144 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



A note by Robert W. S. Wilson, on " Bewick's Swan in Ayrshire," 

 appears in the Glasgow Naturalist for February (pp. 79-80). Three 

 examples were seen crossing Fairlie Roads on 26th December last. The 

 birds came from the south end of the Little Cumbrae, and were flying in 

 the teeth of a strong north-easterly breeze. 



In the May number of British Birds. Mr Tom Iredale informs us 

 that the correct name for the British race of the Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull is " Larus fuscus affinis, Reinhardt." Saunders, who was a leading 

 authority on the Laridae, regarded the Larus affinis of Reinhardt, after 

 an examination of the type specimen, as the representative of the Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull occurring from the Dwina eastwards to the Yenesei. 

 It seems strange, not to say inconceivable, that Saunders, a most criiical 

 and accurate observer, should have failed to have recognised in this type 

 specimen our familiar British bird. 



Richard Elmhirst records, in the Glasgow Naturalist for February 

 (pp. 66-67), the stranding of a specimen of the Basking Shark (Cetorhinus 

 maximus) on the Little Cumbrae. No date is given for the record. The 

 fish was a large female with tail cut off, the stranded portion measuring 

 about 20 feet in length. 



Norman H. Joy and J. R. le B. Tomlin record in the May number of 

 the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine (pp. 100-101) the occurrence of a 

 new species of Beetle at the top of Creag Dhu, Kingussie, Inverness- 

 shire. Four specimens were taken on 18th September 191 1, and these 

 are described under the name of Pliilonthus scolicus, sp. nov 

 [Coleoptera.] 



The number of species of Diptera known to occur in Britain is 

 increasing rapidly. In the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine for May 

 (pp. 104-106) we note the first instalment of a paper by J. E. Collin. 

 entitled "Thirty Additions to the List of British Diptera." Twelve of 

 these, all belonging to the Empidse, are included in this section of the 

 paper, and eight of them are recorded from Scottish localities. 

 [Diptera.] 



Two more Insect parasites are recorded from Shetland by James 

 Waterston, in the May number of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 

 (p 113). These are Echinophthirius phocce, Lucas, taken on a young, 

 Common Seal in N. Mavine on 20th December last, and Docophorus 

 megacephalus, Denny, taken on the Black Guillemot in several localities 

 during the last three years. [Anoplura and Mallophaga.] 



