PREFACE. xix 



instances, as it is almost impossible, without a knowledge 

 of Gaelic, to connect a name in that language with its 

 ordinary phonetic rendering. Our method, however, has 

 the merit of uniformity, and no doubt the names there 

 used are the best available. It is indeed high time 

 that the new Committee and its referees should place 

 these Gaelic names upon a better and a more uniform 

 basis. 



In our treatment of the species in our Faunal Lists 

 we have given occasional notes of altitudinal dispersal, 

 but a good deal remains for more careful work in this 

 part of our subject. And such is of importance too, 

 because altitudinal dispersal in this country gives tem- 

 peratures and surrounding circumstances which find 

 their equivalents at higher latitudes in Europe. 



We have endeavoured from within our own narrow 

 horizons in this, as in previous volumes of the series, 

 to indicate the importance of natural areas and bound- 

 aries as determining to a large extent the faunal values. 

 We have not, we hope, gone too far outside our own 

 spheres, nor attempted too much, nor tried to speak 

 learnedly of Botany or Geology, except where facts 

 appear to be self-evident. We have referred to the great 

 depression of the Caledonian Glen, and the more elevated 



