100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



some parts of the dorsal surface soon after being taken out of the 

 water and exposed to the air, which does not take place, so far 

 as I have noticed, "wdth E . pennatifidum, which may, in most cases, 

 be distinguished from A.roseus the momefnt it is taken from the 

 dredge l^y its darker colour. 



Mr Alexander M'Kinlay exhibited the following mosses: — 

 Atriclmm angustatum,, with fruit, not before observed in Britain, 

 from Doune, in Perthshire, where it is not uncommon; and where 

 he had first observed it in April last; CincUclium stygkim, an 

 interesting species, from Ben Ledi, its first occurrence in Scotland ; 

 Dicranuvipcdustre, with fruit ; and also from near Doune; Campylojms 

 brevipilus, from the Islands of Bressay and Unst, in Shetland. 

 Regarding the last named Mr M'Kinlay observed that Perthshire 

 liitherto had been considered the most northern limit in Europe 

 for the species, and that its occurrence in the northern extremity 

 of Shetland Avas a fact of much interest, proving its wide distribu- 

 tion in the British Islands. Mr M'Kinlay also laid on the table 

 several scarce and interesting flowering plants from the same 

 localities, whence he had procured them last summer, during a 

 tour through Shetland in company with his friend Mr John Shaw 

 — an excursion which had resulted in the accumulation of many 

 important botanical observations. 



PAPERS READ. 



I. — Observations in various branches of Natural History during the 

 past Summer. By Mr Robert Gray. 



The author referred to the occurrence of the shoveler duck (Anas 

 clypeata) near Girvan, and the nesting habits of the common cross- 

 bill in Ayrshire. He likewise exhibited, in illustration of his 

 paper, an extensive variety of Pwpura laptilhos, collected in various 

 2)arts of Scotland, and gave an account of the habits of the species, 

 mode of preying on other molluscs, etc., as observed by himself. 

 Among the specimens on the table were a number of beautiful 

 striped and coloured varities from the Bay of Luce, and some 

 curious black and wide-mouthed varieties from a mussel bed in 

 Fifeshire. Mr Gray had also obtained some very large examples of 

 the shell from the claybeds at Langbank, contrasted with which 

 those he had procured from Caithness were but pigmies, although 

 representing the true characters of the species as they now exist 

 in the northern districts of Scotland. In further illustration of 



