212 NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. CHAP. xi. 



The notices on Natural History which appeared 

 from time to time in the local journal, had the effect of 

 directing general attention to the observation of 

 natural objects ; and numerous birds, fishes, in- 

 sects, caterpillars, shells, and plants, were sent to 

 Edward for examination. 



In one of his notes he mentions a Cinereous 

 Shearwater (Puffinus cinereus) found on the beach 

 near Portsoy. This led him to give a very vivid 

 account of the Stormy Petrel. Another of the speci- 

 mens sent to him was a Dyphalcanthus longispinus, 

 from the fossil diggings of Gamrie. " How strange !" 

 he says. "Here we have an animal, or perhaps I 

 should rather say a stone, part of which had once 

 been a creature enjoying life, but now how changed! 

 How long is it since it lived, died, and became thus 

 transformed ? Years ago, nay ages, many ages, long 

 anterior to the creation of man. How wonderful, and 

 yet how true ! " 



Of another specimen he says 



" Here, again, is a black, pink, yellow, and brown 

 creature, with crests and ornaments like a duchess 

 just, in fact, like a lady of the olden time, dressed 

 up and decorated for a ball, with her head stuck full 

 of feathers, her ribbons flying, and fan in hand ; in 

 other words, a caterpillar of the Vapourer Moth found 

 in a garden at Buckie. 



" And lastly, though not least, a specimen of the 

 Mountain Bladder fern (Cystopteris montana), found 



