Zoological Garden at Edinburgh. 327 



ing, plumage : of which circumstance Bewick does not appear 

 to have been aware. Should those observed by Mr. Berry 

 correspond with the former, it would go far to create a doubt 

 of their identity. Although I saw some hundreds of these 

 birds at the Orkney Islands (V. 416.), during the breeding 

 season, I could not discover a single bird without the black 

 gorget, which is so conspicuous at that season. — J. D. Sal- 

 mon. Thetford, Norfolk, Dec. 8. 1834. 



An Individual of the Bonito (Scomber Felamys Linn.) was 

 taken in the Frith of Clyde, in July, 1832. (VI. 529.) — In 

 Mr. Jenyns's recently published Manual of British Vertebrate 

 Animals, the following remark occurs, which requires some 

 explanation on my part. Speaking of the bonito, he observes, 

 " According to Stewart, it has been taken, though rarely, in 

 the Frith of Forth ; and, according to Dr. Scouler, in the 

 Frith of Clyde. In the two last instances, however, it is 

 doubtful whether the present species be intended, or the 

 Pelamys Sarda of Cuvier ; to which, also, the name of bonito 

 has been applied." (p. 364.) Now, in as far as I am con- 

 cerned [Mag. of Nat. Hist., VI. p. 529.], the occurrence of 

 the bonito in the Frith of Clyde is as authentic as any such 

 circumstance can well be. The fish was, assuredly, the Scom- 

 ber Pelamys, and not the Scomber Sarda ; and the specimen 

 is still preserved in the Andersonian Museum of Glasgow, 

 where an examination of it will remove all doubt on the ques- 

 tion. The specimen was purchased in the market, and was 

 in a perfectly fresh state; so that I could not be imposed 

 upon as to the place where it was captured. I may add, that, 

 having seen hundreds of bonitos in the tropical seas, it is im- 

 probable that I should commit any mistake in a matter so 

 simple. — John Scolder, M.D. Kildare Street, Dublin, March 

 10. 1836. 



Art. XIII. Instances of Mans Progress in the Extension of his 

 Knowledge of Natural History. 



A Proposal of a Zoological Garden at Edinburgh, dated. 

 March, 1836, has been published. It seems to be so com- 

 prehensive of the details which it is requisite to consider on 

 such a matter, that utility to others may result from this re- 

 publication of a portion of it. " To the Parisians we are 

 indebted for the idea of zoological gardens ; for it was at the 

 Jardin des Plantes, more than thirty years ago, that exotic 

 animals, instead of being all crammed into one menagerie, 

 were first distributed over a large space of ornamental ground, 



