 Glenelg ; but as I have in another place (Scot. Nat., April, 1873) 

 given a list of the species found in the latter locality, I shall not 

 mention it here. All the first-mentioned places are well wooded, 

 especially Straths Glass and Affaric, where the hills are covered 

 to their summits with birch, intermixed with pines, a covering 

 which, with the varied outlines of the mountains, forms a scene 

 indescribably charming. From the end of Glen Moriston to 



