﻿President's Address. 



3 



volume by volume. Indeed, in the case of some of the 

 publications, the few records they contain seem to me hardly 

 worth the trouble of so elaborate a search.^ Early records 

 in obscure groups are often of doubtful value ; still, it is 

 always a satisfaction to be aware of their existence. Besides 

 the published data, there are a number of unpublished lists 

 and odd records of my own included in the following survey. 

 I had hoped to see most of these in print before this time, 

 but for several reasons have found the realisation of that 

 hope impossible. An effort to secure their early publication 

 will, however, be made. 



Apart from the gain in knowledge of records, an intimate 

 acquaintance with the literature of this subject is well worth 

 cultivating. It helps us, for one thing, to appreciate the 

 work of others who have gleaned in the same field before us, 

 and to avoid over-estimating the value of our own. Much 

 of the earlier section of it has also the merit of being delight- 

 fully written, for many of the naturalists of last century 

 had the happy faculty of recording their observations in a 

 manner that gives a charm to their writings, without detract- 

 ing in the least from their scientific value. I refer, of course, 

 to such works as Dalyell's 'Powers of the Creator,' Torbes's 

 'Starfishes,' and Macgillivray's 'British Birds.' It does one 

 good to get into touch, as it were, with these and the many 

 other gifted naturalists of the past, whose names are associ- 

 ated with the study of the Fauna of " Forth," and have made 

 the district classic ground. Interest in the work is thereby 

 doubled, as I know from experience. Thus, besides the 

 interest in the event itself, the examination of a stranded 

 cetacean, for instance, never fails to remind me of the work 

 of Sibbald and Knox (I do not forget that of Sir "Wm. 

 Turner, who happily is still with us); similarly, a rare or 

 interesting bird carries my thoughts back to Macgillivray, 

 his correspondent Durham Weir, and Eobert Gray ; an un- 

 common fish, to Neill and Parnell ; a crustacean, to Harry 



^ For records since 1864 there is, of coiirse, the Zoological Record to help 

 US ; but, the investigation being a local one, it "svould be a mistake to 

 suppose that all we need to know is to be found there. A list of the publica- 

 tions consulted is not here printed, partly to save space, but mainly as being 

 unnecessary in view of the system of direct references, by way of footnotes, 

 given in the detailed portion of the paper. 



