GLEANINGS 191 



forms the frontispiece. A supplement, giving additional references 

 and localities, and a general index are inserted at the end. 



We desire to draw attention to the publication of the Report 

 on Scottish Ornithology in 191 i, including Migration, by 

 the Misses Baxter and Rintoul. The voluminous nature of the 

 information communicated has made it imperative that the Report 

 should be issued separately, and it forms the first of a series of 

 "Extra Publications" which we hope to issue in connection with 

 the Scottish Naturalist. The Report covers 80 pages, and deals, 

 under a variety of headings, with no less than 192 species. The 

 price is is. 6d. net. 



gleanings. 



Prof. M'Intosh publishes in the July number of the Ann. Mag, Nat, Hist. (8th 

 series, vol. x., pp. 1 17-130), No. xxxiii. of his '' Notes from the Gatty Marine 

 Laboratory, St Andrews." Half a dozen articles are included in this instalment, 

 the first of which refers to a white Porpoise recently observed and caught in St 

 Andrews Bay. It was found to be a young female of a dull yellowish white colour 

 all over ; the eye was normal as regards pigment and not like that of an albino. The 

 fifth article is on the British marine worms of the family Capitellidce (Halelminthidoe). 

 Only three species occur in Britain, but all these are found off the Scottish coast. 



On pp. 94-95 of the Glasgow Naturalist, published in May last (vol. iv., No. 3), 

 is given a list of Diptera and Birds observed during the excursion of the 

 Andersonian Naturalists' Society on 25th May 1911, to Loch Riddon. 



The Irish Naturalist for July contains (pp. 125-130) an interesting paper by 

 Prof. C. J. Patten on "Wrens on Migration observed at the Tuskar Rock and 

 Lighthouse." The article is mainly devoted to a criticism of R. M. Barrington's 

 hypothesis that " the Wren chooses the route between Antrim and the S.W. 

 of Scotland as the shortest passage from Ireland to Britain — a selection not 

 unnatural in the case of the shortest winged British Bird." This hypothesis was 

 founded upon the fact that of the four birds which struck the lanterns on the east 

 coast of Ireland, three were captured at the Maidens, Co. Antrim. Prof. Patten 

 regards this evidence as insufficient, and points out that the shortness of the 

 wing is not necessarily a factor limiting the bird's flight. The power of endurance, 

 he argues, is of much greater importance, and in this respect he considers the 

 Wren to be well endowed. 



Readers who are interested in the movements of birds may consult with advantage 

 a paper by John Paterson in the Glasgow Naturalist for May (vol. iv., No. 3, pp. 

 66-70), entitled "The Return of Summer-Birds to the 'Clyde' Area in 1912." 

 Notes are given on twenty-seven species. 



Prof. T. Hudson Beare, in the Entomologist's Record for June (pp. 138-145)' 

 concludes his useful " Retrospect of a Coleopterist for 191 1." This portion of 

 the paper is devoted to a review of the principal Articles and Notes published 

 during the year, as distinguished from the records of localities to which we 

 alluded in our June number. Naturally the present instalment deals principally 

 with questions of classification, synonymy, habits, life-histories, and the like. 



