r 9 8 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



the curious rectal gills of Libellulid Nymphs settles the 

 question of the development of those extraordinary organs. 

 The gill-plates are transferred with little modification of 

 the adult body, when they are eliminated or degenerate 

 gradually. 1 



The study of the " lesser fleas " proceeds apace. No 

 fewer than thirteen different species of protozoa have been 

 identified by Doris L. Mackinnon from the food canal of the 

 larvae (" leather-jackets ") of Scottish Crane-Flies, and in a 

 recent paper the authoress draws attention to a new species 

 of Amoeba, Loschia hartmanni, discovered in this limited 

 field. 2 



BIRD NOTES FROM THE ISLE OF MAY- 

 SPRING 1914. 



By Leonora Jeffrey Rintoul, F.Z.S., H.M.B.O.U., and Evelyn 

 V. Baxter, F.Z.S., H.M.B.O.U. 



By the kindness of the Commissioners of Northern Lights we 

 were enabled to return to the Isle of May this spring, and 

 were on the island from the 8th to the 25th May. During 

 this time the lower wind-current was, almost without excep- 

 tion either northerly or westerly, and the upper current as far 

 as we could see was persistently off the north, which weather 

 conditions proved unfavourable to the arrival of any large 

 number of birds, and also militated against the appearance of 

 uncommon visitors. In spite of this a fair amount of migra- 

 tion was observed, and although our list of species only 

 totalled sixty-four, it contained several interesting items. 



1 Berlin, Entomolog. Zeits., vol. Iviii. (1914). 



- Archiv f. Protiste?ikunde, vol. xxxii., 1914, 267. 





