During a visit to the Isle of Bute in the summer of 1920 I took the opportunity of collecting a number of the smaller Oligochæta on the shore at Ascog, and in a pond on the hill just above the village. An account of this collection is given in the present paper; I have also added notes on a few species I have met with since then near Edinburgh. For laboratory accommodation at Ascog I have to thank Prof. L. P. W. Renouf, at that time Superintendent of the Biological Station, who very kindly placed the resources of the institution at my disposal.

In the early spring of 1922 I was working with my friend Mr R. A. Staig at the rearing of larvæ and eggs of Stomoxys calcitrans in horse dung from a farm. Some of the manure had been left in the incubator (which was maintained at 24° C.) after all larvæ had been raised from it. On examining the surface of the material, which had been kept damp, it was found to be swarming with small Oligochætes and a rich culture of a testaceous Rhizopod (fig. 1). This latter is 35μ × 17μ in size, and appears to be identical with the organism figured by Leidy (10) as Trinema enchelys. It seems certain that Leidy had placed different species under this one name, and Cash and Waite (2) have placed in the species lineare those forms which differ from T. enchelys in being of smaller size and in having a test very thin and composed of ill-defined plates, which can hardly be seen in most of the specimens mounted in balsam. The present organism then can be placed in this species, Trinema lineare, Penard.

1. The investigation has been carried out on fresh and well preserved material obtained over a period of more than four years from a native of Cochin, now a graduate in medicine, who, while pursuing his medical studies in Edinburgh, had recurrences of Rhinosporidial polypi on his nasal septum (pp. 307, 308).

2. Rhinosporidium is a spherical or oval non-motile Protistan, usually lying between the connective tissue cells of the polypi, but occasionally found within a cell forming part of a cell-group cut off from the base of the epidermis or in a mononuclear, probably phagocytic, cell (pp. 309, 321).

During the last few years attention has been focussed somewhat sharply upon the Marine Algæ, partly on account of the recently investigated life-histories of some of the larger Phæophyceæ, and partly because of a recent suggestion that the Marine Algæ may represent the stock from which all higher land-plants have originated. Interest has naturally centred on the problem of the origin of an alternation of generations among the seaweeds, comparable to that which has become a characteristic feature in the life-histories of higher terrestrial plants.

Topography.—The extent of the area dealt with in this paper and the position in that area of the various igneous masses under consideration are indicated in the sketch-map (fig. 1). On both sides of the Firth of Forth the ground considered consists of low-lying, undulating, arable land intersected by numerous steep ridges. These ridges, which form conspicuous features in the landscape, indicate the outcrops of doleritic sills. They are often tree-clad, and frequently show lines of cliffs on one side. The ridge known as Mons Hill attains a height of 387 ft., which is the maximum for the district. Other conspicuous ridges occur at Craigie, Dundas, West Craigs, Lindsay's Craigs, and north of the Forth at Braefoot and Aberdour. Where the larger igneous masses reach the shore they tend to form rocky promontories, as, for instance, at Hound Point, Snab Point, and Braefoot. Rocky islets a short distance off shore may also be formed, a good example of which is seen at Hound Point.

Physiographic investigation was undertaken in the coastal belt of the Moray Firth between Golspie and Port Gordon in the hope that it would serve a double purpose. So far as was known no detailed morphological study of any large section of the British coasts had been made, and it appeared that such an investigation upon a varied coast-line would increase our knowledge of marine processes and the work they accomplish. Furthermore, since the area selected includes some of the finest and most complex examples of raised beach at several levels, it was possible by careful attention to heights, absolute and relative, to contribute evidence that may serve in future geological studies of a broader character. The exceptional wealth and variety of features of marine abrasion and deposit in these 250 miles of coast is due largely to the fact that they have been produced on a rising land margin, and so have been preserved.

The unique specimen on which this description is based is in the Geological Department of the Manchester University Museum (No. L. 8549). It is on a slab of dark grey flagstone measuring 26 × 21 cm. from the Hill of Forss, Waas, Caithness, the plant being spread out on the surface of the stone like a very complete herbarium specimen (Plate fig. 1). It was referred to and briefly described, but not named, in 1888 by Mr G. Edward, who discovered it, and from whom it passed with other Old Red Sandstone fossils into the Manchester collections. In his paper, Mr Edward called attention to “three of the largest and most perfect Old Red Fossil Plants that may be seen in any museum in the kingdom,” which he had found during his collecting expeditions extending over some thirty years. Two of the fossil plants he refers to can be identified in the Manchester University Museum. The one we are concerned with here is described as “a lovely bush-like plant with hundreds of ribbon or grass-like leaves that have pod, or pocket, or flower-like terminations.”

The original specimen of the stem with secondary wood, to which the name Palæopitys Milleri was given by M'Nab in 1870, was found by Hugh Miller in a nodule half disinterred by the sea near Cromarty; its age was shown by the remains of Coccosteus decipiens in other nodules of the deposit, and by scales of Diplacanthus in the nodule containing the wood.

The Barra Isles are so designated after the largest member of the group, Barra or Barray. According to some authorities Barray is named after St Barr, who has always been regarded by the natives as the tutelary saint of the island and to whom the principal church is dedicated. A more probable derivation is that from its geographical position, i.e. from “Ay” or “I” (an island), and “Barr” (a head or point).

Prince Charles Foreland is a long, narrow, mountainous island with a N.N.W. to S.S.E. extension, which lies parallel to the western mainland coast of Spitsbergen, but separated from it by the Foreland Sound, with an average width of ten miles. Its southern extremity lies on the same parallel of latitude as Mt. Alkhornet at the entrance to Ice Fiord, and its most northerly point on the same parallel of latitude as King's Bay. The island is thus about 54 miles long, and is on an average 5 miles wide, the maximum width of 6½ miles being attained near Pt. James Murray, and also south of Ferrier Haven. Its area is approximately 270 square miles (see map, fig. 1).