NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 239 



Mr Robertson advocated, as a means of increasing our knowledge 

 of marine animals, the formation of branch societies in seaport 

 towns, where the labours of seafaring persons could be made 

 advantageous to science. By giving fishermen and others a personal 

 interest in their discoveries through membership, the results, he 

 argued, would tend to stimulate them to industry, and have a more 

 elevating effect than the mere reward of an occasional shilling, 

 besides securing for scientific purposes many valuable objects that 

 are too often thrown back into the sea as worthless. 



Professor Young exhibited an unusual dental malformation of 

 the common hare, on which he made some remarks. 



Mr Gray, the Secretary, exhibited a specimen of the Velvet Scoter 

 (Oidemia fusca), which had recently been shot on the Garelocli, 

 and made some remarks on the distribution of the species in 

 Scotland. Although a common bird on the eastern shores, it is 

 comparatively rare in the west. Its food consisted solely of shell- 

 fish, and for the most part these were bivalves. In the specimens 

 he had dissected he had found large quantities of a species of Donax 

 with a very thick shell, which, however, was generally broken into 

 small pieces. Mr Gray also drew the attention of the meeting to 

 a pair of handsome Goosanders {Mergus merganser) which had beeii 

 sent for exhibition along with the Scoter by Mr M'Culloch, taxider- 

 mist, Sauchiehall Street. These were both from Argyleshire. 

 Although the fact of the Goosander breeding in Scotland has 

 lately been called in question, sufficient evidence was laid before 

 the meeting to show that in the Outer Hebrides at least it had 

 been taken during the nesting season on several occasions. 



Mr John Young made some remarks upon a specimen of 

 Potcrioceras — a large chambered cephalopod shell belonging to the 

 Orthoceras group. This gigantic shell, which appears to be one of 

 the largest examples of the genus yet recorded, was found in the 

 carboniferous limestone at Dunswood, Cumbernauld, and presented 

 to the Hunterian Museum by Thomas Clement Waddell, Esq. 

 The specimen, imperfect at both ends, measures 2 1 inches in length 

 by 11 in breadth, but when perfect wowld measure 3 feet. It 

 possesses a large-beaded siphuncle, whicli measures 2| inches 

 in ib'ameter, and is composed of radiating plates. From the 

 broadly curved wave of the septa, and their distance from one 

 another, it is concluded that this large shell belongs to an unde- 

 scribed species. 



