ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 121 



1905. It has been identified by Prof. Hudson-Beare, and appears 

 to be the first record for Scotland. — William Evans, Edinburgh. 



Bethylus eephalotes, Forst., in Scotland (Forth Area). — Among 

 some Oxyura (Proctotrypidae) determined for me by the late Mr. 

 A. J. Chitty there is a specimen of this species taken on Blackford 

 Hill, Edinburgh, 6th May 1900. The name does not occur in Mr. 

 P. Cameron's list of Scottish Proctotrypids published in the 

 ''Annals" for last year. — William Evans, Edinburgh. 



BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. 



OBITUARY NOTICES. 



Rev. John Fergusson, M.A., LL.D. — Born in 1834 in Glen 

 Shee, Perthshire, he spent the greater part of his life in the neighbour- 

 ing county of Forfar. A student of the University of St. Andrews, 

 he became a clergyman in the Church of Scotland, and lived for 

 some time in Glen Prosen, a quoad sacra parish in N.W. Forfarshire. 

 In 1869 he went to the church of New Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire; 

 and in 1875 he returned to Forfarshire, to Fearn or Fern, a parisli a 

 few miles from Brechin, in the basin of the South Esk. He died in 

 Edinburgh on 6th August 1907. Mosses formed the chief objects 

 of his interest and for several years he was a keen and successful 

 student of the British species. In 1869 appeared a paper on the 

 Mosses of Forfarshire ("Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh," vol. x. p. 245.) 

 in which many additions are made to the list for Forfarshire, several 

 of them being new to Britain. To the " Scottish Naturalist," from 

 1873 to 1879, he contributed several papers from New Pitsligo and 

 Fearn, chiefly on Mosses, but also on Fungi, and a more general 

 one on the plants observed in a brief visit to Glen Shee. Other 

 notes by him appeared in "Science Gossip "and elsewhere. He 

 intended at one time to produce a work on British Mosses, but 

 appears to have relinquished the idea. The late Dr. John Roy and 

 he arranged to issue a Flora of the counties from Banff to Forfar 

 inclusive. Dr. Roy's share of the manuscript was forwarded for 

 revisal by his collaborateur, but remained in his hands. For the 

 last twenty years Dr. Fergusson appeared to have lost interest in 

 botanical studies. ., 



Thomas Barker, M.A., Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, of 

 Owens College, Manchester. A native of Old Aberdeen, Professor 

 Barker graduated in 1857 as M.A. in King's College and University 

 there, having taken a distinguished place as a student, especially in 

 mathematics. Going to Cambridge, he was Senior Wrangler in 



