The Scottish Naturalist. 10 1 



Highlands, embracing Forfar ; Kincardine ; South Aberdeen ; 

 and North Aberdeen. The objections to both of these methods 

 of division of the districts is that they are entirely artificial, while 

 in the case of the Watsonian sub -provinces other counties than 

 those in our district are included. A third plan remains which 

 has the merit of having natural boundaries to a large extent, and 

 is one that I sketched out in the Scottish Naturalist some years 

 ago, and which has since been adopted and used by several 

 naturalists. The objection to it is that the district of the Union 

 while including the whole of two natural areas, also includes part 

 of another. The natural areas entirely included in the district 

 are the catchment basins of the Tay and of the Dee, — the former 

 including all the country drained by the Tay and other rivers be- 

 tween Fifeness and Dunnotar ; and the latter the country drained 

 by the Dee and other rivers between Dunnotar and Pitsligo. At 

 first sight it may seem unnatural to associate the rivers of North 

 Forfarshire and South Kincardineshire with the Tay, but if we 

 could have seen the country during that distant period when there 

 was a considerable extension of the land to the eastward, we 

 would probably have found that these rivers were then all joined 

 to the Tay. In like manner the rivers of Aberdeenshire were 

 tributaries of the Dee. The natural area which is only partly 

 included in the Union is that drained by the Forth, and 

 includes South Fifeshire and Kinross, as well as part of Perth- 

 shire. 



So far as concerns the division of the district into faunistic areas, 

 it is to be regretted that circumstances have led to its extension 

 beyond the areas of Tay and Dee. (Our friends from Fifeshire 

 will please note that this is to be regretted merely on account of 

 the division of the district). But as it has been so extended it 

 seems to me desirable that the extension should be so far continued 

 as to include all the country draining into the north side of the 

 river Forth. After all this will add but a very small extent of country 

 to the district of the Union and will give us a compact natural 

 area, to which the name " North Forth " may be applied. It 

 must not be forgotten, however, that if natural areas are to be 

 adopted, the boundaries of Perthshire will require a little rectifica- 

 tion. A very small part of Perthshire drains into Loch Lomond, 

 and may well be abandoned to our friends in the west. On the 

 other hand, part of the catchment basin of the Tay is in Inverness- 



