A Catalogue of the•Tertebrate - Fauna - of Dumfriesshire. By Hugh 8. Gladstone,
M.A., FRS:E., )31.Z.B-:, REB.O.U. (Dunifries-:- S. Maxwell and, flon.)!---The, Scotch county -whose- fauna forms the subject of this slender butneatly printed volkime- bounded on the south.hythe. Solway. Firth. To -thie it ewes' the-presence of numerous marine snits:de and, possibly; some straggling, birds: The-bulk of the book.is an. epitome, of 'Mr; Gladstone's "Birds.' of Dumfriesshire." It is a. catalogue, with. a_ few. lines devoted- to the distribution, of the species. Extinct. 'forma among the mammals are shown in special type, and doubtful, entries are in brackets, Besides the birds,: the remainder of the vertebrates (mammals, reptiles, amphibians,, and. fishes). are . included in the work.: Among the birds Mr. Gladstone! acknowledges ..sub,epeciea by trinoniiala. 'Many of these -forms have been 'described, by Dr. 'Harterrt. When .11-r. Gladstone claims that, as regards nomenclature, he has adopted. the latest. system, he is mistaken.
Hartert and his followers would re,„ourd him as behind the times. But the value of his eatalogue innot thereby seriously
impaired. The so-called ". Dumfriesshire snake," described in 1804 as a new species, is, we learns regarded by Mr. Boulenger as a snake from the United States. It had probably escaped from captivity. On p.69 there seems to be some confusion. The lemon sole, usually so called, is not the sand sole (S. la,scaris) but a species of plaice which is here referred to as the "smear dab." On p. 66, by a slip, the coal-fish is separated from the pollack, which it should follow. There is a map showing parishes at the end of the volume.
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