■34 
iound at the present time on Kinnonll Hill, and that 
a pair bred there three years ago, so that this bird is 
not quite extinct in the district. It was also stated 
that a Kough-legged Buzzard was shot about three or 
four years ago at Amulree. 
The folowing paper was read by Mr M‘Farlane on 
THE MOLLUSCA OE THE PONDS OF THE DISTRICT :— 
I need not make an excuse for bringing such a sub¬ 
ject before you, banded together, as we are, to study 
tbe natural history of the county in all its branches. 
Of course, the absorbing question with ‘ ‘ outsiders ” 
would be, What is their value ? but, unfortunately 
for them, none of the pond-mollusks are of any 
mercantile value—like those found in our rivers and 
sea-coast—such as the mussel, oyster, and whelk ; 
yet, indirectly, they are of importance to man, for 
many of the fishes and fowls, which are of much 
value, feed upon them. But that is not the point of 
view from which we are to look at the subject, for 
we are rather to consider them as a link in the great 
chain-work of nature, and show how they are, by 
their wonderful mechanism, adapted to their habits 
and modes of life. I regret much that I know almost 
nothing of their structure, or by what means such 
soft animals can pierce hard substances, or how some 
of them, with such large shells, can bury themselves 
deep in the earth, and a host of other interesting 
points. I am sorry I will be able to do no more than 
enumerate the different species, and give their 
habitats. 
The British Freshwater Mollusca, are divided into 
two classes, ConcMfera or Bivalves, and Gasteropoda 
or Univalves. The Bivalve class contains only one 
British order, LamellibrancMata, so named from the 
leaf -like form of their gills. This order contains three 
families, the first of which according to Jeffreys, is the 
Sphceridoef containing two genera— Si^h^rium and 
Pisidium. Of the genus SplKEvium, we have only one 
species in the district, the Splicermm corneum or horn- 
coloured Sphceriwn. It is found in the pond at the 
top of the North Inch, and in several other localities 
in the county, and is common throughout Britain. 
