Professor Dims on Zoolorjy of Mid-Lochaher. 157 



summer I spent two months in the district. As tlie chief 

 object in view was to examine its surface geology, I liad 

 much wandering, and found my way, often with difficulty 

 and after trying toil, into many of its little-known quiet 

 nooks and places seldom visited. In these rambles the living 

 forms met with were carefully noted. The stagnant pools on 

 Corpach Moss, at the edge of which I lived, supplied lavish 

 material for the microscope, and abundant employment for 

 rainy days. Insect life was not forgotten, and jottings were 

 made regarding tlie fishes. I have not liad time to work 

 these into shape, but hope on another occasion to lay them 

 before the Society. The present paper embraces the mam- 

 mals, birds, and reptiles of Lochaber. I plead as excuse for 

 calling attention to a district almost at our doors the fact, on 

 the one hand, of the presence of some forms I had not ex- 

 pected to find, and, on the other, the meagre and unsatisfactory 

 character of the literature of its natural history. Besides, it 

 is of some interest to notice the co-relation between the variety 

 of its physical features and that of its animal forms. 



Mammalia.* 

 The common bat {Vespertilio pijpistrelliis)\ long-eared bat (?) 

 {PUcotus mtritus) ; the mole {Tal'pa euro'po&its), Ben Nevis ; 

 *badger {Meles taxus) ; *otter {Lutra vulgaris) ; common weasel 

 {Mustela vulgaris), Auchandall, Glen Nevis ; ermine {Mustela 

 erminea) ; *polecat {Mustela putorius) ; the *pine marten 

 {Maries abietum), Lord Abinger's deer forest; the *wild cat 

 {Felis catus), among the mountains ; the fox {Canis vulpes), 

 common ; the seal {Plwca vitulina), in Loch Linnhe ; the 

 *squirrel (?) {Sciurus vulgaris), Glen Spean (?) ; common 

 mouse {Mies musculus) ; brown rat {Mus decumanus) ; water 

 vole {Mus amjjJiihius), Glen Nevis, Dorney ; field vole 

 {Arvicola agrestis), Meall an t'Suidhe ; the common hare 

 {Lepios timidns) ; *alpine hare {Lcpus variabilis), among the 

 mountains ; the rabbit {Zepus cunicidus) ; red deer {Ccrvus 

 elaphus), Tomacharish; roe deer {Cervus caprcoliis), Inver- 

 lochy Castle grounds ; the ox {Bos taurus), variety, West 



* The forms whose occurrence I set down on the report of others are 

 marked with an asterisk (*). 



