395 



the voyage. Some have neglected them all, and thereby brought the method 

 in an undeserved miscredit. 



If you should desire any other communications which are in my power to 

 procure you, I shall miiko them with great pleasure. I am, Sir, with the 

 greatest respect, your obedient and humble Servant, 



CHR. HANSTEEN. 

 To Professor Forbes. 



2. Notice of the occurrence in Scotland of the Tetrao medius, 

 shewing that supposed species to be a hybrid. By James 

 Wilson, Esq. 

 There exists in several northern continental countries a peculiar 

 kind of grouse, called by foreign naturalists Tetrao medius, on ac- 

 count of its exhibiting, as it were, a combination of the characters 

 of the wood-grouse or capercailzie on the one hand, and of the 

 black-cock on the other. It is never found except in countries in- 

 habited by the two species last named ; and as it presents a union 

 of their characters, several naturalists have inferred that it is not 

 itself a distinct kind, but a hybrid, resulting from the casual inter- 

 course of the other two. But most naturalists have maintained that 

 it is a distinct species, chiefly upon the principle, that, in the wild 

 Btate, birds of different species do not intermingle sexually with each 

 oth«r. Mr Wilson, however, having discovered that, in certain dis- 

 tr^fets of Scotland into which Lord Breadalbane has lately intro- 

 duced the capercailzie, and in which the black-cock previously ex- 

 isted in abundance, this so-called intermediate grouse has also now 

 made its appearance, he draws the conclusion, that it is not a dis- 

 tinct species, but a hybrid or mule. " It had not been previously 

 known in Scotland, at least in our times, — it has not been introduced 

 by any one from abroad, — and yet here we now find it in the very 

 districts inhabited by the other two." Mr Wilson exhibited a speci- 

 men recently killed on the estate of Dunira, and shewed its entire 

 agreement with the foreign T. medius, by comparing it with a 

 specimen from Norway. 



3. On the Coloration of the Blood. By the late Daniel Ellis, 



Esq., F.R.S.E. Communicated by Dr Christison. 



[jVo«e. — During the latter part of his life, Mr Ellis had been 



engaged in drawing up a statement of his views with regard 



to the function of respiration in animals generally; and having, 



for some years previous to his death, had it in contemplation 



