of Edinburgh^ Session 1865-66. 
615 
2. On the Natural History of Lewis. By Professor Duns, 
D.D., F.RS.E. 
Comparatively little attention has .been given to the natural his- 
tory of Lewis. Stray notices of the geology, botany, and zoology 
of the Outer Hebrides are to be met with, but, witli^rone or two 
exceptions, these are not of much value. Martin’s “ Description 
of the Western Islands (1703),” is chiefly interesting for its full 
account of the industrial and moral condition of the people. Little, 
however, can be made of his incidental references to the natural 
history of the islands. Two volumes on the Economical History 
of the Hebrides,” by Kev. Dr Walker, Professor of Natural History 
in the University of Edinburgh, were published in 1808, after Dr 
Walker’s death. This work contains a good deal of information 
on indigenous plants, but almost none on zoology. Dr Macul- 
loch’s ‘‘ Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (3 vols., 
1819),” is in every way an abler and better work than either of the 
two now named. Its notices of the geology and mineralogy of the 
Outer Hebrides are even still valuable. The only other work call- 
ing for notice here is the late Mr James Wilson’s ‘Woyage Bound 
the Coast of Scotland and the Isles (2 vols. 1842).” Mr Wilson 
spent a short time at Stornoway, but the work contains only one 
brief reference to the zoology of the district. He names starlings, 
redbreasts, larks, thrushes, and sand-martens as the only land birds 
seen by him near that town. 
In addition to these works there are several separate papers on 
the natural history of the Long Island, which should be named. 
Two were published by the late Professor Macgillivray, in the 
second volume of the “Edinburgh Journal of Natural and Geo- 
graphical Science (1819),” and another by Mr John Macgillivray, 
on the “ Zoology of the Hebrides,” in the “ Annals of Natural His- 
tory (vol. viii. 1840).” These papers are chiefly devoted to the 
zoology of Harris, and are very imperfect. In the “ Transactions 
of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh (1841),” Dr Balfour pub- 
lished a very complete list of the plants of the “ Outer Hebrides 
and Skye.” Captain Thomas’s interesting paper on “ The Geologic 
Age of the Pagan Monuments of the Outer Hebrides {Proc. Royal 
Pliys. Soc. 1862),” contains valuable particulars as to the supposed 
4 L 
VOL. V. 
