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THE  IRISH  NATURALIST 


J<    5llont^lY    'Uouritttl 

OF 

GENERAL     IRISH     NATURAL     HISTORY 

ORGAN    OF    THE 

Royal  Zoological  Society  of   Ireland;     Dublin  Microscopical  Club; 
Belfast     Naturalists'      Field     Club  ;       Dublin     Naturalists'     Field     Club  ; 

Cork   Naturalists'    Field  Club 


EDITED     BY 

GEORGE   H.   CARPENTER,   D.Sc   M.R.I.A. 

AND 

R.   LLOYD  PRAEGER,   B.A..   B.E..   M.R.I.A. 


VOL.    XXVII. 


DUBLIN:    EASON    &    SON,   LIMITED 

42  GREAT  BRUNSWICK  STREET 
BELFAST-     17   DONEGALL   STREET 
LONDON  :    SIMPKIN.  MARSHALL.  HAMILTON.  KENT  &  CO..  LTD 

1918. 


CONTRIBUTORS 

TO    THE    PRESENT    VOLUME. 


Abbott,  Wm.,   Fermoy. 

Baring,  Hon.  Cecil,   London. 

Benson,  Rev.  Canon  C.  W.,  ll.d.,  Balbriggan. 

Beveridge,  Fred.  S.,  Barracks,  MuUingar. 

Bigger,   F.   J.,  Ardrie,  Belfast. 

BoLAM,  George,  Alston,  Cumberland. 

Brade-Birks,   Hilda  K.,  m.sc,  m.b.,   Darwcn,   Lanes. 

Brade-Birks,  Rev.  S.  Graham,  m.sc,  Darwen,  Lanes. 

Brunker,   J.   P.,   Rathgar,   Dublin. 

Bullock- Webster,  Rev.  Canon  G.  R.,  London. 

BuRKiTT,   J.   P.,   C.E.,   Enniskillen. 

Burrows,  Rev.  C.  R.  N.,  Stanford-le-Hope,  Essex. 

Carpenter,  Prof.  G.  H,,  d.sc,  Roj^al  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 

Clarke,  W.  Eagle,  ll.d.,  Royal  Scottish  Museum,  Edinburgh. 

Cole,  Prof.  G.  A.  J.,  f.r.s..  Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 

CoLGAN,  N.,  Sandycove,  Co.  Dublin. 

Collinge,  Walter  E.,  d.sc,  f.l.s..  University,  St.  Andrews. 

Flemyng,   Rev.  Canon  W.   W.,  m.a.,  Coolfin,   Portlaw. 

Foster,   X.    H.,   f.l.s.,   Hillsborough. 

Greer,  Thomas,  Curglasson,   Stewartstown. 

Gunn,   W.   F.,   J.P.,   Dawson  Street,   Dublin. 

Gurney,   J.    H.,    Keswick  Hall,   Norfolk. 

Halbert,   J.   N.,   National  Museum,   Dublin. 

Hart,   W.   E.,    Kilderry,   Londonderry. 

Hinch,   J.   de  W.,   National  Library,   Dublin. 

Holland,  M.,   Cork. 

Huggins,  H.  C,  Syndale  House,  Sittingbourne. 

Jackson,   J.  Wilfred,  Manchester  Museum. 

Johnson,   Rev.  W.   F.,  m.a.,   Poyntzpass. 

Keane,  T.  W.  L.,  Ardmore,   Co.   Waterford. 

Kerr,   Helen  M.   Rait,   Fiathmoyle,   Edenderry. 

^Iegaw,   Rev.   R.  W.,   Ahoghill. 

Moffat,  C.   B.,  b.a..   Bally hyland,   Enniscorthy. 

Patten,  Prof.  C.   J.,  m.d..   University,  Sheffield. 

Pethybridge,  G.   H.,  PH.D.,   Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 

Phillips,  R.  A.,  Ashburton,   Cork. 

Praeger,   R.   Lloyd,  National  Library,  Dublin. 

Rathborne,  H.  B.,  Dreenan,   Co.   Fermanagh. 

RuTTLEDGE,   RoBERT  F.,  Bloomficld,  Hollymouiit. 

RuTTLEDGE,  WiLLiAM,   Bloomfield,   Hollymount. 

Scharff,   R.  F.,  PH.D.,  National  Museum,  Dublin. 

Scully,  R.  W.,  Rockfield,  Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin. 

Stelfox,  a.  W.,   Bally magee,  Bangor,  Co.  Down. 

Stendall,   J.  A.  Sidney,  Municipal  Museum,  Belfast. 

Wear,  Sylvanus,  Belfast. 

Wilson,  J.  ]\1ackay,  Currygrane,  Co.  Longford. 

Workman,  W.  H.,  Windsor,  Belfast. 


PLATES   AND    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Edward  Hull    .... 

W.  F.  de  V.   Kane 

Map  illustrating  Woodcock  migration 

Pisidium  hibernicum,   &c, 

Pisidium  medianum  and  P.   hibernicum 

Sketch-map  of  Caha  Lakes 


To  face  page  17 
page  97 
Page  92 

To  face  page  33 

page  37 

Page  121 


h 


INDEX . 


Abbott,  W.  M.  :  Jays  feeding  on 
wheat,  131  ;  Scarcity  of  the  Field- 
fare and  Redwing,  79. 

Alien  plants  of  Co,    Dublin,   86. 

Aliens  :  some  Cork  Aliens,  63. 

Arenaria  ciliata,   95. 

Argynnis  aglaiain  N.  \V.  Wexford,  172. 

Baring,  Cecil  :  Lepidoptera  of  Lam- 
bay,  65. 

Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  :  30, 
50,  68,   74,  90,   no,   159. 

Benson,  C.  W.  :  Bird  Notes  from 
Balbriggan,  173;  Stray  Bird  Notes, 
Autumn,    1917,    14. 

Beveridge,  Fred.  S.  :  Green  Sandpiper 
in  Co.  Westmeath,  112. 

Bigger,  F.  J.  :    Pigeons  in  Belfast,  65. 

Birds  :  Bird-life  at  Currygrane,  Co. 
Longford,  in  ;  Bird  Notes  from 
Balbriggan,  173  ;  Birds  in  King's 
Co.,  31;  Incubation  period,  112; 
Notes  on  birds,  especially  the  White- 
throat,  140  ;  Stray  Bird  Notes, 
Autumn,   1917,  14. 

Bolam,  George  :  Owls  and  Sparrow- 
hawks  clapping  their  wings,   15. 

Braconidae,  106. 

Brade-Birks,  Hilda  K.  and  the  Rev. 
S.  Graham  Brade-Birks  :  Notes  on 
Myriapoda,   27. 

Brunker,  J.  P.  :  New  Station  for 
Lathraea  squamaria  in  Co.  Dublin, 
no. 

Bullock- Webster,  Rev.  Canon  G.  R. : 
Characeae  of  the  Rosses,  West 
Donegal,  7. 

Burkitt,  J.  P.  :  Notes  on  Birds,  es- 
pecially the  Whitethroat,  140. 

Burrows,  C.  R.  N.  :  Irish  Psychid 
Moths,  II. 

Butterflies  and  Moths  in  Ireland,  great 
increase  of,  11. 

Cardamine  amara  in  East  Tyrone,  95. 

Carpenter,  George  H.  :  Obituary- 
notice  of  W.  F.  de  Vismes  Kane,  97. 

Caterpillar,  abnormal,  of  Choerocampa, 
172. 

Cave  of  Dunmore,   148. 

Cunningham,  Robert  Oliver  :  Obituary 
notice,  128. 

Characeae  :  Characeae  of  the  Rosses, 
W.  Donegal,  7  ;  possible  hunting 
grounds  for,  64. 


Chrysomyxa  abietis  in  Ireland,  130. 
Clarke,     William     Eagle  :      Woodcock 

marked  in  Ireland  and  recovered  in 

Shetland,  15. 
Cole,      Grenville     A.      J.  :       Obituary 

notice  of  Edward  Hull,   17. 
Colgan,    Nathaniel  :     Ahen    plants    of 

Co.     Dublin,     86  ;      Lusitania     and 

Kerry,     a    botanical    parallel,     20  ; 

Reproduction    of    the  Garden   Snail 

(Helix  aspersa),  165. 
Collinge,  Walter  E.  :    Porcellio  Rath- 

kii,  I. 
Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  51,  160. 
Corncrake  in  Trinity  College  Park,  96. 
Cosmos  Club,  76. 

Darwin,    Charles,     Harvey's  paper  on 

162. 
Deer,  Red,  133. 

Derc-Ferna,  the  Cave  of  Dunmore,  148. 
Dicranella  heteromalla,  16. 
Dolphins     and     Whales     stranded     in 

Ireland,  164. 
Douglas,  Captain,  Notes  on  his  article 

on  Woodcock  migration,  92. 
Draba  muralis  in  Co.  Down,   no. 
Dublin    Microscopical    Club  :      16,    29, 

51,  68,   75,  91,   171. 
Dublin   Naturalists'    Field   Club  :     31, 
50,  90. 

Ecdyurus,  jaws  of  the  nymph  of,  30. 
Ericaceae,  75. 

F'ieldfare,  scarcity  of,  79,  132. 

Flatfish,  larval,  position  of  eye,   73. 

Flemyng,  W.  W.  :  Magpie's  flight,  96  ; 
Sphinx  convolvuli  attacked  by 
larvae  of  dipteron,  13. 

Foster,  Nevin  H.  :  Draba  muralis  in 
Co.  Down,  no;  Early  arrival  of 
spring  migrants,  96  ;  Spiranthes 
Romanzoffiana  in  Co.  Armagh,  163. 

Fuligo  septica  var.   Candida,   52. 

Galium  sylvestre  in  Co.  Antrim,  164. 
Gastrophilus    equi,    anterior   spiracles, 

51- 
Geese  :  Snow  Geese  at  Mutton  Islaiid, 

112. 
Glacier :  Irish  Sea  glacier,  development 

and  decay,  53. 
Gold-crest,  return,  173. 
Gonepteryx  rhamni  in  Co.  F'ermanagh, 

173- 


VI 


Index. 


Greer,  Thomas  :  Lepidoptera  from 
East  Tyrone,  4  ;  Notodonta  bicoloria 
in  Co.  Kerry,  65. 

Gunn,  W.  F.  :  Fuligo  septica  var. 
Candida,    32  ;     Irish     Myxomycetes. 

174- 
Gurney,      J.      H.  :       "  Swiney  "     and 

"  Thricccock,"  meaning  of,  80. 

Halbcrt,  J,  N.  :  Convolvulus  Hawk- 
moth  in  Ireland,  81  ;  Sphinx  con- 
volvuli  attacked  by  larvae  of  dip- 
teron,  13. 

Hart,  W.  E.  :  Abnormal  Caterpillar  of 
Choerocampa,    172. 

Harvev,  W.  H.  :  Paper  on  Darwinism, 
162/ 

Hillas,  Arthur  B.  E.  :  Obituary 
notice,  162. 

Hinch,  J.  de  W.  :  Development  and 
decay  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier,  ^^i- 

Holland,  M.  :   Some  Cork  Aliens,  63. 

Huggins,  H.  C.  :  Limnaeae  of  the 
alpine  lakes  in  Glengarriff  District, 
West  Cork,  iig. 

Hull,  Edward,  Obituary  notice,  17. 

Hymenoptera,  Aculeate,  from  Armagh 
and  Donegal,  2. 

Hypoderma   bovis,    anterior   spiracles, 


Ichneumonidae,  Irish,  106. 

Jackson,  J.  Wilfrid  :  Limnaea  glabra 
in  Ireland,  77. 

Jay  in  Co.  Longford,   174. 

Jays  feeding  on  wheat,   131. 

Johnson,  Rev.  W.  F.  :  Aculeate 
Hymenoptera  from  Armagh  and 
Donegal,  2  ;  Convolvulus  Hawk- 
Moth  in  Counties  Antrim  and 
Down,  12  ;  Late  Wasp,  12  ;  Purple 
Sea-urchin  at  Inishkeel,  Co.  Donegal, 
10  ;  Some  more  Irish  Ichneumoni- 
dae and  Braconidac,  106. 

Kane,    William    Francis    de    Vismes, 

Obituary  notice  of,  97. 
Keane,    T.     W.     L.  :      Abundance    of 

Lepidoptera  in  191 7,  52. 
Kerr,  Helen  M.  Rait  :    Birds  in  King's 

Co.,  31  ;    Green  Sandpiper  in  King's 

Co.,  14  ;    Incubation  period  of  birds, 

1 12. 
Kerry  and  Lusitania,  botanical  parallel, 

20. 

La,sioseius  fucicola,   75. 
Lathraca   squamaria,    new    station    in 
Co.  Dublin,  1 10. 


Lathyrus  maritimus.  Reappearance  in 
Kerry,  113. 

Lens,  i-5oth  inch  objective,  91. 

Lepidoptera  :  Lambay,  65  ;  Lepi- 
doptera in  191 7,  abundance  of,  =,2  ; 
Tyrone  East,  4. 

Lignite  from  Carrig-a-puUiar,   29. 

Limnaea  glabra  in  Ireland,    77,   78. 

Limnaeae  of  the  alpine  lakes,  Glen- 
garriff district.  West  Cork,  119. 

Lusitania  and  Kerry,  a  botanical 
parallel,  20. 

^lagpie,  flight,  96. 

Megaw.W.  R.  :  Galium  sylvestre  in  Co. 
Antrim,  164. 

[Migration  on  Lough  Mask,  2)~- 

Milne,  James  Napier,  Obituary  Notice, 
129. 

Moffat,  C.  B.  :  Argynnis  aglaia  in 
N.W.  Wexford,  172  ;  New  locality 
for  Thecla  betulae,  172  ;  Owls  clap- 
ping their  wings,  132  ;  Return  of  the 
Gold-crest,  173  ;  Scarcity  of  the 
Fieldfare,  132. 

MoUusks,   Irish  fossil,   69. 

[Moths  :  Convolvulus  Haw'k-moth  in 
Antrim  and  Down,  12  ;  Convolvulus 
Hawk-moth  in  Ireland,  81  ;  Irish 
psychid,  11  ;  Moths  and  Butterflies 
in  Ireland,  great  increase  of,  11; 
Sphinx  convolvuli  attacked  by 
larvae  of  dipteron,  13. 

Myriapoda,  Notes  on,  27. 

Myxomycetes,   Irish,    174. 

Natural  History  Societies  in  Derry  and 

Cork,  79. 
Notodonta  bicoloria  in  Co.  Kerry,  65. 

Obituary  :  Cunningham,  Robert  Oli- 
ver, 128  ;  Hillas,  Arthur  B.  E.,  162  ; 
Hull,  Edward,  17  ;  Kane,  W^illiam 
Francis  de  Vismes,  97  ;  Milne,  James 
Napier,  129  ;  Patterson,  William 
Hugh,   76 ;    Scharff,  Alice,   162. 

Oenanthe  crocata,  poisonous  proper- 
ties, 130. 

Owls  and  Sparrow-hawks  clapping 
their  wrings,   15. 

Owls  clapping  their  wings,    132. 

Patten,  C.  J.  :  W^oodchat-Shrike  on 
migration,  obtained  at  Tuskar  Rock, 

79. 
Patterson,    William    Hugh,    Obituary 

notice,  76. 
Pethybridge,  George  H.  :   Chrysomyxa 

abietis  in  Ireland,  130. 
Phillips,    R.    A.  :     Limnaea   glabra  in 

Ireland,  78. 


Index. 


Vll 


Phillips,  R.  A.  and  A.  W.  Stelfox  : 
Recent  extensions  of  the  range  of 
Pisidium  hibernicum,  33. 

Phytophthora  parasitic  on  Tomato 
seedlings,  &c.,  16. 

Pigeons  in  Belfast,  65. 

Pisidium  hibernicum,  recent  extension 
of  range  of,  33. 

Plants,  County  Down,  116, 

Porcellio  Rathkii,    i. 

Portugal  and  Kerry  :  a  botanical 
parallel,  20, 

Praeger,  R.  Lloyd  :  Botanical  Notes 
from  Inistioge,  103  ;  Derc-Ferna, 
the  Cave  of  Dunmore,  148  ;  Harvey, 
W.  H.,  and  Charles  Darwin,  162  ; 
Irish  Fossil  Mollusks,  69  ;  Natural 
History  Societies  in  Derry  and 
Cork,  79  ;  Some  County  Down 
plants,  116;  Spiranthes  Roman- 
zoffiana  in  Co.  Armagh,  163  ;  Tre- 
lease's  "  Plant  Materials  of  Decora- 
tive Gardening,  i.  The  Woody 
Plants."    (Reviewed),  32. 

Rathborne,  H.  B,  :  Gonepteryx 
rhamni  in  Co.  Fermanagh,   173. 

Redwing,  scarcity  of,  79, 

Review  :  Trelease's  "  Plant  Materials 
of  Decorative  Gardening,  i.  The 
Woody  Plants,"  32. 

Royal  Zoological  Society  :  27,  66,  74, 
no,  158. 

Ruttledge,  Robert  F.  :  Migration  on 
Lough  Mask,  32  ;  Sandwich  Terns 
breeding  in  Co.  Galway,  15. 

Ruttledge,  William  :  Black  Terns  on 
Lough  Carra,  Co.  Mayo,  130  ;  Snow 
Geese  at  Mutton  Island,  Co.  Galway, 
112. 

Sandpiper,    Green  :     King's    Co.,    14  ; 

Westmeath,    112. 
Scharff,  Alice  :    Obituary  notice,  162. 
Scharff,  R.  F.  :    Irish  Red  Deer,  133. 
Scully,    Reginald   W.  :     Reappearance 

of    Lathyrus    maritimus    in    Kerry, 

113. 
Sea-Urchin,   Purple,   at   Inishkeel,   Co. 

Donegal,    10. 

Sedum  Drucei,  31. 

Shrike  :  Woodchat-Shrike  on  migration 

at  Tuskar  Rock,  79 

Snail,  Garden,  Reproduction,   165. 

Sparrow-hawks   clapping   their   wings, 

13. 


Sphinx  convolvuli  :  Antrim  and  Down, 

12  ;   attacked  by  larvae  of   dipteron, 

13  ;    Ireland,   81. 

Spiranthes      Romanzofifiana     in       Co. 

Armagh,  163. 
Spring  migrants,  early  arrival,  96, 
Stelfox,    A.   W   :     Characeae,    possible 

hunting-grounds  for,  64  ;    Obituary 

notice  of  James  Napier  Milne,  129 
Stelfox,  A.   W.     and     R.  A.   Phillips  : 

Recent   extensions  of  the  range   ot 

Pisidium  hibernicum,  33. 
Stendall,    J.    A.    Sidney  :     Sunfish    at 

Larne  Harbour,  14. 
Sunfish  at  Larne  Harbour,  14. 
"  Swiney,"  meaning  of,  80, 


Terns,  Black,  Lough  Carra,  Co.  Mayo, 

130. 
Terns,      Sandwich,     breeding      in  Co. 

Galway,  13. 
Thecla  betulae,  172. 
"  Thricecock,"  meaning  of,  80. 
Trelease,   William  :    "  Plant  Materials 

of    Decorative    Gardening,    i.      Tlie 

Woody  Plants  "     (review),  32. 
Tubifera  ferruginosa,  16. 

Ustilago    hordei,    germinating    spores, 


Warble  Fly  ;  male  reproductive  or- 
gans, 16  ;  vestigial  lateral  spiracle 
of  larva,  91. 

Wasp  :  a  late  wasp,  12. 

Wear  :  Sylvanus  :  Cardamine  amara 
in  East  Tyrone,  95. 

Whales  and  dolphms  stranded  in  Ire- 
land, 164. 

Whitethroat,  140. 

Wilson,  J.  Mackay  :  Bird-life  at  Curry- 
grane,  Co.  Longford,  in  ;  Corn- 
crake in  Trinity  College  Park,  96  ; 
Jay  in  Co.   Longford,    174. 

Willows,  Pollard,  water-borne  flora  of, 
103. 

Woodcock  marked  in  Ireland  and  re- 
covered in  Shetland,   15. 

Woodcock,    migration,    92. 

Woodlouse  new  to  Irish  fauna,   i. 

Workman,  W.  H.  :  Butterflies  and 
Moths  in  Ireland,  great  increase  of, 
II  ;  Migration  of  Woodcock,  some 
notes  on  an  article  by  Captain 
Douglas,  92, 


^Ijz  Irislj  JJaturalist. 


VOL   XXVII. 


PORCELLIO    RATHKII 

A   WOODLOUSE   NEW   TO   THE    IRISH    FAUNA. 
BY   WALTER   E.    COLLINGE,    D.SC,    F.L.S. 

In  their  very  thorough  account  of  the  Woodhce  of  Ireland^ 
Messrs.  Pack-Beresford  and  Foster  remark,  under  the  genus 
PorceiUo,  "  The  two  species  {Rathkii  and  Ratzehurgii)  which 
have  not  yet  occurred  in  Ireland  are,  however,  included  in 
the  following  table,  as  they  are  very  likely  to  be  eventually 
taken  here." 

In  the  preparation  of  my  forthcoming  Monograph  on  the 
Woodlice  of  the  British  Isles,  I  have  sought  the  aid  of 
various  friends  and  correspondents  in  obtaining  examples 
of  Irish  specimens,  and  in  a  small  collection  recently  obtained 
from  a  garden  near  Dublin,  I  was  pleased  to  find  two 
examples  of  Porcellio  Rathkii,  Brandt,  which  has  not 
hitherto  been  recorded  for  Ireland. 

I  have  elsewhere  pointed  out^  that  this  species  may 
easily  be  confused  with  forms  of  P.  pictiis,  Br.  The  lateral 
cephalic  lobes,  however,  in  P.  pictus  are  larger  than  in 
P.  Rathkii  and  terminally  more  truncate  ;  the  median 
lobe  is  less  prominent  and  broadly  rounded,  and  the 
proximal  joint  of  the  fiagellum  of  the  antenna  is  the  longer 
one. 


^  Proc.  Roy.  Irish  Acad.,  1911,  vol.  xxix.,  pp.   165-190,  pi.  viii 
*  ^coit.  Nat.,   1917,  p.    137. 


2  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Jan\iary, 

P.  Rathkii,  especially  female  specimens,  is  subject  to  a 
considerable  range  of  colour  variations,  and  also  in  the 
extent  to  which  it  is  tuberculated.  Webb  and  Sillem^ 
wrongly  state  that  it  "  has  a  smooth  body."  Sars-  says 
that  the  dorsal  face  is  rather  convex  "  and  slightly  tuber- 
culated," but  I  have  in  my  collection  many  specimens, 
from  various  localities,  in  which  the  tubercles  are  both 
large  and  numerous. 

Tn  Great  Britain  this  species  has  been  obtained  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight  and  the  Channel  Isles,  and  the  following 
counties  : — Oxford,  Bucks,  Suffolk,  Stafford,  Salop,  Pem- 
broke, Derby,  Cheshire,  Lancashire,  Durham,  Northumber- 
land, Cumberland,  Dumbarton,  Kinkardine,  and  the 
Orkneys.  In  all  probability  it  will  be  found  to  be  equally 
common  in  Ireland. 

Examples  of  any  species  of  Irish  Woodlice  wall  be 
welcomed  and  gratefully  acknowledged  by  the  writer. 

The  University,   St.   Andrews. 


ACULEATE  HYMENOPTERA  FROM  THE  COUNTIES 
OF  ARMAGH  AND  DONEGAL. 

BY   REV.    W.    F.    JOHNSON,    M.A.,    M.R.I. A. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  records  of  Irish  Aculeate 
Hymenoptera  are  so  scanty  as  to  make  it  impossible  to 
form  any  adequate  idea  of  what  species  exist  in  this  country 
or  how  they  are  distributed.  No  one  now  seems  to  take 
any  interest  in  the  ants,  bees,  and  wasps  of  Ireland  except 
myself,  and  my  attempts  are  but  spasmodic.  These  insects 
are  among  the  most  interesting  of  all  insects  and  well  repay 


*    '  The  British  Woodlice,"   1906,  p.  34. 

"^  "  Crustacea  of  Norway,"   i8q8,  vol.  ii.,  p.   180. 


i9i8.  W.  F.  Johnson. — Aculeate  Hvmenoptera.  3 

attention,  and  not  being  very  numerous  in  genera  and 
species  are  not  so  difficult  to  study  as  other  sections  of  the 
insect  world.  There  are  excellent  works  on  the  subject, 
including  Saunders'  "  Aculeate  Hymenoptera  of  the  British 
Islands,"  Sladen's  "  Humble  Bee,"  and  Donisthorpe's 
"  British  Ants."  The  student  will  find  in  these  works  all 
the  information  he  requires  on  the  subject,  with  admirable 
figures  and  descriptions.  The  position  of  the  Irish  list  is 
at  once  shown  by  the  fact  that  out  of  316  British  species 
only  167  have  been  recorded  from  Ireland. 

In  the  following  list  the  captures  at  Coolmore,  Co.  Donegal, 
were  made  in  August,  and  those  at  Portnoo,Co.  Donegal,  in 
September  : — 

Formica  fusca    Latr. — Portnoo,    workers    and    winged    females    on    the 

sandhills. 
Myrmica  ruginodis  Nyl. — Portnoo,  workers  among  heather. 

Pompilus  spissus  Schiodte. — Poyntzpass,  a  female  taken  in  the  avenue 
of  Acton  House  among  grass  in  June.     New  to  Ireland. 

P.  pectinipes  V.  de  L. — Coolmore,  a  male  taken  on  a  grassy  bank  at  side 
of  a  lane. 

Salius  exaltatus  Fab. — Coolmore,  a  female. 

Passaloecus  insignis  V.  de  L. — Poyntzpass,  a  female  taken  on  the  road 

between  my  house  and  the  village.     New  to  Ireland.     It  makes  its 

nest  in  bramble  stems  or  decaying  wood. 
Mellinus  arvensis  L. — Portnoo,  on  sandhills  and  roadside. 
Crabro  elongatulus  V.  de  L. — Poyntzpass,  taken  on  a  window  at  Acton 

House  in  August.      New  to  Ireland. 
Sphecodes   dimidiatus    V.   Hag. — Coolmore,  a  female  taken  in  hedgerow 

of  lane. 
Halictus  longulus  Smith. — Coolmore,  males, 

H.pauxillus  Schenck.  "\  _     ,  ,        , 

„        .      ,       ^,.  ,  V  Coolmore,   females. 

H.  mmutus  Kirby.      / 

Andrena  denticulata  Kirby. — Coolmore,  a  female. 

Bombus  jonellus  Kirby. — Portnoo,  among  heather. 

B.  ruderatus  F.  — Poyntzpass,  a  female  taken  in  my  garden  at  flowers 

in  June. 
B.  derhamellus  Kirby. — Coolmore,  a  female,  in  a  lane. 

Psithyrus  distinctus  Perez. — Poyntzpass,  a  female  taken  in  a  window  of 
my  house  in  June. 

Poyntzpass. 

A  2 


4  Thr  Irish  Naluralist.  January, 

NOTES    ON    LEPIDOPTERA    FROM    EAST    TYRONE 

IN     1917. 

BY    THOMAS   GREER. 

Although  the  winter  of  1916-17  was  the  most  severe  that 
has  been  experienced  for  a  great  number  of  years,  it  seems, 
so  far  as  I  can  judge,  to  have  had  little  or  no  adverse 
influence  on  the  insect  life  of  this  neighbourhood.  On 
April  nth  the  heaviest  fall  of  snow  of  the  whole  winter 
occurred,  the  roads  in  many  places  being  quite  impassable 
owing  to  the  heavy  drifts  ;  yet  on  the  15th  the  first  insects 
of  the  year  were  observed  at  sallow  bloom,  and  larvae  of 
Melitaea  aurinia  were  noticed  on  the  move  outside  their 
winter  webs  ;  though  there  was  plenty  of  snow  still  lying 
about. 

At  the  sallows,  insects  were  in  great  force,  Taeniocampa 
gracilis  (of  which  90  per  cent,  were  red  forms),  T.  munda 
(usually  in  small  numbers  here),  T.  opima  in  its  special 
locality,  and  four  Panolis  piniperda  turned  up,  an  insect 
unknown  hereabouts  before  ;  at  this  time  a  single  Polyploca 
flavicornis  was  bred  from  larvae  found  last  July. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  the  first  Pieris  napi  was  observed, 
and  during  May  the  insect  was  flying  in  clouds  over  some 
low-lying  meadows,  near  the  house,  the  males  quartering 
the  ground  in  search  of  the  freshly  emerging  females, 
pairing  taking  place  in  many  instances  before  the  wings 
of  the  female  were  fully  expanded.  By  watching  these 
antics  of  the  male  I  secured  a  fine  variable  series  of  the 
female,  with  little  or  no  exertion,  for  an  English  corres- 
pondent. Later  in  the  season  the  second  brood  was  equally 
abundant.  These  same  meadows  at  the  time  of  writing 
are  several  feet  under  water,  and  will  remain  so  for  most 
of  the  winter  ;  how  the  thousands  of  pupae  of  this  and 
other  species  which  are  lying  exposed  on  the  surface  of 
the  ground  survive  this  treatment  is  a  mystery.  The 
males  of  Euchloe  cardamines  were  now  flying  in  the  sun 
but  were  much  less  numerous  than  in  other  years,  so  that 


igi8.  Greer. — Lepidoptera  from  East  Tyrone.  5 

the  females  were  almost  as  common,  about  60  per  cent, 
having  yellowish  hind  wings. 

On  paying  a  visit  to  the  mountains  in  early  June  for 
larvae  of  Dasychira  fascelina  I  found  that  many  acres  of 
heather  were  brown  and  dead  having  been  killed  by  the 
severe  frosts,  and  it  was  only  in  sheltered  spots  that  it 
still  survived  ;  but  there  was  no  trace  of  my  quarry  ; 
although  the  larvae  of  Lasiocampa  quercus  var.  callunae 
were  in  abundance  and  collected  in  little  groups,  here  and 
there,  wherever  the  heather  showed  any  signs  of  life. 

The  first  Melitaea  aurinia  was  observed  on  the  wing  on 
June  nth,  somewhat  later  than  last  year,  but  from  a  nest 
of  the  larvae  found  earlier  in  the  year,  were  bred  a  number 
of  interesting  forms  ;  among  others  : — the  var.  praeclara, 
Kane  ;  a  tawny  red  form  not  unlike  the  English  var. 
artemis  ;  a  form  approaching  the  var.  signifera,  Kane  ;  and 
several  of  the  handsome  form  virgata,  Tutt  ;  and  last  but 
not  least,  a  number  of  fine  dark  forms,  quite  distinct  from 
the  form  figured  as  scotica  in  Kane's  "  Lepidoptera  of 
Ireland." 

When  on  a  visit  to  Dublin,  I  spent  some  time  in  Mr. 
Halbert's  company,  in  comparing  these  forms  with  various 
types  in  the  national  collection  ;  and  we  found  that  a 
number  of  these  forms  agree  with  certain  specimens  labelled 
as  hihernica  frorh  Cromyln  Bog,  Co.  Westmeath  ;  but  as 
there  appears  to  be  a  great  deal  of  misapprehension  as  to 
what  is  the  true  var.  hihernica  Birchall,  I  am  at  present, 
at  any  rate,  unwilling  to  state  anything  more  definite 
concerning  these  local  forms. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  month  a  visit  was  paid  to 
the  bogs  which  lie  around  Lough  Neagh  and  from  small 
birch  bushes  a  fine  lot  of  Drepana  falcataria  were  beaten 
out,  and  on  the  way  home,  cocoons  of  Odonestis  potatoria 
were  found  spun  up  among  the  grass  and  heather. 

At  Washing  Bay  on  29th  June,  the  males  of  Lycaena 
icarus  were  flying  in  some  abundance,  being  of  a  large  size 
and  in  fine  condition  ;  and  likewise  a  few  days  later,  on 
the  low  sandy  hills  which  surround  the  town  of  Coalisland  ; 
I  was  lucky  to  get  here  on  the  4th  of  July  a  gynandro- 
morphous  specimen,  in  perfect  condition,  this  was  captured 


6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  January, 

in  almost  the  only  gleam  of  sunshine  that  appeared  that 
day  ;  but  the  largest  and  most  brilliant  forms  occurred 
on  the  steep  slopes  of  a  remote  glen  in  the  mountains 
surrounded  by  miles  of  moorland  and  bog. 

About  this  time  a  large  number  of  Acronycta  menyanthidis 
were  bred  from  larvae  found  at  Lough  Neagh  ;  and  an 
afternoon  spent  on  the  mountains  showed  Plusia  interro- 
gationis  to  be  fl\^ing  in  numbers  among  the  dead  heather 
stems  ;  and  at  dusk  P.  festucae  was  equally  abundant  at 
3^ellow  Iris  and  Ragged  Robin,  one  of  the  latter  captured, 
having  the  gold  dashes  on  fore  wings  united,  forming  a 
gold  blotch  across  both  wings.  At  Bladder  Campion  {Silene 
Cncuhahis)  P.  iota  and  Hecatera  serena  were  common,  as 
well  as  several  Eiipithecia  venosata,  and  among  Lychnis 
dinrna  numbers  of  Emmelesia  affmitata  and  E.  decolorata. 
In  the  meadows  Epinephele  hyperanthns  and  Zygaena 
lonicerae  flew  in  swarms. 

At  Killymoon  in  early  August  I  obtained  a  single  example 
of  Eiipithecia  siiccentatireata  by  beating  Mugwort  ;  and  on 
the  moors  in  certain  spots  the  males  of  Stilhia  anomala 
were  flying  in  plenty  at  dusk. 

Thanks  to  the  kindness  of  Rev.  C.  R.  N.  Burrows,  who 
examined  the  genitalia  of  a  series  of  local  Hydrocciae,  I 
am  able  to  record  H.  crinanensis  from  Co.  Tyrone  ;  several 
of  these  were  taken  at  Lough  Neagh  last  autumn  (see  Irish 
Nat.,  vol.  XXV.,  1916,  page  163  )  ;  also  a  small  number 
captured  this  year  ;  in  all  twenty-two  specimens  were 
sent  him  ;  seventeen  of  which  prove  to  be  crinanensis,  and 
the  remainder  H.  lucens. 

The  feature  of  the  autumn  months  was  the  wonderful 
abundance  of  Vanessa  to  and  V.  atalanta,  the  former 
appearing  everywhere,  even  far  out  on  the  bogs  and  high 
up  on  the  mountains.  , 

The  usual  ivy-frequenting  insects  were  abundant,  up  to 
the  late  autumn  speii  of  snowy  and  cold  weather. 

Stewartstown. 


igiS.     Bullock-Webstek. — Characeae  of  West  Donegal.  7 

THE  CHARACEAE  OF  THE  ROSSES  : 
WEST  DONEGAL. 

BY   REV.    CANON.    G   R.    BULLOCK-WEBSTER,    M.A. 

Last  year  I  reported  on  the  results  of  a  visit  to  the  Fanad 
Peninsula  where  I  spent  a  fortnight  investigating"  the 
Characeae  of  the  lakes  around  Kindrum. 

This  year  I  found  an  opportunity  for  paying  a  visit  to 
the  Rosses  of  West  Donegal  where  the  many  and  various 
lakes  seem  to  offer  a  very  favourable  field  for  the 
characeologist. 

My  headquarters  were  on  the  little  island  of  Iniscoo 
about  a  mile  off  the  coast,  near  Burton  Port  ;  and  my 
companion,  Bishop  Montgomery,  himself  a  keen  naturalist 
and  a  student  more  especially  of  bird  life. 

The  weather  during  our  week's  sojourn  (July  26-31)  was 
all  that  could  be  desired  and  we  made  the  most  of  the 
opportunity.  Iniscoo  itself  provides  a  small  lake,  and 
this  was  carefully  examined.  On  the  mainland  northward 
we  visited  (I  quote  in  all  cases  the  nomenclature  of  the  one 
inch  Ordnance  Survey)  Garry  Lough  and  Sally's  Lough, 
Loughs  Waskel  and  Mullaghderg ;  to  the  southward 
towards  Dunglow,  we  visited  Loughs  Leckenagh,  Meela, 
Dunglow,  and  Adrihidbeg ;  and  to  the  south-west  of 
Dunglow  we  visited  L.  Nageeragh,  the  adjacent  lough 
unnamed  in  the  map,  L.  Beg  and  Maghery  L.  This  last, 
and  Sally's  Lough  first  mentioned,  have  cuttings  which 
connects  them  with  the  shore  and  provides  admission  of 
sea  water  at  certain  states  of  the  tide.  For  this  reason 
they  suggested  likely  localities  for  such  species  as  C. 
connivens,  C.  canescens  and  C.  haltica  which  are  to  be  found 
in  brackish  waters.  But  the  water  proved  to  be  more  saline 
than  brackish  and  seemed  to  yield  little  or  no  fresh  water 
vegetation. 

The  result  of  these  explorations  can  be  summed  up  in  a 
few  words.  Of  the  twelve  lakes  visited  nine  gave  no 
signs    whatever    of    Chara    vegetation.      The    tenth,    the 


S  The  Irish  Nahiralist.  January, 

unnamed  lough  adjoining  L.  Nageeragh,  yielded  one  solitary 
piece  of  N.  transliicens,  Agardh.  The  little  lough  on 
Iniscoo  yielded  some  excellent  specimens  of  A^.  transliicens 
and  C.  fragilis,  Desv. 

The  twelfth  and  the  one  lough  which  repaid  search  was 
L.  Mullaghderg.  The  rock  end  of  this  lake  is  in  close 
proximity  to  the  sandhills  which  run  along  the  coast  line 
and  it  has  in  consequence  a  sandy  bottom  on  this  northern 
shore.  Here  C.  fragilis  and  C.  aspera,  Willd.,  were  growing 
in  great  abundance,  as  also  another  little  Chara  which 
seems  to  be  an  unusual  variety  or  form  of  C.  contraria 
Kuetz.  Growing  with  these  was  a  Nitella  long  past  its 
prime  but  retaining  its  heads  of  ripe  fruit  which  showed 
it  to  be  either  A^.  flexilis,  Agardh,  or  N.  opaca,  Agardh. 
Near  by,  in  a  pool  among  the  sandhills,  grew  some  few 
specimens  of  C.  hispida,  Linn.,  and  C.  vulgaris,  Linn.  This 
embraced  the  extent  of  our  Chara  finds,  and  certainly  does 
not  add  much  to  previous  records.  N.  translucens  is,  I 
think,  new  to  W.  Donegal,  and  so  are  C.  aspera  and  C. 
fragilis. 

The  area  which  goes  by  the  name  of  the  Rosses  is  all  of 
granitic  formation  and  large  granite  rocks  and  boulders 
lie  scattered  over  the  country  giving  it  a  peculiarly  bare 
and  desolate  appearance.  Similar  rocks  and  boulders  form 
the  beds  of  many  of  the  lakes.  This  makes  dredging  a 
serious  difficulty.  The  drag  is  constantly  liable  to  become 
wedged  between  immovable  masses  of  stone,  and  the  danger 
of  losing  this  most  indispensable  implement  makes  the 
collector  nervous  in  his  use  of  it.  Even  with  due  care 
and  a  char}^  employment  my  drag  became  immovably 
fixed  on  two  occasions  and  could  only  be  released,  once 
by  means  of  a  boat,  another  time  by  means  of  a  long  cord 
carried  round  to  an  opposite  shore  of  the  lake. 

To  imply  that  a  thorough  examination  of  the  above 
mentioned  lakes  was  made  would  be  misleading.  Boats 
were  not  available  on  most  of  the  lakes,  and,  as  I  said, 
dredging  from  the  shore  was  attended  by  considerable 
risk.  But  the  margins  of  the  lakes  were  inspected  with 
some  care  and  note  made  of  the  character  of  the  vegetation 
thrown  up  on  their  banks  as  giving  some  indication  of  the 


I9I7-     Bullock-Webster. — Characeae  of  West  Donegal.  9 

growth  in  the  deeper  and  more  inaccessible  water.  I  very 
much  doubt  whether  the  locaHty  yields  many  other  species. 
At  any  rate  there  must  be  numerous  localities  of  Ireland 
still  unexplored  which  would  repay  search  far  more 
generously.  These  notes  may  serve  as  a  warning  to 
botanists  who  may  be  attracted  by  the  promising  appearance 
of  the  neighbourhood  as  portrayed  in  the  Ordnance  Survey 
map. 

The  poor  results  of  my  visit  to  the  Rosses  impelled  me 
to  turn  aside  on  my  return  journey  to  Derry  and  pay 
another  visit  to  Fanad  where  several  records  of  the 
previous  year  needed  some  confirmation,  I  spent  a  week 
at  Kindrum  and  was  able  to  collect  some  fruiting  specimens 
of  the  little  Nitella  growing  in  Kindrum  Lough  referred 
to  in  my  previous  paper  as  probably  A^.  batrachosperma, 
Braun  {N.  Nordstedtiana,  H.  and  J.  Groves).  A  careful 
examination  of  the  membrane  of  the  oospore  confirms  the 
accuracy  of  Mr.  James  Groves'  opinion.  The  plant  proves 
to  be  undoubtedly  N.  batrachosperma,  and  the  discovery 
must  be  regarded  as  a  very  interesting  link  between  its 
two  previously  recorded  stations — the  one  in  the  Orkneys, 
and  the  other  in  County  Kerry. 

The  curious  variety  of  A^.  flexilis  (if  such  it  be)  growing 
along  the  margin  of  L.  Shannagh  suggested  that  other 
treasures  might  be  found  on  the  lake  with  the  aid  of  a  boat. 
I  was  able  with  some  difficulty  to  obtain  the  use  of  a  curragh 
and  the  services  of  a  boatman  skilled  in  the  management 
of  this  rather  frail  form  of  craft.  But  the  lake  yielded 
nothing  further  so  far  as  I  could  discover,  not  even  specimens 
of  the  Nitella  flexilis  beyond  the  thick  bank  of  growth 
reachable  from  the  shore  which  I  had  found  last  3'ear.  Here 
I  found  it  still  growing  and  fruiting  in  great  abundance  and 
maintaining  its  distinctive  and  abnormal  characteristics. 
This  plant  and  the  variety  of  C.  contraria  from  L. 
MuUaghderg  seems  to  call  for  some  special  notice,  and  I 
hope  that  Mr.  James  Groves  and  I  shall  be  in  a  position 
to  make  a  communication  on  the  subject  in  the  course  of 
a  few  months. 

I  was  able  to  collect  some  fruiting  specimens  of  the 
Toh-pclla  (referred  to  in  Mr.  James  Groves'  and  m}^  note 


10  The  Irish  Xaturalist.  January, 

to  the  Irish  Naturalist,  August,  1917)  growing  in  L.  Ball3^1ar 
which  may  serve  to  ehicidate  the  question  of  a  possible 
species  or  variety  intermediate  between  '/.  glomcrata,  Leonh., 
and  T.  nidifica,  Leonh. 

I  was  also  able  to  add  another  species  to  the  list  of 
Characeae  growing  in  L.  Kindrum,  viz.,  A^.  opaca  in  good 
fruiting  condition,  unless  indeed  the  plant  proves  to  be 
A^.  flexilis.  In  either  case  it  adds  another  to  the  yield  of 
the  lake.  It  seems  impossible  to  discriminate  between 
N .  flexilis  and  N.  opaca  otherwise  than  by  the  monoecious 
character  of  the  former  and  the  dioecious  character  of  the 
latter.  In  plants  of  advanced  growth  where  the  antheridia 
have  dispersed  this  one  distinctive  and  determining 
characteristic  disappears.  This  is  the  case  with  the  speci- 
mens both  from  L.  Mallaghderg  and  from  L.  Kindrum. 
The  doubt  can  only  be  settled  by  collecting  plants  at  an 
earlier  period  of  the  year. 

All  Hallows   Lane,   Londmi,    E.C. 


NOTES. 

ZOOLOGY. 
The  Purple  Sea-Urchin  at  Inishkeel,  Co.  Donegal. 

The  island  of  Inishkeel  lies  on  the  south  side  of  Gweebarra  Bay  opposite 
the  villages  of  Naran  and  Portnoo.  It  can  be  reached  on  foot  at  spring 
tides  by  walking  across  the  neck  of  sand  which  connects  it  with  the 
mainland.  On  the  nortliern  side  are  extensive  rock  pools,  and  it  was 
in  these  that  Mrs.  Johnson  first  noticed  the  Purple  Sea-Urchin  {Slrovgy- 
locenlrotus  lividus  Lanik).  She  brought  me  to  the  spot  and  1  found  the 
urchins  present  in  considerable  numbers,  just  as  I  had  seen  them  at 
Bundoran  and  Gortmore.  I  could  not,  however,  find  that  they  had 
bored  holes  in  the  rock  such  as  1  had  seen  at  Bundoran,  and  I  onl}- 
conjecture  that  they  had  not  been  there  long  enough  to  make  these 
borings.  1  sent  a  specimen  to  the  National  Museum,  and  Mr.  A.  R. 
Nichols,    M.A.,    was     kind   enough   to  confirm   by   identification   and   to 


tgiS.  Notes.  il 

inform  mc  that  Inishkeel  is  a  new  locality  for  this  echinoderm, 
whose  distribution  is  thus  carried  further  north.  In  his  paper  on  the 
Echinodermata  in  the  Clare  Island  Survey  Mr.  Nichols  mentions  three 
colour  varieties,  purple,  olive  green,  and  reddish.  Of  these  I  noticed 
examples  of  the  first  and  last. 

W.  F.  Johnson. 
Poyntzpass. 


Great  Increase  of  Butterflies  and  Moths  in  Ireland. 

The  summer  just  past  has  from  all  accounts  been  a  most  wonderful 
one  for  Butterflies  and  Moths  all  over  Ireland  ;  and  1  think  those  readers 
who  are  interested  in  this  subject  ought  to  put  on  record  their  experiences 
so  that  we  might  have  in  Irish  Naturalist  a  history  ot  this  wonderful 
Butterfly  year  for  future  reference. 

It  woidd  be  interesting  to  know  if  this  great  increase  was  observed  all 
over  Ireland  :  whether  these  Butterflies  were  bred  in  this  country  or 
migrated  to  it.  If  they  were  bred  here  why  should  this  be  a  specially 
good  year,  and  where  did  the  stock  come  from  to  make  it  such  ?  Why 
should  rare  species  like  Peacocks  suddenly  appear  in  great  numbers 
round  this  district  ? 

At  Rostrevor  large  numbers  were  seen  on  flowering  shrubs  round  the 
hotel,  and  at  Dunmurry  a  Privet  bush  in  flower  in  Mr.  Richardson's 
garden  used  to  be  so  covered  with  various  species,  including  Peacocks, 
that  the  flowers  were  hardly  visible.  Various  Hawk-moths  were  also 
common,  and  a  friend  saw  both  the  Convolvulus  and  Humming-bird 
Hawks,  both  of  which  I  understand  are  rare  in  the  north-east  corner 
of  Ulster. 

Trusting  that  the  above  note  may  interest  and  induce  some  of  the  many 
entomologists  amongst  us  to  relate  their  experiences  for  the  benefit  of 
those  like  myself  not  well  versed  in  this  science.  I  am  sure  Sir  Charles 
Langham  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Foster  could  give  us  some  interesting 
information  on  the  subject. 

W.  H.  Workman. 

Windsor,  Belfast. 


Irish  Psychid  Moths. 

In  response  to  my  request  for  Psychid  material  from  Ireland,  Mr. 
Thomas  Greer  of  Stewartstown,  Co.  Tyrone,  was  kind  enough  to  look 
for  cases  during  the  past  season,  and  on  July  26th  of  this  year  I  received 
from  him  a  few,  which  he  had  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lough 
Neagh.  It  was  evident  that  these  belonged  to  the  "  casta  "  group,  but 
it  was  too  late  in  the  season  to  hope  for  imagines.  Knowing  the  habits 
of  these  insects  I  kept  two  cases  separate  and  in  due  course  they  produced 
numerous   larvae.      The   time   for   hybernation   is   now   arrived,    and   in 


12  The  Irish  Naturalist.  January, 

spite  of  the  difficulty  in  rearing,  a  considerable  number  still  survive 
and  with  attention  will,  I  hope,  safely  pass  through  the  winter.  They 
feed  carnivorously — and  herbaceously — on  dead  moths,  flies.  Knot-grass 
and  rose  leaves.  They  are  indeed  probably  content  with  anything 
eatable.  The  "  Casta  "  group  do  not  appear  to  be  very  successful  in 
building  up  their  cases  in  confinement,  generally  commencing  the  business 
by  robbing  the  mother-case.  My  little  Irish  family  have  made  a  little 
use  of  snippings  of  my  beard,  but  have  not  attempted,  although  material 
is  provided,  to  construct  the  characteristic  "  faggot." 

It  is  not  possible,  under  these  conditions,  to  attempt  to  name  the  species. 
I  am  hoping  to  get  some  of  them  through,  and  also  to  have  Mr.  Greer's 
assistance  with  further  material  next  year.  There  are  a  considerable 
number  of  these  "  faggot-like  "  cases  recognised  as  new  by  continental 
collectors.  Very  little  is  known  of  them  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
and  it  is  quite  possible  that  there  are  several  good  species  "  lumped 
together  by  us,  under  the  name  of  casta  Pallas — or  the  older  names  of 
nitidella,  roboricolella,  and  intermcdiella.  I  shall  be  exceedingly  grateful 
to  any  Irish  collector  of  Lepidoptera  who  will  help  me  in  the  investigation 
of  this  Psychid  family. 

C.    R.    X.    Burrows. 

Mucking  Vicarage,  Stanford-le-Hope,  Essex. 


The  Convolvulus  Hawk-Moth  in  the  Counties  of  Antrim 

and  Down. 

In  August  Major  A.  Bingham  Crabbe  wrote  to  me  that  a  specimen 
of  Sphinx  convolvidi  had  been  brought  to  him  at  Antrim  Castle, 
having  been  captured  in  the  neighbourhood.  It  was  a  good  deal  battered 
but  quite  recognisable.  In  October  I  met  Mr.  Wakefield  Richardson, 
of  Moyallen,  Co.  Down,  who  told  me  that  he  had  observed  specimens 
of  this  moth  in  the  greenhouse  at  Moyallen.  I  sec  by  a  note  in  the 
"  Ent.  Mo.  Mag."  that  specimens  have  been  seen  in  Yorkshire,  Lancashire, 
and  Cheshire.  It  is  evident  from  these  observations  that  there  was  a 
considerable  migration  of  this  Hawk-moth  from  the  continent. 

W.   F.  Johnson. 
Poyntzpass. 

A   Late  Wasp. 

I  have  to-day,  November .  20th,  taken  a  male  of  the  Common  Wasp 
[Vcspa  vulgaris)  which  flew  into  the  window  of  a  room  where  I  happened 
to  be.  It  is  very  unusual  to  see  a  male  on  the  wing  so  late  in  the  year, 
and  as  we  had  quite  sharp  frosts  last  month  it  is  the  more  remarkable. 

i'uyntzpass  W,    F.   Johnson. 


i9i8.  Noles.  13 


Sphinx  convolvuli  attacked  by  Larvae  of  Dipteron. 

During  the  month  of  September  last  (10 16)  I  was  given  a  specimen 
of  S.  convolvuli  which  was  captured  in  a  garden  near  Inchicore,  Dublin. 
It  was  just  caught,  and  seemed  unable  to  move.  This  struck  me  as  very 
strange,  as  it  is  always  very  lively,  and  a  powerful  flier,  as  I  well  know 
now  having  caught  several  specimens  in  bygone  years  in  my  garden 
here.  I  kept  it  in  a  box  intending  to  set  it,  and  the  next  time  I  looked 
at  it,  it  was  surrounded  by  tiny  chrysalides,  which  I  thought  at  the  time 
were  some  species  of  ichneumon.  Most,  if  not  all  of  them,  emerged  in 
time.      They  numbered  in  all  76  ! 

I  think  that  they  are  some  species  of  dipteron,  as  they  are  unlike 
ichneumons.  Fancy  the  poor  moth,  doing  its  best  to  live,  and  devoured 
internally  by  such  a  number  of  hungry  enemies.  I  have  not  read  of  a 
case  of  this  kind  before.  It  seems  wonderful  that  the  larva  was  able 
to  pupate  (perhaps,  however,  the  pupa  was  stung),  and  besides  that  to 
emerge  in  to  life  in  the  imago  state,  while  76  internal  foes  were  preying 
on  its  body.  I  have  sent  some  of  the  specimens  to  my  friend,  Mr. 
Halbert,  for  identification. 

William  W.  Flemyng. 
Coolfin,  Portlaw,  Co.  Waterford. 


The  insects  bred  from  the  above  mentioned  Hawk-moth  are  all  referable 
to  a  single  species,  a  small  two-winged  fly  belonging  to  the  genus  Phora, 
so  that  Canon  Flemyng  is  right  in  supposing  them  to  be  Diptera. 
Unfortunately  only  one  of  the  specimens  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation, 
the  others  are  spoiled  by  a  white  powder  through  being  kept  loose  in  a 
box  with  the  puparia  from  which  they  emerged.  This  specimen  has 
been  sent  to  Mr.  Collin  for  examination.  I  have  little  doubt,  however, 
that  the  fly  is  a  species  called  Phora  rufipes  Meigen,  an  identification 
which  I  hope  to  have  verified  as  soon  as  Mr.  Collin  has  time  to  examine 
the  insect. 

Pkora  rufipes  is  recorded  b)^  Walker  [Insecta  Bntannica :  Diptera)  as  a 
very  abundant  fly  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  According  to 
Schiner  ("  Fauna  Austriaca  ")  the  larva  is  parasitic  on  Lepidoptera,  and 
is  also  found  in  rotten  potatoes  and  in  fungi.  The  same  authority  states 
that  the  life-histories  of  several  species  of  Phora  are  known  ;  the  larvae 
live  in  decayed  vegetable  matter,  and  some  are  parasitic  on  other  insects. 
The  genus  Phora  is  numerous  in  species  ;  more  than  thirty  kinds  ar 
included  in  Mr.  Verrall's  "  List  of  British  Diptera  "   (1901). 

National  Museum,  Dublin. 

J.  N.  Halbert, 


14 


The  Irish  Nafurah'sf. 


Sunfish  at  Larne  Harbour. 


January, 


It  may  interest  readers  of  the  Irish  Naturalist  to  know  of  the  capture 
of  a  Sunfish,  Orthagorisciis  mola  Schn.  off  Larne  Harbour  on  September 
17th.  It  weighs  just  over  two  cwts.  and  was  exhibited  in  the  shop  of 
Messrs.  Kangecroft,  Ltd.,  Corn  Market. 


J.  A.  Sidney  Stendall. 


Belfast. 


Stray  Bird  Notes,  Autumn,   1917. 

My  experiences  coincide  very  much  with  those  of  Mr.  C.  B.  Moffat 
and  Mr.  Burkitt.  First  as  to  the  arrival  of  the  migrants.  My  earliest 
date  is  Swallow,  April  23,  followed  by  Chiff-chaff,  April  23,  and  Willow 
Warbler,  April  26,  Sand  Martin,  April  30.  These  were  the  only  migrants 
noted  in  April,  but  the  Cuckoo  and  Corncrake  were  both  observed  on 
May  I.  The  Wheatear,  which  generaly  arrives  here  about  the  end  of 
March,  I  could  not  find  at  its  usual  haunt,  and  only  observed  one  on 
September  27  !  The  Spotted  Flycatcher  was  only  seen  by  me  on  June 
II,  whilst  our  rarer  visitors,  the  Grasshopper  Warbler,  the  Quail  and  the 
Turtle  Dove  were  not  observed  at  all.  I  spent  July  and  August  in 
England,  and  in  the  first  week  of  July  at  Stoke  Ash  near  Ipswich,  in  the 
small  lawn  at  the  Pai'sonage  I  observed  the  Blackcap,  the  Garden  Warbler, 
Chiff-chaff,  Willow  Warbler,  Whitethroat,  the  Tree  Pipit  and  the  Turtle 
Dove,  but  not  until  August  11  did  I,  for  the  first  time  in  the  year,  note 
the  Gold-crest. 

Some  of  the  folk  names  of  the  birds  in  Fngland  are  very  curious,  such 
as  the  "  Groundoven  "  for  the  Willow  Warbler,  and  the  "  Hayjack  " 
for  the  Linnet.  The  "  Thricecock  "  Mr.  Warde  Parke  thinks  may  mean 
the  "  Mistle  Thrush,"  but  I  have  never  yet  met  anyone  who  could  explain 
the  meaning  of  the  "  Swiney,"  by  which  porcine  appellation  the  Meadow 
Pipit  is  always  known  in  Balbriggan. 


Charles  W.  Benson. 


Balbriggan,   October   10. 


Green  Sandpiper  in  King's  County. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  you  to  know  that  I  identified  a  Green  Sandpiper, 
Totaniis  ochropns,  adult,  sex  unknown,  seen  on  the  wing  on  Ballyheishall 
bog,  near  lulentlerry,  King's  County,  on  November  15th,  1017-  I  hope 
to  meet  with  it  again  later  in  the  year.  1  have  not  hitherto  seen  any 
of  these  birds  in  this  loralitv. 


Hei-PN  M.  Rajt  K6RR- 


Fiathmoyle,  Fdenderry 


iQi8.  Notes.  15 

Woodcock  marked    in    Ireland  and  recovered  in  Shetland. 

In  the  Irish  Naturalist,  August,  1917,  I  recorded  that  a  Woodcock  having 
a  ring  on  its  foot  endorsed  "  T.  H.  Sligo  4,"  had  met  with  its  death  in 
Shetland.  As  the  result  of  that  note,  Mr.  J.  P.  Burkitt  advised  me  to 
communicate  with  Mr.  T.  C.  Bracken,  Temple  House,  Ballymote,  who 
has  informed  me  that  the  bird  was  one  of  four  ringed  at  Temple  House 
on  the  1 2th  of  May,  191-1,  and  that  it  was  about  a  fortnight  old  when 
marked.  It  is  impossible  to  give  any  satisfactory  explanation  for  the 
presence  of  an  adult  Irish-bred  Woodcock  in  Shetland  on  the  7th  of   July. 

Royal  Scottish  Museum,  Edinburgh.  Wm.   Eagle  Clarke, 

Sandwich  Terns  breeding  in  Co.  Qalway. 

Twenty  terns  of  this  species  were  counted  in  one  group  on  Mutton 
Island,  Co.  Galway,  on  June  12th,  191 7,  and  on  June  17th  there  were 
live  nests  containing  eggs.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Glanville  for  this 
interesting  information.  This  is,  I  believe,  the  first  occurrence  of  the 
Sandwich  Tern  nesting  in  Galway  which  is  the  third  county  on  the  west 
coast  of  Ireland  in  which  it  is  known  to  breed. 

Bloomfield,  Hollymount,  Co.  Mayo.  Robert  F.   Ruttledge. 

Owls  and  Sparrow  Hawks  clapping  their  Wings. 

I  have  read  with  much  interest  Mr.  J.  P.  Burkitt's  remarks  on  the  Long- 
eared  Owl  (vol.  xxvi.,  pp.  161-163),  and  with  reference  to  his  comments 
upon  the  habit  these  birds  have  of  clapping  their  wings,  I  may  say  that 
I  have  noted  this  upon  several  occasions  during  the  past  thirty  or  forty 
years.  It  is,  I  have  no  doubt,  a  normal  phase  of  the  nuptial  flight,  and 
the  sound  produced  by  the  striking  together  of  the  wings  above  the  back 
can  be  distinctly  heard  at  a  distance  of  at  least  twenty  or  thirty  yards. 
I  am  almost  certain  that  both  sexes  indulge  in  the  habit,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  Pigeons  for  example,  but  at  any  rate  I  can  answer  for  it  that 
upon  one  occasion  it  was  a  female  Long-eared  Owl  that  clapped. 

But  the  habit  is  not  confined  to  one  species  only.  I  have  repeatedl}' 
heard  and  seen  the  Tawny  Owl  clap  its  wings  in  precisely  the  same 
manner.  Upon  one  occasion,  too,  I  saw  a  female  Sparrow-Hawk  do  it, 
when  indulging  in  the  rather  owl-like  flight  which  is  the  habit  of  her 
sex  at  the  pairing  season,  her  mate  meanwhile  soaring  overhead  ;  while 
the  Nightjar  is  well  known  to  clap  its  wings  during  its    love-flights. 

When,  as  boys,  we  used  to  keep  pigeons,  it  was  customary  to  speak 
of  the  slow-flapping  flight  of  a  bird,  during  which  the  wings  are  often 
loudly  clapped,  as  "  owling."  The  origin  of  the  expression,  or  of  its 
application,  I  do  not  know,  but  it  descended  to  us  from  previous  pigeon- 
keepers,  and  was  no  new  invention.  Possibly  it  may  be  in  common 
use  through  the  country.  In  that  case  may  it  not  have  originated,  in 
times  long  past,  from  a  knowledge  possessed  by  its  coiners  of  the  fact 
that  Owls  clapped  their  wings  in  similar  leisurely  fashion  ? 

Alston,  Cumberland,  George  Bolam. 


i6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  January,  1918. 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 


DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB. 

November  14. — The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House,  the  President  (N. 
CoLGAN,  M.R.I. A.)  in  the  chair. 

Prof.  G.  H.  Carpenter  showed  a  preparation  of  the  male  reproductive 
organs  of  the  Warble-fly  {Hypoderma  hovis)  and  a  section  through  the 
testes.  In  the  latter  some  of  the  details  of  the  spermatogenesis  could 
be  distinguished,  and  chromatic  cytoplasmic  inclusions  such  as  the 
mitochondria  were  recognisable. 

D.  M'Ardle  exhibited  Dicranella  heteromalla,  Schp.  showing  the  pale 
yellow  seta  and  capsule  with  rostrate  lid,  peristome  with  large  red  teeth, 
cleft  to  the  middle  into  two  or  three  divisions.  He  also  showed  the  male 
plants  which  are  seldom  seen,  and  were  collected  recently  on  the  Dublin 
Mountains  at  Killakee  ;  they  are  smaller  and  stouter,  and  their  leaves 
are  less  falcate,  and  form  a  terminal  coma  around  the  conspicuous  oval 
inflorescence.  In  this  stage  they  may  be  passed  over  by  the  student 
for  a  species  of  Pleuridium,  and  would  require  to  be  dissected  for  the 
antheridia.  A  drawing  of  Pleuridium  alternifolinm  was  shown  for 
comparison.  This  interesting  silky-leaved  moss  is  common  in  Ireland, 
easily  identified  by  the  yellow  seta  when  in  fruit. 

H.  A.  Lafferty  exhibited  the  oospores  of  a  species  of  Phytophthora 
parasitic  on  Tomato,  Aster,  Petunia  and  Wall-flower  seedlings,  the  disease 
being  recognised  by  the  falling  over  of  attacked  plants.  Up  to  the  present 
the  oospores  have  only  been  obtained  in  pure  cultures  and  their  method 
of  formation  is  identical  with  that  described  for  Phytophthora  erythroscptica, 
the  oogonium  (female)  entering  the  antheridium  (male)  at  its  base,  growing 
up  through  it,  eventually  bursting  out  at  the  top  where  it  swells  out 
forming  its  oosphere  and  later  its  oospore.  Pure  culture  studies  and 
infection  trials  have  proved  that  the  fungus  is  quite  distinct  from  any 
of  the  previously  described  species  of  Phytophthora. 

W.  F.  GuNN  exhibited  a  slide  of  Tubifera  ferruginosa,  a  species  of 
Mycetozoa.  It  was  found  in  August  last,  in  the  plasmodium  stage,  on 
a  decaying  fir-stump  near  Rathdrum,  and  was  then  of  the  less  usual 
yellow  colour.  The  plasmodium  is  usually  of  a  watery  white  colour, 
but,  in  rare  cases,  bright  yellow.  As  in  some  other  genera  of  this  group 
of  fungi  the  sporangia  combine  to  form  a  sort  of  compound  colony  known 
as  an  aethalium.  The  slide  showed  a  vertical  section,  and  clearly 
exhibited  the  brown  sporangia,  with  their  iridescent  walls  and  contained 
spores,  seated  upon  the  white  spongy  hypothallus. 


Irish  Naturalist,     vol.  xxvii. 


To  face  page  17.] 


February,  1918.  The  Irish  Naturalist.  17 

EDWARD   HULL 

M.A.,    LL.D.,    F.R.S. 

The  death  of  Professor  Edward  Hull  on  October  i8th,  1917, 
in  his  eighty-ninth  year,  severs  one  more  link  with  the 
pioneers  of  geological  science  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
To  the  last  he  retained  mental  and  considerable  bodily 
vigour,  and  he  often  recalled  pleasant  memories  of  his 
public  life  in  Ireland.  His  career  and  sympathies  are  well 
represented  in  his  "  Reminiscences  of  a  Strenuous  Life  " 
(London  :  H.  Rees,  1910),  published  when  he  was  already 
over  eighty  years  of  age.  His  works  on  "  The  Coal-fields  of 
Great  Britain,  with  descriptions  of  the  Coal-fields  of  our 
Indian  and  Colonial  Empire  and  of  other  parts  of  the 
world  "  (fifth  edition,  1905),  and  on  "  The  Physical  Geo- 
logy and  Geography  of  Ireland  "  (2nd  edition,  1891)  have 
made  his  name  known  to  man}^  who  never  enjoyed  his 
courteous  friendship.  His  "  Treatise  on  the  Building  and 
Ornamental  Stones  of  Great  Britain  and  foreign  countries," 
published  in  1872,  has  long  served  as  a  w^ork  of  reference 
for  architects  and  engineers. 

Edward  Hull  was  born  at  Antrim  on  May  21st,  1829, 
when  his  father  was  curate  in  charge  of  Antrim  parish. 
While  at  school  at  Lucan  in  Co.  Dublin,  it  was  proposed 
that  he  should  enter  the  ministry  of  the  Church  of  Ireland, 
and  he  attended  in  consequence  a  class  in  the  Irish  language, 
as  well  as  studying  Hebrew  and  the  more  usual  classics. 
Perhaps  we  owe  the  discriminating  Irish  work  of  his  daughter 
Eleanor  in  some  measure  to  this  early  range  of  study.  But 
Hull's  attention  became  fixed  on  science  through  the 
lectures  of  Surgeon  Lover,  who,  in  days  that  we  are  apt  to 
look  on  as  dark  ages  for  education,  brought  apparatus  out 
from  Dublin  and  inspired  the  boys  at  Lucan  with  a  love  for 
natural  philosophy.  A  career  in  engineering  was  thus 
opened,  and  again  a  brilliant  teacher,  Dr.  Thomas  Oldham, 
at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  directed  the  bent  of  a  receptive 
and  industrious  mind.  As  Hull  writes  with  unaffected 
gratitude,  in  place  of  enginecrinf^,  "  Providence  had  some- 


i8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  February, 

thing  better  in  store  for  me."  Oldham  recommended  him  to 
De  la  Beche,  who  had  organised  the  Geological  Surve}^  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  his  first  official  work  was 
with  J.  Beete  Jukes,  in  1850,  among  the  mountain  ridges 
of  North  Wales. 

From  the  outset  he  was  thus  fortunate  in  his  friends, 
and  he  clearly  inspired  them  with  confidence.  ]\Iuch  of  his 
time  in  England  and  Scotland  was  spent  on  areas  of  Car- 
boniferous rocks,  and  this  led  to  his  serving  on  two  suc- 
cessive Royal  Commissions  on  our  coal-reserves  (1871  and 
igoi).  The  comparatively  early  death  of  Jukes  in  1869 
left  a  vacancy  in  the  directorship  of  the  Irish  branch 
of  the  Geological  Survey  and  also  in  the  professorship  of 
geology  in  the  Royal  College  of  Science  for  Ireland.  Sir 
Roderick  Murchison  recommended  Hull  for  both  posi- 
tions, and  he  held  them  until  his  retirement  in  1890. 
The  collections  of  the  Geological  Survey  were  during 
most  of  that  period  housed  in  the  building  occupied  by  the 
College  in  St.  Stephen's  Green,  and  the  long  association  of 
the  two  branches  of  official  geological  work,  educational  and 
exploratory,  is  recorded  in  the  excellent  series  of  diagrams 
and  sections  illustrating  Irish  geology  in  the  possession  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Science. 

In  the  winter  of  1883-4,  Hull  was  chosen  by  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  to  investigate 
the  geology  of  Sinai  and  southern  Palestine,  and  his  report 
appeared  in  1886.  In  1884  he  published  a  narrative  of  the 
expedition,  under  the  title  of  "  Mount  Seir,  Sinai,  and 
Western  Palestine."  These  observations  served  to  intensify 
his  interest  in  biblical  histor}-^  and  research. 

More  than  150  contributions  to  scientific  journals, 
from  1855  onwards,  are  recorded  under  Hull's  name  in 
the  Royal  Society's  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers.  He 
was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  before  reaching 
the  age  of  forty,  in  1867.  His  success  in  organising  the 
completion  of  the  one-inch  geological  map  of  Ireland, 
with  the  accompanying  memoirs,  before  the  date  of  his 
retirement,  led  to  a  certain  brevity  of  treatment  in  some 
of  the  later  memoirs  ;  his  artistic  taste,  however,  which 
was  evidenced  in  landscape-sketches  in  his  youth,  guided 


igiS.  Edward  Htdl.  19 

the  map-colourists  in  a  manner  that  remains  unexcelled, 
and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  zeal  for  uniformity  has  intro- 
duced   the    cruder  tints  of  British  maps   in  later  years. 
Irish  geology  has  from  time  to  time  been  the  victim  of 
obsessions.     Just  as  Jukes  in  his  last  years  sought  to  over- 
throw the  Devonian  system,  and  succeeded  in  impressing 
his  views  on  G.  H.  Kinahan,  so  Hull  felt  drawn  towards 
marking  out,  on  very  shadowy  indications,  a  line  between 
a  Dingle  Series  and  an  Old  Red  Sandstone  throughout  the 
south.       Undated  "  revisions  "  were  thus  made  in  a  large 
number    of    sheets,    the    bibliography    and    collation    of 
which  will  prove   a   complete  puzzle  to   librarians.     For- 
tunately,    these     changes    are   purely     of  stratigraphical 
interest,  and  in  no  way  affect   the  economic  and  practical 
value  of  the  sheets  concerned.     It  is  well,  however,  that 
the  southern  maps  as  originally  issued  should  be  preserved 
for  comparison  with  those  of  later  date. 

Hull  took  a  keen  interest  in  Glacial  problems.  In 
common  with  many  geologists  trained  in  England  and 
profoundly  influenced  by  Lyell,  he  regarded  the  deposits 
of  drift  as  aqueous  rather  than  as  directly  due  to  the  melting 
of  stagnant  continental  ice.  But  he  rightly  urged  that 
Ireland  revealed  evidence  of  an  interglacial  epoch,  and  his 
work  on  the  correlation  of  the  sands  and  g-ravels  of  the 
eastern  coast  tends  to  be  strengthened  and  confirmed  by 
later  observations. 

In  his  "  Reminiscences,"  Hull  gives  an  agreeable  picture 
of  life  in  Dublin  when  Sir  Robert  Kane,  Dr.  Johnstone 
Stoney,  and  Sir  Robert  Ball — to  name  no  others — were 
prominent  in  the  scientific  life  of  the  metropolis.  Work 
has  since  tended  to  be  more  specialised  and  perhaps  more 
truly  "  strenuous  "  ;  but  it  is  pleasant  to  think  that  many 
of  the  institutions  to  which  he  refers  stiU  serve  as  grounds 
of  meeting,  and  that  the  Scientific  Club  still  brings  together 
in  social  converse  workers  in  very  diverse  fields. 

Hull  married  in  1857  the  daughter  of  Dr.  C.  T.  Cooke 
of  Cheltenham,  and  had  four  daughters  and  two  sons,  most 
of  whom  survive  him. 

Grenville  a.  J.  Cole. 

A  2 


20  The  Irish  Naturalist.  February, 


LUSITANIA    AND     KERRY:     A    BOTANICAL 

PARALLEL. 

BY    NATHANIEL    COLGAN,     M.R.I. A. 

The  flora  of  Portugal,  the  classic  Lusitahia,  has  had  a 
peculiar  interest  for  Irish  botanists  ever  since  Edward 
Forbes  in  his  well-known  Geological  Survey  Memoir  of 
1846  drew  attention  to  those  western  and  south-western 
Irish  plants,  which  are  usually  spoken  of  as  the  Lusitanian 
group.  The  existence  of  this  interest  coupled  with  the  fact 
that  the  Portuguese  language  and  literature  are  almost 
completely  neglected  in  this  country  may  be  pleaded  as 
sufficient  excuse  for  giving  here  a  short  abstract  of  the 
results  yielded  by  a  botanical  exploration  of  the  highest 
mountain  region  of  Portugal  made  so  long  ago  as  1881. 
With  the  Relatorio  or  report  of  this  survey,  a  copy  of  which 
recently  came  into  my  possession,  most  Irish  botanists  are 
probably  unfamiliar.  It  is  a  folio  brochure  of  133  pages,  in 
the  Portuguese  vernacular,  printed  at  Lisbon  in  1883,  and 
drawn  up  by  Dr.  Julio  Augusto  Henriques,  Professor  of 
Botany  in  the  University  of  Coimbra,  and  one  of  the  native 
botanists  who  carried  out  the  survey.  The  region  dealt  with 
is  the  Serra  da  Estrella,  the  mountain  chain, chiefly  granitic, 
which  stretches  north-eastward  from  Coimbra  for  about 
50  miles,  and  attains  a  height  of  rather  more  than  6,500 
feet  under  40 1  degrees  of  north  latitude. 

The  survey,  which  included  botanical  exploration 
amongst  its  objects,  w^as  carried  out  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Lisbon  Geographical  Society,  and  dealt  very  exhaus- 
tively with  the  natural  history  of  the  region.  The  inter- 
pretation given  to  that  essentially  flexible  term,  Natural 
History,  was  even  freer  than  it  received  in  our  happily 
accomplished  Clare  Island  Survey  ;  for  in  addition  to  the 
usual  branches  of  botany,  zoology,  geology,  meteorology, 
and  anthropology,  the  Portuguese  survey  had  sections 
dealing     witli     chemistry,   hydrography,     lake   soundings, 


i9iS.  CoLGAN. — Lusitania  and  Kerry.  21 

zootechnics  (cattle-breeding)  and — ophthalmology.  The 
personnel  of  the  expedition  included  a  major  of  engineers 
and  an  infantry  lieutenant  in  charge  of  camping  arrange- 
ments, a  cook,  scullions  (adjutantes  de  cozinha),  a  bugler, 
and  a  police  force,  consisting  of  an  officer  and  six  infantry 
men.  \Mld  as  West  Ireland  may  be  it  seems  clear  that  the 
Serra  da  Estrella  is  a  good  deal  wilder,  or,  at  all  events, 
was  so  in  1881.  No  doubt  the  pastoral  population  of  its 
upper  regions  have  little  claim  to  be  considered  gentle 
shepherds. 

The  Botanical  Report,  which  is  a  very  full  one,  is  made 
up  of  three  sections.  The  first  gives  a  short  sketch  of  the 
progress  of  botanical  research  in  the  Serra  ;  the  second 
defines  the  vertical  zones  and  describes  their  floral  charac- 
teristics ;  and  the  third  forms  a  catalogue,  with  localities, 
of  all  the  species  which  ascend  above  the  lowest  zone. 
The  precise  limits  covered  by  the  survey,  though  nowhere 
definitety  stated,  appear  from  the  various  localities 
mentioned  to  have  included  both  slopes  of  the  Serra  from 
Coimbra  to  the  summit,  or,  roughly,  720  square  miles. 
This  corresponds  very  closely  with  the  combined  areas  of 
Districts  L,  II.,  III.,  and  IV.  of  Mr.  Scully's  recently 
published  Flora  of  County  Kerry,  and  the  very  full  details 
given  both  by  Mr.  Scully  and  by  Dr.  Henriques,  especially 
as  to  vertical  range  of  species,  enables  us  to  compare  the 
flora  of  the  extreme  south-west  mountain  region  of  Ireland 
with  that  of  the  northern  mountain  region  of  Portugal, 
lying  some  12  degrees  of  latitude  further  southward.  As 
might  have  been  expected,  the  continental  and  more 
southern  region  has  the  richer  flora,  the  Serra  da  Estrella 
giving  a  total  of  1,230  phanerogams  and  vascular  crypto- 
gams to  a  South  Kerry  total  of  750.  ^ 

Dr.  Henriques  divides  his  area  into  six  vertical  zones, 
the  three  lower  agrarian,  the  three  upper  alpine.  These 
zones  which  are  determined  by  their  characteristic  plants 
are  not  of  equal  extent.      They  vary  from  100  to  700  metres, 


\  The  Characeac,   which  are  not  included  in  the  Portuguese  report, 
have  been  excluded  from  the  South  Kerry  total. 


22  The  Irish  Naturalist.  February, 

the  Agrarian  Zones,  Lower,  Middle,  and  Upper  (I.,  II.,  and 
III.)  together  ranging  from  sea-level  to  1,500  metres,  or  say, 
5,000  feet,  the  three  Alpine  Zones  (IV.,  V.,  and  VI.),  Lower, 
Middle,  and  Upper,  oecupying  the  remaining  1,500  feet  up 
to  the  summit. 

It  is  chiefly  with  the  Alpine  Zones  we  are  concerned  here, 
yet  a  few  words  may  be  given  to  the  Agrarian  Zones  in 
which  the  great  bulk  of  the  Serra  da  Estrella  flora  is  found. 
The  Lower  Agrarian  ranging  from  sea-level  to  1,300  feet,  is 
the  home  of  the  Mediterranean  flora,  and  in  its  total  of 
1,030  species  of  phanerogams  and  vascular  cryptogams  are 
included  the  sub-tropical  American  aliens  the  Agave  and 
the  Nopal  or  Indian  Fig  (Opuntia)  which  flourish  up  to 
nearly  1,000  feet  and  form  hedges  round  the  vineyards  and 
olive  groves.  This  is  the  zone  of  the  Orange,  the  Lemon, 
the  Vine,  the  Olive  and  the  Fig.  Here,  too,  in  the  lowest 
levels  Rice  is  largely  cultivated,  to  the  great  detriment 
of  the  public  health,  as  Dr.  Henriques  says  [com  grandc 
detrimento  da  saude  publica).  In  the  Middle  Agrarian 
Zone  (II.)  ranging  from  1,300  to  2,600  feet,  the  Castanheiro 
or  Edible  Chestnut  prevails,  Millet  [Paniciim  iniliaceum)  is 
largely  cultivated  and  wide  tracts  are  covered  with  various 
species  of  Cistus  or  Rock-rose.  In  this  zone  our  rare 
Asplenium  lanceolatiim  finds  its  upper  limit  at  1,650  feet, 
and  many  familiar  Irish  and  Kerry  species  exhaust  their 
vertical  range  at  about  2,300  feet,  e.g.,  Radiola  linoides, 
Trifoliuni  arvense,  Peplis  Portida,  Lcontodon  hispidus, 
Solanum  Didcamara,  Lycopus  curopaeiis  and  Scirpus  Savii. 
In  the  Upper  Agrarian  Zone  (III.),  ranging  from  2,600  to 
about  4,900  feet,  the  Common  Bracken  and  the  culture  of 
Rye  cease  at  about  4,800  feet,  and  a  monotonous  aspect  is 
given  to  the  landscape  by  the  dominance  of  the  prostrate, 
ashen-grey  vegetation  of  Hali)niiim  occidentalc,  one  of  the 
Cistineae.  The  Arbutus,  the  Croumcahinye  of  Kerry, 
the  Madronheiro  of  the  Portuguese,  and  Madroiio  of  the 
Cantabrian  highlanders,  ascends  into  this  zone,  and  so  at- 
tains at  least  2,600  feet,  though  its  precise  limits  are  not 
given  in  the  report.  Here,  too,  potato  cultivation  reaches 
its  upper  limit  at  3,250  feet,  and  one  of  the  economically 
valuable    Esparto   grasses,    Macrochloa    arenaria,    becomes 


igiS.  CoLGAx. — Liisitania  and  Kerry.  23 

abundant.  Amongst  the  common  Irish  species  which 
exhaust  their  vertical  range  in  this  zone  at  about  3,200 
feet  are  Viola  sylvatica,  Samhiicus  nigra,  Senecio  sylvaticus 
and  Crepis  virens. 

Passing  into  the  Lower  Alpine  Zone  (IV.),  4,900  to 
5,750  feet,  we  find  that  the  flora  has  fallen  from  1,030 
species  in  Zone  I.  to  a  total  of  114,  with  the  result  that 
the  Irish  or  Northern  element  in  the  vegetation  begins 
to  emerge,  chiefly  in  such  alpine  or  bog  or  marsh  plants  as 
Allosorus  crispus,  Alsine  venia,  Saxifraga  stellaris,  Drosera 
rotundifolia,  Hieracium  nmrormn,  Mcnyanthes  trifoliata, 
Juniperiis  nana,  and  Molinia  caerulea.  Three  of  our  most 
exclusively  calcifuge  species.  Digitalis  purpurea,  Lttzula 
maxima,  and  Blechnum  Spicant,  which  range  in  Kerry 
respectively  to  2,900,  3,400,  and  3,150  feet,  here  find  their 
upper  limit  at  5,000  feet,  while  the  Birch  [Betula  pnhescens) 
ranging  in  Kerr}^  to  1,050  feet,  here  ceases  at  5,100.  The 
Iberian  and  Mediterranean  heaths  now  become  dominant, 
appearing  in  the  following  ascending  order,  Erica  itmhellata, 
E.  arborea,  E.  aragonensis,  and  E.  lusitanica.  The  last  of 
these,  accompanied  by  our  common  Ling  (Calluna),  spreads 
up  to  5,800  feet,  and  the  Dwarf  Juniper  (/.  nana),  the 
Zimbro  of  the  Portuguese,  is  conspicuous,  rooting  in  rocky 
ground,  and  spreading  in  dense,  flat  sheets  over  a  sward 
which  is  formed  almost  exclusively  of  our  familiar  calcifuge 
mountain  grass,  Nardus  stricta.  An  aquatic  species, 
Sparganiimi  nalans,  frequent  in  our  mountain  lakes  from 
Kerry  to  Donegal,  but  apparently  confined  in  Portugal  to 
the  Serra  da  Estrella,  makes  its  first  appearance  in  this 
zone,  and  re-appears  higher  up  in  Zone  V.  in  the  Lagoa  da 
Salgadeira  at  5,900  feet.  Confined  to  Zone  IV..  are  two 
alpine  Narcissi  peculiar  to  the  Peninsula,  A^.  nivalis  Graells 
and  N.  riipicola  Dufour. 

In  the  Middle  Alpine  Zone,  V.,  5,750  to  6,100  feet,  two 
other  Irish  and  Kerry  species,  Alchemilla  alpina  and  Hiera- 
cium vidgatum.  make  their  first  appearance  in  the  Serra, 
and  four  others,  our  common  Male  Fern,  Sedum  anglicum, 
Carex  echinata  and  Deschampsia  flexuosa  reach  their  upper 
limit  at  about  5,800  feet.      The  most  characteristic  of  our 


24  The  Irish  Naturalist.  February, 

Irish  Lusitanian  species,  Saxifraga  lunbrosa,  so  protean  in 
its  Kerry  hybrids,  re-appears  in  this  zone  after  a  long  interval 
at  its  upper  limit  of  5,800  feet.  Frequent  with  us  at  sea- 
level  in  Kerry  and  ]\Iayo,  it  is  quite  sub-alpine  in  the  Penin- 
sula, and  in  the  Serra  Dr.  Henriques  places  its  lower  limit 
at  2,300  feet.  Two  Gentians  here  make  their  first  ap- 
pearance, the  alpine  G.  liitea  which  finds  its  upper  limit  in 
this  zone,  and  G.  Pneumonanthe  w^hich  ascends  into  the 
Summit  Zone  VI.,  where  it  is  one  of  the  most  characteristic 
and  abundant  species  and  has  been  observed  by  every  visitor 
to  the  Serra  {observado  por  todos  os  que  teem  visitado  a  Serra). 
'  In  the  vSummit  or  Upper  Alpine  Zone  (VI.),  6,100  to 
0,500  feet,  the  flora  is  reduced  to  forty-five  species,  and 
of  these  no  less  than  nineteen  or  42  per  cent,  are  Irish, 
eighteen  being  South  Kerry  species.  The  nature  of  the 
soil  is  well  shown  by  the  fact  that  ten  of  these  nineteen 
species  are  strongly  marked  calcifuges,  such  as  Polygala 
serpyllacea,  Viola  palustris,  Cotyledon  Umbilicus ,  Saxifraga 
stellaris,  Junciis  squarrosus  and  Nardus  stricta.  In  the  com- 
bined floras  of  the  tw^o  upper  zones,  V.  and  VI.,  the  pro- 
portion of  Irish  species  is  quite  as  large.  It  is  thirty-nine 
out  of  ninety-one,  or  almost  43  per  cent.,  only  one  of  the 
thirty-nine,  Allosonis  crispus,  the  Parsley  Fern,  being  absent 
from  South  Kerry. 

The  influence  of  increase  of  elevation  expressing  itself 
through  climatic  change  is  shown  not  only  in  the  substi- 
tution of  northern  for  southern  plant  types,  but  in  the  rate 
of  impoverishment  in  the  flora.  Taking  the  upper  1,500 
feet  or  so  of  the  Kerry  highlands  and  of  the  Serra  da 
Estrella,  the  areas  lying  above  2,000  feet  in  Kerry  and  above 
5,000  feet  in  Portugal,  we  find  a  remarkably  close  agreement 
in  the  rate  of  diminution  of  the  floras  when  compared  in 
each  case  with  the  floras  of  the  immediately  preceding 
lower  zone.  A  rise  of  1,414  feet  in  Kerry  reduces  the  flora 
from  173  to  forty-eight  species,  a  loss  of  125  or  72*2  per 
cent.  :  a  similar,  or  not  greatly  dissimilar  rise  (1,570  feet) 
in  the  Serra  reduces  its  flora  from  166  to  forty-five,  a  loss  of 
121  or  72*9  per  cent.  In  other  words,  taking  impoverish- 
ment in  floral  diversity  as  a  criterion  of  climate,  the  climate 


igiS. 


CoLGAN. — Lusitania  and  Kerry. 


25 


of  the  Kerry  Highlands  between  2,000  and  3,414  feet 
finds  its  counterpart  in  the  cHmate  of  the  Serra  da  Estrella 
between  roughly  5,000  and  6,500  feet. 

In  the  Portuguese  report  the  distribution  of  the  species 
through  the  chief  Natural  Orders  is  given,  and  this  enables 
us  to  compare  the  systematic  constitution  of  the  southern 
flora  with  that  of  extreme  South-west  Ireland.  In  the 
following  table  the  numbers  and  percentages  to  the  total 
floras  of  the  species  in  the  ten  largest  orders  of  South  Kerry, 
Districts  I.,  II.,  III.,  and  IV.  of  Mr.  Scully's  Flora,  are 
given  along  with  the  corresponding  numbers  and  per- 
centages of  the  same  orders  in  the  Serra  da  Estrella,  the 
serial  numbers  i  to  10  denoting  the  order  of  magnitude 
for  each  region.  The  contrast  between  the  two  floras,  one 
northern  and  insular,  the  other  southern  and  continental, 
comes  out  clearly  in  this  table.  In  the  continental  flora 
Leguminosae  take  third  place  in  magnitude,  in  Kerry  they 
take  tenth.  On  the  other  hand,  Cyperaceae  and  Filices 
standing  respectively  third  and  fifth  in  Kerry,  sink  to  the 
ninth  and  tenth  places  in  the  Serra. 


Proportions  of  the  Principal  Natural  Orders  to  the 

Total  Floras  in  South  Kerry  and  in  the 

Serra  da  Estrella. 


South 

Kerry 

SjiRRA  DA  Hsi 

RliLL/ 

Per 

Per 

Species. 

Cent. 

Species. 

Cent. 

1. 

Compohiitae 

60 

or 

8.0 

I  . 

148 

or 

12.0 

2. 

Gramineae 

55 

7-3 

2 . 

113 

9.0 

3- 

Cyperaceae 

55 

7.3 

9* 

35 

2.8 

4- 

Caryophyllcae 

30 

4.0 

5  • 

47 

3.82 

5- 

Filices 

.  .     28 

3.7 

10. 

21 

1.7 

6. 

Cruciferae 

28 

3.7 

7  • 

44 

5-5^ 

7- 

Umbelli  ferae 

27 

3.6 

4- 

55 

4.3 

8. 

Scrophulariiieae    . 

26 

3.4(^ 

6« 

45 

3. 06 

9- 

Labiatae 

24 

3.^ 

8. 

44 

3.58 

10. 

Leguminosae 

21 

2.8 

3- 

100 

8.1 

\ERRY. 

Serra 

Feet. 

Feet. 

3,120 

6,500 

1,800 

5,800 

2,300 

5.900 

^,050 

6,200 

1.4^5 

6,200 

1.450 

6,200 

1.450 

^.350 

1,000 

6,200 

5^5 

3,600 

1.700 

2.350 

400 

1,900 

3.150 

6,200 

1,200 

2,600 

1,800 

6,100 

26  TJic  Irish  Naturalist.  February, 

The  increase  in  vertical  range  in  the  Serra  da  Estrella 
of  certain  species  which  exhaust  their  upward  range  in 
Kerry  is  shown  in  the  following  table  : — 


Viola  palustris 
Ilex  Aquifolium 
Pyrus  Aucuparia 
Drosera  rotundifolia  ^ 
Epilobium  palustre 
Conopodium  denudatuiii 
Carum  verticillatum    .  . 
Wahleiibergia  hederacea 
Arbutus  Unedo 
Sibthorpia  europaea    .  . 
Simethis  bicolor 
Cystopteris  fragilis 
Osmunda  regalis 
Juniperus  nana 

There  is  one  noteworthy  defect  in  this  Report — the  total 
absence  of  any  reference  to  Ireland,  although  the  general 
European  distribution  of  each  species  is  given  in  the 
Catalogue.  x\t  a  first  glance  it  would  seem  that  the  fre- 
quently recurring  word  "  Inglaterra  "  is  intended,  in  a  slip- 
shod way  not  unusual  with  Continental  writers,  to  include 
the  British  Isles.  Further  examination,  however,  shows 
that  this  explanation  is  hardly  admissible,  since  under 
Juniperus  nana,  "  Escocia  "  and  "  Inglaterra  "  are  dis- 
tinguished. In  the  distribution  of  Simdhis  hicolor  and 
Arbutus  Unedo  not  even  Inglaterra  is  mentioned  ;  so  one  is 
forced  to  conclude  that  the  author  was  quite  ignorant 
of  Irish  botany.  This  defect  must  detract  from  the  value 
and  interest  of  this  excellent  report  for  the  compatriots 
of  Dr.  Henriques,  though  of  little  consequence  to  Irish 
botanists. 

Sandycuv'C,  Co.  Dublin. 


i  According  to  Dr.  Henriques  this  species  occurs  in  all  tiucc  Alpine 
Zones  wherever  Sphagnum  grows  {Em  iodos  os  logares  onde  vive  0  Sphagnum) 


19 18.  .         Bi?ADE-BiRKS. — iSiotes  OH  Irish  Myriapoda.  27 

NOTES  ON    MYRIAPODA.  Vlll.i 
RECENT  ADDITIONS  TO  THE  IRISH  FAUNA. 

BY     HILDA     K.     BRADE-BIRKS,     M.SC,     M.B.,     CH.B.,     L.R.C.P., 
M.R.C.S.,  AND  THE  REV.  S.  GRAHAM  BRADE-BIRKS,  M.SC. 

Irish  naturalists  very  kindly  continue  to  place  material 
at  our  disposal  from  time  to  time,  and  in  the  course  of 
diagnosis  we  have  recently  met  with  one  centipede  and  two 
millipedes  previously  unrecorded  for  Ireland,   namely  : — 

Chilopoda  : 

Geophilus  insculpius  Attems. 

DiPLOPODA  : 

Brachyiiilus   {Microbrachyiiilus)   littoralis  Verhoeff. 
Brachydesmus  super  us  mosellanus  Verhoeff. 

Geophilus  insciilptus  Attems. 

We  recently  recorded  this  species  as  new  to  Britain  (2), 
and  it  has  been  sent  to  us  from  Ireland  by  Mr.  Nevin  H. 
Foster,  who  took  a  female  in  Hillsborough  Park,  Co.  Down, 
4  iii.  1916.  The  same  collector  has  also  sent  an  example 
from  Hillsborough,  collected  in  July,  1917.  We  must  with- 
draw our  own  Irish  record  of  G,  proximus  from  Sugarloaf, 
Bray,  Co.  Wicklow  (3),  as  this  animal  afterwards  turned  out 
to  be  G.  insculptus. 

We  think  it  probable  that  most  Irish  records  of  G. 
proximus  will  need  the  same  correction.  Dr.  Henry  W. 
Brolemann,  the  eminent  French  zoologist, f;j  litt.  referring  to 
Mr.  Evans's  reference  (5)  to  his  note  in  the  Irish  Naturalist 
(4)  seems  to  doubt  the  validity  of  his  own  diagnosis  of  G. 
proximus,  as  it  was  evidently  made  at  a  time  when  he  was 
not  familiar  with  G.  insculptus  ;  so,  until  authenticated 
examples  of  G.  proximus  are  definitely  recorded  for  the 
British  Isles,  we  are  afraid  that  this  species  must  be  regarded 


*An  earlier  paper  in  this  series,  the  third,  also  appeared  in  this 
journal  in  August,  1916,  the  other  papers  have  appeared  in  various 
other  scientific  periodicals. 


28  The  Irish  Naturalist.  February, 

as  belonging  more  particularly  to  the  central  states  of 
Europe,  though  Dr.  Brolemann  says,  inliti.  "  Maybe,  after 
all,  pyoxiniHS  occurs  in  your  country." 

Attems  gives  excellent  figures  of  his  species  (i). 

UracJiyiHliis  {MicrohracJiyiitlus)  littoralis  Verhoeff. 

This  species  is  probably  not  uncommon  in  the  British 
Isles,  where  it  appears  to  have  been  much  confused  with 
Julus  pusillus  Leach. 

A  male  was  collected  at  Gawley's  Gate,  Co.  Antrim,  by 
Mr.  Foster,  on  May  30th,  1917.  Three  females,  probably 
referable  to  the  same  species,  had  been  taken  by  Mr.  A.  W. 
Stelfox  and  ^Ir.  Foster  two  days  earlier,  at  Baltymagee, 
Co.    Down. 

Brachydesmus   siipcrus   mosellaniis   Verhoeff. 

We  have  received  specimens  of  this  variety,  which  \\'\\\ 
probably  prove  to  be  common  in  these  islands,  collected 
in  considerable  numbers  by  Mr.  Foster  in  May,  1917,  and 
by  Mr.  Stelfox  in  November,  1917,  at  Baltymagee,  Co.  Down, 
where  it  constitutes  a  pest  in  the  latter's  garden.  Mr. 
Foster  also  took  it  at  Gawley's  Gate,  Co.  Antrim,  on 
May  30th,  1917. 

This  variety  occurs  in  England  (2),  and  is  figured  by 
Dr.    Verhoeff    (6  and  7).   . 

We  have  also  received  several  interesting  specimens  of 
Diplopoda  from  Ireland,  which  we  have  been  unable  to 
identify  in  the  absence  of  adult  males. 

Since  our  former  note  in  this  Journal  (3)  we  have 
examined  the  following  tubes  of  material  bearing  on  the 
subject  of  that  paper  : — 

65O.  Lithobius   lapidicola^   one    female,    Murray's    Wood,  Coalisland,  Co. 

Tyrone,    3.   vi.    iyi6,  INIr.   N.   H.   Foster. 
704  L.  lapidicola,  two  females,  one  male,  near  Lough  Dan,  Co.  Wicklow, 

6.  X.   1913,  Miss  J.   Stephens.      [Nat.  Mus.,   Ireland,   material]. 
712.   L.  Duboscqui,  one    female,  Antrim    Churchyard,  Co.  Antrim,  2.  ix. 

1916,  Mr.  N.  H.  Foster. 
720.   L.  lapidicola,  one    female,  two    males.     The    Spa,  Bally nahinch,  Co. 

Down,  8.  V.  1915,  Mr.  N.  H.  Foster.    [Nat.  Mus.,  Ireland,  material : 

X09— 1915J- 


I 


igiS.  Brade-Birks. —.Vo/fs  on  Irish  Myriapoda.  29 

721.  L.  lapidicola,  six   males,  Gleniff,  Co.  Sligo,   17.  iv.   191 4.       Mr.     N. 

H.  Foster.     [Nat.  Mus.,   Ireland,  material  :    373 — 1914]- 
919.  L.  lapidicola,   one  example,    Ballymagee,   Co.    Down,   28.   v.      191 7, 

Messrs.    A.    W.    Stelfox    and    N.    H.    Foster. 
945.  L.  Duboscqui,  one  male,  Hillsborough  Park,  Co.  Down,  July,  1917, 

Mr.  N.   H.   Foster. 

References. 

1.  Attems,  C.    G. — "  Die    Myriopoden    Steiermarks  "  ;    Sitz.  der  Math.- 

Nat.  Classe  K.  Akad.    Wiss.  Wien,  civ.,  i.    {1895),    pp.  117    et  seq. 
Figs. 

2.  Br.^de,  Hilda   K.,  and  Birks,  S.  Graham. — "  Notes  on  Myriapoda, 

n. — Some   Brief    Records  "  ;    Latics.  and  Chesh.  Nal.   (July,  1916), 
p.  82. 

3.  Brade,  Hilda  K,  and  Birks,  S.  Graham. — "  Notes    on  Myriapoda, 

in. — Two  Irish  Chilopods  "  ;  Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xxv.  (1916),  pp.   121 
et  seq. 

4.  Brolemann,   Henry  W. — "  Lithobiits  variegatus  Leach  "  ;   Irish  Nal., 

vol.   V.    (1896),   pp.    \2  et  seq. 

5.  Evans,  William. — "  The  Myriapods  of  the  Forth  Area  "  ;    Proc.    Roy. 

Phys.  Soc.  Edinh.,  vol.  xvi.  (1906),  pp.  405  et  seq. 

6.  Verhoeff,   C.  W. — Fin  Beitrag   zur  mitteleuropaischen  Diplopoden- 

Fauna,  Berl.    Ent.    Zeitschr.,  Bd.   xxxvi.,   i.  (1891),  pp.  115  et  seq.. 
Figs. 

7.  Verhoeff,   C.  W.— Ueber  Diplopoden.       Furopiiische  Polydesmiden. 

Zool.  Anz.,   Band  xxxii.    (1908),  pp.   337  et  seq.,  Figs. 

16  Bank  Street,  Darwen,  Lancashire. 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

ROYAL   ZOOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 

December  5. — Public  Lecture  in  the  Royal  Dublin  Society's 
Theatre,  Sir  F.  Moore  (President)  in  the  chair.  Prof.  A.  Francis 
Dixon,  Sc.D.,  lectured  on  "  The  Gorilla  and  its  Place  in  the  Animal 
Kingdom,"  indicating  clearly  the  probable  relationships  between  the 
genera  of  the  large  Apes.      The  audience  was  numerous  and  appreciative. 

Recent  gifts  include  a  pair  of  Ring  Doves  from  Mr.  R.  Cunningham. 
Two  Lion  cubs  have  been  born  in  the  Gardens,  "  Red  Hugh  "  and 
"  Maive  "  being  the  parents. 

DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB. 

December    12. — N.    Colgan  (President)  in  the  chair. 

R.  C.  Taylor  showed  sections  of  lignite  from  Carrig-a-pulliar, 
Portrush.  It  occurs  in  a  layer  10-12  feet  thick  interbedded  between  the 
two  great  basaltic  masses  of  Co.  Antrim,  provisionally  termed  the  "  upper 
and  lower  basalts  of  our  geological  maps," 


30  The  Irish  Naturalist.  February, 

Prof.  G.  H.  Carpenter  showed  preparations  of  tlie  jaws  of  the  nymph 
of  a  mayfly  (F.cdyurus)  demonstrating  the  details  of  structure  in  the 
maxillae  and  lal>ium. 


BELFAST  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

November  20. — Rev.  A.  Adams,  B.A.,  gave  a  lecture  entitled 
"  Prehistoric  Settlements  on  the  Shores  of  Lough  Xeagh,"  with  reference 
to  the  northern  shore.  The  lecturer  exhibited  a  series  of  stone  implements 
found  from  time  to  time  during  the  past  twenty  years  along  the  northern 
shore  of  Lough  Ncagh,  from  Glenavy  to  Toome  Bar.  The  Neolithic 
settlers  occupied  sites  especially  near  the  mouths  of  the  Crumlin,  Sixmile- 
water,  and  Maine  rivers.  The  relics  found  at  the  Maine  River  comprised 
flint  flakes  dressed  as  scrapers,  knives,  picks,  and  chisels  ;  also  some 
waterworn  specimens  which  had  been  rechipped  in  later  time.  The 
most  extensive  and  important  site  was  Toome  Bar,  for  here  at  this  ford 
proofs  were  obtained  of  Neolithic,  Bronze,  and  Early  Iron  Age  workers. 
The  most  unique  implement  from  Toome  was  a  socketed  and  looped  iron 
axe.  A  letter  was  read  from  Dr.  Robert  Munro,  the  author  of  "  The 
Lake  Dwellings  of  Europe,"  drawing  special  attention  to  the  importance 
of  this  axe  and  the  similar  one  from  Loughmourne  crannog,  as  showing 
how  the  first  iron  axes  w-ere  evolved  from  the  socketed  and  looped  Bronze 
Age  type.  The  lecturer  also  exhibited  for  comparison  the  Loughmourne 
axe,  these  being  the  only  two  of  their  kind  known  in  Ireland.  In  the 
discussion  which  ensued  Mr.  May,  Mr.  Dickson,  Dr.  Charlesworth,  and 
Mr.  Cleland  took  part,  the  meeting  terminating  with  the  election  of  four 
new  members. 

December  18. — Professor  Gregg  Wilson,  of  Queen's  Universitv, 
gave  a  lecture  on  "  Crabs,"  illustrated  by  fine  lantern  slides.  The 
Vice-President  (Mr.  Cleland)  occupied  the  chair.  The  lecturer  said  some 
of  our  commonest  crabs  illustrated  excellently  adaptation  to  environment. 
For  example,  one  of  our  swimming  crabs  harmonises  in  colour  with  the 
sandy  bottom  in  which  it  is  found  ;  .spider  crabs  on  rocky  bottoms  secure 
inconspicuousness  by  decorating  themselves  with  fragments  of  sponges, 
zoophytes,  &c.  ;  the  masked  crab  seeks  safety  by  burrowing  below  the 
sand  of  the  sea  bottom,  and  has  its  antennae  modified  to  form  a  long 
breathing  tube  ;  and  the  pea  crabs  live  in  apparent  comfort  inside  the 
fortress  provided  by  the  shell  of  a  cockle  or  a  mussel.  Among  the  man}' 
devices  for  dealing  with  enemies  the  habit  of  self-mutilation  by  discarding 
a  leg  was  perhaps  the  most  striking.  Many  species  of  crab  had  a  breaking- 
point  near  the  base  of  the  legs,  and  could  cast  off  a  mutilated  member 
or  one  that  had  been  seized  by  an  enemy.  There  was  an  effective 
arrangement  which  secured  the  stopping  of  bleeding  at  the  point  of  fracture, 
and  in  course  of  time  a  new  limb  was  regenerated.  At  the  conclusion 
vf  the  lecture  the  Chairman  and  Dr.  Charlesworth  made  a  few  remarks. 


1 91 8.  Irish  Societies.  31 

DUBLIN  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

October  27. — Excursion  to  Kingstown.^ — A  party  of  twenty  met 
at  Kingstown  at  three  o'clock  and  proceeded  to  the  shore  at  Sandy  cove, 
where  favoured  by  a  low  spring  tide,  the  President  gave  a  short  demon- 
stration on  some  of  the  Mollusca  and  Crustacea  abundantly  represented 
on  the  rocks.  The  members  then  went  to  Queen's  Park,  Monkstown, 
where  Mrs.  Bennett  hospitably  entertained  them  at  tea  and  showed  a  large 
and  beautifully  preserved  series  of  skulls,  horns,  and  skins  of  African 
mammals.  Robert  Stokes  was  elected  into  the  Club  at  a  short  business 
meeting. 


NOTES. 

BOTANY. 
Sedum  Drucei. 

Under  this  name,  given  by  Dr.  Graebner  to  the  plant  which  in  the 
British  Isles  has  been  called  S.  acre,  a  description  by  the  botanist  named 
was  published  by  Mr.  Druce,  Bot.  Exchange  Club  Report  for  1912.  In 
Journal  of  Botany.  August,  191 7,  Mr.  Praeger  writes  that  having 
cultivated  in  one  border  S.  Drucei  as  collected  in  the  West  of  Ireland 
in  company  with  Dr.  Graebner,  and  as  collected  or  received  from  various 
places  in  Ireland,  England,  and  Scotland,  and  a  series  of  wild  and 
cultivated  plants  of  S.  acre  from  many  European  countries,  differences 
of  even  varietal  rank  do  not  exist  between  them.  In  subsequent  numbers 
of  the  Journal  of  Botany  Mr.  H.  S.  Thompson  and  Dr.  C.  H.  Ostenfeld 
of  Copenhagen  write  confirming  this  view,  and  agreeing  in  regretting 
the  bestowing  of  specific  names  upon  trivial  variations  from  type. 


Notes  on  Birds  in  King^'s  County. 

In  reference  to  my  note  on  the  appearance  of  a  Green  Sandpiper 
{Totanits  ochropus)  seen  by  me  in  King's  Co.  {Irish  Nat.,  January,  p.  14 
supra)  I  have  been  informed  by  Mr.  E.  Rait  Kerr  that  about  eight  years 
ago  one  of  these  birds  was  shot  in  a  field  here  in  August  or  September  ; 
sex  unknown,  plumage  adult.  It  was  taken  to  the  late  Captain 
Longworth-Dames  of  Greenhill,  Edcndcrr^-,  and  was  identified  by  him. 
These  two  records  are  of  some  interest,  as  Mr.  Ussher  gives  none  for  this 
bird  in  King's  Co. 

It  may  also  be  of  interest  to  record  that  yesterday,  January  loth,  I 
heard  the  following  birds  singing  here,  weather  very  mild  after  hard 
frost  : — Blackbird,  Song  Thrush,  Chaffinch,  Great  Tit,  and  Coal  Tit.  This 
is  the  earliest  record  I  have  of  the  Chaffinch's  song. 

Rathmoyle,  Edenderry.  Hei-EN  M,   Rait  Kerr, 


32  The  Irish  Naturalist.  February,  191 8. 


Migration  on  Lougfh  Mask. 

While  fishing  on  Lough  Mask  at  the  southern  end,  between  the  dates 
August  19th  to  23rd,  191 7,  I  noticed  several  species  of  birds  which  were, 
I  think,  almost  certainly  migrating.  The  first  species  was  the  Sand- 
Martin.  On  August  20th  I  observed  hundreds  tlying  south,  the 
movement  being  particularly  noticeable  in  the  morning,  falling  off  in 
the  afternoon,  and  had  practically  ceased  by  about  5  p.m.  On  some 
bare  rocks  at  the  very  south  of  the  lake  they  were  collecting  in  hundreds 
while  many  passed  on  over  the  mountains.  On  the  same  day  I  saw  a 
Ringed  Plover  flying  fairly  high,  and  at  great  speed  towards  the  south 
and  on  beyond  the  lake.  On  the  21st  the  movement  of  the  Sand-Martins 
was  still  in  progress,  especially  about  11  a.m.  and  again  from  2  p.m.  until 
3.30  p.m.  Many  passed  our  boat  during  the  latter  period.  The 
movement  was  not  so  great  nor  so  decided  as  on  the  previous  day.  The 
third  species  noticed  was  the  Turnstone.  Five  were  noted  at  about 
3  p.m.  on  August  20th,  and  on  the  following  day  from  2  p.m.  until  2.30 
p.m.,  during  a  heavy  shower  with  a  high  wind,  two  rested  on  some  rocks 
quite  close  to  our  boat.  At  about  the  same  time  my  brother,  who  was 
in  another  boat,  at  some  distance,  noticed  three  Turnstones  on  rocks 
much  further  south.  During  the  above  mentioned  shower  I  noticed  a 
swift  flying  south  and  very  low.  Evidently  the  Turnstones  and  other 
species  were  availing  themselves  of  the  lakes  which  form  a  chain  from 
Killala  Bay  to  Galway  Bay. 

Robert  F.   Ruttledge. 

Bloomfield,  Hollymount,  Co.  Mayo. 


REVIEW. 

DECORATIVE    GARDENING. 

Plant    Materials    of    Decorative    Gardening,      i.  The    Woody    Plants. 

By  William  Trelease,  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  Univer.sity  of  Illinois. 

Pp.  204.      Sm.  8v^o.       Urbana,   19 17.  1 

This  little  book,  which  will  easily  fit  the  pocket,  gives  in  a  very 
practical  and  condensed  form  an  account  of  the  shrubs  and  trees  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  which  are  cultivated  for  their  beauty  or  mterest 
in  the  eastern  United  States.  As  may  be  surmised,  the  contents  of 
the  volume  apply  almost  equally  to  our  own  country.  Simple  language 
and  simple  keys  are  provided  ;  and  it  should  be  easy  for  anyone  with 
a  smattering  of  systematic  botany  to  run  down  a  plant.  The  number 
of  species  dealt  with  is  782,  and  a  large  number  of  varieties  are  also 
included.  For  those  who  love  shrubs,  and  cannot  aftord  Mr.  Bean's 
invaluable  but  expensive  work,  this  booklet  should  have  a  very  definite 
value. 

R-  U.  P- 


Irish    Na  tikalis  r,   \'oi..   X  W  1 1 


Platk  1. 


L.No.7,  SK/JN-DON  MT. 
lig.pit.  Ligpif^ 


C.tf 


\ 


qO^TYMADDEN. 


ScA.'r: 


CO  -TYPE .     L.  NAqAK»< IVA  . 

EHIBLKNICUM. 


AW.S. 
DF_L. 


I'lSiniUM    HIBERNICUM,    &C. 


To  face  p.   33. 


March.  1918.  The  Irish  Naktralist.  33 

RECENT    EXTENSIONS    OF    THE    RANGE    OF 
PISIDIUM  HIBERNICUM. 

BY  R.  A.  PHILLIPS,  M.R.I. A.,  AND  A.  W.  STELFOX,  M.R.I. A. 

(plates  I.,  II.). 

Twenty-four  years  have  now  passed  since  Dr.  Scharff 
collected  the  original  specimens  of  this  fresh-water  bivalve 
mollusk  in  Lough  Nagarriva,  South  Kerry ,1  and  forwarded 
them  to  the  great  Swedish  conchologist,  the  late  C.  A. 
Westerlund,  who  described  them  as  new  to  science  under 
the  name  of  Pisidium  hihernicum.^ 

The  shell  was  again  taken  in  L.  Nagarriva  in  19073 
and  discovered  in  two  neighbouring  tarns  in  West  Cork — 
Lough  Namaddra  and  a  small  unnamed  tarn  on  Barraboy 
Mountain.  In  more  recent  years  Loughs  Nagarriva  and 
Namaddra  have  been  visited  and  specimens  obtained  by 
Fleet-Surgeon  K.  H.  Jones,  R.N.,  Mr.  H.  C.  Huggins,  and 
one  of  the  writers  (R.  A.  P.).  While  collecting  in  the  Dingle 
promontory  in  1910  a  shell  w^as  taken  abundantly  in  many 
tarns  by  A.  W.  Stelfox  and  Robt.  J.  Welch  which  was 
thought  at  the  time  to  be  P.  hihernicmn ,  and  notes  of  its 
occurrence  in  that  district  were  inserted  in  the  "  Irish  List  "■* 
then  in  the  press.  At  the  last  moment,  however,  these 
were  deleted  in  deference  to  Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward's  opinion 
that  all  the  shells  referred  to  were  forms  of  P.  ohtusale,  with 
the  exception  of  the  statement  on  p.  126  that  P.  hihernicitm 
was  "  known  to  inhabit  several  lakes  in  South  Kerry,"  which 
was  overlooked.  At  the  time  of  publication  this  appeared 
to  be  a  mistake,  L.  Nagarriva  being  the  only  recorded  station 
for  the  species  in  South  Kerry.      Subsequent  stud}-  of  the 


^  R.    F.   Scharff,   Irish  Nat.,   vol.   iv.,   p.    335,    1895.       [Here  the  lake 
is  wrongly  stated  to  be  in  Co.  Cork]. 

^  Nachricht.  Deutsch.  Malakozool.    Gesellschaft,    26*^    Jahrg.,    p.     205, 
•1894. 

^  J.  N.  Milne  and  A.  W.  Stelfox,  Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  288.   Plate  35  in 
this  volume  shows  the  original  habitat  of  the  species. 

^Proceedings  R.  I.  Acad.,  vol.  xxix.,  Sect.  B.,  No.  3. 

A 


34  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

Dingle  shells  has  shown  us  that  the  original  opinion  was 
correct  and  that  they  are  referable  to  forms  of  P.  hibernicum 
and  not  to  P.  ohtusale. 

P.  hihernicmn  was  next  recognised — by  Mr.  B.  B. 
Woodward — among  shells  collected  during  the  Clare 
Island  Survey  in  L.  Gowlanagower,  on  Inishbofin,  West 
Galwa}^  By  1913,  when  his  Catalogue^  w-as  published, 
Mr.  Woodw^ard  had  also  found  it  amongst  shells  from 
Tullaghnafrankagh  L.,  South  Galway,  and  was  able  to 
record  it  from  the  Takern  See  in  Ostergotland,  Sweden. 
In  1914  we  began  to  study  critically  the  numerous  "  locality 
sets  "  of  Pisidia,  w^hich  we  had  accumulated  during  some 
years  of  assiduous  collecting  throughout  Ireland.  This 
material,  representing  our  own  gatherings  from  upwards  of 
five  hundred  localities,  had  been  laid  aside  to  await  a 
favourable  opportunity  for  study  and  in  the  expectation 
that  with  Mr.  Woodward's  monograph  before  us,  the 
identification  of  our  specimens  would  prove  a  more  easy 
task. 

Our  first  additional  specimens  were  discovered  while 
working  out  the  fossil  mollusca  which  occur  in  the  shell- 
marls  of  the  White  Bog,  near  Killough,  Co.  Down,  Mr. 
Woodward  subsequently  agreeing  with  our  identification 
of  the  shells  from  these  deposits.  Soon  afterwards  we 
detected  it  in  gatherings  from  many  localities  and  came  to 
regard  it  as  a  widely  distributed  shell  in  Ireland,  a  con- 
clusion which,  we  think,  is  fully  justified  on  perusal  of  the 
list  of  Irish  records  given  below. 

The  first  specimen  to  come  to  light  from  England  w^as  one 
collected  in  1908  by  A.  W.  S.  in  a  ditch  by  the  Thames  at 
Kew  Gardens,  Surrey,  but  as  it  was  considered  improbable 
that  P.  hiherniciim  should  occur  there,  it  w^as  relegated  for  a 
time  to  the  position  of  "  ?  P.  nitidiim."  Other  specimens, 
however,  soon  put  in  an  appearance,  as  amongst  a  large  series 
of  shells  received  from  Mr.  J.  E.  Cooper,  two  sets  were  found 
to  contain  P.  hibernicum — one  from  Gaerwen,  Anglesey,  and 


1  Cat.  of  Brit.  Species  of  Pisidia,  cS-c      [Afterwards  referred  to  herein 
as  "  Cat."]. 


igis.  Phillips  &  Stelfox. — Range  of  Pisidium  hibernictim.     35 

the  second  from  Iver,  Bucks.  It  was  next  recognized  from 
some  of  the  various  tarns  in  the  Snowdonian  range,  in 
North  Wales,  amongst  shells  collected  by  Mr.  Charles 
Oldham  ;  and  it  was  found  to  be  well  represented  in  Mr. 
H.  Overton's  gatherings  from  the  Sutton  Coldfield  district 
in  Warwickshire.  Numerous  other  English  and  Welsh 
records  have  since  come  to  hand,  as  well  as  one  from  the 
Isle  of  Man  and  one  from  Norway. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  original  habitat  was  a  moun- 
tain tarn,  P.  hibernicitni  has  become  associated  in  most 
conchologists'  minds  with  an  alpine  fauna  ;  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  it  has  occurred  to  us  in  almost  all  conceivable  habitats 
as  the  following  lists  show.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  however, 
that  it  has  not  been  observed  to  inhabit  the  type  of  habitat 
— often  dry  for  long  periods — so  associated  in  one's  mind 
with  P.  personatiim,  and  that  in  rivers  of  large  size  it  w^ould 
appear  to  be  rare.  It  occurs  at  all  altitudes  from  sea-level 
to  the  highest  tarns  in  Ireland  and  Wales  ;  in  the  "  peatiest  " 
of  lakes  and  in  those  whose  waters  are  most  saturated  with 
lime  ;  but  it  would  appear  to  reach  its  finest  condition  under 
the  latter  environment,  the  shell  from  Crow's  Lough,  Gorty- 
madden.  South  Galway,  being  the  most  perfect  development 
of  the  species  we  have  yet  seen  (Plate  I.,  figs.  7  and  8).  Some 
of  Dr.  Scharff' s  original  examples  are  the  largest  that  have 
been  taken  anywhere,  and  no  subsequent  visitor  to  L. 
Nagarriva  has  obtained,  from  there,  specimens  of  equal 
size.  As  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Woodward  (Cat.,  p.  118),  the 
specimens  from,  the  type  locality  "  represent  an  abnormally 
swollen  form  "  and,  we  would  add,  are  rather  depauperate, 
except  in  size,  owing  no  doubt  to  the  very  peaty  nature  of 
their  habitat.  The  more  normal  and  usual  lowland  form  is 
more  elliptical,  with  smaller  and  more  prominent  umbones 
and  is  less  tumid.  Most  of  the  English  and  Welsh  examples 
are  of  the  last  form.  Mr.  Woodward  {loc.  cit.)  says  "  Wester- 
lund's  measurements  are: — Long.  3.5,  Alt.  3.5,  Crass. 
3.5  mm.,  but  a  larger  specimen  in  the  National  Museum, 
Ireland,  is  Long.  4.5,  Alt.  4  mm.  The  West  Galway  [L. 
Gowlanagower]  specimens  were  smaller  and  less  globose  : 
2.8x2.5x1.8  mm. ' '  The  maj  ority  of  our  specimens  come 
nearer  the  latter  measurements, 

A  2 


36  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

The  systematic  position  of  the  present  species  is,  hke 
that  of  most  of  our  Pisidia,  not  easy  to  determine.  In 
striation  its  shell  comes  between  P.  ohtiisale  and  P.  nitidum  ;i 
the  siphonal  tube  of  the  animal  resembles  that  of  P. 
ohtiisale,  but  not  that  of  P.  nitidum  ;  the  general  hinge 
characters  of  the  shell  are  more  nearly  allied  to  P.  nitidum, 
though  in  the  case  of  depauperate  shells  they  may  simulate 
those  of  some  forms  of  P.  ohtiisale.  The  fry  of  both  P.  nitidum 
and  P.  ohtiisale  are  as  a  rule  distinctly  ovate  and  have  a 
longer  and  straighter  hinge-line  than  those  of  P.  hiherniciim, 
which  in  outline  are  markedly  quadrate.  If  we  select  any 
one  of  these  characters  its  aihnities  can  readily  be  fixed, 
but  when  all  are  considered  in  conjunction  the  problem 
becomes  difficult.  P.  hibernicum  is  generally  most  difficult 
to  separate  from  small  tumid  forms  of  P.  nitidum,  though 
when  the  two  species  are  taken  in  association  they  will  not 
often  be  confounded,  as  their  general  appearance,  even  if 
the  siphons  cannot  be  examined,  should  prove  sufficient  to 
separate  them.  It  may  also  at  times  resemble  forms  of 
P.  ohtiisale  or  P.  milium,  and  has  even  been  mistaken  for 
P.  personatum  and  P.  lilljehorgi.  In  this  connection  it  is 
interesting  to  state  that  the  specimens  of  Jenyns'  P. 
ohtusale,  var.  (^,  preserved  at  Bath  are,  in  Mr.  Oldham's 
opinion  referable  to  P.  hihernicum.  Jenyns'  diagnosis  of 
this  variety  well  fits  normal  forms  of  P.  hihernicum,  and  his 
reference  to  its  ochraceous  colour  is  decidedly  appropriate 
since  the  animals  of  most  living  examples  which  we  have 
examined  were  either  deep  yellow,  pinkish-yellow  or  rose- 
pink.  This  coloration  can  as  a  rule  be  seen  distinctly,  even 
when  the  shells  are  exteriorly  encrusted.  The  following 
table  of  characters  may  be  useful  to  other  students  of  the 
group,  when  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  figures  on  the 
accompanying  plates. 

p.  hibernicum  Westerlund  : — Shell — equilateral.  Umbones — small, 
prominent.  Fry  — squarrose.  Striation — regular,  close  and  well 
marked.     Siphon — narrow,   margin  simple   (Pi.   I.,   fig.    2a.).     Liga- 


1  P.  nitidum  of  Jenyns,  which  probably  ecpials  the  P.  pusiUum  of 
Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward's  Cat.,  as  pointed  out  by  A.  W.  S.  in  jouryi.  of  Conch., 
vol.  XV..  pp.  235-239,   1918, 


Irish   Naturalist,  \"oi..   XX\  II. 


Plate  II. 


r  MLDIAWM  5nKKi .  OKCHAKD  LAKE!, MICM.,  U.S.A. 


,/ 


L.MtENASKElAGlH.  LK^A. 

9.  ■      II  III  ill    .  11..   "^ 


HOWIES  DAM. 


L.D^JN. 

SCALt.  < 


BAQULEIY  MOOK..  LLYN    DWYTHWCH. 


KHIBCI^NICL/M. 


J  MM. 


aw.5.dc:l. 


PlSIDlLM     MKDIANLM     A.ND     I'l.SlUlLM     11  lliKK.N  ICUM . 


To  /rfr<'  />.   M7. 


i9i8.  Phillips  &  Stelfox. — Range  of  Pisidiimi  hihemicum.      37 

MENT  Pit — short,  broad  and  distinct.  C.  3^1ong,  straight  or  but 
sHghtly  curved.  C  3  (the  posterior  portion  of) — usually  slightly 
thickened.  C.  2 — very  long  and  straight.  P.  III. — parallel  to  p.  I. 
(PI.  I.,  tig.  2b). 

P.  nitidum  Jenyns  : — Shell — slightly  inequilateral.  Umbones — broad, 
not  very  prominent.  Fry — oval.  Striation — regular,  wide- 
Siphon — funnel-shaped,  with  crenate  margin  (PI.  I.,  fig.  la.) 
Ligament  Pit — short,  but  not  so  broad  nor  so  distinct 
as  in  P.  hiberniciim.  C  3— short,  usually  distinctly  curved  or 
crescent-shaped.  C.  3  (the  posterior  portion  of) — sometimes 
thickened  and  even  faintly  bifurcate.  C.  2 — short  and  straight 
(usually  only  J  or  |  the  length  of  that  of  the  associated  P.  hibernicuni) . 
P.  III.— parallel  to  p.  I.  (PL  I.,  fig.   ib). 

P.  milium  Held  : — Shell — slightly  or  considerably  inequilateral.  Um- 
bones— broad.  Fry — oval.  Striation — irregular,  very  strong. 
Siphon — very  narrow  and  very  long.  Ligament  Pit— long,  narrow 
and  indistinct.  C.  3 — long  and  fairly  straight.  C.  3  (the  posterior 
portion    of) — slightlv    thickened.      C    2— long.      P.    III. — parallel    to 

P.  obtusale  (Lam.)  Jenyns  : — Shell — almost  always  inequilateral. 
Umbones — broad.  Fry — usually  oval.  Striation — irregular,  very 
close,  but  distinct.  Siphon — narrow,  margin  simple  (Plate  I.,  fig. 
3a).  Ligament  Pit — short,  but  rather  indistinct.  C.  3 — short  and 
curved.  C  3  (the  posterior  portion  of) — thickened  and  "  hooked." 
C.  2 — very  short  (upper  portion  sometimes  bent  outwards  ;  see  B.  B. 
Woodward,  Cat.,  p.  121).  P.  III. — coalescing  with  p.  I.  (or  only 
tending  to  in  peaty- water  forms),  and  forming  a  "  pseudo-callus  " 
(PL   I.,  fig.  3b). 

P.  personatum  Malm.  : — Shell — equilateral.  Umbones — broad.  Fry — 
very    oval.        Striation — almost    imperceptible.  Siphon — broad 

and  short  (PL  I.,  fig.  4a).  Ligament  Pit — long  and  broad 
as  in  P.  casertanimi.  C.  3 — short  and  curved.  C.  3  (the  posterior 
portion  of) — thickened  and  "  hooked."  C  2 — long  and  usually 
curved.  P.  III. — parallel  to  p.  I.  (but  above  p.  III.  is  a  separate 
callosity  :  the  callus  of  B.  B.  Woodward,  see  Cat.,  p.  55)  (PI.  I., 
fig.  4b). 

From  P.  lilljehorgi  of  equal  size  P.  hihemicum  may  be  at 
once  distinguished  by  its  short  and  broad  Hgament-pit,  the 
pit  of  P.  lilljehorgi  being  longer  and  narrower  than  that  of 
any  other  species  we  have  examined.  Young  shells  oi  the 
two  species  in  which  the  ligament  pit  is  not  easily  dis- 
cernible may,  in  cases,  be  extremely  difficult  to  separate. 
Neither  the  globular  form  nor  the  twisted  lateral  teeth  of 
the  hinge  referred  to  by  Mr,  Woodward  as  the  chief  diag- 

A  3 


38  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

nostic  characters  of  P.  hihernicum  (Cat.,  p.  ii8)  can  be 
relied  on,  in  our  opinion,  to  separate  it  from  certain  forms 
of  P.  iiitidum,  P.  ohtusalc  or  P.  milium. 

In  the  report  of  the  Land  and  Fresh-water  Mollusca  of 
the  Clare  Island  Survey, ^  A.  W.  S.  suggested  that  the  present 
species  might  be  an  "  American  "  one  :  that  is  to  say, 
that  it  might  belong  to  the  same  faunistic  group  as  the 
s]:)onge  Heteromeyenia  ryderi — with  which  it  is  frequently 
associated  in  the  West  of  Ireland — and  that  its  distribution 
might  correspond  with  that  of  the  plants  Eriocaulon  septan- 
gularc,  Naias  flexilis  and  Spiranthes  Romanzoffiana,  which 
outside  North  America  live  only  in  a  few  stations  in  N.W. 
Europe.  The  occurrence  of  P.  hihernicum  in  Wales,  England, 
Norway  and  Sweden  suggests,  however,  that  it  is  probably 
a  wddely  distributed  Palaearctic  form.  Recently  we  have 
acquired  a  collection  of  Pisidia  received  by  Mr.  J.  R.  le 
B.  Tomhn  from  Mr.  Bryant  Walker  of  U.S.A. — all  of  which 
are  said  to  have  been  identified  by  Dr.  Sterki.  Amongst 
these  are  shells  labelled  "  P.  mediamim  Sterki  "  (Plate  II., 
figs.  I  and  2),  and  others  "  P.  mediamim,  var.  minnta 
Sterki,"  which  bear  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  forms  of 
P.  hihernicum.  To  sav  that  thev  are  P.  hihernicum  would 
be  impossible  in  such  a  group  as  the  Pisidia,  but  had  these 
shells  been  found  in  Ireland,  we  think  that  they  would  have 
been  referred  without  doubt  to  that  species. 

The  only  fossil  examples  of  P.  hihernicum  which  we  have 
seen  come  from  Irish  shell-marls  and  are  of  post-Glacial 
age  ;  but  it  will  not  surprise  us  if  the  species  proves  to  have 
been  overlooked  in  some  of  the  pre-Glacial  deposits  in 
England  or  on  the  continent. 

We  have  to  thank  numerous  workers  for  assistance  in 
accumulating  the  information  given  in  the  following  lists  : 
Messrs.  P.  T.  Deakin,  N.  C;.  Hadden,  H.  C.  Huggins,  J.  W. 
Jackson,  J.  N.  Milne,  J.  E.  Cooper  (for  allowing  us  to 
examine  his  large  series  of  shells  named  "  P.  nitidum  "  by 
Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward,  in  which  were  detected  two  sets  of 


*  Proceedings  I\.   J.  Acad.,  vol.  jcxxi-,  part  23. 


tgi8.  Phillips  &  Stelfox. — Range  of  Pisidium  hibernicum.      39 

P.  hibernicum),  H.  Overton'  (who  sent  us  no  less  than  ninety 
carefully  localized  gatherings  of  Pisidia,  mainly  from  his 
own  district),  C.  Oldham  (for  permitting  us  to  examine  his 
collection  of  Pisidia  from  the  Welsh  tarns),  Hans  Schlesch  of 
Hellerup,  Denmark  (for  permission  to  study  his  collection 
from  Iceland  and  Scandinavia),  and  Robt.  J.  Welch  for 
placing  the  whole  of  his  collection  at  our  disposal.  The 
specimens  in  the  National  iMuseum  in  Dublin  have  also  been 
available  to  us  through  Dr.  R.  F.  Scharff' s  kindness. 

IRISH  RECORDS  FOR  P.  HIBERNICUM. 
Contractions  used: — H.C.H.  =  H.  C.  Huggins  ;  K.H.J.  =  K.  H.  Jones; 
J.N.M.  =:  J.  X.  Milne  ;  H.O.  =  H.  Overton  ;  CO.  =  C.  Oldham  ; 
J.W.J.  =  J.  W.  Jackson;  R.F.S.  =  R.  F.  Scharff;  NrH.F.  =N.  H. 
Foster;  R.J.W.  =  R.  J.  Welch;  H.T.  =  late  Major  Trevely an  ; 
D.M.  =in  Dublin  Museum;   R.A.P.   &  A.W.S.  =  the  writers. 

X^OTE. — The  Remarks  refer  to  P.  hibernicum  alone  and  not  to  the  asso- 
ciated species  of  Pisidia. 

South   Kerry. 

Loc. — -Lough  Nagarriva,  a  large  tarn  with  bed  of  rocks  and  peaty  mud. 
Coll.— R.F.S.,  J.X.M.,  A.W.S.,  R.A.P.,  K.H.J,  and  H.C.H.,  1893- 
1913.  Alt. — 1, 200  feet.  Assoc. — P.  lilljeborgi,  P.  milium  and  P. 
obtusale.  [Species  other  than  Pisidia  are  not  referred  to  since  they  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  be  "  associates  "].      PI.  I.,  figs.  9,  10. 

Loc. — Lough  Tooreenmartin,  Dingle  Promontory,  a  large,  shallow  tarn, 
with  clear  water  and  stony  bed.  Coll. — A.W.S.,  Sept.,  1910.  Alt. — 
1,200  ft.  Assoc. — P.  nitidum  and  P.  lilljeborgi,  collected  at  the  roots 
of  Isoetes.  Remarks — Recorded  by  A.W.S.  as  P.  obtusale  in  I.  Nat., 
vol.  xxiv.,  p.   ^^. 

Loc. — Tarns  in  Coumaknock,  on  Brandon  Mt.,  Dingle  Promontory. 
These  tarns  are  mostly  lying  in  rock-basins  and  have  clean,  very  cold 
water  and  little  mud  or  silt.  Coll. — A.W.S.  and  R.J.W.,  Sept., 
1910.  Alt. — 650  to  2,300  ft.  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum, 
P.  milium,  and  P.  obtusale-  Remarks — Recorded  by  A.W.S.  as  P. 
obtusale  in  /.  Nat.,  vol.  xxiv.,  pp.  21  and  33.      PI.  I.,  figs.  5,  6. 

Loc. — Clogharee  Lough,  in  valley  north  of  Connor  Pass,  Dingle  Promon- 
tory, a  small  shallow  lake  with  stony  bed.  Coll. — A.W.S.,  Sept., 
1914.     Alt. — 100  ft.     Assoc. — No  other  Pisidia  seen. 

X'^ORTH   Kerry. 
Loc. — Lough    Crincaum,    Cromaglaun    Mt.,    near    Killarney.     Coll. — E. 
Collier,   July,    1898.     Assoc. — Xo  other  Pisidia  seen.       Remarks — 
Recorded  by  R.  Standen  as  P.  nitidum  in  /.  Nat.,  \o\.  vii.,  p.  226. 

1  We  learn  from  Mr.  Overton  that,  some  years  ago,  he  suspected  that 
some  of  his  shells  might  be  referable  to  P.  hibernicum,  but  he  was  unable 
to  obtain  confirmation  of  this.       [Note  added  in  press]. 


40  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

West  Cork. 

Loc. — Lough  Namaddni,  north  of  Glengarriff.  Coll. — J.N.M.  and 
A.W.S.,  July,  1907.  (Also  H.C.H., 1914).  Alt. — 1,200  ft.  Remarks — 
No  other  Pisidia  seen. 

Loc. — Pool  below  L.  Namaddra.     Coll. — H.C.H.,  1916.     Alt. — 1,000  ft. 

Loc. — Lough  Avaul.  Coll. — H.C.H.,  1914  ;  R.A.P.,  Aug.,  1908. 
Remarks — In  peaty  mud. 

Loc. — Unnamed  tarn  on  Barraboy  Mt.,  north  of  Glengarriff.  Coll. — 
J.N.M.  and  A. W.S.,  July,  1907.  Alt. — 1,350  ft.  Assoc. — P.lilljeborgi 
and  P.  obtitsale. 

Loc. — Lough  More.  Coll. — H.C.H.,  1914.  Alt. — About  Ooo  ft.  Re- 
marks— In  peaty   mud. 

Loc. — Pool  at  Derryconnery.  Coll. — H.C.H.,  1916.  Alt. — 100  ft. 
Remarks— In  peaty  mud. 

Loc. — Pool  above  Barley  Lake.  Coll. — H.C.H.,  1916.  Alt. — About 
1,100  ft.     Remarks — In  peaty  mud. 

Waterford. 

Loc. — In  the  great  marsh  south  of  Waterford  Town.  Coll. — A.W.S., 
April,  191 2.  Alt. — About  1^  ft.  Assoc. — P.  ijiiliuiii,  P.  subtrun- 
catiim  and  P.  obtusale.  Remarks — Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward  has  identi- 
fied these  as  P.  obtusale. 

Loc. — River  Suir  at  Carrickbeg.     Coll. — R.A.P.,  Aug.,  191 7. 

South  Tipperary. 
Loc. — River  Suir  at  Carrick-on-Suir.     Coll. — R.A.P.,   Aug.,  1917- 

Limerick. 
Loc. — River  Shannon,  near  Limerick.      Coll. — R.A.P.,  March,  1916. 

North  Tipperary. 
Loc. — Peat-holes  in  Carrigahorig  Bog.      Coll. — R.A.P.,  April,  1917. 

Clare. 
Loc. — Inchiquin  Lake  (in  drift).     Coll. — R.A.P.,  1916. 

Wexford. 

Loc. — Marshes   along   coast   near   Curraghcloe.        Coll. — A.W.S.,    April, 

191 2.     Alt. — About  25  ft.      Assoc. — P.  niiidiim,  P.  milium  and  P. 

obtusale. 
LqC — River   Slaney,    near   Enniscorthy.     Coll. — R.A.P.,    191 7.     Alt. — 

About  30-40  ft.     Assoc. — P.   amnicuni,  P.   nitidum,  P.  pulchelluni, 

and  P.  subtvuncatum. 

Carlow. 
Loc. — River  Barrow,  at  Tinnahinch  (in  drift).     Coll. — A.W.S.,  April,  191 2. 


i9i8.  Phillips  &  Stelfox. —Range  of  Pisidiiim  hibernicimt.      41 

South  Galway. 
Log. — Lough   Derg,    near  Portumna.     Coll. — R.A.P.,    July,    1917. 
Loc— Lough    Rea.        Coll.— R. A. P.,  July,  191 7.     PI.  IL,  figs.  5,  6. 
Log. — Crows  Lough,   Gortymadden.      Coll. — R.A.P.,  July,  1917.     PI.  L, 

figs.  7,  8. 
Log. — Lough  Atorick.     Coll. — R.A.P.,  May,  191 2. 

Log. — Peat-holes  in  bog  near  Balhnasloe.     Coll. — R.A.P.,   July,   191 2. 
Log. — Stream  at   Kilmacduagh.     Coll. — R.A.P.,   May,    igii. 

West  Galway. 

Loc. — Lough   Gowlanagower,    Inishbofin.       Coll. — A.W.S.,    June,    191 1. 

Alt. — About  40  ft.     Assog. — P.  nitidum  and  P.  milium.     Remarks 

— Identified  by  Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward  and  recorded  in  Cat.,    p.     119. 
Log. — Lough  Fawna,  Inishbofin.      Coll. — A.W.S.,  June,   1911.      Alt. — • 

About    100   ft.       Assog. — No   other   Pisidia    seen.        Remarks — P. 

obtusale,  fide  Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward.      Recorded  as  such  by  A.W.S.  in 

Proc.  R.  I.  Acad.,  vol.  xxxi.,  part  23,  p.  37. 
Log. — Lough  Nagrooaun,  Inishbofin.     Coll. — A.W.S.,  June,  191 1.   Alt. — 

About  40  ft.      Assoc. — P.  nitidum  and  P.  obtusale.      Remarks — P. 

obtusale,  fide  Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward. 
Log. — Cregmore  Lough,  near  Roundstone.      Coll. — R.A.P.,  Oct.,   1909. 
Loc. — River  Corrib,  near  Galway.      Coll. — R.A.P.,  Nov.,  191 7. 

North  Galway. 

Log.— Lough  Callow.      Coll. — R.W.,  1900. 
Log. — Ballindooly.     Coll. — R.A.P.,  Aug.,    1908. 

WiGKLOW. 

Loc. — Marshes  along  the  coast  south  of  Arklow.  Coll. — A.W.S.,  April, 
1912.  Alt. — About  10-15  ft.  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  milium, 
and  P.  obtusale. 

Westmeath. 

Loc. — Lough  Drin,  near  Mullingar.  Coll. — A.W.S!,  ]\Iarch,  1910.  Assoc. 
— P.  milium  and  P.  nitidum.  Remarks — This  set  was  divided  by 
Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward  into  "  P.  milium  "  and  "  P.  lilljeborgi."  See  Cat. 
p.  115.     Pl.  II.,  figs.  9,  10. 

West  Mayo. 

Loc— Sraheens    Lough,    Achill    Island.        Coll. — A.W.S.,    April,    1909. 

Alt. — About  60  ft.   Assoc. — P.  lilljeborgi.    Remarks — P.  obtusale,  fide 

Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward.  See  Cat.,  p.  125  ;  also  A.W.S.,  Proc  R.  I.  Acad., 

vol.  xxxi.,  part  1^,  p.  29. 
Loc. — Lough  Gall,  Achill  Island  (in  drift).     Coll. — A.W.S.,  June,    191 1. 

Alt. — About    20-30    ft.        Remarks — P.  pusillum^    fide  Mr.  B.  B. 


42  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

Woodward,   and   recorded  as   such  by  A.W.S.   in    Proc   R.  I.  Acad., 

vol.  xxxi.,  part  i^,  p.  29. 
Loc. — Lough  Nakeeroge   (East),    Achill   Island.       Coll. — A.W.S.,    June, 

191 1.      Alt. — 15  ft.      Assoc. — P.  nitidum. 
Loc. — Creevaghaun  Lough,  near  Newport.      Coll. — A.W.S.,  June,   191 1. 

Alt. — About  30-50  ft.     Assoc. — P.  nitidum  and  P.  miliuin.  Remarks 

— P.  obtusale,  fide  Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward.    See  Cat.,  p.  125. 

Sligo. 

Loc. — Lake  in  sand-dunes  at  Rosses  Point,  a  shallow  lake  with  sandy  bed 
Coll. — A.W.S.,  July,  1904.  Alt. — About  10-20  ft.  Assoc. — P. 
uitidmii.  Remarks — Recorded  in  /.  Nat.,  Sept.,  1904,  as  P.  obtusale 
by  A.W.S. 

Louth. 
Loc. — Lake  near   Dundalk.     Coll. — R.A.P.,   Sept.,    1917. 

MONAGHAN. 

Loc. — Ulster  Canal  south  of  Monaghan  Town.  Coll.^A.W.S.,  1909. 
Assoc. — P.   nitidum,  P.   milium  and  P.  subtvuncatum. 

East  Donegal. 

Loc. — Lougli  Acapple.  Coll.^D.M.  (H.T.).  Remarks — Identified  by  Mr. 
B.  B.  W^oodward  as  P.  steenbuchii  Moller.  See  Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xx., 
p.  46,  191 1.  [I  understand  that  this  record  has  been  withdrawn  by 
Mr.  Woodward  and  for  it  P.  lilljeborgii  has  been  substituted. — A.W.S.]. 

Loc. — ^Lough  Meenaskeagh.  Coll. — D.M.  (H.T.).  Remarks. — Identified 
and  recorded  b}-  Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward  as  P.  personatum  Malm. 
See  Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  96,  191 2.    PI.  II.,  figs.  3,  4. 

West  Donegal. 

Loc. — Mullaghderg  Lough,  north  of  Burton  Port.     Coll. — A.W.S.,  Sept., 

1903.     Alt.— About  15-20  ft.      Assoc. — P.   nitidum,  P.   milium,  P. 

subtvuncatum,  and  P.  lilljeborgi.       Remarks — Recorded    in  /.  Nat., 

vol.  XV.,  p.  66,  as  P.  obtusale,  by  A.W.S. 
Loc. — Dunmore  Lough,  Carrickfin  Peninsula,  Bunbeg.      Coll. — A.W.S. 

Sept.,  1905.     Alt. — About  30-40  ft.     Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium, 

and  P.  subtruncatum. 
Loc. — Carnboy  Lough,  Carrickfin    Peninsula,  Bunbeg,  a  large  lake  wiih 

sandy  bottom.     Coll. — A.W.S.,  Sept.,  1908.     Alt. — About  10-20  ft. 

Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  P.  subtvuncatum  and  P.  obtusale. 

Tyrone. 

Loc. — Washing  Bay,  Lough  Neagh  (in  drift).     Coll, — A.W.S.,  Feb.,  r^o6. 
Alt.— 4O  ft. 


i9iS.  Phillips  &  Stelfox. — Range  of  Pisidiiim  hiberniciim.      43 


Armagh. 

Log. — Newry  Canal  near  Poyntzpass.     Coll. — A.W.S.      Alt. — About  60 
ft.      Assoc. — P.  milium  and  P.  subtruncatuni. 

Down. 

Loc. — -j\lill-race  at  Ballyholme  and  stream  two  miles  inland.  Coll.— 
A.W.S.,  April,i9i6.  Alt. — About  30  and  50  ft.  Assoc. — P.  nitidiim, 
P.  milium  and  P.  subtruncatum.  Remarks — Animals  bright  rose 
colour. 
Loc. — ]Mill  dam  in  Strickland's  Glen,  near  Bangor.  Coll. — A.  W.  S., 
Sept.,  191 7.  Alt. — About  30  ft.  Assoc. — P.  nitidum  and  P.  sub- 
truncatum. Remarks — Animals  bright  rose  colour. 
Loc. — Pond  in  Belvoir  Park,  near  Belfast.      Coll. — A.W.S.,  April,   191 1. 

Alt. — About  50  ft.     Assoc. — P.  nitidum  and  P.  milium. 
Loc. — Small  lake  near  Monlough,  a  small  peaty  lake,   filled  with  dense 
vegetation.      Coll. — A.W.S.,     April,      1912.      Alt. — About     400     ft. 
Assoc. — P.    nitidum    and    P.    casertanum. 
Loc. — Portavoe  Demesne,  near  Donaghadee.      Coll. — H.O.,  Sept.,  1912. 
Alt. — About  40  ft.       Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  and  P.  sub- 
truncatum. 
Loc. — Old  flax  hole  near  Dromara.     Coll. — A.W.S.  and  N.H.F.,  Aug., 
191 7.     Alt. — About  450  ft.     Assoc. — P.  casertanum  and  P.  milium. 
Remarks — Animals   bright  rose-pink. 
Loc. — Carrickmannon  Lough,  near  Saintfiekl.      Coll. — J.X.^I.     Assoc. — 

P.  nitidum. 
Loc. — In  entrance  stream  to  lake,  Hillsborough  Demesne.     Coll. — N.H.F. 
June,   191 7.     Alt. — About  300  ft.     Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  tnilium, 
and  P.  subtruncatum. 
Loc. — Lady  Alice's  Pond,  Hillsborough  Demesne.     Coll. — N.H.F.,  June, 
191 7.     Alt. — About   300  ft.     Assoc. — P.   nitidum  and  P.   subtrun- 
catum.    Remarks — Animals  bright  salmon-rose  colour. 
Loc. — Dick's  Hole,  Hillsborough  Demesne.      Coll. — N.H.F.,  June,   1917. 
Alt. — About  300  ft.     Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium 
and     P.      subtruncatum.     Remarks — Animals     bright     salmon-rose 
colour. 
Loc. — Moynes   Lough,   east  of  Hillsborough,   a  small  lake,   almost  filled 
up    with     vegetation.     Coll. — X.H.F.,     July,     191 7.     Alt. — About 
350  ft.      Assoc. — P.   nitidum,   P.   milium,  and  P.  subtruncatum. 
Loc. — McKee's    Dam,    near    Hillsborough.     Coll. — N.H.F. ,    July,    1917. 
Alt. — About   300  ft.     Assoc. — P.   nitidum  and  P.   subtruncatum. 

Antrim. 

Loc. — Howie's  Dam,  Belfast.  Coll. — The  late  H.  C.  Hyndman,  1856. 
Alt. — About  200  ft.  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium 
and  P.  subtruncatum.  Remarks — In  the  Hyndman  Collection, 
Belfast  Mun.  Museum,  labelled  "  From  a  Scaup  Duck's  stomach  shot 


44  Ihc  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

on  Howie's  Dam — a  bird  not  often  seen  on  fresh  water."     (PI.  II., 

figs.   7.8)- 

Loc. — Mouth  of  Antrim  River,  Lough  Neagh,  in  about  lo  ft.  of  water, 
just  where  river  opens  into  lake.  Coll. — A.W.S.  and  R.J.W.,  August, 
1907.  Alt. — 46  ft.  Assoc. — P.  caseYtanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium 
and  P.  snbtruncatnm.  Remarks — An  abundance  of  Sphaerium 
lacitstre  and  S.  come  urn  also  occurs  in  this  habitat. 

Loc— Lough  Duff,  Sallagh  Braes,  near  Larne,  a  very  shallow  tarn  on  the 
basaltic  plateau.  Coll. — A.W.S.  Alt. — 1,050  ft.  Assoc. — P. 
nitidum  and  P.  subtruncatum. 

Loc. — In  old  watercourse  by  the  second  lock  of  the  Lagan  Canal  above 
Belfast.  This  habitat  is  quite  dry  in  summer  time  as  a  rule.  Coll. — 
A.W.S.,  1916.  Alt. — About  30  ft.  Assoc. — No  other  Pisidia  seen. 
Remarks — The  shells  were  very  small  and  stunted. 

Loc. — Ditch  by  the  River  Lagan,  Malone,  above  Belfast.  Coll. — H.O., 
May,   1 91 3.     Alt. — About  50  ft. 

Loc. — One  of  the  lakes  on  Fair  Head  (clear  peaty  water,  with  stony 
bottoms).  Coll. — H.O.,  May,  1913.  Alt. — About  500-600  ft. 
Assoc. — P.  nitidum. 

Loc. — Woodburn  Reservoir,  Carrickfergus.  Coll. — J.  Reilly,  1898,  per 
R.J.W. 

Loc. — In  the  River  Main  near  Galgorm,  above  Ballymena.  Coll. — 
A.W.S.,  April,  191 2.  Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium  and  P.  sub- 
truncatum. 

Loc— Tarn  ^  mile  X.W.  of  Little  Trosk  and  J  mile  N.E.  of  L.  Fad,  N.W. 
of  Carnlough,  a  shallow  tarn  on  basaltic  plateau.  Coll. — A.W.S., 
April,  1912.  Alt. — About  1,000  ft.  Assoc. — P.  nitidum  'a.nd  P.  lillje- 
borgi. 

Derry. 

Loc. — Mill-dam  one  mile  S.E.  of  Magherafelt  (in  drift).  Coll. — A.W.S., 
April,   1 9 10.     Alt. — About  100  ft. 


WELSH  RECORDS  FOR   P.  HIBERNICUM. 

(Communicated  by  Mr.  Charles  Oldham,  F.L.S.). 

Denbighshire. 

Loc. — Llyn  Aled,  in  the  Hiraethog  Mts.,  a  large  tarn  with  stony  bed. 
Coll. — CO.,  June,  1917-  Alt. — 1,740  ft.  Assoc. — No  other 
Pisidia  seen.     Remarks — B.B.W.  agrees  with  identification. 

Carnarvonshire. 

Loc. — Llyn  Ogwcn,  in  the  Snowdonian  Mts.  Coll. — CO.,  Sept.,  191 1. 
Alt. — 984  ft.  Assoc. — P.  lilljebovgi.  Remarks — Recorded  as  P. 
obtusalehy  CO.,  /.  of  C,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  353  ;  and  by  B.  B.  W.,  Cat., 
p.  124. 


i9i8.  Phillips  &  Stelfox. — Range  of  Pisidium  hihernicum.      45 

Loc. — Llynau  Mymbyr,  iu  the  Snowdonian  Mts.    Coll. — CO.,  Sept.,igii. 

Alt. — -588  ft.       Assoc. — P.  lilljeborgi.      Remarks — Recorded  as  P. 

pusillum  by  CO.,  ibid.  pp.  353-4  ;    and  by  B.B.W.,  Cat.,  p.  65. 
Loc. — Llyn  Dwythwch,  in  the  Snowdonian  Mts.     Coll. — CO.,  July,  1916. 

Alt.^ — 920  ft.     Assoc. — No  other  Pisidia  seen.     Remarks — See  /.  of 

C,  vol.  XV.,  p.  232.     PI.  II.,  figs.  13,   14. 
Loc. — Llyn  Padarn,^  in  the  Snowdonian  Mts.      Coll. — CO.,  June,  1917. 

Alt. — 340  ft.      Assoc— 7P.    casertanum  and   P.    suhtruncatum. 
Loc. — Llyn  Peris,^   in   the  Snowdonian  Mts.       Coll. — CO.,  June,  1917- 

Alt. — 340  ft.     Assoc. — P.  lilljeborgi  and  P.   obtusale. 
Loc. — Llyn  Anafon  (Aber  Lake).     Coll. — CO.,  June,  1917.     Alt. — 1,630 

ft.     Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium  and  P.  lilljeborgi. 
Loc. — Llynau    Diwaunedd,    Moel    Siabod.        Coll. — CO.,    Sept.,    191 1. 

Alt. — 1,208  ft.     Remarks — Referred  by  B.B.W.  to  his  P.  pusillum. 

See  Cat.,  p.  65. 
Loc. — Llynau  Mymbyr,  Capel  Curig.     Coll. — CO.,  Sept.,  191 1.     Alt. — 

588  ft.     Remarks — Referred  by  B.B.W.  to  his  P.  pusillum.    See  Cat., 

p.  65. 

Merionethshire. 

Loc. — Fairbourne,  near  Barmouth,  running  water  in  a  ditch  behind  the 

sea-wall.     Alt. — Sea-level.     Assoc. — P.  subtruncatum.      Remarks — 

B.B.W.  [in  Hit.)  refers  these  to  his  P.  nitidum. 
Loc. — Llyn  Lliwbran,  in  the  Aran  Mts.     Coll. — CO.,  June,  1917.     Alt. — 

1,500  ft.     Assoc. — No  other  Pisidia  seen.       Remarks— B.B.W.   {in 

Hit.)  refers  these  to  his  P.  nitidum. 
Loc. — Llyn  Cyri,  Cader  Idris.     Coll. — CO.,  June,  1917.     Alt.— 1,200  ft. 

Assoc. — P.  nitidum.     Remarks — B.B.W.  {in  Utt.)  refers  these  to  his 

P.  nitidum. 
Loc. — Llyn  Dulyn,  near  Llanddwye,  in  the  Ardudwy  Mts.     Coll. — CO., 

June,i9i7.    Alt. — 1,740  ft.   Assoc. — P.  obtusale.    Remarks — B.B.W. 

{in  litt.)  agrees. 
Loc. — Llyn  Irddyn,  in    the    Ardudwy  Mts.       Coll. — CO.,   June,    1917. 

Alt. — 1,029  ft.     Assoc. — P.  casertanum  Sind  P.  milium.     Remarks — 

B.B.W.  {in  litt.)  agrees. 
Loc. — Llyn    Y    Bi,    in    the    Ardudwy    Mts.       Coll. — CO.,    Oct.,    1916. 

Alt.— 1,400  ft.       Assoc. — P.    casertanum.       Remarks — B.B.W.  {in 

litt.)  refers  these  to  P.  obtusale. 
Loc. — Llyn  Cwm  Mynach  (a  peaty  tarn),  in  the  Ardudwy  Mts.      Coll. — 

C.O.,  June,i9i7.    Alt. — 950  ft.    Assoc. — P.  casertanum.    Remarks — 

B.B.W.  {in  litt.)   agrees. 
Loc. — A  nameless  tarn  on  Y  Garn,  near  Dolgelly  (peaty),  in  the  Ardudwy 

Mts.     Coll. — CO.,  July,  1917.      Alt. — 1,800  ft.       Assoc. — P.  cas- 
ertanum.    [End  of  CO.'s  notes]. 

Anglesey. 
Loc. — Gaerwen.     Coll. — J.  E.  Cooper. 

1  The  Llanberis  Lakes. 


46  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 


iMANX   RECORD  FOR  P.    HIBERNICUM. 

Isle  of  Man. 

Loc. — Marshes  near  the  Point  of  Air.  Coll. — F.  Balfour  Browne,  July, 
1910.  Alt. — Sea  level.  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nilidum,  P. 
milium  and  P.  subtruncatum. 


ENGLISH    RECORDS  FOR  P.  HIBERNICUM. 

Surrey. 

Loc. — Ditch  in  field  near  Merton  Abbey  station,  London,  S.W.  Coll. — 
A.W.S.,  April,  1907.  Alt. — About  30  ft.  Assoc. — P.  henslowanum 
and  spp. 

Loc. — Ditch  by  the  towing  path,  Kew  Gardens.  Coll. — A.W.S.,  May, 
1907.     Assoc. — P.  milium,  P.  subtruncatum,  and  P.  henslowanum. 


Hertfordshire. 

Loc. — Fishpond,  Aldenham  Abbey  (this  pond  is  connected  with  the  River 
Colne).  Coll. — CO.,  May,  191 7.  Assoc. — P.  amnicum,  P.  nitidum, 
P.  subtruncatum  and  P.  henslowanum.  Remarks — Mr.  B.  B.  Wood- 
ward agrees  with  this  determination. 

Loc. — Brook  at  Cassio  Bridge,  Watford.  Coll. — CO.,  Aug.,  1917. 
Remarks — Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward  [in  litt.  to  CO.)  says,  "  To  my  mind 
these  are  P.  nitidum." 

Buckinghamshire. 

Loc. — Iver.      Coll. — J.  E.  Cooper. 

Loc. — Canal  at  Dcnham  Lock.       Coll. — J.   E.   Cooper. 

Cambridgeshire. 

Loc. — "  Wicken  Fen.  Ex.  F.  Taylor."  Remarks — In  possession  of  Mr. 
J.  W.  Jackson. 

Northamptonshire. 

Loc. — River  Nene  at  Northampton.  Coll. — CO.,  Aug.,  1917.  Assoc. — 
P.  amnicum,  P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  P.  subtruncatu)n, 
and  P.  henslowanum. 

Warwickshire. 

Loc. — Stream  near  Windmill,  Yardlcy  Wood.     Coll. — H.O.,  Sept.,  191 1. 

Assoc. — P.  nitidum  and  P.  subtruncatum. 
Loc. — Longmoor  Pool  (7a.  3r.  i6p.),  Sutton  Park  (\ery  muddy  and  peaty, 

caused    by    dead    leaves,     &c.).     Coll. — H.O.,  1894.         Assoc. — P. 


igiS.  Phillips  <fe  Stelfox. — Range  of  Pisidium  hihernicum.     47 

casertanum,  P.  nitidum,   P.  milium,  P.  pulcJiellmn,  P.  suhtrimcaUtm 
and  P.    henslowanioH. 

Loc. — Bracebridge  Pool  (i6a.   ir.  29p.)  (gravelly  or  muddy  bottom,  con- 
taining much  weed).     Coll. — H.O.     Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium 
P.  suhtruncatitm  and  P.  henslowanum. 

Log. — Blackroot  Pool  (12a.  or.  ijp.j,  Sutton  Park  (very  muddy).  Coll. — 
H.O.,  Sept.,  1893.  Assoc. — P.  amnicum,  P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum, 
P.  milium,  P.  pulcheUum,  P.  subtruncatum,  and  P.  henslowanum. 
Remarks — "Taken  from  where  the  brook  runs  into  the  pool." — 
H.O. 

Loc. — Hill  Hook,  near  Sutton  Coldfield.  Coll.— H.O.  [also  N.  G.  Hadden, 
June,  1913.]  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  P.  sub- 
truncatum, P.  henslowanum,  and  P.  obtusale.  Remarks — "  I  think 
these  came  from  both  the  stream  and  the  pit  ;  the  former  is  gravelly, 
the  latter  has  marly-mud." — H.O. 

Loc. — Windley  Nursery  (water-cre.ss  bed),  Sutton  Coldfield.  Coll. — H.O. 
Assoc. — P.  casertanum  and  P.  nitidum.  Remarks — "  A  small  over- 
grown pit,  dug  by  the  side  of  the  stream,  from  which  it  is  fed." 
—H.O. 

Loc. — Spademill  Pool,  Sutton  Park  (28a.  2r.  34P.).  Coll. — H.O.,  April, 
1895.  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  nnlium,  P.  sub  run- 
catum,  and  P.  henslowanum.  Remarks — "  Fairly  muddy,  but  little 
weed."— H.O. 

Loc— The  IMoat,  New  Hall,  near  Sutton  Coldfield.  Coll.— H.O.  Assoc. — 
P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  P.  subtruncatum,  and  P.  hens- 
lowanum.    Remarks — "  Fair  quantity  of  mud  and  weed."- — H.O. 

Loc. — A  shallow  grassy  ditch  in  Crystal  Palace  grounds,  Sutton  Cold- 
field.  Coll. — H.O.,  1893.  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum, 
P.  milium,  P.  pulcheUum  and  P.  subtruncatum. 

Loc— Skinner's  Pool  [ir.  i2p.),  Sutton  Coldfield.  Coll.— H.O.  Assoc. — 
P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  P.  subtruncatum,  P.  henslo- 
ivanum  and  P.  obtusale.  Remarks- — "  Very  muddy  ;  contained  very 
large  Unio  tumidus,  now  filled  up." — H.O. 

Loc. — Olton  Reservoir,  near  Birmingham.  Coll. — H.O.,  June,  1910. 
Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium  and  P.  subtruncatum. 

Loc. — Keeper's  Pool  (2a.  or.  37p.),  Sutton  Park.  Coll. — H.O.,  1893. 
[Also  P.  T.  Deakin,  May,  1882].  Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium, 
P.  pulcheUum,  P.  subtruncatum  and  P.  henslowanum.  Remarks — 
"  Mud,  rushes,  and  much  Menyanthes  trifoliata,  but  I  think  these 
came  from  the  side  of  the  w'ood  where  there  is  mud  and  decayed 
leaves.  "^ — H.O. 

Worcestershire. 

Loc. — Near  Sare  Hole  Mill  (Birmingham).  Coll. — P.  T.  Deakin,  June, 
1890.     Assoc — P.  nitidum,  P.  subtruncatum    and  P.  henslowanum, 


48  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

Staffordshire. 

Loc. — Park  lime-pits,  Walsall.  Assoc. — P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidiim,  P. 
milium,  J\  subtyuyicatiim  and  P.  hensloivanin}?.  I^emarks — "  Old 
workings  (in  Wcnlock  Shale),  about  2  acres  in  extent,  into  which  the 
water  broke  through  many  years  ago.     Not  much  vegetation." — H.O. 

Loc. — Pool  in  Gt.  Barr  Park,  near  Walsall.  Coll. — H.O.,  Nov.,  191 1. 
Assoc. — P.  nitiditm,  P.  milium  and  P.  henslowanum.  Remarks — 
Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward  has  referred  these  to  P.  ohtusale.    See  Cat.,  p.  124. 

Cheshire. 

Loc. — Baguley  ]\Ioor.  Coll. — CO.,  Oct.,  1894.  [Also  J.  W.  Jackson, 
March,  1902J.  Remarks — "  B.B.W.,  Cat.,  p.  55,  refers  these  to  P. 
personatum,  but  in  Nov.,  191 7,  when  I  submitted  them  to  him  again, 
he  agreed  that  they  were  P.  hibernicum." — CO.     PI.  II.,  figs.  11,  12. 

Lancashire. 

Loc. — Ditch,  Haweswater,  Silverdale.     Coll. — J.  W.  Jackson,  iNIay,  1904. 

Loc. — Haweswater,  Silverdale.      Coll.— J.  W.  Jackson,  1909.      Assoc. — 

P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  P.  subtruncatum,  P.  lilljeborgi  and  P.  obtusale. 

[No    specimens    have    been    seen    from    Scotland.] 

EX-BRITANNIC  RECORDS  FOR  P.   HIBERNICUM. 

Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward,  Cat.,  p.  119,  records  this  species  from  the  Takern 
See,  Ostergotland,  Sweden  ;  while  we  have  seen  several  specimens 
from  Tonset,  Norway,  in  the  Schlesch  collection  of  the  Hull  Municipal 
Museum. 


IRISH  FOSSIL  RECORDS  FOR  P.   HIBERNICUM. 

Clare. 

Loc. — In  shell-marl  from  bank  of  River  Fergus,  near  Ennis.  Coll. — 
R.A.P.,  April,  191 7.  Alt. — About  sea-level.  Assoc. — P.  caser- 
tanum, P.  nitidum,  P.  milium  and  P.  obtusale.  Remarks — These 
shell-marls  are  post-Glacial,  and  the  uppermost  beds  possibly  date 
from  what  is  known  as  the  "  climatic  optimum." 

Loc. — In  shell-marl  from  near  Corrofin.  Coll. — R.A.P.,  June,  191 7. 
Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P,  milium,  and  P.  obtusale. 

Down. 

Loc. — In  shell-marl,  and  peat  above  same,  White  Bog,  Killough.  Coll. — 
A.W.S.,  1912-1917.  Alt. — 30  ft.  Assoc.  -P.  casertanum,  P.  nitidum, 
P.  milium,  P.  subtruncatum,  P.  lilljeborgi  and  P.  obtusale.  Remarks — 
Occurs  in  the  marl  from  the  oldest  to  the  uppermost  layers,  as  well 
fis  in  pockets  of  marl  in  the  overlying  peat, 


igiS.  Phillips  &  Stelfox. — Range  of  Pisidiimi  hibernicttm.     49 

Loc. — In  shell-marl  from  site  of  old  lake  near  Legacurry,  Hillsborough. 
Coll. — Per  N.H.F.,  1910.  Alt. — About  200  ft.  Assoc. ^ — P.  nitidum 
and  P.  milium.  Remarks — P.  ohtusale,  fide  Mr.  B.  B.  Woodward, 
See  Cat.,  p.    126. 

Antrim. 

Loc. — In  shell-marl  from  Magi  aberry  (near  Moira),  on  site  of  old  lake. 
Alt. — About  70  ft.  Assoc. — P.  nitidum,  P.  milium,  P.  suhtruncatum 
and  P.  ohtusale.  Remarks^ — Recorded  by  Messrs.  Kennard  and  Wood- 
ward as  P.  ohtusale.    See  Proc.  Geol.  Association,  vol.  xxviii.,  p.  146. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  PLATES. 

Plate  I. 

Figs.  1(7  and  ih. — Siphon  and  posterior  lateral  teeth  of  hinge  of  P.  nitidum 

Jenyns  {  =  P.  pusillum,  B.  B.  Woodward,  Cat.,  pi.  i,  fig.  8),  from 

Dick's  Hole,   Hillsborough  Demesne,  Co.  Down. 
Figs.  2fl  and  2b. —         Do.         of  P.  hihernicum  West.,  taken  in  association 

with  the  last. 
Figs.  3fl  and  36. —         Do.         of  P.  ohtusale  (Lam.)  Jenyns,  from  a  disused 

mill-race  a  few  yards  from  the  above  habitat. 
Figs.  4fl  and  46. —         Do.         of  P.  personatum  (Malm.)  B.  B.  Woodward, 

taken  in  association  with  the  last. 
[The  siphon  of  P.  milium  Held  is  not  figured  :    it  is  somewhat  like 
that  of  P.  ohtusale,  but  is  much  longer  and  very  narrow.     The  posterior 
laterals  of  P.  milium  are  similar  in  some  ways  to  those  of  both  P.  nitidum 
and  P.  hihernicum  and  are  not  figured  in  consequence.] 
Figs.   5  and  6. — Interior  view  of  pair  of  valves  of  P.   hihernicum  from 

"  Lough  No.  7,"  2,250  ft.  alt.,  Coumaknock,  Brandon  Mt.,  South 

Kerry.      A  very  thin  and  tumid  form  ! 
Figs.  7  and  8. —         Do.         from  Crow's  Lough,  near  Gortymadden,  South 

Galway.     The  most  perfect  specimen  we  have  yet  seen  ! 
Figs.  9  and  10.- —         Do.         from  Lough  Nagarriva,  South  Kerry  :    one 

of  Dr.  Scharff's  original  specimens.     A  very  tumid  and  abnormal 

form,  but  unfortunately  the  type  of  the  species  ! 

Plate  II. 

Figs.   I  and  2. — Interior  view  of  pair  of    valves  of   P.  medianum  Sterki 

from  Orchard  Lake,  Mich.,   U.S.A.,  for  comparison  with  figures 

of  P.  hihernicum  from  L.  Rea. 
Figs.  3  and  4. — Interior  view  of  pair  of  valves  of  P.  hihernicum  West,  from 

Lough  Meenaskeagh,  East  Donegal. 
Figs.  5  and  6. —         Do.         from  Lough  Rea,  South  Galway.     A  thickened 

form  :    the  nearest  we  have  seen  to  the  American  P,  medianurn 

figured  above  ! 


50  The  Irish  Naturalist.  March, 

Figs.  7  and  8. — Interior  view  of  pair  of  valves  of  P.  hibemicum  West, 
from  the  stomach  of  a  Scaup  Duck,  shot  on  Howie's  Dam, 
Belfast,    Co.    Antrim,    in    1856. 

Figs.  9  and  10. —         Do.  from     Lough     Drin,     near     MuUingar,     Co. 

Westmeath. 

Figs.  II  and  12. —  Do.  from  Baguley  Moor,  Cheshire.  Represen- 
ting a  normal  English  form  ! 

Figs.  13  and  14. —         Do.  from  Llyn   Dwythwch,   920  ft.     alt.,   near 

Llanberis,  Carnarvonshire.     A  form  typical  of  the  Welsh  tarns  ! 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

BELFAST  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

January  15. — Rev.  K.  Dunbar  gave  a  lecture  entitled,  "  The  Life 
Hi.story  of  Some  British  Lepidoptera,"  illustrated  by  a  series  of  lantern 
slides.  There  were  four  distinct  stages  in  the  life  history  of  lepidoptera — 
ova,  larva,  pupa,  and  imago.  The  ova  were  for  the  most  part  laid  on  or 
near  the  food  plant,  and  either  singly  or  in  clusters.  Lepidopterous  larvae 
were  almost  exclusively  vegetarian.  During  the  larval  stage  the  skin  was 
cast  three  or  four  times,  the  last  moult  revealing  the  pupa.  Brief  sum- 
maries were  then  given  of  the  life  histories  of  some  local  species — among 
butterflies,  V.  urticcB,  E.  cardamines  ;  among  moths,  5.  convolvuli,  C. 
potatoria,  A.  caja,  and  7).  vinula.  Mr.  Foster  and  Mr.  Stendall  took  part 
in  the  discussion  which  followed. 


DUBLIN  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

January  23. — Annual  General  Meeting. — The  President,  Prof.  G.  H. 
Carpenter,  M.Sc,  in  the  chair.  The  Annual  Report  and  Statement  of 
Accounts  for  1917  were  submitted  and  adopted.  A  vote  of  thanks  to 
Mr.  C.  J.  Bateman,  who  had  acted  as  Hon.  Treasurer  for  some  years, 
proposed  by  R.  LI.  Praeger  and  seconded  by  the  President,  was  passed. 
The  names  of  the  officers  and  committee  for  191 8  were  announced  as 
follows  : — President — J.  de  W.  Hinch  ;  Vice-President — Prof.  A. 
Henry,  m.a.,  f.l.s.  ;  Hon.  Treasurer — G.  C.  May,  b.l.  ;  Hon.  Secretary 
— Mrs.  T.  Long  ;  Committee — Prof.  Carpenter,  Prof.  Cole,  X.  Colgan, 
D.  W.  Freeman,  Miss  J.  Gilmour,  Mrs.  Harford,  Rev.  J.  Hamilton,  Miss 
Kate  Murphy,  K.  LI.  Praeger,  Miss  J.  Stephens,  Alexander  Williams. 

The  incoming  President  J.  de  W.  Hinch,  delivered  an  inaugural  address, 
dealing  with  "  The  development  and  decay  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier," 
which  will  be  published  in  the  Irish  Naturalist.  R.  Ll.  Praeger,  N.  Colgan, 
Prof.  Carpenter,  Prof.  Henry  and  W.  B.  Wright  took  part  in  a  discussion 
on  the  address, 


1 91 8.  Irish  Societies.  51 

February  14. — J.  de  W.  Hinch,  President,  in  the  chair.  The  business 
of  the  meeting  was  a  discussion  on  "  The  present  state  of  opinion  on  the 
Darwinian  theory."  Prof.  Carpenter,  who  opened  the  discussion,  dealt 
with  the  developments  of  opinion  regarding  the  origin  of  species  since  1859, 
and  pointed  out  the  essential  facts  of  the  theories  of  Weismann,  Hu.ton, 
Mendel,  and  De  Vries.  The  discussion  was  continued  by  W.  F.  Gunn, 
Prof.  Henry,  N.  Colgan,  and  L.  Gubbins. 


CORK    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB. 

May  17. — Excursion  to  Ballyvolane. — Professor  Isaac  Swain  con- 
ducted a  large  party  to  the  gravel  pits  and  glen  in  this  vicinity  and 
described  many  features  of  geological  interest.  The  stream  flowing  through 
the  glen  gives  the  name  of  "  Watercourse  "  to  what  was  formerly  a  large 
industrial  area  in  the  district,  and  a  small  lake  known  as  "  the  pool  " 
gives  the  name  of  "  Blackpool  "  to  the  suburb.  The  glen  was  well 
wooded  until  recent  years  and  is  immortalized  by  song  and  story  in  local 
literature  as  "  The  Groves  of  the  Pool." 

May  29. — Annual  Meeting. — The  report  was  read  and  a  vote  of  thanks 
passed  to  James  Noonan,  Honorary  Secretary,  who  retired  after  a  long  and 
active  association  with  the  Club.  Mr.  Holland  was  appointed  as  his 
successor. 

Sept.  27. — Excursion  to  Wood-hill. — Owing  to  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  only  a  small  party  visited  this  interesting  house  and  grounds  by 
kind  permission  of  Sir  Keith  Eraser.  The  house  possesses  many  historic 
associations  connected  with  art  and  literature.  Some  remarkably  fine  trees 
on  the  grounds  were  examined.  Two  fine  avenues  of  oaks  were  observed 
in  the  neighbourhood,  one  of  which  is  reputed  to  have  been  planted  by 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  lived  for  a  short  time  in  the  district. 


DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB. 

January  8. — The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House,  the  President  (N. 
Colgan)  in  the  chair. 

H.  A.  Lafferty  showed  microscopic  preparations  of  germinating 
spores  of  Ustilago  hordei,  the  fungus  which  causes  "  covered  '  smut 
of  Barley.  These  preparations  clearly  showed  that  the  spores  on 
germination  produce  a  promycelium  which  bears  conidia.  By  means 
of  these  conidia  the  seedling  plants  are  infected. 

Prof.  G.  H.  Carpenter  and  F.  J.  S.  Pollard  showed  the  anterior 
spiracles  of  the  Horse  Bot  larva  {Gastrophilus  equi)  and  of  the  Ox  Warble 
Maggot  {Hypoderma  bovis).  In  the  former  these  spiracles  are  functional 
being  provided  with  numerous  small  openings,  as  described  by  Enderlein 
{Sitzb.  K.  A  had.  Wien,  cviii.,  i,  1899),  whereas  in  the  latter  they  are 
vestigial  and  useless,  the  spiracular  trachea  being  plugged  with  a  solid 
chitinous  core. 


52  The  Irish  Naturalisf.  March   1915. 

NOTES. 

BOTANY. 

Fulig^o  septica  var.  candidar 

In  the  month  of  September  last  when  at  Woodlawn,  Co.  Galway,  I 
gathered  on  moss  on  a  decaying  tree-stump  a  dark  cushion-Hke  mass 
about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter.  On  looking  at  it  with  a  lens  I 
saw  that  it  was  a  Myxomycete.  The  specimen  was  somewhat  weathered 
and  the  cortex  partly  dispersed.  On  microscopical  examination  I  found 
it  was  a  species  of  Fuligo,  but  as  it  differed  in  some  respects  from  F. 
septica  notably  in  the  colour  of  the  lime  knots  of  the  capillitium,  and 
did  not  agree  with  the  characters  of  F.  cinerea  (which  I  had  never  seen) 
I  sent  it  to  Miss  G.  Lister  who  very  kindly  wrote  as  follows  : — "  I  am 
very  pleased  to  see  your  specimens.  If  No.  i  was  a  puzzler  I  am  not 
surprised.  I  call  it  Fuligo  septica  var.  Candida  (Pers.  as  sp.)  a  new  record 
for  Ireland.  The  spores  are  rather  darker  than  is  typical  for  F.  septica 
and  measure  7  to  9  ^^  :  the  character  of  the  long  slender  lime  knots 
and  abundant  straight  hyaline  threads  is  right  for  jF.  septica.  We  have 
often  been  puzzled  with  forms  intermediate  between  var.  Candida  and 
F.  cinerea  var.  ecorticata,  but  your  specimen  lies  comfortably  on  the 
F.  septica  heap,  I  think. 

W.    F.    GUNN. 
Rathgar,  Dublin. 

ZOOLOGY. 
Abundance  of  Lepidoptera  in  1917. 

With  reference  to  Mr.  Workman's  note  in  the  January  Irish  Natitralisi 
(p.  II,  supra) ,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  in  this  immediate  neighbour- 
hood the  past  year  showed  a  very  marked  increase  in  several  species  of 
Lepidoptera.  The  Silver-washed  Fritillary  [Argynnis  paphia)  and  the 
Small  Heath  {Coenonympha  pamphilus),  both  new  to  me  in  the  district, 
were  observed,  the  former  in  very  large  numbers.  The  Grayling  {Satyrus 
semele)  was  much  more  numerous  than  usual  and  the  same  applies  to 
the  Painted  Lady  ( Vanessa  cardui)  and  the  Small  Copper  [Chrysophanus 
phloeas).  Among  Moths  the  Six-spot  Burnet  {Anthrocera  filipendulae) , 
of  which  I  had  only  one  record  prior  to  this  year,  was  found  on  several 
occasions  positively  swarming.  A  specimen  of  the  Convolvolus  Hawk 
Moth  [Sphinx  convolvuli)  was  taken  on  September  2nd,  this  being  the 
second  occurrence  in  the  neighbourhood  of  late.  The  first  was  taken 
on   October  6th,    19 15.  Both  were  captured  at  the  rectory,   the  first 

hovering  round  a  plant  of  tobacco  in  the  garden,  the  second  in  the  house. 

T.  W.  L.  Keane. 
Ardmore.  Co.  Waterford. 


April,  igi8.  The  Irish  Naturalisl.  53 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  AND  DECAY  OF  THE   IRISPI 

SEA  GLACIER. 

BY   J.    DE   W.    HINCH. 

(Presidential    Address   to    the    Dublin    Naturalists'    Field    Club, 

23   January,    1918.) 

A  CONSIDERABLE  number  of  glaciers  coalesced  to  form  the 
great  ice-sheet  which  in  Quaternary  times  occupied  the 
basin  of  the  Irish  Sea,  and  spread  inland  over  many  districts 
along  its  margin  both  in  Ireland  and  in  Britain.  The  most 
important  of  these  local  glaciers  were  the  ice  of  the  Clyde 
area  in  the  earlier  stages,  and  later  the  ice-sheet  which  had 
its  origin  in  north-central  Ireland.  When  the  Clyde  area 
had  become  greatly  congested  by  ice  from  the  Scottish 
Highlands,  a  lobe  of  the  Clyde  Glacier  debouched  through 
the  North  Channel  into  the  Irish  Sea  basin,  crossing  in  the 
course  of  its  advance  north-east  Ulster  on  the  west  and 
Galloway  on  the  east.  On  reaching  the  Irish  Sea  the  Clyde 
Glacier  began  to  unite  with  ice  from  the  southern  uplands 
of  Scotland,  from  the  Cumberland  hills,  from  Wales,  and 
later  from  the  centre  of  Ireland. 

W^e  now  reach  a  point  where  a  modern  speculation 
regarding  the  growth  and  movements  of  continental  ice- 
sheets  may  be  mentioned.  Up  to  very  recent  times  dis- 
cussion on  the  Ice  Age  has  been  hampered  and  confined 
by  evidence  drawn  from  the  very  restricted  glaciers  of 
Switzerland  and  the  Himalaya  as  we  know  them  at  the 
present  day.  This  type  of  evidence  has  had  a  rather  un- 
fortunate effect  on  certain  controverted  questions  in  glacial 
geology  as  the  movements  of  the  diminutive  glaciers  of 
modern  times  are  clearly  controlled  by  local  gravity  and 
the  contours  of  the  surrounding  surface  features.  Now 
glacial  geologists  have  been  compelled  by  the  evidence  in 
the  field  to  ask  for  a  type  of  ice-sheet,  which  in  earlier 
times  moved  across  great  tracts  of  country  without  any 
special  regard  for  elevations  of  moderate  height  or  depres- 
sions of  moderate  depth.      According  to  the  earlier  view, 

A 


54  The  Irish  Naturalist.  April, 

the  alleged  movements  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  would  require 
an  elevated  ice-cap,  l3ang  over  the  northern  parts  of  the 
British  Isles,  to  explain  its  advance,  and  there  is  very  little 
evidence  to  support  the  existence  of  this  ice-cap.  Now  it 
has  been  pointed  out  by  G.  W.  Lamplugh  that  a  great 
glacier,  deployed  in  the  direction  of  the  maximum  precipita- 
tion, might  grow  so  quickly  by  deposition  of  snow  upon  the 
surface  of  its  outer  margin  that  eventually  the  ice-sheet 
would  begin  to  create  its  own  local  climatic  conditions  and 
methods  of  growth,  so  that  finally  breaking  loose  from  the 
control  of  the  hills  and  the  control  of  local  gravity,  it  would 
move  forward  with  very  little  regard  for  the  lesser  contours 
of  the  ground  over  which  it  passed.^ 

The  application  of  this  speculation  to  the  ice  of  the 
Clyde  area  and  afterwards  to  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  would 
help  us  out  of  some  of  the  difficulties,  and  the  recent  in- 
vestigations of  Nansen  and  Scott  in  Greenland  and  Antarc- 
tica appear  to  lend  support  to  the  theory. 

The  Irish  Sea  Glacier  during  its  development  and  decay 
created  glacial  deposits  on  both  sides  of  the  Irish  Sea  and 
on  the  south  coast  of  Ireland,  and  b}^  these  deposits,  with 
arctic  shells  and  northern  erratics,  we  are  able  to  trace  the 
progress  of  the  ice-sheet  from  district  to  district.  Over  a 
considerable  part  of  Antrim  and  Down  the  northern  ice- 
sheet  passed,  laying  down  the  boulder-clay  and  gravels, 
with  the  typical  Scottish  erratics  and  arctic  shells.  These 
glacial  deposits  of  north-east  Ulster  are  widely  developed, 
as  far  west  as  the  Bann,  and  have  been  investigated  by 
S.  A.  Stewart  and  Joseph  Wright,  and  later  by  Madame 
Christen.  Both  S.  A.  Stewart  and  Joseph  Wright  have 
always  been  staunch  upholders  of  that  earlier  theory  of 
submergence  which  has  been  recently  challenged,  but  we 
cannot  withhold  a  tribute  to  the  great  accuracy  of  their 
field-work  and  the  notable  contributions  which  they  have 
made   to   Irish   glacial   geology. 

The  next  important  locality  where  the  deposits  of  the 
Irish  Sea  Glacier  are  extensively  developed  is  the  Isle  of 
Man,  where  Lamplugh  and  Kendall  have  proved  that  the 

^  Glacialista'   Mag.,   vol.   i.,    no.    ii,   p.    231    (1894). 


19 18.  HiNCH. — The  Irish  Sea  Glacier.  55 

ice-sheet  passed  from  north-west  to  south-cast  over  the 
higher  land  of  the  island,  laying  down  the  boulder-clay  and 
gravels,  which  have  yielded  typical  northern  erratics  and 
many  important  arctic  shells  and  remains  of  other  animals. 
The  Geological  Survey  Memoir  on  the  Geology  of  the  Isle  of 
Man,  which  was  written  by  Lamplugh  and  published  in 
1903,  has  had  great  influence  on  research  in  glacial  geology 
in  the  Irish  Sea  area,  challenging  as  it  did,  the  accepted 
theory  of  an  interglacial  submergence,  and  stimulating 
extended  work  in  the  field  on  the  subject. 

Turning  from  the  Isle  of  Man  to  the  eastern  coast  of 
Ireland,  deposits  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  have  been  found 
by  the  writer  at  various  points  south  of  Dundalk.  At 
Glaspistol,  south  of  Clogher  Head,  in  Louth,  there  occurs 
in  the  floor  of  the  present  beach  a  patch  of  boulder-clay 
containing  northern  erratics  and  shells.  South  of  the  Boyne, 
at  Benhead,  where  the  cliffs  are  formed  of  boulder-clay, 
similar  erratics  and  shells  have  been  found  by  the  writer 
and  inland  north  of  Gormanstown,  gravels  with  erratics 
and  shells,  w^ere  discovered  by  W.  B.  Bruce,  to  whom  the 
writer  is  indebted  for  the  report.  During  the  Natural 
History  Survey  of  Lambay,  Prof.  Seymour,  who  acted  as 
geological  director,  found  that  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  had 
overridden  the  island,  laying  down  boulder-clay  containing 
northern  erratics,  and  in  the  boulder-clay  at  Saltpan  Bay, 
on  the  northern  shore  of  the  island,  a  number  of  shell- 
fragments  were  found  by  the  writer.^  On  the  mainland 
at  Skerries  shell-fragments  and  erratics  are  reported  from 
the  sands  and  gravels  near  the  railway  station,  while  at 
Corballis,  on  the  southern  shore  of  Portrane  promontory, 
shell-fragments  have  been  obtained  by  the  writer  from  the 
boulder-clay. 

The  district  in  the  middle  of  which  the  city  of  Dublin 
stands  was  the  first  area  surveyed  by  the  Geological  Survey 
for  the  new  Drift  maps,  and  from  many  localities  in  this 
area  arctic  shells  and  northern  erratics  have  been  obtained." 


1  H.  J.  Seymour,  "  Geology  [of   Lambay],"   Irish  Naturalist,  vol.  xvi., 

PP-  3-13  (1907). 

^  Geological  Survey  Memoir,  Geology  of  Dublin,    1903. 


A  2 


56  The  Irish  Naturalist.  April, 

Previous  to  this  special  Drift  survey  many  observers 
had  been  at  work  in  the  Dubhn  area,  and  a  number  of 
localities  had  already  been  noted  for  their  arctic  shells  and 
northern  erratics.  During  the  earlier  decades  of  last  century 
Weaver,  Scouler,  Kelly  and  Oldham  had  worked  at  some 
of  the  Drift  deposits  in  the  district  and  usually  supported 
the  theory  of  a  marine  origin  of  both  boulder-clay  and 
sands  and  gravels.  In  the  sixties  and  seventies  that  great 
leader  in  Irish  glacial  geology,  the  Rev.  Maxwell  Close,  had 
investigated  the  deposits  at  Caldbeck  Castle  and  Bally- 
edmonduff,  and  from  these  deposits  had  obtained  many 
species  of  mollusca  and  Crustacea,  i 

In  the  years  1894-95  Prof.  Sollas  and  R.  LI.  Praeger  had 
investigated  the  Kill-of-the-C^range  and  Killiney  Bay 
deposits,  and  many  new  records  were  obtained.  Fifty-seven 
species  of  mollusca  were  discovered  ;  and  the  presence  of 
fossils  from  the  Lias  of  Ulster  or  Scotland,  as  erratics,  was 
noted.  In  addition  to  the  new  field  records,  a  change  of 
opinion  regarding  the  origin  of  the  deposits  was  fore- 
shadowed." 

The  southerly-  occurrence  in  the  Drift  of  the  Ailsa  Craig 
riebeckite  had  also  already  been  observed  by  Prof.  Cole 
and  Prof.  Seymour.  During  the  Drift  survey  many  deposits 
with  shells  and  erratics  were  discovered,  and  from  one  of 
these  at  Larch  Hill,  on  the  northern  slopes  of  Tibradden, 
at  650  feet  above  sea-level,  thirty-five  species  of  mollusca 
were  obtained.'^ 

Since  the  survey  of  the  Dublin  district  was  concluded 
many  further  records  have  been  made,  two  of  which  may  be 
noticed.       In  a  boulder-clay  near  the  upper  edge  of  the 


1  Rev.  Maxwell  Close,  "  The  Elevated  Shell-bearing  (travels  near 
Dublin,"  Joiirn.  Roy.  Geol.  Soc,  Ireland,  vol.  xiv.,  pp.  36-40  (1H73-77). 

"  W.  J.  Sollas  and  R.  LI.  Praeger,  "  Notes  on  (ilacial  Deposits  in 
Ireland,"  Irish  Naturalist,  vol.  in.,  pp.  161-66,  pp.  194-98  (1894),  vol.  iv., 
pp.    3-^1-3^9    (1895)- 

'J.  de  W.  Hinch,  "  A  Contribution  to  the  Glacial  Geology  of  County 
Dublin,"  Irish  Naturalist,  vol.  xi.,  pp.  229-36  (1902). 


i9i8.  HiNCH. — 71ie  Irish  Sea  Glacier.  57 

Killakec  valley,  at  1,270  feet,  shells  and  erratics  have  been 
found,  and  this  locality  is  believed  to  be  the  highest  eleva- 
tion at  which  they  have  been  found  in  Ireland.^ 

Two  reports  are  available  from  the  valley  of  the  Litfey, 
where  W.  B.  Wright  and  the  writer  found  shell-fragments 
in  gravels  at  Astagob,  east  of  Lucan,  and  in  Lucan  demesne, 
between  Lucan  and  Leixlip.  These  records  of  shell- 
fragments  from  the  valley  of  the  Liffey  are  the  most 
westerly  obtained  up  to  the  present. 

In  County  Wicklow  a  number  of  localities  may  be  cited 
as  having  yielded  evidence  of  the  passage  of  the  glacier 
across  the  district.      Last  year  W.  H.  Hinde,  the  engineer- 
in-charge  of  the  construction  of  the  new  Bray  Head  tunnel, 
discovered  shells  and  erratics  in  the  boulder-clay  and  sand 
through  which  the  timnel  was  being  cut.     As  the  shells  were 
found  over  1,000  feet  from  the  entrance  and  nearly  100  feet 
below  the  surface,  this  discovery  is  most  interesting.     A 
number  of  arctic  shells  and  northern  erratics  have  been 
obtained  by  W.  H.  Hinde  and  the  writer  up  to  the  present, 
and  further  investigations  are  to  be  continued  during  the 
present  year.      South  of  Bray  Head,  towards  Greystones, 
shell  fragments  and  erratics  have  been  found  by    W.    B. 
Bruce  and  the  writer  in  a  number  of  localities,  while  inland, 
on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Great  Sugarloaf,  the  gravel 
deposits  have   yielded  satisfactory  results. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  turn  from  the  western  shore  of 
the  Irish  Sea  basin  in  order  to  follow  the  course  pursued 
by  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  after  it  had  crossed  the  Isle  of  Man. 
The  evidence  shows  that  the  ice-sheet,  having  reached  the 
northern  coast  of  Wales,  divided  into  two  great  lobes  in 
order  to  avoid  the  Snowdon  range,  over  which  it  was  not 
powerful  enough  to  pass,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 
The  eastern  lobe  swept  inland  over  the  low-lying  Cheshire 
plain  as  far  south  as  Shrewsbury  in  Shropshire,  and  from 
many  localities  far  inland  from  the  sea  arctic  shells  and 
erratics  have  been  obtained.  The  western  lobe  of  the 
ice-sheet    turned   west   and  south   across   Caernarvon   and 


^  J.  de  W.  Hinch,  "  The  occurrence  of  high-level  shelly-drift,  in  the 
Killakee  Valley,  Co.  Dubhn,"  Irish  Naturalist,  vol.  xvii.,  pp.  99-100 
(1908). 


58  TJic  IrisJi  Nattiralist.  April, 

Anglese\^  and  at  Moel-Tryfaen,  in  gravel  deposits  at 
1,350  feet  above  sea-level,  both  erratics  and  arctic  shells 
have  been  found  in  great  abundance.  The  great  pebble 
ridge  at  Aberystwyth  in  Cardigan  Bay,  yields  many  large 
boulders  of  Ailsa  Craig  riebeckite  and  chalk-flints,  and 
Prof.  Fleure,  of  University  College,  Aber3'stwyth,  considers 
that  these  northern  erratics  have  been  derived  from  glacial 
deposits  recently  destroyed  by  the  action  of  the  sea.  At 
St.  David's  Head,  in  Pembrokeshire,  there  is  evidence  of 
the  passage  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier,  and  as  far  south  as  the 
Scilly  Isles  deposits  with  erratics  occur,  which  may  be 
derived  from  the  ground-moraine  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier, 
although  G.  Barrow,  of  the  Geological  Survey,  inclines 
towards  the  view  that  floating  ice  from  the  north  was  the 
agency  by  which  these  deposits  w^ere  brought  to  their 
present  position. 

Having  traced  the  advance  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  along 
the  eastern  coast  of  the  Irish  Sea  basin,  the  progress  of  the 
ice-sheet  ma}-  now  be  followed  south  from  Wicklow.  Here 
the  ice-sheet  relieved  from  the  restriction  imposed  by  the 
mountain-ranges  on  both  sides  of  the  Irish  Sea,  began  to 
fan  out  towards  the  south-west.  The  widely-spread 
series  of  deposits  known  as  the  Wexford  Beds  are  the  result 
of  this  fanning  out,  and  prove  that  having  extended  inland 
in  north  Wexford  up  to  heights  of  from  200  to  250  feet  above 
sea-level,  the  ice-sheet  travelled  south-westward  across 
south  Wexford  and  Waterford  into  east  Cork  as  far  as  Power 
Head,  outside  Cork  Harbour.  These  widely-spread  deposits 
of  marly  boulder-clay  with  overlying  gravels  have  lately 
,bccn  investigated  by  Prof.  Cole  and  T.  Hallissy,  and  in 
addition  to  the  numerous  arctic  and  Pliocene  mollusca 
already  known  to  occur,  the  authors  report  an  extraordinary 
series  of  erratics.  Anthracite  and  bituminous  coal,  lignite 
and  chalk  flints  occur  in  such  abundance  that  the  authors 
consider  that  they  have  been  derived  from  submarine 
deposits  out  in  the  neighbouring  sea  to  the  east.^  An 
interesting  fact  about  the  marly  boulder-clay  of  the  Irish 

*  G.  A.  J.  Cole  and  T.  Hallissy,  "The  Wexford  Gravels  and  their 
bearing  on  Interglacial  Cieology."  Geol.  Mag.,  n.s.,  decade  \i.,  vol.  i., 
Pi).    498-509    (^ov.     1914)- 


igiS.  HiNCH. — The  Irish  Sea  Glacier.  59 

Sea  ice  is  that  where  it  is  found  in  contact  with  the  boulder- 
clay  of  the  ice-sheet  from  the  centre  of  Ireland,  the  marly 
boulder-clay  is  always  overlaid  by  the  boulder-clay  of  the 
ice  from  central  Ireland.  The  significance  of  this  fact  will 
be  seen  later  when  the  relative  ages  of  the  individual  ice- 
sheets  come  to  be  discussed.^ 

Having  traced  the  development  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier, 
with  its  varying  deposits,  we  now  turn  to  some  of  the 
problems  connected  with  its  decay.  For  practically  half  a 
century  glacial  geology  in  the  British  Isles  was  dominated 
by  the  theory  that  at  least  one  interglacial  period  had 
occurred  and  that  during  this  interglacial  period  these 
islands  had  been  submerged  to  at  least  the  upper  level  of  the 
shelly  drift,  that  is  to  say,  the  upland  glacial  deposits  of  the 
Irish  and  Welsh  hills  marked  the  shore-hnes  of  the  inter- 
glacial sea  ;  and  that  the  eskers  in  the  plain  were  sand- 
banks created  by  the  curreiits  of  the  same  sea.  Let  us 
recall  some  of  the  opinions  put  forward  by  those  holding 
this  view.  Thus  we  have  Prof.  Hull,  the  Director  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  Ireland  for  many  years  : — "  As  its 
name  imports,  it  [i.e.,  the  Middle  Sand  and  Gravel]  consists 
of  stratified  sand  and  of  water-worn  pebbles,  sometimes  of 
large  size  ;  and,  as  it  contains  marine  shells  in  various 
places,  may  be  regarded  as  a  formation  of  marine  origin, 
which  has  been  strewn  over  the  bed  of  a  comparatively 
, shallow  sea."  ..."  These  facts  lead  us  to  infer  a  great 
general  depression  of  the  land  extending  over  the  northern 
portion  of  the  British  Isles  .  .  .  and  .  .  .  assuming  the  greatest 
depression  to  have  reached  1,500  feet  below  the  existing 
level,  the  Irish  area  must  have  presented  the  appearance 
of  an  archipelago  of  islands."  -And  further,  we  have  Mr.  T. 
Mellard  Reade  when  writing  of  "  The  high  and  low-level 
shelly,  drifts  around  Dublin  and  Bray": — "  P^  story  is 
nothing  without  a  moral,  and  a  geological  paper  without 
conclusions.  .  .  .  The  phenomena  .  .  .  appear  to  me  to  lend 
no  support  to  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  hypothesis.  .  .  .  The 


^  Geol.  Survey  Mem.,  Geology  of  Cork,  p.   106  (1905). 

2E.  Hull,  "  Physical  Geology  of  Ireland,"  pp.   112-116  {1891). 


6o  flic  Irish  Xalurulist.  Apul, 

general  drift  uf  the  materials  has  been  fruni  the  north-west, 
and  they  have  been  swept  from  the  limestone  plain  far  on 
to  the  granite  mountains.  .  .  .  The  whole  of  the  phenomena, 
in  mv  judgment,  points  to  submergence."^ 

Now  is  there  any  such  very  strong  evidence  for  this 
theory  of  an  interglacial  period  with  at  least  one  considerable 
submergence  ?  There  can  be  no  a  priori  objection  to  the 
theory,  as  in  the  European  Alps  the  glaciers  withdrew  more 
than  once  during  the  Glacial  period  far  into  the  upper 
valleys  of  the  mountains,  and  from  such  undoubtedly  inter- 
glacial deposits  as  the  Hotting  breccia  there  is  the  evidence 
that  the  climate  of  that  interglacial  period  was  rather 
warmer  than  that  of  the  present  day.^ 

When  we  examine  the  deposits  of  sand  and  gravel  which 
were  supposed  to  prove  the  occurrence  of  an  extensive 
submergence,  we  find  they  display  none  of  the  well-known 
characteristics  of  a  sea-beach,  with  its  definite  local  fauna 
and  with  typical  shore  pebbles,  and  there  is  the  further 
difficulty  that  while  the  sands  and  gravels  of  the  Irish 
Sea  basin,  with  their  contained  exotic  shells  and  erratics, 
may  be  found  at  levels  varying  from  1,200  feet  to  sea-level, 
their  distribution  is  restricted  to  definiteh^  limited  districts 
and  they  are  wholly  absent  from  neighbouring  areas  quite 
as  favourable  to  the  development  of  marine  deposits.  So 
far  from  the  evidence  pointing  to  submergence  and  depo- 
sition from  drifting  ice-bergs,  all  the  evidence  in  the  Irish 
Sea  basin  points  to  the  existence  of  some  geological  agent 
sufficiently  rigid  in  its  motion  and  direction  to  control  the 
distribution  of  shells  and  erratics  in  definite  directions  and 
of  a  sufficiently  prolonged  existence  to  have  produced  such 
•  recent  surface  features  as  the  Scalp,  the  Dingle  and  the 
Montpelier  gap.  In  many  places,  however,  there  appear 
sections  of  glacial  deposits  which  tend  to  support  the  inter- 
glacial and  submergence  theory,  and  when  they  had  been 
generalized  into  diagrams  it  became  correct  to  accept  the 


iT.  .Mt'llard  Keadc,  "The  High  and  Low-level  Shelly  Drifts  around 
L)ul)lin  and  P>ray,"  IrisJi  Xafuralisi,  vol.  iii.,  p.   132  (189.}). 

''A.  IVnek  u.  V,.  Brin  kn' 1 ,  "  ]  )i,.  Aljnn  ini  liiszeitalter,"  Band  I.,  pp. 
}>^y'^S   (lyoi-oy). 


i9iS.  Hiscn.  -The  Iriali  Sea  Glacier.  6i 

view  that  a  Lower  and  Upper  Boulder-clay  with  intermediate 
Sands  and  Gravels  was  proven,  and  the  efforts  to  lit  in  ob- 
served facts  in  the  field  with  this  dominant  theory  confused 
and  hampered  field-work  for  many  years.  The  most 
important  section  in  the  Irish  Sea  area  is  that  of  Killiney 
Bay,  lying  between  Dalkey  and  Bray.  For  many  years 
these  deposits  were  accepted  as  affording  definite  proof 
of  the  three-fold  nature  of  the  Drift,  and  it  was  only  in 
1896  that  opinion  began  to  move  away  from  that  standpoint. 
During  the  years  1894  and  1895  Prof.  Sollas  and  Mr.  R.  LI. 
Praeger  worked  at  the  glacial  deposits  of  this  district  and 
brought  forward  the  importance  of  the  part  played  by  ice 
from  the  north  and  north-east.  Attention  was  drawn  to 
the  abundance  of  shells,  fossils  and  erratics  (basalts,  chalk, 
flints,  Ailsa  Craig  rock)  of  northerly  origin,  and  while  the 
authors  retained  a  modified  view  of  submergence  to  account 
for  the  broken  condition  of  the  shells,  they  considered  the 
main  mass  of  the  material  present  to  have  been  brought 
by  ice  from  the  north  and  north-east  rather  than  from  the 
north-west,  as  early  investigators  had  asserted. 

For  some  years  opinion  on  the  subject  drifted  about 
from  point  to  point  in  a  state  of  indecision.  In  1901  the 
new  Drift  Survey  of  Ireland  was  undertaken  by  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  Ireland,  and  under  the  Directorships  of 
Mr.  (r.  W.  Lamplugh  and  Prof.  Cole  a  selected  number  of 
districts  have  been  surveyed.  These  investigations  destroyed 
the  earlier  theory  of  a  considerable  submergence  and  reduced 
the  interglacial  period  to  the  local  uncovering  of  a  area — an 
interglacial  period  such  as  may  have  taken  in  the  South  of 
Ireland  during  the  time  which  elapsed  between  the  decay 
of  the  western  lobe  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  and  the  advance 
of  the  ice-sheet  from  the  interior  of  Ireland. 

The  theory  advanced  by  Lamplugh  that  the  glaciation 
of  western  Europe  proceeded  successively  from  east  to  west, 
so  that  an  easterly  ice-sheet  might  have  begun  to  decay 
before  a  more  westerly  ice-sheet  had  reached  its  maximum, 
gives  a  certain  amount  of  assistance  in  solving  this  question. 
According  to  this  theory  the  maximum  development  of  the 
ice-sheet  of  central  Ireland  would  be  later  in  time  than  the 


02  The  Irish  Naturalist.  April, 

glacier  of  the  Irish  Sea  basin. ^  In  the  districts  north  of 
Dubhn  the  facts  as  known  up  to  the  present  rather  tend 
to  support  the  opinion  that  the  deposits  of  the  Irish  Sea  Ice 
have  been  largely  swept  away  by  a  later  advance  of  the 
ice  from  the  centre  of  Ireland  towards  the  south-east.  The 
successive  movements  in  time  and  space  of  ice-sheets,  are 
of  course  extremely  hard  to  prove,  but  up  to  the  present 
we  may  safely  say  that  there  is  no  evidence  which  supports 
an  inter-glacial  period  in  Ireland  of  the  type  known  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  European  Alps  during  the  Ice    Age. 

The  origin  of  the  sands  and  gravels  has  yet  to  be  faced. 
The  submergence  theory  was  clearly  not  satisfactory  and  has 
been  abandoned.  That  the  sands  and  gravels  had  their 
origin  during  the  later  stages  of  the  individual  ice-sheets 
may  be  assumed.  The  number  of  sections  where  the  sands 
and  gravels  obviously  overlie  the  boulder-clay  are  so 
numerous  as  to  place  this  beyond  question.  It  must  also 
be  assumed  that  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier  had  reached  its 
maximum  development  and  that  as  a  result  of  an  ameliora- 
tion of  climate,  decay  was  already  setting  in.  The  ice  was 
charged  with  the  debris  of  the  ground  over  which  it  had 
passed,  and  as  the  melting  of  the  ice  proceeded  great 
quantities  of  sand  and  gravel  were  released.  The  assumption 
has  also  to  be  made  that  the  ice-sheet  became  stagnant  over 
practically  the  whole  Irish  Sea  basin,  and  then  melted  where 
it  stood,  and  that  the  agents  of  destruction  were  at  w^ork 
simultaneously  over  all  the  area  occupied  by  the  ice.  As 
decay  proceeded  the  higher  ground  of  the  mountains  in  the 
Irish  Sea  basin  became  uncovered  and  then  accelerated 
differential  melting  took  place,  both  by  the  direct  melting 
of  the  ice  along  the  landward  margin  of  the  ice-sheet  and 
by  the  effects  produced  by  the  streams  of  running  water  just 
above  freezing  point,  when  they  left  the  ice-free  land  and 
came  in  contact  with  the  stagnant  ice-sheet.  In  these 
streams,  flowing  both  from  the  ice-free  land  and  across  the 
glacier,  the  sand  and  gravels  would  be  sw^ept  into  the  tem- 
porary lakes  which  had  been  formed  between  the  margins 
of  the  ice-sheets  and  the  higher  levels  of  the  land.     By  this 

*  G.   W.   Lamplugh,    "  British   Drifts  and   the   Intcrglacial   Problem," 
British  Assoc.  Report,  pp.  545-5^0  York,   iyo6. 


i9i8.  HiN'CH, — The  Irish  Sea  Glacier.  63 

theory  we  get  a  possible  explanation  of  the  extraordinarily 
high  angles  which  the  bedding  of  the  upland  sand  and  gravel 
deposits  display  and  which  cannot  be  solved  by  invoking 
either  marine  or  river  action.  The  deposits  of  many  of  these 
temporary  lakes  of  glacial  times  occur  in  the  Irish  Sea  basin, 
and  we  need  onl}''  mention  the  deposits  of  Lake  Belfast  in 
Ulster  and  Lake  Andreas  in  Man  as  examples. 

Such  has  been,  in  broadest  outline,  the  history  of  the 
Development  and  Decay  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier.  Many 
aspects  of  this  history  have  not  been  touched  upon,  and 
on  every  point  which  has  been  mentioned  more  extended 
information  from  the  field  is  to  be  desired.  It  may  be  that, 
just  as  the  submergence  theor}/  has  been  discarded,  so  the 
Irish  Sea  Glacier  theory  may,  in  the  light  of  fuller  know- 
ledge, be  also  relegated  to  the  limbo  of  lost  scientific  causes. 
Whatever  may  be  the  final  decision  on  the  matter,  much 
work  remains  to  be  done  before  a  decision  can  be  reached, 
and  in  this  work  the  most  desirable  attitude  which  can  be 
adopted  is  an  attitude  of  very  active  scepticism  as  regards 
both  observation  and  theory. 

National  Library  of  Ireland. 

NOTES. 

BOTANY. 
Some  Cork  Aliens. 

Writing  under  this  title  in  the  Irish  Naturalist,  January,  1895  (Vol.  iv  ' 
p.  20),  Mr.  R.  W.  Scully  mentions  that  in  the  summer  of  1891  he  came 
across  the  following  aliens  growing  in  a  rubbish  heap  beside  the  river  Lee, 
in  the  City  of  Cork  : — Alyssuni  calycinurn  L.,  Sisymbrium  pamionicum, 
Jac(}.,  Erysimum  orientate,  R.  Br.,  E.  repandum,  L.,  Camelina  sativa  Cratz, 
Lepidium  perfoliatum  L.,  Thlaspi  arvense  L.,  Anthemis  arvensis  L.,  Brumus 
tectorum  L.  As  he  remarks  that  "  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  how  long 
the  above  will  hold  their  ground,  and  whether  they  will  spread  to  neigh- 
bouring localities,"  I  went  over  the  ground  this  year  (twenty-two  years 
after)  and  found  all  those  mentioned,  with  the  exception  of  the  two  first- 
named,  all  thriving  well,  some  being  particularly  vigorous  specimens. 
Many  have  spread  in  the  immediate  vicinity  and  further  down  the  river 
on  waste  patches  near  the  Marina  and  Blackrock.  I  may  add  that  coals 
from  the  north  of  England  and  Wales  are  deposited  near  the  rubbish  heap 
and   may   have   been   the   medium   of   transit. 

M.   Holland. 

Cork. 


64  The  Irish  Naturalist.  April, 

Possible  Hunting-Grounds  for  the  Characeae. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Canon  Bullock- Webster's  want  of  success  in 
hnding  Characeae  in  the  Rosses  will  not  prevent  his  further  visits  to  tliat 
district  of  Donegal.  To  the  north  of  Burton  Port  lies  several  lakes  with 
sandy  bottoms  all  of  which,  so  far  as  my  recollection  serves  me,  shelter 
these  plants.  Canon  Bullock- Webster  seems  to  have  been  unaware  of 
these  lakes  and  appears  to  have  stopped  his  quest  at  Mullaghderg,  just 
as  he  was  approaching  them.  The  lakes  1  refer  to  are  those  on  Cruit 
Island,  which  is  a  peninsula  at  half-tide,  and  Carnboy  Lough  on  the  Car- 
rickfin  peninsula  opposite  Bunbeg. 

North  of  these  there  lies  in  the  dunes  near  Derrybeg  another  lake  known 
by  the  inhabitants  as  Lough-na-Carrickagh,  which  is  the  Lough  Acartan 
of  the  Ordnance  map.  In  Co.  vSligo  the  lakes  at  Rosses  Point  are,  I 
think,  choked  with  Charas  ;  and  still  further  southw^ard  is  the  great 
series  of  lakes  that  lie  in  the  dunes  along  the  Mayo  coast  between  Clew 
Bay  and  Killery  Harbour.  During  the  Clare  Island  Survey  this  last 
district  was  left  practically  untouched,  except  by  the  conchologists,  but 
might  yield  surprising  results  if  carefully  worked. 

If  during  his  researches  Canon  Bullock-Webster  comes  in  contact 
with  any  facts  which  might  throw  some  light  on  the  conditions  under 
which  were  deposited  the  enormous  masses  of  "  shell  marl  "  or  "  chara 
marl  "  underlying  many  of  our  Irish  peat-mosses,  those  of  us  who  are 
interested  in  these  deposits  would  be  grateful  if  he  would  record  these 
facts  in  the  Irish  Xatitralist.  Personally  I  have  been  led  to  think  that 
these  deposits,  which  yield  an  abundant  molluscan  fauna — though  not 
rich  in  species — were  laid  down  during  a  period  in  which  there  w^ere 
exceedingly  dry  and  hot  summers  and  possibly  cold  winters.  The 
basement  layers  of  some  would  seem  to  date  from  a  very  early  post- 
glacial period,  though  deposition  may  have  gone  on  for  long  ages. 
Whether  any  such  marls  are  forming  now  is,  I  fancy,  a  matter  of  doubt, 
though  ;Mr.  Welch  is  confidant  that  such  a  state  of  affairs  exists  in  certain 
favourable  localities.  Owing  to  the  lowering  of  the  level  of  some  lakes 
the  old  deposits  of  marl  are  being  eroded  and  re-deposited  in  deeper 
water  ;  therefore,  great  care  should  be  taken  to  ascertain  that  these 
re-depositions  are  not  mistaken  for  an  original  marl  in  the  course  of 
formation.  Whether  any  species  of  Chara  is  attractive  to  any  species 
of  mollusk  I  cannot,  unfortunately,  say  ;  but  if  it  were  possible  for  Canon 
Bullock- Webster  to  make  observations  on  this  subject,  some  interesting 
geological  points  miglit  be  discovered.  It  is  certain  that  in  the  days 
when  marl  was  in  general  formation  some  of  the  mollusca,  now  extremely 
local,  were  abundant  and  widespread,  e.g.,  PUinorbis  glaber.  This  may 
be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  conditions  w.hich  suited  the  Characeae  also 
were  favourable  to  the  snail,  but  there  is  the  possibility  that  the  presence 
of  the  plants  may  have  been  desirable,  though,  of  course,  not  necessary, 
for  the  sustenance  of  the  snail. 

May  1  add  that  I  should  be  very  much  obliged  if  any  reader  of  this 
note  would  forward  to  me  any  samples  of  this  marl  which  he  may  come 


19 1 8.  Notes.  65 

across.  If  dried  it  is  extremely  light  and  easily  packed,  and  half  a  pound 
would  be  an  ample  amount.  The  sample  should  be  carefully  selected 
and  free  from  possible  admixture  from  higher  or  lower  levels,  and  an 
exact  description  of  its  mode  of  occurrence  should  accompany  it.  1 
would  report  in  this  Journal  as  to  its  contents. 


A.  W.  Stelfox. 


Ballymagee,  Bangor,  Co.  Down. 


ZOOLOGY. 
Notodonta  bicoloria  in  Co.  Kerry. 

Mr.  L.  H.  Bonaparte  Wyse,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  interesting  notes 
on  this  insect  {Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xxvi.,  no.  10),  mentions  a  specimen  taken 
by  a  friend  of  mine  in  the  South  of  Ireland.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  friend 
in  question,  Rev.  G.  Foster,  when  on  a  holiday  in  the  Kenmare  district  in 
June,  1913,  was  lucky  to  capture  two  examples  of  this  rare  moth  ;  both  of 
these  were  beaten  out  of  a  small  alder  wood,  in  the  day-time  ;  no  birch 
in  the  locality.  Very  little  is  known  about  the  habits  or  life  history  of 
this  moth  in  this  country,  and  perhaps  the  larva  feeds  upon  both  alder 
and  birch. 

Thomas  Greer, 

Stewartstown. 

Lepidoptera  of  Lam  bay. 

Will  you  grant  me  the  space  necessary  to  put  on  record  the  following 
two  additions,  observed  this  year,  to  the  Lepidoptera  of  Lambay  : — 
Sphinx  convolvitli,  and  Gonepteryx  rhamni.  Vanessa  atalana,  V.  io, 
and   V.  cardui  were  remarkably  abundant  this  year. 

Cecil  Baring. 
Bi.shopsgate,   London,   E.C. 

Pig-eons  in  Belfast. 

The  heavy  carting  of  grain  through  Belfast  from  the  docks  to  the  mills 
several  miles  away  has  led  to  an  enormous  increase  in  the  number  of 
pigeons  in  the  city.  There  are  more  now,  I  venture  to  say,  in  our  streets 
than  used  to  be  in  St.  Mark's  Square,  Venice,  and  they  are  quite  as  tame. 
They  freely  alight  on  the  pavement  at  the  very  feet  of  passers  by,  dodging 
vehicles  of  all  sorts  and  all  speeds  without  apparent  injury.  Every  public 
building  affording  an\'  nesting  accommodation  is  taken  full  advantage  of, 
church  towers,  spires,  ledges,  cornices  and  tympanums  being  tavouritc 
resorts  almost  to  the  extent  of  nuisance.  The  people,  even  the  boys,  are 
now  so  accustomed  to  them  and  so  pleased  to  see  their  graceful  flights 
that  molestation  is  quite  unusual. 

F.  J.  Bigger. 

Ardrigh,  Belfast. 


66  The  Irish  Naturalist.  April, 

IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

ROYAL   ZOOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 

January  30. — Annual  General  Meeting. — Held  (by  kind  permis- 
sion) in  the  Royal  Dublin  Society's  Theatre,  the  President  (Sir  Fred. 
Moore)  in  the  Chair. 

The  Secretary  (Prof.  G.  H.  Carpenter)  presented  the  Annual  Report 
and  moved  its  adoption,  which  was  seconded  by  Dr.  Cosgrave  and 
carried.     The  following  is  a  summary  : — 

The  Council  desires  to  express  gratitude  for  all  the  support  received  in 
the  difficult  task  of  keeping  up,  so  far  as  conditions  allow,  the  activities 
of  the   Society. 

During  the  year  191 7  there  were  9,430  members'  and  ticket  admissions, 
while  the  number  of  entrants  paying  at  the  gate  was  127,190,  yielding 
a  total  cash  receipt  of  ;^i,6oo  2s.  3d.  In  1916  the  number  of  paying  entrants 
was  130,043,  and  the  cash  received  £1,426  14s.  7d.  For  the  first  time, 
therefore,  under  war  conditions  the  gate  receipts  show  a  decided  increase, 
though  wounded  soldiers  are  now  admitted  free,  and  avail  themselves 
largely  of  the  privilege.  This  increase  of  £^173  7s.  8d.  in  the  receipts  is  very 
encouraging. 

Altogether  fourteen  life-members  and  twenty-eight  annual  members 
have  been  admitted,   besides  nine  garden  svibscribers. 

The  total  income  from  subscriptions  and  entrance  fees  has  been  £^$9  14s. 
during  191 7,  as  compared  with  /556  12s.  in  the  previous  year,  an  increase 
of  £103    2S. 

The  increased  payments  for  admission  and  by  members,  together  with 
a  gift  of  £100 — due  to  the  generosity  of  the  Zoological  Society  ot  London — 
have  brought  the  income  during  191 7  within  £60  of  the  expenditure,  so 
that  while  the  year  began  with  an  adverse  balance  of  £224  i6s.  2d.,  it 
closes  with  one  of  £^285  is.  9d.  The  Council  are  glad  to  have  avoided  an 
appeal  to  the  members  for  special  gifts,  such  as  were  asked  for  and  liberally 
given  both  in  191 5  and  19 16.  By  careful  economy  the  expenditure  has 
been  kept  at  the  lowest  possible  point,  despite  the  abnormally  high  prices 
of  provisions  and  fuel. 

No  changes  have  taken  place  among  the  offtcers  of  the  Society  during 
the  year,  but  the  Council  wishes  to  express  the  deepest  regret  at  the  death 
in  November  of  their  colleague,  Prof.  A.  E.  Mettam,  Principal  of  the  Royal 
Veterinary  College  of  Ireland.  He  had  acted  as  honorary  prosector  to  the 
Society  since  1902,  and  had  served  on  the  Council  continuously  from  1905. 
His  constant  help  in  maintaining  the  animals  in  health,  treating  them  in 
sickness,  and  furnishing  valuable  reports  on  the  causes  of  their  deaths  will 
be  very  greatly  missed. 

The  stock  of  animals  has  now,  after  more  than  three  years  of  increasingly 
restricted  imports,  become  seriously  reduced.  Only  £2  has  been  spent 
in  the  purchase  of  new  specimens,  which  are  almost  unprocurable  in  the 
present  suspension  of  trade.     The  Council  can  only  ask  tlic  indulgence  of 


igiS.  TmA  Societies.  67 

the  members  and  visitors  to  the  Gardens  until  such  time  as  there  may 
be  opportunity  of  replenishing  the  stock.  The  Lion  House  and  the 
Monkey  House,  however,  still  contain  many  inhabitants  of  interest. 

The  death  of  the  Gorilla  "  Empress  "  in  May  is  the  most  serious  loss 
sustained  for  many  years.  Yet  it  is  a  matter  of  great  satisfaction  that 
she  had  lived  in  the  Gardens  for  three  years  and  four  months — by  far  the 
longest  time  during  which  a  Gorilla  has  ever  lived  in  the  British  Isles,  and 
only  exceeded  in  the  records  of  Eviropean  collections  by  the  seven  years' 
residence  of  a  female  in  Breslau.  An  account  of  "  Empress  "  was  published 
in  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  August,  191 7.  At  the  end  of  the  year,  the  apes 
were  happily  still  represented  by  the  two  Chimpanzees  "  George  "  and 

Charlie,"  and  by  the  Hoolock  Gibbon.  There  has  been  considerable 
mortality  among  the  stock  of  monkeys,  mostly  on  account  of  the  very 
severe  weather  of  mid-December.  Both  the  Anubis  and  Hamadryas 
Baboons  and  two  Bonnet  monkeys  died  then  ;  the  Douroucouli  and  one 
of  the  Woolly  ^lonkeys  had  been  lost  earlier  in  the  year.  In  October  died 
the  last  of  the  Ruffed  Lemurs.  It  will  probably  be  impossible  to  replace 
these  specimens  until  after  the  war. 

Five  of  the  stock  of  lions  have  died  during  the  year  :  the  old  lion  "  Conn  " 
at  the  end  of  December,  the  Uganda  lioness  "  Mitze  "  and  three  cubs. 
These  have  been  balanced  by  five  births — two  males  and  a  female,  from 
"  Red  Hugh  "  and  "  Nigeria,"  born  on  June  17th,  and  two  females  from 
"  Oseni  "  and  "  Sheila,"  born  on  July  4th.  The  collection,  therefore, 
still  consists  of  twenty  animals,   nine  males  and  eleven   females. 

A  young  Leopard,  sent  from  West  Africa  under  great  difficulty  by  Dr. 
Barker,  unfortunately  died  a  few  weeks  after  arrival,  and  two  of  the 
Pumas  died  in  February.  In  May  two  Canadian  Black  Bears  were  de- 
posited in  the  Gardens  by  the  looth  Canadian  Infantry  ;  these  animals 
are  intended  as  regimental  pets  for  the  ist  and  2nd  Battalions  of  the 
Leinsters.  They  are  now  in  excellent  condition.  The  death  of  the  larger 
Elephant  "  Roma  "  in  July  was  much  regretted,  and  the  losses  of  the  male 
Zebra  (April),  the  Manchurian  Stag  (October),  the  Tapir  (June),  and  the 
Hyrax  (February)  are  all  serious.  The  families  of  Canadian  Bison  and 
Bornean  Zebus  continue  to  flourish,  and  form  noteworthy  exhibits.  The 
rare  Hutia  from  the  Bahamas  died  in  July,  and  was  naturally  transferred 
to  the  National  Museum.  The  deaths  of  the  Wallaroo  (in  July)  and  of  the 
last  Wallaby  (in  December)  have  deprived  the  collections  of  all  representa- 
tives of  the  Kangaroo  family. 

The  collection  of  Birds  has  been  fairly  maintained  by  gifts,  but  the  last 
of  the  Rheas  or  American  Ostriches  died  in  November,  as  the  result  of  an 
accident  due  to  a  violent  fright,  probably  caused  by  an  aeroplane  flying 
over  the  Park.  For  some  time  after  such  flights  became  common,  many  of 
the  birds  showed  great  fear,  but  they  are  now  somewhat  accustomed  to 
the  presence  of  these  new  invaders  of  the  air.  On  account  of  transit 
difficulties  it  was  found  impossible  to  stock  the  Fish-hatchery  in  January 
last. 

The  President  and  Honorary  Officers  were  re-elected.  Messrs.  C.  Wisdom 
flely,  G.  Knox-Peebles,  and  Cecil  Pim  were  elected  to  fill  vacancies  on  the 


6S  The  Irish  Naturalist.  April,  191 S. 

Council.  The  Society's  sih'cr  medal  was  presented  to  Rev.  J,  A.  Walker, 
of  the  Christian  Brothers'  Schools,  North  Richmond  Street,  Dublin,  in 
recognition  of  an  excellent  set  of  photographs  taken  in  the  Lion  House 
Prof.  J.  .\.  Scott  delivered  a  lecture  on  the  Horse  family  and  allied 
beasts,  witli  a  beautiful  series  of  lantern  illustrations. 


DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB. 

February  13. — The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House,  N.  Colgan  (Pre- 
sident), in  the  Chair. 

E.  J.  Sheehy  exhibited  a  culture  of  soil  Protozoa  consisting  chiefly  of 
small  Amoebae.  The  culture  had  been  prepared  by  inoculating  saline 
egg  albumen  with  soil  from  flower-pots. 

Dr.  G.  H.  Pethybridge  showed  a  piece  of  wood  (said  to  be  a  portion 
of  the  "  true  cross  ")  preserved  in  the  Domnach  Airgid  Shrine,  which  has 
recently  been  described  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy 
by  E.  C.  R.  Armstrong.  The  section  showed  that  the  wood  was  probably 
part  of  a  small  twig  or  young  branch  of  a  tree  or  shrub,  and  that  it  be- 
longed to  the  region  next  to  the  pith.  The  portion  of  wood  was  too 
fragmentary  to  enable  the  species  of  plant  from  which  it  came  to  be 
identified. 


BELFAST     NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB. 

February  19. — ^J.  A.  S.  Stendall  delivered  an  address  on  "  Allotments 
and  Allotment  Economics."  The  Vice-President  (Mr.  Cleland)  referred  to 
the  death  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Patterson,  one  of  the  original  members  of  the 
Club,  he  having  been  the  first  secretary  and  also  the  first  president  of  the 
society.  A  vote  of  condolence  was  passed  by  the  members.  Mr.  Stendall's 
address  dealt  with  the  composition  of  soils  and  the  use  and  abuse  of  water  ; 
the  lecturer  emphasised  the  necessity  of  taking  precautions  against  allot- 
ment manure  heaps  becoming  the  nurseries  for  countless  potential  disease- 
carrying  house-flies.  Mr.  Stendall  called  attention  to  the  all-important 
subject  of  food  values,  and  all  holders  were  urged  to  study  this  matter  for 
themselves.  It  was  possible  to  largely  increase  the  food  value  of  the 
yield  from  any  garden  by  growing  just  those  vegetables  which  give  good 
value  and  eliminating  such  an  article  of  diet  as  the  vegetable  marrow, 
which  is  lacking  greatly  in  food  constituents,  at  the  same  time  taking 
up  a  large  amount  of  space  which  might  be  more  profitably  used.  Arti- 
chokes and  parsnips  were  strongly  recommended  in  place  of  so  man}' 
turnips,  which  cannot  compare  with  the  former  from  a  nutritive  stand- 
point. In  conclusion,  garden  friends  and  foes  were  dealt  with,  reference 
being  made  to  the  exhibits  of  interest  to  the  war-time  gardener  now 
displayed    in    the   Municij)al   Mu.seum, 


May,  19 1 8.  The  Irish  Naturalist.  69 

IRISH   FOSSIL  MOLLUSKS. 

BY  R.  LLOYD   PRAEGER. 

A  VERY  valuable  paperl  dealing  with  the  post-Pliocene  Land 
and  Fresh-water  Mollusca  of  Ireland,  which  has  been  in 
preparation  for  many  years,  has  recently  been  published  by 
Messrs.  Kennard  and  Woodward.  As  the  subject  has  a 
direct  bearing  on  both  faunistic  and  floristic  studies  in  this 
country,  some  account  of  its  nature  and  scope  may  be 
acceptable  to  readers  of  the  Irish  Naturalist,  especially  since 
the  Journal  in  which  it  appears  is  not  readily  accessible  to 
many  Irish  workers. 

This  paper  is  without  question  one  of  the  most  important 
contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  Irish  non-marine 
Mollusca  which  has  as  yet  appeared.  While  it  represents  to 
a  great  extent  pioneer  work,  on  account  of  the  present 
incompleteness  of  the  study  of  the  smaller  fossils 
of  recent  deposits,  particularly  in  Ireland,  it  contains 
at  the  same  time  a  great  body  of  detailed  informa- 
tion, and  forms  a  wide  foundation  on  which  further 
study  can  be  based.  The  authors  have  wisely  recognised 
its  preliminary  nature,  and  have  avoided  to  a  great  extent 
hazardous  generalizations  based  on  the  present  materials  ; 
the  major  part  of  the  paper  is  taken  up  with  detailed  records 
of  sections  and  of  their  contained  fossils.  It  should  be 
noted  at  once  that  the  responsibility  of  the  authors  stops 
with  the  determination  of  material  which  was  sent  to  them, 
and  with  a  discussion  of  the  origin  of  the  Irish  non-marine 
molluscan  fauna  ;  neither  of  the  authors  claims  to  have 
studied  the  Irish  fauna,  either  living  or  extinct,  on  the 
ground.  For  the  material,  both  geological  and  zoological, 
on  which  the  paper  is  based  they  acknowledge  their  in- 
debtedness to  a  large  number  of  collectors  ;  it  may  be  said 
without  injustice  to  the  rest  that  for  the  description  of 
sections  and  the  collection  of  the  fossil  fauna  Mr.  Welch  is 
mainlv  resoonsible,  as  are  Mr.  Phillips  and  Mr.  Stelfox  for 

^  A.  S.  Kennard  and  B.  B.  Woodward  :  The  Post-Pliocene  Non- 
marine  Mollusca  of  Ireland.  Proceedings  of  the  Geologists'  Association, 
vol.  XXVIII.,  pp.  109-190,  191 7. 

A 


70 


The  Irish  Naturalist. 


May, 


most  of  the  information  regarding  the  present  fauna,  its 
characters  and  its  distribution.  Apart  from  the  labour  of 
working  out  the  mass  of  material,  the  authors'  most 
valuable  contribution  is  the  comparative  knowledge  which 
they  were  able  to  bring  to  bear,  linking  up  the  Continental 
and  English  forms  with  those  of  Ireland. 

The  special  importance  of  the  land  mollusca  in  distri- 
butional studies  has  long  been  recognised  ;  this  is  due  to  their 
comparatively  sedentary  character  and  to  their  specializa- 
tion as  regards  habitat.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  Dr. 
Scharff  commenced  some  thirty  years  ago  the  detailed 
study  of  their  Irish  distribution,  which  resulted  finally  in 
the  production  of  Mr.  Stelfox's  well-known  census,  published 
in  191 1.  The  authors  of  the  paper  under  review  are  careful 
to  emphasize  the  same  fact.  The  fresh- water  species  appear 
on  the  whole  to  possess  much  greater  means  of  dispersal, 
and  are  therefore  of  somewhat  less  value  for  distributional 
studies  :  at  the  same  time,  the  best  sections  as  well  as  the 
most  numerous,  are  those  of  old  lake  deposits  ;  sections 
yielding  land  species,  such  as  those  found  among  sand-dunes, 
in  caves,  raised  beaches,  or  river  deposits,  being  less  fre- 
quently met  with,  or  less  easy  to  work,  or  less  satisfactory 
from  a  stratigraphical  point  of  view.  Although  the  present 
paper  is  a  record  of  much  accomplished,  it  is  clear  that 
as  regards  the  study  of  both  land  and  water  deposits  only 
a  beginning  has  been  made,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  now^ 
that  the  living  fauna  is  so  well  known,  Irish  conchologists 
will  concentrate  on  the  study  of  the  past  history  of  the  group, 
which  when  fully  elucidated  ought  to  provide  invaluable 
evidence  bearing  on  the  much-debated  question  of  the  age 
and  origin  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  our  country. 

In  the  present  paper  results  are  given  of  the  examination 
of  y^  sections,  which  are  classified  as  follows  : — 

2 


Kitchen  middens 

5 

Raised  beaches 

5 

River  deposits 

4 

Caves 

5 

Old  land  surfaces 

27 

Chara  marls     .  . 

30 

igiS.  Praegar. — Irish  Fossil  Mollusks.  71 

The  first  two  groups  are  mostly  of  recent  date  and  of  little 
palaeontological  importance.  The  third,  from  its  nature, 
cannot  yield  much  non-marine  material.  It  is  to  the  fourth 
and  sixth  especially  that  we  must  look  for  evidence  of  value, 
since  the  cave  deposits  are  often  difficult  to  zone  owing  to 
disturbance  by  burrowing  animals.  Old  land  surfaces  are 
most  important,  but  those  hitherto  examined  have  been 
mostly  in  sand-dunes,  where  there  is  great  risk  of  derived 
material. 

Following  on  the  descriptions  of  sections  and  lists  of  their 
moUuscan  contents,  our  authors  devote  25  pages  to  "  Notes 
on  some  of  the  moUuscan  (ienera  and  Species."  There  is 
much  valuable  critical  matter  here,  but  Irish  conchologists 
will  not  agree  with  some  of  the  conclusions  reached,  and  some 
of  the  statements  made  are  misleading — for  instance, 
"  Tnincatellina  minutissima  (Hart.)  is  said  to  occur  in 
Ireland  from  a  single  specimen  (since  lost)  from  North 
Kerry,"  the  fact  being,  as  I  am  informed  by  Dr.  Scharff, 
that  two  specimens  collected  by  J.  R.  Hardy  at  Killarney 
are  in  the  Dublin  Museum.  The  authors  have  in  this 
section  occasionally  "  let  themselves  go  "  on  points  which 
have  no  reference  to  the  proper  subject  of  the  paper,  e.g., 
the  criticism  of  Mr.  Taylor  in  connection  with  Vitrina 
pyrenaica  on  pp.  159-161. 

The  final  section  of  the  paper — "  The  Origin  of  the  Irish 
Non-marine  MoUuscan  Fauna  " — is  very  interesting,  and 
also  the  most  debatable,  but  I  am  not  qualified  to  discuss 
it,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Mollusca.  The  authors 
recapitulate  three  theories,  which  they  aptly  name  the 
Edward  Forbes  theory  (with  which  readers  of  this  Journal  are 
well  acquainted),  the  Pan-Germanic  theory  ("  recently 
advocated  by  J.  W.  Taylor,  that  our  non-marine  moUuscan 
fauna  originated  in  Germany  .  .  ."),  and  the  Glacial 
extermination  theory,  as  ably  advocated  by  Clement  Reid  in 
these  pages  (vol.  xx.,  p.  203  et  seq.).  They  discuss  all  three, 
pointing  out  that  the  first  was  founded  on  a  stud}^  of  the 
fauna  and  flora  both  fossil  and  recent,  the  second  on  a  con- 
sideration of  the  living  non-marine  mollusca,  and  the  third 
on  palaeobotanical  and  geological  evidence.  As  regards  the 
second,  our  authors  unhesitatingly  reject  it  on  the  grounds 

A  2 


72  The  Irish  Naturalist.  May, 

that  many  species  of  mollusca  are  found  in  older  strata  in 
England  than  in  (lermany,  and  that  a  good  many  British 
species,  both  recent  and  fossil,  are  unknown  in  Germany  in 
either  a  fossil  or  recent  condition— considerations  which 
appear  fatal  to  tlu"s  theory,  even  without  appeal  to  much 
evidence  derived  from  other  groups  w^hich  is  equally  opposed 
to  it.  The  "  (ilacial  extermination  theory  "  aftects  us  more 
nearly,  since  we  are  compelled  to  admit  the  strength  of  the 
local  geological  evidence  for  a  xQvy  widespread  destruction 
of  the  fauna  and  flora  during  the  Ice  Age,  however  much 
we  may  believe  that  the  zoological  and  botanical  evidence 
points  in  an  opposite  direction.  Of  the  man}^  difficulties 
\\'hich  the  naturalist  encounters  in  this  theory,  our  authors 
lay  special  stress  on  the  very  shadowy  character  of  the  post- 
Glacial  land-bridge  which  it  postulates,  and  consider  that  even 
its  assumed  existence  will  not  account  for  the  presence  of 
such  forms  as  Geornalacus  maculosus,  Limnaea  involitta,  and 
L.  praetenuis  ;  while  the  absence  from  Ireland  of  snakes, 
voles,  etc.,  is  equally  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  theory 
of  a  post-Glacial  connection.  Admitting  its  absence,  we 
might,  like  Clement  Reid,  invoke  winds,  currents  and  birds 
to  sow  our  country  with  seed  from  which  the  present  flora 
arose  (though  in  the  wildest  flights  of  imagination  I  cannot 
conceive  it)  ;  but  what  about  the  Irish  post-Glacial  and 
existing  mammalian  fauna  ? — not  to  mention  sensitive  and 
delicate  invertebrates  quite  unsuited  to  aerial  or  marine 
adventures. 

Our  authors,  then,  reject  what  we  may  call,  from  its 
latest  and  most  able  exponent,  the  Clement  Reid  hypothesis 
— very  properly,  to  my  mind.  For,  in  addition  to  the 
difficulties  offered  by  such  considerations  as  the  above,  I  feel 
compelled  to  traverse  much  of  the  positive  evidence  which 
that  writer  brings  forward  in  support  of  his  contentions.  He 
states,  for  instance,  that  a  study  of  the  habitats  and  range 
oi  the  Lusitanian  plants  convinces  him  that  they  are  very 
recent  arrivals,  rapidly  spreading  from  local  centres  of 
dispersal  which  can  still  be  fixed.  I  believe  that  an  un- 
biassed study  of  the  question  will  lead  the  observer  to  a 
precisely  opposite  conclusion.  He  quotes  the  "  small- 
seededness  "  of  the  same  group  as  strong  evidence  of  the 


igiS.  pRAEGAR. — Irish  Fossil  Molliisks.  73 

case  of  their  carriage  over  long  distances.  I  question  if  they 
are,  as  a  group,  more  small-seeded  than  any  other  natural 
group,  or  group  selected  at  random,  within  the  native  flora. 
But  here  I  get  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  present  notice  ;  I 
shall  hope  to  return  to  this  portion  of  the  evidence  on  a 
future  occasion. 

There  remains,  then,  the  "  Edward  Forbes  theory,"  and 
this  Messrs.  Kennard  and  Woodward  adopt  in  the  present 
paper,  as  they  have  done  on  previous  occasions,  as  best 
accounting  for  the  facts  of  the  past  and  present  nature  and 
distribution  of  the  molluscan  fauna  ;  this,  of  course,  involves 
the  presence  of  the  existing  fauna  in  the  country  in  pre- 
Glacial  times,  and  its  survival  through  the  Ice  Age.  They 
refrain  from  expressing  any  opinion  as  to  how  this  survival 
was  effected.  As  regards  the  post-Glacial  liistory  of  the 
molluscan  fauna,  they  hnd,  especialh-^  in  the  sand-dune 
deposits,  evidence  of  a  climatic  optimum  in  Neolithic  times, 
such  as  has  been  previously  ]Dostulated  locally  from  studies 
of  the  marine  mollusca  and  other  groups,  and  which  is 
widely  accepted  in  northern  Europe. 

To  one  who,  like  myself,  is  not  a  special  student  of  the 
Mollusca,  the  study  of  the  present  paper  is  rendered  difficult 
by  the  nomenclature  which  is  employed.  It  is  true  that  as 
regards  this  vexed  question  the  authors  claim  to  have 
adopted  a  moderate  middle  course — they  adhere  to  the 
"  modern  school  "  as  represented  by  Hyatt  and  Grabau,  and 
adopt  Hannibal's  definition  of  a  species — "  a  number  of 
related  individuals,  having  a  similar  genetic  history  and 
possessing  a  tendency  to  evolve  along  strictly  analogous 
lines."  They  neither  "  lump  "  according  to  the  "  Jeffreysian 
school  "  nor  "  split  "  according  to  the  "  French  school,"  and 
so  far  one  has  no  cause  for  grumbling  ;  but  the  names  which 
they  use  for  their  species  are  in  many  cases  vmfamiliar  to 
all  but  the  few  who  follo\\-  with  avidity  the  search  for  the 
oldest  name — a  search  which  results  in  the  continual 
changing  of  names.  If  a  paper  like  the  present  is  to  be  used 
by  any  but  the  small  coterie  referred  to,  it  must  be  intelli- 
gible to  the  general  worker  at  natural  liistory  ;  and  until 
something  approaching  finality  is  reached,  it  is  nmch  better 
to  stick  to  a  familiar  nomenclature,  even  at  the  risk  of  being 


74  i^Ji'^  IrisJi  Naturalht.  Mi 


IV. 


out  of  the  fashion.  In  a  paper  Uke  the  one  under  notice, 
which  appeals  strongly  to  all  workers  at  faunistic  and 
floristic  studies,  as  well  as  to  geologists,  within  our  islands, 
the  use  of  unfamiliar  names  merely  detracts  from  its  value. 

The  table  of  distribution  which  concludes  the  paper 
shows  the  recent  and  fossil  range  of  the  non-marine  mollusca 
of  Ireland,  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany.  Denmark, 
Spain  and  Portugal  and  North  Africa.  The  Irish  recent  fauna 
is  set  down  as  numbering  126  species,  of  which  85  in  all 
have  so  far  been  definitely  recognised  as  Irish  fossils. 

It  is  as  refreshing  as  it  is  unusual  to  find,  in  a  paper  hailing 
from  the  other  side  of  the  Channel,  Irish  place-names 
correctly  spelled  ;  cases  are  not  very  rare  in  which  Irish 
records  are  rendered  useless  by  the  impossibility  of  trans- 
lating the  place-names  into  designations  which  any  one  in 
Ireland  ever  heard  of  ;  in  the  present  paper  such  names 
are  a  model  of  accuracy. 

Dublin. 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL    SOCIETY. 

Recent  gilts  include  a  Badger  from  Mr.  H.  1j.  Warren,  a  pair  t)f  W'ootl 
Pigeons  from  ^Ir.  H.  A.  Smith,  a  pair  of  hybrid  Egyptian  Geese  from 
the  Board  of  Public  Works,  a  pair  of  Mandarin  Ducks,  a  pair  of  Japanese 
Fowl,  and  three  Golden-Amherst  Pheasants  from  Lady  Blake,  two  cock 
Golden-Amherst  Pheasants  from  ^Irs.  Morgan,  and  a  Swan  from  Mrs. 
\i.   Darley.       A  Murine  Opossum  has  been  bought  for  the  collection. 


BELFAST    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB. 

March  ly.-  Tlif  \'ice-President  (A.  M'l.  C]. eland)  hi  the-  c\va\\\ 
S.  A.  BiiNNETT  gave  a  lecture  on  the  "  Distribution  of  some  of  our  I-ocal 
Plants."  The  ])a])er  was  illustrated  by  lantern  slides,  mups,  and 
specimens.  In  ih-'  (Hscussion  which  followed  the  Rev.  C.  11.  Waddrll, 
B.D.,  J.  Stendall,  and  the  Vice-President  took  part  'Jhrcc  new  members 
were  elected. 


i9i8.  Irish  Societies.  75 


DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB. 

■March  13. — The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House.  The  President  (X. 
CoLGAN,  jNI.RT.A.)  exhibited  a  series  of  sUdes  illustrating  the  sclereids 
or  stone-cells  occurring  in  the  pulpy  fruits  of  certain  genera  of  Ericaceae. 
These  bodies  varied  in  form  from  rods  of  slender,  angulated  outline  to 
plates  of  rounded  or  elliptic  contour,  suggestive  of  the  dermal  deposits 
of  the  holothurians  or  sea-cucumbers,  though  in  all  cases  destitute  of 
the  perforations  so  characteristic  of  the  "deposits"  in  this  group  of 
echinoderms.  While  fairly  constant  in  the  range  of  outline  for  each 
species,  many  different  tvpes  of  these  deposits  occurred  in  the  genus 
Vaccinium,  of  which  seven  North  American  species  were  examined. 
In  the  closely  allied  genus  Gaylussacia,  the  American  Huckleberry,  two 
species,  G.  frondosa  and  G.  resinosa,  were  found  to  have  these  cells  not  only 
distributed  through  the  pulp  of  the  berry,  but  forming  a  dense  scaly  coat 
round  the  seeds.  A  very  distinct  type  occurred  in  the  berry  of 
Pernettya,  a  South  American  genus  of  Ericaceae  ;  and  forms  resembling 
those  of  the  North  American  Vaccinium  erythrocarpmn  and  V.  crassifoUinn 
were  found  in  the  fruits  of  the  [Mediterranean  Arbutus  Andrache  and 
A.  Unedo.  Even  the  smallest,  those  of  Vaccinium  pallidum,  displayed 
their  striae  quite  clearly  under  a  half -inch  objective.  There  is  obviously 
a  wide  field  open  here  for  further  investigation. 

Prof.  G.  H.  Carpenter  showed  mounts  of  larval  fiat-fishes  illustrating 
the  translation  of  the  eye  from  the  one  to  the  other  side  of  the  head  during 
transformation. 

J,  N.  Halbert  showed  an  undescribed  Lasioseius,  a  genus  recently 
established  by  Dr.  Berlese  in  his  revision  of  the  Seius-group  of  the  family 
Gamasidae.  The  following  is  a  brief  description  of  the  male,  of  which  a 
single  specimen  was  found  by  Mr.  A.  D.  [Michael  on  the  seashore  at 
Swanage  some  years  ago,  and  a  second  specimen  occurred  recently  under 
decaying  seaweed  on  the  rocky  shore  at  Malahide. 

The  shape  is  ovate  and  the  size  about  768^/,  x  537/7.  ;  the  dorsal  surface 
is  finely  punctured  and  reticulated.  The  species  is  chiefly  remarkable 
for  the  seven  pairs  of  long  spines  on,  or  close  to,  the  side  margins,  and 
there  are  two  more  on  the  front  margin  of  the  body.  These  spine-like  hairs 
are  very  stout  and  smooth  except  at  their  extremities,  which  are  flattened 
and  distinctly  spinous.  The  V-shaped  sternal  plate  has  three  pairs  of 
sharp  side-processes  and  ends  in  a  point  ;  the  anal  plate  is  small,  with 
emarginate  sides  and  a  long  terminal  hair.  The  peritreme  is  markedly 
sinuate  and  opens  a  little  in  front  of  the  last  pair  of  legs.  The  mandibles 
are  small,  with  short  side-processes.  The  legs,  with  the  exception  of 
the  first  pair,  are  remarkably  stout,  and  are  armed  on  their  upper  surfaces, 
with  spines  like  those  on  the  body  ;  the  hairs  on  their  under  surfaces  arc 
sharply  pointed.  This  distinct  species  may  be  called  Lasioseius  fucicola. 
It  will  shortly  be  described  in  detail  in  a  paper  to  be  communicated  to  the 
Royal    Irish    Academy. 


^6  The  Irish  Naliiralist.  May 


COSMOS    CLUB. 

Nu\i:.Mi;iiK  3.      A  discussion  t()t)k  place,  opened  by  W.  13.  Wright,  on 
'  Possible  Migrations  of  the  Poles." 

Decemrer  3. — The  evening  was  spent  in  discussion  as  to  the  programmes 
of  future  meetings,  the  scope  of  the  Club,  and  several  questions  of  scientific 
interest. 

January  14.  —Discussion  on  the  Scientihc  Literature  available  in 
Dul:)lin  :  how  it  may  be  made  more  available  to  workers,  and  more  fully 
representative  in  the  various  subjects  :  opened  by  R.  Lloyd  Pracger. 
As  a  result,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  carry  out  the  suggestions 
contained  in  the  title  given. 

February  ii.— Discussion  on  the  Determination  of  Sex,  opened  by 
J.   R.   D.   HoLTBY,   M.B. 

INIarch  II. — Discussion  as  to  whether  a  National  Union  of  Scientihc 
Workers  is  desirable.       A  vote  taken  at  the  close  resulted  in  a  tie. 

April  13. — Dr.  W.  J.  Crawford  of  Belfast  gave  an  account  of  his 
physical  experiments  on  the  spiritualistic  phenomenon  of  "  levitation." 
A  discussion  ensued. 


OBITUARY. 

WILLIAM    HUGH    PATTERSON. 

By  the  death  of  W.  H.  Patterson  on  February  5,  the  Belfast  Field 
Club  lost  one  of  its  few  remaining  original  members.  Joining  the  Club 
at  its  inception  in  1863,  Mr.  Patterson  acted  as  Secretary  lor  the  year 
1864-65.  and  occupied  the  Presidential  Chair  during  the  two  years  1883-84 
and  1884-85.  He  had  a  wide  interest  in  archaeological  and  natural 
history  studies,  and  though  he  ditl  not  publish  much  he  added  materially 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  fauna,  flora  and  antiquities  of  the  north  of  Ireland 
by  collecting  and  observing,  and  furnishing  his  results  to  others.  Linguistic 
studies  also  attracted  bini,  and  he  compiled  a  Glossary  of  Words  in  use 
in  the  Counties  of  Aiilrini  and  Down,  which  was  published  in  book  form 
by  the  Fnglish  Dialect  Society  in  1880.  He  was  an  ex-President  of 
the  Belfast  Natural  History  and  Philosophical  Society,  and  for  forty-tive 
years  a   member  of   the   Ro\al   Irish  Academy. 


iQiS.  Jackson. — Limnaea  glabra  in  Ireland  ?  77 


LIMNAEA   GLABRA   IN   IRELAND? 

BY    J.    WILFRID    JACKSON,    F.G.S. 
Hon.  Secretary,  Conchological  Society  of  Great  Britain   and  Ireland. 

The  occurrence  of  Limnaea  glabra  in  Ireland  is  a  matter  of 
some  dispute  among  conchologists.  A.  W.  Stelfox,  in  his 
"  List  of  the  Land  and  Freshwater  Molhisks  of  Ireland  " 
(Proc.  R.  I.  Acad.,  xxix.,  1911,  pp.  65-164),  says  :  "  There 
are  several  old  records  for  this  shell — Cork,  Dublin,  and 
Belfast — but  no  specimens  are  forthcoming  "  {op.  cit., 
p.  129).  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  "  Limnetis glaber  " 
of  these  early  records  (of  Thompson,  Humphreys,  and 
others)  is  perhaps  the  young  of  a  slender  form  of  L.  pahi^stris 
found  living  in  marshes  and  known  to  occur  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Cork  and  Belfast  (Stelfox,  op.  ciL,  p.  112).  It 
is  of  some  interest,  therefore,  to  record  that  undoubted 
examples  of  L.  glabra  from  Cork  exist  in  a  collection  of 
British  Shells  formed  by  the  late  Lord  de  Tabley.  This 
collection  was  acquired  after  his  death  (c.  1895)  by  Mrs. 
Gresham,  of  Knutsford,  and  has  recently  been  presented 
to  the  Manchester  Museum.  It  would  appear  that  Lord  de 
Tabley,  at  one  time,  had  the  intention  of  publishing  a  work 
on  "  British  Mollusca." 

The  De  Tabley  specimens  of  L.  glabra,  like  most  of  the 
other  species,  are  in  small  pill-boxes,  with  the  name  and 
locality — Cork — written  on  the  lid.  They  are  quite  unlike 
any  variety  of  L.  palustris  known  to  me.  The  largest 
example  measures  16  x  5,5  mm.,  and  all  the  shells  agree 
closely  with  English  specimens  of  L.  glabra. 

Other  Irish  shells  contained  in  the  De  Tabley  collection 
are  L.  involula  ;  L.  tnmcahila  (Limerick)  ;  and  Succinca 
oblonga  (Cork).  There  are  no  other  examples  of  L.  glabra  in 
the  collection. 

Manchester  Museum, 


y8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  May, 


Note  by  R.  A.  Phillips. 

The  evidence  that  Limnaea  glabra  lives  or  Kved  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cork  is  unsatisfactory  and  incomplete, 
and  Mr.  Jackson's  note,  though  interesting,  leaves  the 
matter  still  in  doubt. 

Jeffreys,  in  1831  [Trans.  Linn.  Soc,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  520), 
stated  that  it  was  found  in  "  Ireland  (Rev.  James  Bulwer)," 
but  gave  no  locality.  William  Thompson,  apparently 
doubtful,  wrote  Bulwer  and  Jeffreys.  Bulwer  replied  that 
the  "  shell  so  noticed  was  considered  by  him  to  be  but  a 
variety  of  L.  pahistris."  Jeffreys  replied  in  a  letter  dated 
8th  June,  1840,  that  he  had  recorded  the  shell  on  the 
authorit}'  of  "  the  late  Dr.  Goodall,"  who  had  received  the 
shells  from  Mr.  Bulwer.  He  also  added  in  his  letter,  "  I 
have,  however,  two  or  three  undoubted  specimens  among  a 
collection  of  Irish  shells  which  I  purchased  from  Mr.  John 
Humphreys  of  Cork — the  tray  which  contained  them  was 
labelled  "  Cork." 

Thompson  next  wrote  to  Humphre3^s,  who  replied  that 
he  had  not  identified  the  species,  but  that  the  note  of  locahty 
appended  to  the  shells  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Jeffreys  was 
strictly   correct. 

Humphreys,  in  his  list  of  Cork  mollusca,  published  1845, 
records  L.  glabra  as—"  Found  once  near  Cork,  I  believe 
near  Blarney,"  a  very  indefinite  statement,  considering  his 
reply  to  Jeffreys.  In  an  old  manuscript  list  of  Cork  shells 
which  I  have  seen  it  is  stated  that  Mr.  Humphreys  could 
not  remember  where  he  had  found  this  species.  The  old 
records  for  Dublin  and  Belfast  are  not  supported  by  the 
existence  of  specimens  or  other  satisfactory  evidence. 

During  and  since  Humphreys'  time  many  conchologists 
have  collected  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cork,  but  none  seem 
to  have  found  L.  glabra  there  or  elsewhere  in  Ireland. 
Whether  the  shells  alluded  to  by  Jeffreys  were  really  collected 
near  Cork,  or  whether  they  might  have  got  transferred  by 
accident  or  otherwise  from  one  tray  to  another,  does  not 
seem  clear  from  the  above  history.  It  is,  therefore,  to  be 
regretted  that  the  label  on  the  specimens  in  the  De  Tabley 


agiS.  Phillips. — Limnaea  glabra  in  Ireland  ?  79 

collection  is  equally  vague  and  throws  no  further  light  on 
the  subject. 

Further  search  may  reveal  the  presence  of  this  interesting 
mollusk  in  the  Cork  district,  but  the  evidence  at  present 
available  is,  in  my  opinion,  too  imperfect  to  be  accepted  by 
students  of  the  distribution  of  species  as  proof  that  L.  glabra 
is  a  native  of  Ireland. 

Cork. 


NOTES. 

Natural  History  Societies  in  Derry  and  Cork. 

I  have  lately  come  across,  among  the  pamphlets  preserved  in  the 
National  Library,  an  Annual  Report  (for  1871)  of  the  Natural  History 
and  Philosophical  Society  of  Derry,  and  another  (for  185.1-55)  o^  'thp 
Cork  Cuvierian  Society.  I  should  much  like  to  have  further  information 
concerning  the  history  of  these  two  local  societies,  and  to  see  further 
issues  of  their  publications.  Possibly  some  reader  of  the  Irish  Naturalist 
may  be  in  a  position  to  assist  me. 

R.   Lloyd  Pr.\eger. 

Dubhn. 

Scarcity  of  the  Fieldfare  and  Redwing. 

The  scarcity  of  the  Fieldfare  appeared  to  be  very  noticeable  in  England 
last  winter  {Brit.  Birds,  xi.,  p.  231),  but  so  far  I  have  seen  no  reports  of 
its  numbers  in  Ireland.  As  far  as  this  district  is  concerned  I  have  not  seen 
a  single  bird  this  season,  though  I  have  very  carefully  watched  for  it  almost 
■every  day.  Redwings  also  appear  to  me  to  be  very  scarce.  I  saw  a  few, 
not  more  than  half  a  dozen  birds  altogether,  for  about  a  fortnight  in 
December,  but  none  before  or  since.  The  scarcity  of  a  species  in  one 
particular  district  may  be  a  matter  of  small  importance,  but  should  it  be 
general  throughout  the  country  it  would  be  a  pity  to  allow  the  fact  to 
pass  unnoticed.    This  can  only  be  determined  by  means  of  local  reports. 

Ballylinan,  Athy.  W.  M.  Abbott. 


Woodchat-Shrike  on  Mig-ration,  obtained  at  Tuskar  Rock. 

I  am  very  much  obliged  to  Mr.  J.  McGinley,  light-keeper  on  Tuskar 
station,  for  informing  me  of  the  occurrence  of  a  Woodchat-Shrike  on 
Tuskar  Rock.  In  his  letter  to  me  he  states  that,  on  his  arrival  on  the 
rock  on  May  26th  last,  he  noticed  a  strange  bird,  and,  on  looking  up 
the  books,  pronounced  it  to  be  a  Woodchat-Shrike.  It  was  collected 
the  same  day  by  the  Principal  Keeper,  Mr.  Callaghan.      When  I  was  in 


8o  The  Irish  Naturalist,  May,  19.1S;. 

Dublin  on  February  22nd  last  Mr.  W.  Williams  very  kindly  allowed  me 
to  examine  the  mounted  skin,  and  told  me  that  he  had  received  the  speci- 
men in  the  flesh  for  the  National  Museum  from  Mrs.  Barrington  on  June 
9th,  just  a  fortnight  after  it  had  been  collected.  I  was  thus  enabled  to 
confirm  the  identity  of  the  bird  so  accurately  determined  in  the  first 
instance  by  Mr.  J.  McGinley.  Mr.  Williams  said  that  this  Shrike  was  in  a 
very  emaciated  condition,  and  Mr.  McGinley  stated,  in  his  letter  to  me, 
that  it  looked  very  tired  when  he  discovered  it  on  the  rock.  I  should 
have  been  glad  had  the  bird  in  the  flesh  passed  through  my  hands  in  the 
first  instance,  to  enable  me  to  make  a  thoraugh  anatomical  investigation 
of  the  body.  Anyone  who  has  read  the  previous  papers  which  I  have 
published  dealing  with  rare  casual  visitors,  collected  at  light-stations,  will 
notice  what  a  store  of  valuable  information  may  be  obtained  by  ana- 
tomical investigation  in  regard  to  the  probable  peregrinations  of  such 
migrants  and  concerning  other  problems  on  migration.  May  I,  therefore, 
be  permitted  to  appeal,  through  the  medium  of  the  Irish  Naturalist,  to 
hght-keepers  and  their  friends  who  may  happen  to  see  this  note,  to  send 
me  any  rare  birds  which  may  be  obtained  at  light-stations  ;  especially 
those  from  Tuskar,  Rockabill,  Maidens,  Inishtrahull,  and  Tearaght,  at 
which  places  I  have  made  a  special  study  of  bird-migration  ?  I  have  no 
wish  to  keep  the  birds  in  question,  my  sole  aim  being  to  send  them,  or 
see  that  the}'  are  sent,  to  the  National  Museum,  Dublin,  their  rightful 
destination,  where  I  have  sent  all  rare  birds  (from  light-stations)  which 
have  passed  through  my  hands. 

The  occurrence  of  this  Woodchat-Shrike  is  highly  interesting,  for  on 
looking  up  the  literature  of  the  subject  I  find  that  only  one  other  specimen 
has  been  found  in  Ireland.  This  was  taken  at  Blackwater  Bank  lightship, 
Co.  Wexford,  on  the  night  of  August  i6th,  1893,  nearly  twenty-five  years 
ago.  Unfortunately  only  its  leg  and  wing  were  preserved.  ( Vide  Migration 
of  Birds  at  Irish  Light-Stations,  Analysis  of  Reports,  1881-97,  P-  ^.  R-  ^i- 
Barrington).  The  bird  from  Tuskar  is,  therefore,  the  first  whose  entire 
skin  has  been  preserved  and  mounted  ;  it  is  also  the  first  taken  on  a 
rock  light-station. 

C.  J.  Patten. 

The    University,  Sheffield, 


Meaninjf  of  "  5winey  "  and  "  Thricecock." 

In  Kirke  Swann's  "  Dictionary  of  English  and  Folk-names  of  British 
Birds  "  (19 1 3),  Swinepipe ,  of  which  Swiney  may  be  only  an  abbreviation, 
is  stated  to  be  the  Redwing,  and  Thrice  Cock  the  Mistle-Thrush,  meaning 
literally  the  Thrush-Cock.  The  Rev.  C.  W.  Benson  gives  Hayjack  as  a 
provincial  name  for  the  Linnet,  but  in  Norfolk  this  word  signifies  a 
Whitethroat,  or  a  Blackcap,  in  allusion  to  their  nests  made  of  bents. 

J.    H,    GURNEY. 

Keswick  Hall,   Norfolk. 


June,  191S.  The  Irish  Xatiirah'si.  81 


THE  CONVOLVULUS  HAWK-MOTH  IN  IRELAND. 

BY    J.    N.    HALBERT,    M.R.I. A. 

The  season  of  1917  was  remarkable  for  an  abundance  of 
insect  life  and  in  no  groups  was  this  more  noticeable  than 
amongst  the  butterflies  and  moths.  The  occurrence  of  the 
Convolvulus  Hawk-Moth  {Sphinx  convclvuli)  in  unusual 
numbers  is  interesting,  as  it  is  an  uncommon  insect  during 
most  years  in  these  countries.  Towards  the  end  of  August 
it  was  often  noticed  in  the  vicinity  of  Dublin  and  records 
of  its  occurrence  were  received  from  various  Irish  localities. 

It  is  now  known  that  this  fine  moth  was  generally  com- 
mon in  Great  Britain  last  year  in  late  summer  and  early 
autumn,  having  been  observed  in  many  places  ranging  from 
the  Isle  of  Wight  and  Cornwall  to  the  Shetlands  and  the 
Hebrides.  No  doubt  it  was  also  common  throughout 
Central  and  Southern  Europe,  though  of  this  there  are  no 
available  records,  but  the  appearance  in  numbers  of  this 
insect  in  Britain  is  always  preceded  by  its  abundance  abroad. 

Birchall  ^  remarks  that  it  was  very  common  in  Dublin 
and  the  adjoining  counties  in  the  year  1859,  and  the  same 
appears  to  have  been  the  case  last  August  and  September. 
The  Killiney  and  Swords  districts  were  specially  favoured. 
Mr.  W.  Ruttledge  writes  that  at  Lissen  Hall  in  the  latter 
localit}/  it  was  first  noticed  on  August  24th  when  one  flew 
into  a  room  ;  a  few  days  later  "  as  many  as  four  or  five  moths 
could  be  seen  at  the  one  time  on  the  flowers  of  the  tobacco 
plant  (Nicotiana).  The  moths  seemed  to  be  very  tame 
and  they  could  be  caught  with  no  better  weapon  than  a 
hat  !  and  when  disturbed  they  came  back  again  very  soon." 
For  more  than  a  week  they  were  observed  in  numbers  every 
night,  but  owing  to  a  change  of  weather  they  then  dis- 
appeared. 

In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  prevalence  of  the  moth 
in  the  Dublin  district  I  may  mention  that  it  was  observed 
at  Rush,  Swords,  Malahide,  Howth  (in  a  house  on  the  south 
side),   Lambay  ^  (caught  by  Mr.   Baring),   Killiney,   Bally- 

^  "  Catalogue  of  the  Lepidoptera  of  Ireland,"  p.  5. 
2  Irish  Naturalist,  xxvii.,  p.  65. 

A 


82  The  Irish  Naturalist.  June, 

brack,  Loughlinstown,  Foxrock,  Rathfarnham  (drowned  in 
a  conservatory  tank),  Dundrum,  Blackrock ,  Merrion,  and 
the  Glasnevin  Botanic  Gardens  (caught  in  one  of  the  green- 
houses), and  a  few  were  captured  in  city  and  suburban 
roads. 

Further  afield  it  was  observed  in  Co.  Donegal  at  Rath- 
mullen  and  Greencastle,  where  Mr.  A.  R.  Nichols  caught  one 
in  the  porch  of  the  Fort  Hotel  on  the  2nd  September.  It 
has  already  been  recorded  from  the  counties  of  Antrim  and 
Down  by  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson.^  A  number  of  large 
hawk-moths  which  Mr.  T.  Greer  believes  were  this  species 
were  reported  to  him  as  having  been  common  in  gardens 
at  Cookstown  in  Co.  Tyrone.  It  was  also  found  at  Killala 
in  Co.  Mayo,  and  in  a  cornfield  near  Drogheda  in  Co.  Louth. 

In  the  midlands,  as  Mr.  Pack-Beresford  tells  me,  many 
specimens  were  seen  near  Athlone  flying  to  the  flowers  of 
Sweet-scented  Tobacco  [Nicotiana  affinis),  a  plant  which  is 
known  to  have  great  attractions  for  this  moth.  Mrs.  M.  E. 
Morris  writes  that  one  was  captured  and  several  observed 
in  a  garden  at  Bessborough  in  Co.  Kilkenny.  In  the  south 
it  visited  the  suburbs  of  Wexford  town  as  well  as  Ennis- 
corthy  and  Courtown  in  the  same  county.  Mr.  F.  W.  Keane 
reports  *  that  a  specimen  was  caught  hovering  over  tobacco 
plants  in  a  garden  near  Youghal  in  Co.  Waterford. 

The  earliest  date  of  capture  was  loth  August,  but  the 
majority  were  taken  during  the  last  week  of  August  and  in 
the  early  part  of  September,  the  latest  date  being  the  6th 
October.  Most  of  the  specimens  were  considerably  the  worse 
for  wear,  though  a  few  were  in  a  good  condition,  notably 
one  found  clinging  to  the  window  netting  of  Killiney  Parish 
Church  by  Mr.  W.  Rigby  on  the  26th  August. 

The  question  has  been  asked  :  Were  these  hawk-moths 
native  bred  or  were  they  travellers  engaged  in  a  great 
migration  from  warmer  countries  ?  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  for  the  great  majority,  if  not  all  of  them,  the 
latter  is  the  true  explanation  of  their  occurrence.  This 
insect  is  of  well-known  migratory  habits,  and  one  need  but 
admire  its  large  and  powerful  wings  and  trim-built  body 

3  Irish  Naturalist,  xxvii.,  p.  12.. 
*  Irish  Naturalist,  xxvii.,  p.  52 


i9i8.  Halbert— r/z5  Convolviilus  Hawk-Moth.  83 

to  realize  its  capacity  for  rapid  and  sustained  flight.  It  is 
not  surprising  to  find  that  this  moth  has  spread  over  a  great 
part  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  and  has  even  reached  the 
Austrahan  region  where  it  is  represented  by  a  variety  differ- 
ing shghtly  from  the  typical  form.  It  appears  to  be  absent 
from  the  American  continent, but  an  allied  species  is  recorded 
from  there. 

It  has  been  argued  that  the  fresh  condition  of  many 
of  the  British  specimens  is  strong  evidence  in  favour  of 
their  having  been  reared  in  these  countries.  This  does  not 
follow,  however,  for  given  fine  weather  and  a  favourable 
wind  such  barriers  as  the  North  Sea  and  the  Irish  Sea  offer 
small  obstacles  to  such  an  insect. 

Then  if  the  moth  breeds  to  any  extent  in  these  islands 
one  w^ould  expect  that  the  caterpillar  and  the  pupa  would 
be  more  frequently  observed  ;  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  records 
of  these  early  stages  are  noticeably  few  when  compared  with 
the  relative  frequency  of  the  moth.  When  Mr.  C.  G.  Barrett^ 
wrote  of  this  species  in  1895  he  doubted  if  there  were  records 
of  the  finding  of  twenty  caterpillars  in  the  British  Isles. 
Mr.  J.  W.  Tutt,^  wTiting  in  1904,  gave  a  complete  and  in- 
teresting list  of  about  fifty  occurrences,  though  none  of 
these  refer  to  Ireland. 

With  regard  to  the  breeding  of  this  moth  in  Ireland 
Mr.  W.  F.  de  V.  Kane"  remarks  "it  appears  probable  that  it 
breeds  in  Ireland  in  fine  seasons,"  but  he  does  not 
say  if  the  caterpillar  or  pupa  was  actually  found.  There 
is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  insect  occasionally 
attempts  to  establish  itself  in  this  country,  for  the 
caterpillar  was  found  by  Mr.  T.  Stawell  at  Mallow,  Co.  Cork, 
during  the  summer  of  1902,  an  occurrence  which  was  recorded 
by  Professor  G.  H.  Carpenter.^  The  caterpillar  seems  diffi- 
cult to  rear  successfully,  and  this  one  died  before  reaching 
the  pupal  stage.  A  coloured  drawing  which  I  made  at 
the  time  shows  that  it  belonged  to  the  entirely  green  type 


5  "  The  Lepidoptera  of  the  British  Islands,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  27. 
®  "  British   Lepidoptera,"   vol.   iv.,  p.343. 
'  "  A  Catalogue  of  the  Lepidoptera  of  Ireland,"  1901,  p.  19. 
^  Irish  Naturalist,   xi.,   p.   46. 

A  Z 


84  The  Irish  Naturalist.  June, 

with  faint  side  lines  of  darker  colour  and  black  spiracles, 
the  tail-horn  was  yellow  with  a  black  tip,  a  known  form 
of  this  variable  caterpillar. 

There  are  also  other  reasons  for  believing  that  the  insect 
seldom  breds  in  Britain.  Mr.  J.  W.  Tutt^  states  there  is 
evidence  that  the  late  moths  are  "  killed  off  by  the  cold 
without  depositing  their  eggs,  and  that  they  are  exter- 
minated every  winter  following  their  appearance  in  this 
country."  He  goes  much  further  than  this  when  he  sug- 
gests that  it  rarely  survives  the  winter  in  the  greater  part 
of  Europe  and  Northern  Asia,  the  specimens  taken  in  those 
regions  being  almost  all  immigrants  or  the  direct  descendants 
of  immigrants  from  warmer  climates.  Nevertheless  the 
moth  is  probably  increasing  in  many  northern  localities, 
and  we  may  yet  see  it  established  as  a  breeding  species  in 
Britain. 

In  view  of  last  year's  invasion  by  this  hawk-moth  it  is 
likely  that  the  caterpillar  or  pupa  may  be  found  in  Ireland 
during  the  coming  season  and  consequently  a  short  note 
on  the  life-history  may  be  of  some  use. 

The  eggs  are  said  to  be  laid  on  the  food  plants  which, 
in  these  countries,  are  the  common  bindweeds  Convolvulus 
arvensis  and  C.  septum.  The  caterpillar  may  be  sought 
for  in  June  and  July  ;  it  is  a  large  creature  measuring  four 
inches  when  fully  grown  and  the  colour  may  vary  from  a 
uniform  light  green  to  a  dark  brown  with  yellow  and  grey 
markings.  The  tail-horn  may  be  black,  or  fawn,  or  yellow 
tipped  with  black.  When  full-fed  it  enters  the  ground 
and  changes  to  a  large  reddish-brown  pupa  which  may  be 
recognised  as  the  species  by  the  separate  proboscis  sheath 
which  projects  well  below  the  head.  It  remains  buried  for 
about  four  weeks  and  the  moth  usually  emerges  in  August. 
The  pupa  has  been  frequently  dug  up  in  potato  fields  where 
the  bindweed  is  common.  It  was  at  one  time  thought  that 
the  caterpillars  were  in  the  habit  of  concealing  themselves 
amongst  earth  or  dead  leaves  during  the  daytime,  com.ing 
out  at  night  to  feed.  Professor  Poulton  and  other  ento- 
mologists have  pubHshed  interesting  accounts  of  the  rearing 

*  "  British  Lepidoptera,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  376. 


igiS.  Halbert.-  r//e  Convolvulus  Hawk-Moth.  85 

of  this  moth  and  no  such  tendencies  were  noted,  although 
the  caterpillars  were  surrounded  with  suitable  materials  for 
their  supposed  "  digging  in"  habits.  On  the  contrary  they 
are  lethargic  showing  neither  a  disposition  to  wander  away 
from  their  food-plants  nor  an  aversion  to  daylight  It 
has  been  stated,  however,  that  the  caterpillar  is  skilful  in 
concealing  itself  amongst  fohage,  and  it  does  not  assume 
the  sphinx-like  attitude  so  noticeable  in  the  Privet  Hawk- 
Moth  and  allied  species. 

A  point  in  this  life-history  which  will  occur  to  the  naturalist 
is  that  if  the  eggs  *are  laid  on  the  bindweed  in  the  autumn 
what  becomes  of  them  when  these  annual  plants  lie  down  ? 
It  may  be  suggested  that  the  eggs  are  laid  in  the  following 
summer  by  moths  which  have  survived  the  winter  months, 
but  there  is  no  evidence  in  support  of  the  belief  that  this 
moth  hybernates  in  the  imago  stage.  A  more  probable 
explanation  is  that  the  eggs  are  laid  on  the  food  plants  in 
the  summer  by  females  which  have  survived  the  winter 
as  pupae.  Possibly  some  additional  light  may  be  thrown 
on  what  really  does  occur  in  these  countries  as  a  result  of  last 
year's  immigration. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  this  moth  was  com- 
mon in  1859,  and  Mr.  Kane  says  it  was  very  numerous  in 
the  fine  dry  summer  of  1887,  while  it  occurred  in  many 
Irish  localities  in  the  years  1882,  1891  and  1892. 

The  abundance  last  year  of  the  common  white  butter- 
flies was  very  noticeable.  The  species  of  Vanessa  were 
also  abundant,  more  especially  the  Peacock  Butterfly 
[Vanessa  to),  and  hybernated  specimens  of  this  insect  duly 
made  their  appearance  in  the  spring.  It  may  also  be  of 
interest  to  record  the  occurrence  of  the  Clouded  Yellow 
(Colias  edusa).  I  saw  a  fresh  example  of  this  beautiful 
butterfly  flyirg  over  the  sandhills  at  Malahide,  at  the  end  of 
August.  In  endeavouring  to  account  for  this  abundance  of 
lepidoptera  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  last  year 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  previous  winter  was 
prolonged  and  fairly  dry  ;  it  was  also  colder  than  usual, 
at  least  in  the  British  Isles.  Such  conditions  often  herald 
a  "  good  "  insect  year. 

National  Museum,  Dublin. 


86  The  Irish  Naturalist.  June, 

NOTES     ON     SOME     ALIEN     PLANTS     OF 
COUNTY     DUBLIN. 

BY   NATHANIEL   COLGAN,    M.R.I. A. 

The  discrimination  of  native  from  introduced  species  is  one 
of  the  most  difficult  of  the  problems  which  confront  the 
compilers  of  local  floras,  and  this  difficulty  is  to  a  great 
extent  insurmountable,  since  it  arises  mainly  from  the 
defect  of  early  records  for  alien  plants.  If  systematic 
botany  were  not  what  it  is,  a  creation  of  yesterda^^  if  some 
tenth  century  Linnaeus  had  arisen  to  lay  thus  early  the 
foundations  of  the  science  and  render  possible  the  pro- 
duction on  modern  lines  of  a  twelfth  century  Flora  of 
Co.  Dublin,  how  profoundly  would  our  views  as  to  the 
standing  of  certain  species  be  altered.  How  conspicuous 
would  be  the  absence  fromi  such  an  early  Flora  of  a  host  of 
denizens  and  colonists  now  fully  domiciled  in  the  country, 
what  a  striking  poverty  of  species  we  should  find,  and  how 
convincing  a  proof  we  should  have  of  the  far-reaching 
effects  of  unconscious  human  agency  in  the  enrichment 
of  a  fiora.  If  we  regret  the  want  of  such  early  historical 
records  as  would  give  precision  and  certainty  to  our  judg- 
ments on  the  standing  of  doubtfully  native  species  that  is 
all  the  more  reason  why  we  should  endeavour  to  supply 
the  future  local  botanist  with  trustworthy  materials.  It 
is  not  enough  to  note  the  first  appearance  of  immigrant 
species.  Their  var3dng  fortunes  should  be  followed  up  by 
continuous  observation,  and  the  object  of  these  notes  is 
mainly  to  record  the  result  of  such  observation  applied  to 
a  few  aliens  whose  first  appearance  or  apparent  establish- 
ment was  recorded  in  the  "  Flora  of  Co.  Dublin  "  fully 
thirteen  years  ago.  The  numbers  prefixed  to  records  here 
refer  to  the  botanical  districts  as  set  out  in  the  Flora. 

Sisymbrium  pannonicum,  Jacq. 

5.  Ilalf-a-dozen  plants  at  Howth  railway  station,  19 15.  7.  Two 
plants  at  Ballsbridge,  191 7.  8.  Several  plants  in  Pembroke  Park, 
1907  ;  a  few  plants  on  the  railway  line  at  Dalkey  station,  one  at  Killiney 
station,  fully  150  on  the  abandoned  railway  line  south  of  KiUiney,  and 


igiS.  CoLGAN. — Alien  Plants  of  Co.  Dublin.  B)y 

about  two  dozen  of  plants  on  Victoria  Wharf,  Kingstown,  all  in  191 7. 
In  the  last  station  the  plant  was  undoubtedly  introduced  with  fodder 
for  army  horses  which  was  stacked  here  in  large  quantity  during  the 
Easter  week  insurrection  of   191 6. 

First  noticed  in  Co.  Dublin  at  East  Wall,  Dublin  Harbour,  in  1894. 

5.  Columnae,  jacq. 

2.  One  plant  below  the  Windmill,  Skerries,  191 3.  4,  A  few  plants 
by  the  roadside  between  Lucan  and  Woodlands,  1915.  8.  Two  plants 
on  Pigeon  House  road,  1907,  and  six  plants  in  1909  ;  one  plant  by  Pigeon 
House  gate,  191 3  ;  thirty  plants  in  Pembroke  Park,  1907,  and  several 
still  there  in  19 13.       Two  plants  on  the  railway  at  Killiney  station,  191 7. 

First  noticed  in  Co.  Dublin  in  association  with  the  preceding  species 
in  1904.  The  ultimate  establishment  of  both  species  in  Co.  DubUn  seems 
not  unlikely. 

Lepidium  ruderale,  Linn. 

8,  In  July,  191 7,  I  found  twenty-five  fruiting  plants  of  this  species 
in  association  with  Sisymbrium  pannonicum,  Diplotaxis  muralis,  and 
■Linavia  minor  on  the  abandoned  railway  line  near  the  Shanganagh  River, 
south  of  Killiney. 

An  alien  of  rare  appearance  in  Co.  Dublin,  as  I  can  find  no  previous 
record  of  more  recent  date  than  that  for  Kilbarrick  in  Flora  Hihernica, 
1836. 

L.  perfoliatum,  Linn. 

8,  Seven  fruiting  plants  found  on  the  abandoned  railway  track  south 
of   Killiney  in   July,    191 7,   associated  with  the  preceding  species. 

This  is  the  first  Co.  Dublin  record  for  this  plant,  a  native  of  south- 
eastern Europe.  It  has  been  already  recorded  as  a  casual  from  Co. 
Kildare,  from  Cork  City,  and  from  Belfast. 

Melilotus  parviflora,  Desi. 

7,  About  fifty  plants  found  in  19 15  growing  in  association  with 
Matricaria  discoidea  on  the  footpath  of  a  new  road  leading  to  Inchicore 
brick-works.  A  native  of  south-eastern  Europe  here  first  recorded  for 
Co.  Dublin.  Previously  recorded  as  a  casual  from  Newry,  Belfast,  and 
near  Water  ford. 

Matricaria  discoidea.  DC. 

The  rapid  spread  of  this  American  alien  in  Co.  Dublin  and  in  Ireland 
since  its  first  detection  in  1894  offers  a  parallel  amongst  land  plants  to 
the  spread  of  the  aquatic  Elodea  canadensis  or  Water  Thyme.  The 
following  is  a  selection  from  notes  on  its  Dublin  distribution  made  during 
the  interval  1910-1917  : — 2.  About  five  dozens  of  plants  on  the  Dorn, 
Skerries,  1910,  and  about  as  many  more  in  191 2  in  adjacent  waste  ground, 
the  site  in  the  preceding  year,  of  a  travelling  circus  ;  very  abundant  along 


88  The  Irish  Naturalist.  June 

the  steep  road  north  of  Skerries  leading  from  Sea  Mount  to  the  Hill,  also 
scattered  thence  for  half  a  mile  along  the  road  to  Milverton  demesne,  and 
appearing  again  at  Balcunnin  and  at  a  cross-roads  near  Skerries,    191 4. 

3.  On  the  railway  at  the  northern  end  of  Donabate  railway  station,  19 14. 

4,  Many  hundreds  of  plants  on  the  railway  siding  and  in  waste  ground  by 
the  Royal  Canal,  Cross  Guns,  in  profusion  by  a  cottage  higher  up  the 
canal,  frequent  at  Liffey  Junction,  some  dozens  of  plants  at  the  Eighth 
Lock  and  several  hundreds  thence  at  intervals  for  more  than  a  mile  by 
Cabra  road  to  Phibsborough,  all  in  191 5.  5,  Widespread  over  the  north 
and  east  sides  of  Howth  Head  in  191 5  :  e.g.,  fully  1,000  plants  on  the  road 
from  the  police  barracks  to  the  village,  swarming  in  the  school  play- 
ground at  Ball  of  Glass,  and  many  hundreds  along  the  road  thence  to 
Waldron's,  at  intervals  along  the  road  from  Waldron's  to  the  Hut,  and 
along  the  bye-road  by  Waverley  Hotel,  a  few  plants  at  the  entrance  to 
Light-house  Road,  and  scattered  thence  along  the  road  to  the  Summit 
tram  station.  A  few  plants  by  the  roadside  at  Baldoyle  and  by  the  road 
from  Coolock  to  Raheny,  with  about  fifty  plants  at  Raheny  village,  all 
in  1915.  7.  In  several  stations  by  the  Grand  Canal  in  1915  :  e.g.,  By  Canal 
Harbour,  Dolphin's  Barn,  by  the  Third  Lock,  and  abundant  by  a  cottage 
between  that  and  the  Second  Lock.  Fully  100  plants  by  a  new  road 
leading  to  Inchicore  Brick-works,  191 5.  Abundant  in  one  spot  by  the 
Tallaght  road,  near  Green  Hills,  and  sparingly  near  Drimnagh,  and  in  a 
gravel  pit  at  Robin  Hood,  19 16.  A  few  plants  in  Chapelizod  village  and 
about  100  on  the  Ballyfermot  road,  19 15.  In  fair  quantity  round  Mrs. 
Healy's  farm  yard,  Bohernabreena,  19 17.  8.  A  few  plants  on  Victoria 
Wharf,  Kingstown,  19 10,  and  about  fifty  in  the  Harbour  yard  there,  19 12; 
fully  100  plants  on  the  Ballycorus  road,  and  frequent  by  a  cottage  near 
Bride's  Glen  ;  about  200  plants  on  the  main  road,  Loughlinstown,  and 
swarming  round  a  cottage  there,  and  by  other  cottages  on  the  Commons, 
1915.        In  Blackrock  Park,    1917. 

This  annual  species  now  established  in  Ireland  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
is  highly  fertile  in  Co.  Dublin,  as  it  is  no  doubt  throughout  the  island.  A 
well-grown  plant  bears  about  fifty  fruiting  heads,  and  an  average  of  ten 
of  the.se  gave  167  ovules  per  head,  of  which  the  perfect  seeds  averaged 
133.  It  grows  most  vigorously  on  limestone  drift  soils.  On  some  of  the 
higher  bye-roads  of  Howth  Head  where  quartzite  comes  to  the  surface  the 
plants  become  very  stunted. 

Artemisia  Absinthium,  Linn. 

7.  The  chief  Dublin  station  for  the  Wormwood  has  hitherto  been  in 
the  heart  of  the  city  on  the  extensive  rubbish  mounds  left  by  the  demo- 
lition of  tenement  houses  on  the  making  of  tlic  new  thoroughfare  of  Lord 
Edward  Street  in  1886.  A  clearance  made  for  a  garden  plot  in  191 6  has 
greatly  reduced  the  plant  in  this  station,  where  it  was  previously  abundant, 
and  in  the  adjacent  station  of  St.  Nicholas'  graveyard  it  has  been  quite 
exterminated  by  the  throwing  down  of  the  old  wall  in  1917.  A  new  and 
much  wilder  station,  however,  yielding  fully  fifty  large  plants  and  many 


i9i8.  CoLGAN. — Alien  Plants  of  Co.  Dublin.  89 

seedlings  was  discovered  in  a  gravel  pit  near  Robin  Hood,  Drimnagh,  in 
1916. 

A.  Stelleriana,  Besser. 

5.  The  North  Bull  station  for  this  alien  has  of  late  years  undergone  a 
great  change  due  to  the  shifting  of  the  sands  by  westerly  gales.  The  ground 
occupied  by  the  plant  in  1902,  when  it  spread  over  a  distance  of  a  mile 
and  three-quarters,  was  a  low,  fiat  shelf  of  sand  a  few  feet  above  high  tide 
level  and  on  the  outside  of  the  line  of  dunes  which  marks  the  eastern 
limit  of  the  Bull.  In  19 14  a  second  line  of  dunes  was  found  to  have 
drifted  up  on  the  seaward  side  of  this  shelf,  running  parallel  with  the 
older  line  of  dunes  and  forming  with  it  a  valley,  from  8  to  10  feet  deep, 
stretching  north  and  south  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  mile.  A  firing  of 
the  Psamma  in  1905  burnt  up  much  of  the  Artemisia,  and  the  shifting  sands 
buried  large  masses,  so  that  in  1916  only  a  few  plants  were  visible  in  this 
sand  dune  trough  or  valley.  In  September,  1917,  however,  the  plant 
appeared  in  abundance  towards  the  northern  end  of  the  dunes,  emerging 
from  the  drifted  sands  and  sending  up  a  single  flowering  stem.  No  doubt 
many  of  the  plants  now  missing  from  the  earlier  stations  lie  buried  alive 
and  await  only  a  further  displacement  of  the  loose  sands  to  display  once 
more  their  broad  cushions  of  silvery  foliage. 

Senecio  Cineraria,  DC. 

8,  This  handsome  Mediterranean  alien  is  spreading  rapidly  by  wind- 
borne  seeds  southward  along  the  sea  cliffs  of  Killiney  Bay,  which  it  invaded 
from  a  neighbouring  garden  about  forty  years  ago.  Its  present  extension 
from  Sorrento  Point  opposite  Dalkey  Island  to  its  southern  limit,  the  old 
stone  pier  about  100  yards  north  of  the  ninth  milestone  on  the  railway 
line,  is  fully  one-third  of  a  mile,  and  as  the  form  of  the  coast  continues 
favourable  for  about  an  equal  distance  southward,  the  plant  will  pro- 
bably in  course  of  time  double  its  present  range. 

In  addition  to  the  cliffs  running  from  Sorrento  Point  to  near  Vico 
bathing-place,  which  for  many  years  have  been  densely  clad  with  the 
plant,  it  has  now  become  fully  established  to  the  southward  in  four  of 
the  steep-walled  coves  formed  by  the  jutting  out  of  rocky  capes.  The 
coast  line  here  was  carefully  examined  in  February  of  the  present  year 
with  the  following  result  :  the  first  cove  with  its  adjacent  banks  just 
beyond  the  steps  of  the  old  bathing-place  had  about  fifty  large  plants  ; 
the  second,  almost  directly  below  Sunnyside  on  the  Vico  Road,  150  ;  the 
third,  a  little  further  south,  sixty  ;  and  the  fourth,  a  little  north  of  the 
stone  pier,  ninety-five.  Many  of  these  were  old  plants,  with  numerous 
stout  recumbent  stems  forming  masses  of  silvery-white  foliage  a  yard  in 
diameter,  and  when  grouped  together  on  the  cliffs  conspicuous  at  half-a- 
mile  distance. 

The  extension  of  range  here  detailed  has  been  almost  altogether  effected 
within  the  last  ten  years  ;    for  in  1907  scarce  half  a  dozen  plants  were 


90  The  Irish  Naturalist.  June, 

to  be  seen  on  the  line  of  cliffs  from  Vico  bathing-place  to  the  present 
southern  limit  of  the  species.  The  extension  is  not  confined  to  the 
granite  sea  cliffs  and  their  capping  of  drift.  Twenty-six  full-grown 
plants  were  counted  on  the  rock  cuttings  of  the  railway  beyond  Straw  - 
berry  Hill  in  February  of  this  year,  and  seven  others  had  crossed  the 
Vico  Road  and  established  themselves  on  the  gorse-clad  slopes  within  the 
grounds  of  Killiney  Castle. 

Last  summer  near  the  Vico  tunnel,  where  the  rail  runs  right  along  the 
top  of  the  steep  sea  bank,  a  spark  or  live  coal  from  a  passing  engine  set 
lire  to  a  thick  grove  of  the  oldest  plants,  so  that  hundreds  were  destroyed. 
Nevertheless,  vigorous  seedlings  appeared  here  in  profusion  in  January 
of  the  present  year,  as  many  as  fifty  being  counted  streaming  down-hill 
from  the  burnt  stump  of  one  old  plant,  while  an  area  of  g  square  feet  in 
another  spot  yielded  sixty  seedlings. 

The  hybrid  5.  albescens  {S.  Cineraria  x  5.  Jacobaea)  is  frequent  through- 
out the  range  wherever  both  parent  species  occur.  Two  plants  were  seen 
on  Dalkey  Island  in  1908  and  four  in  19 15,  and  in  April  of  this  year  a 
seedling  was  found  at  a  height  of  fully  300  feet  on  the  seaward  slope  of 
Killiney  Hill.  As  is  usual  with  hybrids,  this  plant  appears  in  numerous 
forms  presenting  many  varied  shades  of  pubescence,  all  of  duller  tone  than 
the  silvery-white  of  the  Mediterranean  parent. 

Sandycove. 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

BELFAST  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

April  23. — Fifty-Fifth  Annual  Meeting.— ^Previous  to  the  election 
of  A.  MI.  Cleland  as  President  F.  A.  Heron  occupied  the  chair.  The 
various  reports  having  been  read  and  adopted,  the  election  of  ofhce-bearers 
for  1918-19  was  then  proceeded  with.  The  election  of  six  new  members 
of  Committee  then  followed.  Suggestions  for  places  to  be  visited  on  the 
summer  excursions  were  placed  before  the  meeting. 


DUBLIN  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

March  14. — The  President  (J.  de  W.  Hinch)  in  the  chair.  There 
were  a  number  of  exhibits  b}^  members.  The  President  showed  Boulder- 
clay  and  marine  shells  from  the  Dublin  mountain  drift  deposits  ;  R.  Ll. 
Praeger,  discontinuous  variation  in  Ferns  ;  N.  Colgan,  Brazilian 
species  of  Eriocaulon  ( Pipe- wort )  ;  W.  I).  IIaigh,  crystalHnc  forms  of 
calcite  ;  Prof.  A.  HENR^■,  branch  of  Finns  tubercitlata  with  numerous 
persistent  cones  ;    A  ,  Williams,  copper  ore  from  Beauparc. 


19 1 8.  Irish  Societies.  91 

May  4. — Excursion  to  Rush  Bulb  Farm. — The  excursion  season 
of  the  Club  opened  auspiciously  with  a  visit  in  typical  May  weather 
to  "  Holland,  in  Ireland,"  the  flourishing  bulb  farm  of  Messrs.  Hogg  and 
Robertson.  A  party  of  nineteen  members  and  friends,  leaving  Dublin  by 
the  1.35  p.m.  train,  arri  ed  at  Rush  station  about  2  o'clock,  and  after 
half  an  hour's  walk  reached  the  outskirts  of  the  village  and  the  first  section 
of  the  farm  which  "  rushes  red  on  the  sight  "  as  one  tops  the  rise  in  the 
main  road  from  the  hollow  of  Whitestown.  Here  the  party  was  received 
by  the  conductress.  Miss  Crosbie,  manager  of  the  farm,  who  led  the  way 
through  the  quadrangle  of  densely  massed  blooms  of  Darwin  and  Cottage 
tulips,  crimson,  yellow,  violet,  vermilion,  pink,  mar  on,  orange,  and  many 
subtler  tints.  Each  tint  was  carefully  segregated,  and  every  plant  fully 
justified  its  existence  :  all  were  in  perfect  bloom  ;  there  were  no  ''  blind  " 
bulbs,  as  the  conductress  put  it  in  the  forcibly  figurative  language  of 
horticulture.  An  interesting  survival  from  the  Irish  vernacular  is  found 
here  in  the  word  CIai]',  still  applied  locally  to  the  furrows  which  drain  and 
mark  off  one  from  the  other  the  numerous  tulip  beds. 

Two  other  sections  of  the  farm,  each  like  the  first  a  chequered  mass  of 
bloom  and  with  a  soil  of  almost  pure  sand,  were  visited  by  the  party,  and 
the  fine  display  of  double  Anemones  was  quite  as  much  admired  as  the 
more  formal  Tulips.  In  one  of  these  sections  a  bed  of  green  tulip  blooms 
was  pointed  out,  not  as  a  thing  of  beauty,  but  as  a  triumph  of  horticultural 
art. 

Refreshed  by  an  excellent  tea  in  Mrs.  Dunne's  thatched  cottage  near 
the  bulb  farm,  the  party  returned  to  Rush  station  in  time  for  the  6.12  p.m. 
train  to  Dublin,  each  of  the  nineteen  members  bearing  a  huge  bouquet  of 
tulips  and  anemones  generously  presented  by  Messrs.  Hogg  and  Robertson. 

DIBLIN    AIICROSCOPICAL    CLUB. 

April  10.- -The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House.  The  President  (N. 
CoLGAN,   ]M.R.I.A.)  in  the  chair. 

W.  F.  GuNN  exhibited  an  example  of  a  reputed  -J^-inch  objective 
made  by  Siebert  of  Berlin.  Although  in  the  latter  half  of  last  century 
these  high  power  lenses  were  often  used  on  test  objects,  they  are  now 
superseded  by  the  modern  achromatic  and  apo-chromatic  immersion 
objectives,  which  allow  much  longer  working  distances,  with  greater 
penetration  and  defining  power. 

May  8. — The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House.  W.  F.  Gunn  was  elected 
President  and  H.  A.  Lafferty    Vice-president  for  the  session  1918-19. 

Prof.  G.  H.  Carpenter  and  F.  J.  S.  Pollard  showed  sections  through 
the  vestigial  lateral  spiracles  and  their  solidified  tracheal  connections, 
recently  detected  in  the  fourtli -stage  larva  of  the  Warble-flies  (Hypoderma), 
and  previously  shown  to  the  Club.  These  interesting  structures  have  now 
been  fully  described  and  figured  by  the  exhibitors  {Proc.  R.  I.  Acad.,  vol. 
xxxiv.,  B,  No.  4,  191 8). 


92 


The  Irish  Naiuralist. 


June, 


THE    MIGRATION    OF    WOODCOCK. 


SOME    NOTES    ON    AN   ARTICLE    BY    CAPTAIN    DOUGLAS. 


BY    W.    H.    WORKMAN,    F.Z.S.,    M.B.O.U. 

Captain  S.  R.  Douglas  has  written  a  most  interesting 
article^  on  the  migration  of  Woodcock  in  Ireland  from  which 
I  propose  making  some  notes  for  the  benefit  of  those  Irish 
ornithologists  who  may  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of 
reading  this  valuable  paper. 

The  experiments  were  carried  out  at  the  instigation  of 
Col.  W.  W.  Ashle}/,  M.P.,  at  the  Palmerston  estates,  County 
Sligo.     The  property  consists  of  a  strip  of  country  lying 


Donegal  Bay 


^CI>//7/s/7murr3y 


wtmm 


A/.Lat. 


o 


^s 


SP^ 


'umcUffBsy 

SC/ILE.  ^-  MILCS  TO  ONE  INChf 


o* 
CO 


between  the  Ben  Bulben  range  and  the  southern  shore 
of  the  Bay  of  Donegal  in  County  Sligo.  In  the  accompanying 
map  an  idea  of  the  locality  will  be  obtained,  and  I  would 


^  "  Pyoc,  Zoo!.  Soc.  London,  1917,  vo^  i.,  part  z 


19 18.  Workman. — The  Migration  of  Woodcock.  93 

draw  attention  to  Classiebawn  and  Castlegal  which  mark 
the  position  of  the  property. 

The  estate  seems  to  be  a  splendid  one  for  Woodcock, 
and  it  affords  excellent  sport  ;  for  instance,  in  January, 
1892,  92  and  98  Woodcock  were  shot  on  consecutive  days. 
A  very  interesting  point  brought  out  in  the  article  is  a  com- 
paratively recent  regular  nesting  in  these  parts  of  this 
species.  It  appears  quite  certain  that  Woodcock  nests 
were  considered  the  greatest  rarity  before  the  year  1875. 
Since  that  date  they  have  become  more  and  more  numerous 
and  on  the  particular  breeding  ground  on  this  property 
Woodcock  nests  were  practically  •  unknow^n  before  the  year 
1900. 

In  this  connection  from  the  records  of  Thompson^  and 
of  Moffat^  we  may  draw  a  general  conclusion  that  Woodcock 
did  not  breed  in  Ireland  before  1833,  gradually  extending 
their  range  till  now  it  is  reported  from  every  county  as  a 
breeding  species.  The  case  of  Tollymore  Park,  Count 3^ 
Down,  mentioned  by  Thompson,  is  very  similar  to  the  rapid 
extension  on  Col.  Ashley's  estate.  In  1835  one  nest  was 
found,  in  1837  three  nests,  1842  nine  nests,  1843  twenty-two 
nests,  and  from  1847  to  1849  not  less  than  thirty  nests  each 
season. 

One  or  two  interesting  facts  are  reached  by  Captain 
Douglas's  investigations.  He  states  that  no  definite  proof 
of  Woodcock  raising  two  broods  in  the  year  has  been  obtained, 
but  all  the  keepers  on  the  estate  are  of  the  opinion  that  this 
occasionally  happens.  Readers  of  Thompson  will  remember 
that  the  keeper  in  Tollymore  Park,  County  Down,  considered 
that  Woodcock  nested  twice  in  the  season,  for  he  observed 
them  on  their  nests  from  February  to  July.  It  would  be 
interesting  if  Captain  Douglas  would  give  this  point  his 
careful  consideration  and  publish  the  result  of  his  observa- 
tions in  his  next  paper. 

Ringing  experiments  were  commenced  in  the  year 
19 10,  and  have  been  carried  on  every  year  since.     Since  1912 


2  Natural  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  iii.,  page  2^2. 
Irish  Naturalist,  1899,  page  log. 


94  The  IrisJi  Xatiivalist.  June, 

fifty  birds  were  marked  each  year.  On  looking  over  the  first 
table  in  the  article  the  most  striking  fact  is  the  large  number 
of  birds  which  have  been  recovered  on  the  estate,  the  actual 
number  being  48  out  of  a  total  of  55  birds  recovered,  and  of 
these  no  fewer  than  33  were  obtained  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  breeding  ground.  Of  the  seven  birds  obtained 
in  other  situations  3  were  shot  within  a  radius  of  10  miles 
in  a  southerly  direction. 

One  was  shot  at  Castlederg,  County  Mayo,  which  is  about 
40  miles  to  the  south-west.  One  was  noticed  in  the  market- 
place of  Bilbao  having  been  shot  at  Morgo,  Province  of 
Biscay,  Spain,  within  six  months  of  being  marked,  the  distance 
in  a  direct  line  being  about  800  miles,  this  is,  I  think,  the  most 
interesting  of  the  recoveries,  and  it  shows  that  there  is  a 
tendency  for  the  northern-bred  birds  to  migrate  south  during 
the  winter,  but  I  think  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion  from 
these  observations  that  Woodcock  bred  in  temperate  climates 
like  our  own  do  not  as  a  general  rule  leave  them  during  the 
winter.  The  birds,  which  come  in  great  rushes  to  this 
country,  as  well  as  to  other  European  countries,  during  hard 
winters  are,  I  believe,  birds  bred  in  northern  Europe,  and  are 
driven  south  by  the  fearful  severity  of  the  weather  and  want 
of  food. 

A  curious  point  was  brought  out  with  regard  to  the  weight 
of  Woodcock.  On  two  occasions  when  a  considerable  number 
of  ringed  birds  had  been  taken  and  the  weight  of  these  nine 
marked  birds  had  been  carefully  compared  with  the  eight 
unmarked  birds  obtained  on  the  same  day,  the  average 
weight  of  the  nine  ringed  birds  was  11.97  ozs.  and  the  average 
weight  of  the  eight  unringed  birds  was  11. 3  ozs.  Again, 
on  January  15th,  1917,  eight  ringed  birds  averaged  12.7 
ozs.,  and  16  unringed  birds  averaged  12.3  ozs.  The  following 
day  31  unringed  birds  gave  the  average  weight  of  12. i  ozs. 
From  this  observation  we  would  conclude  that  the  birds  bred 
at  the  estate  were  much  better  led  than  those  which  came  in 
from  northern  regions,  and  which  had  probably  been  driven 
south  by  want  of  food. 

The  data  collected  in  this  paper  points  to  there  being 
three  classes  of  M'oodcock  in  this  part  of  the  west  of  Ireland, 
namely  : — 


i9i8.  Workmax. — Tlie  Migration  of  Woodcock.  95 

(i)  Woodcock  that  are  hatched  out  and  remain  in  this 
locality  sometimes  for  years,  that  is  "  Resident 
Birds." 

(2)  Woodcock  that  are  hatched  out  in  this  locality  and 

that  migrate  in  a  southerly  direction. 

(3)  Woodcock  that  arrive  from  the   north    during  the 

winter  months. 
I  trust  the  above  notes  on  Captain  Douglas's  valuable 
paper  may  be  of  interest,  and  we  Irish  ornithologists  will 
welcome  particulars  of  a  further  instalment  of  this  Woodcock 
experiment.  I  may  here  say  that  Captain  Douglas  in  a 
letter  to  me,  hopes  that  others  who  have  shootings  both 
in  Ireland  and  other  parts  of  Great  Britain  would  follow 
Col.  Ashley's  example  so  that  more  information  could  be 
collected  regarding  the  migration   habits  of    Woodcock. 

Windsor  Avenue,   Belfast. 


NOTES. 

BOTANY. 

Cardamine  amara  in  East  Tyrone. 

In  addition  to  Mr.  Greer's  records  for  Cardamine  amara  in  East  Tyrone 
(/.  Nat.  December,  1917,  vol.  xxvi.,  p.  196)  it  might  be  well  to  note  that 
on  the  excursion  of  the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  to  the  Torrent  River 
valley  on  3rd  June,  1916,  the  plant  was  found  near  the  aqueduct  which 
carries  the  canal  over  the  Torrent   River. 

Sylvanus  Wear. 
Belfast. 

Arenaria  ciliata. 

In  the  Nyt  Magazin  for  N aturvidenskaberne ,  1917,  pp.  215-225,  Drs. 
Ostenfeld  and  Dahl  discuss  the  northern  segregates  of  this  species,  which 
in  the  British  Isles  is  found  only  on  the  Ben  Bulben  range  in  Ireland 
and  (as  A.  norvegica  of  British  floras)  in  Shetland.  They  divide  the 
northern  forms  into  three  sub-species  : — i.  hibernica,  {A.  ciliata  of  British 
authors),  the  Irish  plant  ;  2.  pseudofrigida,  occurring  in  Norway, 
Lapland,  arctic  Russia,  Spitsbergen,  and  Novaja  Semlia  ;  and  norvegica 
{A.  norvegica  Gunnerus  and  British  authors),  found  in  Norway,  Sweden, 
Shetland,  Iceland,  Greenland,  EUesmereland,  Labrador  ?    and  Canada, 


96  The  Irish  Xaturalist.  June, 

ZOOLOGY. 

Early  Arrival  of  Spring  Migrants. 

The  Chiffchaff  was  observed  here  on  23rd  March,  exactly  one  month 
earher  than  last  year.       My  previous  earliest  date  is  25th  March  in  1907. 

On  ist  April  I  saw  one  Swallow — my  earliest  date  for  its  arrival  being 
8th  April. 

Nevin  H.  Foster. 
Hillsborough,   Co.   Down. 

A  Magpie's  Flight. 

The  Magpie  is  a  very  common  bird  about  here.  It  suffers  only  a 
small  amount  of  persecution,  and  seems  right  able  to  maintain  itself  in 
spite  of  the  gamekeeper's  gun.  Abundance  of  wood,  and  a  neighbourhood 
of  trees  is  what  the  Magpie  delights  in.  Its  powers  of  flight  depend 
a  good  deal  on  its  surroundings.  Hereabouts  it  has  only  opportunity 
to  fly  short  distances.  It  finds  perching  facilities  everywhere.  I  was 
surprised  therefore  during  my  holiday  last  September  at  Tramore  (about 
14  miles  from  here)  to  see  a  Magpie  performing  a  very  long  flight.  The 
day  was  a  lovely  one,  very  calm  and  clear  with  bright  sunshine,  and 
hardly  a  breath  of  wind.  And  for  a  long  distance  before  the  bird  came 
near  I  could  see  it  winging  its  flight  in  the  upper  air.  Afterwards  when 
it  passed  over  where  I  stood  I  watched  it  flying  a  long  distance  till  it 
became  out  of  sight.  It  is  only  a  rough  computation,  but  I  imagine 
its  flight  must  have  exceeded  two  miles.  It  is  doubtful,  and  more  than 
doubtful,  according  to  my  late  friend,  Mr.  Barrington,  whether  the 
Magpie  could  attempt  a  migration,  for  he  says  : — "  Its  non-migratory 
character  is  sufficiently  evinced  by  the  fact  that  it  has  never  been  reported 
from  a  lightship,  nor  from  such  rock  stations  as  the  Fastnet,  the  Tuskar, 
or  the  Maidens."  On  a  few  occasions  I  have  seen  large  flocks  of 
Magpies,  but  never  could  ascertain  what  it  was  that  had  brought  them 
together. 

W.  \V.  Flemyng. 

Portlaw. 

Corncrake  in  Trinity  College  Park. 

On  May  9th,  at  10.15  p.m.,  when  walking  along  Nassau  Street,  Dublin, 
I  distinctly  heard  a  Corncrake  in  Trinity  College  Park.  In  order  to  make 
quite  sure,  I  went  over  and  listened  at  the  railings,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
whatever  as  to  the  observation,  which  is  surely  worthy  of  record. 

J.  Mackay  Wilson, 
Currygrane,  Co.  Longford, 


Irish  Naturalist,  Vol.  XXVII. 


W.  Francis  de  Vismes  Kane. 


Tu  face  page.  97.] 


Jul}-,  1918,  The  Irish  Naturalist.  c^j 


WILLIAM  FRANCIS  DE  VISMES  KANE. 

By  the  death  of  W.  F.  de  Vismes  Kane,  who  passed  away 
suddenly  at  his  country  house,  Drumreaske,  near  Monaghan, 
on  April  i8th,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  we  lose  the  last  of 
that  generation  of  Irish  naturalists  to  whom  most  of  those 
now  working  looked  for  help  and  guidance  in  their  early 
studies.  Unhappily  no  life-long  comrade  of  our  departed 
friend  can  be  asked  to  place  on  record  the  facts  and  lessons 
of  his  career,  but  we  had  the  privilege  of  association  with 
him  at  different  times  during  the  last  thirty  years,  and  his 
daughter,  Miss  Rhoda  de  Vismes  Kane,  has  kindly  furnished 
many  interesting  details  from  family  records,  including  an 
unfinished  autobiographical  sketch  of  his  own. 

Kane  was  born  at  Withycombe,  near  Exmouth,  Devon, 
in  the  year  1840.  His  father,  Joseph  Kane,  the  eldest 
son  of  Colonel  Nathaniel  Kane,  a  Dublin  man,  had  migrated, 
on  account  of  delicacy,  to  the  south-western  district  of 
England,  where  he  met  and  married  the  onl}^  daughter  of  the 
Comte  de  Vismes,  a  French  nobleman  resident  in  England, 
whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  Dr.  Salt,  British  consul-general  in 
Egypt,  well  known  as  a  traveller  and  a  collector  of  Egyptian 
antiquities.  Sprung  thus  from  a  strain  in  which  Irish, 
French  and  English  lines  were  blended,  Kane  passed  his 
.early  boyhood  in  a  district  of  great  scenic  beauty  with 
abundant  opportunity  for  natural  history  studies  ;  while 
still  quite  young  he  began  to  make  collections  of  shells  and 
insects  and  to  accompan}^  the  south  Devon  fishermen  when 
they  put  to  sea. 

After  his  father's  death  Kane  Vv'ent  to  a  small  boarding- 
school  in  London,  "  where  he  was  badly  fed  and  taught  and 
was  very  miserable."  A  clergyman's  house  in  Gloucester- 
shire, where  a  few  private  pupils  were  taken,  provided  a 
more  satisfactory  educational  environment  ;  thence  he 
passed  to  Cheltenham  College,  and  later  took  his  Universit}^ 
courses  in  arts  and  engineering  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
his  home  after  his  settlement  in  his  father's  native  country 
being  the  house  of  his  uncle,  John  Kane,  in  Co.  Leitrim. 

4. 


gS  The  Irish  Naturalist.  July, 

Immediately  after  completing  his  college  course  in  1862, 
Kane  married  the  only  daughter  of  Rev.  Charles  J. 
Hamilton,  vicar  of  Kimbervvorth,  near  Rotherham,  and 
settled  at  Drumreaske  House,  Monaghan,  a  mansion  and 
demesne  near  the  family  property  which  he  had  inherited. 
Here  he  took  an  active  part  in  local  government,  and  twice 
served  as  High  Sheriff  of  the  county.  Fishing  was  his 
favourite  recreation,  and  he  became  famous  in  the  district 
tlirough  his  prowess  as  a  salmon-catcher.  In  1876  an  affec- 
tion of  the  throat  compelled  him  to  seek  a  milder  climate, 
and  he  spent  some  time  in  the  south  of  France,  Italy,  and 
Switzerland.  During  this  continental  residence  he  visited 
the  "  Gausses  "  country  of  Aquitaine,  saw  the  famous  Cro- 
Magnon  caves  and  became  interested  in  the  study  of  pre- 
historic Man.  But  the  most  important  activity  of  these 
years  in  relation  to  his  later  scientific  work  was  the  collec- 
tion of  butterflies,  which  he  carried  on  systematical!}'^  at 
Hyeres  and  in  Switzerland,  thus  laying  the  foundation  of 
his  wide  knowledge  of  the  Lepidoptera  and  gathering 
material  for  the  useful  small  and  portable  collector's  book, 
"  The  Butterflies  of  Europe,"  which  he  published  in  1885. 
This  book  is  remarkable  for  the  condensed  diagnoses  of  the 
species  and  for  the  excellent  illustrations  reproduced  from 
photographs  of  perfect  and  beautifully  set  specimens  by  the 
isochromatic  process,  then  recently  introduced — "  a  new 
departure  in  entomological  publication." 

In  1879  Kane  returned  to  Ireland,  and  for  the  next 
sixteen  years  lived  partl}^  at  Drumreaske  and  partly  at 
Monkstown,  on  Dublin  Bay.  He  now  began  to  study  in 
earnest  the  Lepidoptera  of  Ireland,  visiting  widel}'^  separated 
parts  of  the  country  and  amassing  a  large  collection  which 
illustrated  the  great  range  of  variation  shown  b}^  so  many 
of  the  Irish  moths.  His  discoveries  of  melanic  varieties  in 
western  Irish  localities  vrere  especially  noteworthy,  and  his 
almost  black  Camptooramma  hilincaia  from  the  Blasquets, 
Co.  Kerry,  described  in  1896,  caused  a  sensation  among 
entomologists. 

At  Monkstown  the  neighbouring  sea  attracted  him,  and 
he  acquired  a  small  yacht,  the  "  Linda,"  in  which  he  made 
frequent  voyages  around  the  coast,  exploring  the  cliffs  of 


igiS.  William  Francis  de  Vismes  Kane.  99 

Co.  Waterford  and  the  Saltees,  and  combining  in  his  natural 
history  studies,  marine  zoology,  ornithology  and  ento- 
mology, often  landing  in  the  evening  after  a  day's  sail  to 
"  sugar  "  in  the  woods.  Once  when  working  at  flowering 
ivy  in  an  old  churchyard  with  lantern,  sheet  and  net,  he 
heard  scratching  and  panting  as  of  some  one  trying  to  climb 
the  wall,  which  was  high  from  the  field  below,  but  low  on 
the  inside.  He  flashed  his  lantern  on  the  perspiring  face  of 
a  policeman  appearing  above  the  coping.  "  I  thought  you 
were  the  devil,"  groaned  the  constable,  while  a  comrade 
below  ejaculated,  "  It  could  be  nobody  else  !  " 

In  1886  Kane  joined  the  dredging  expedition  on  the 
"  Flying  Falcon  "  off  the  south-west  of  Ireland,  organised 
by  a  band  of  naturalists,  of  whom  W.  S.  Green,  afterwards 
Inspector  of  Irish  Fisheries,  was  the  leader.  The  interest 
in  marine  zoology  thus  aroused  led  to  a  paper  on  parasitic 
Copepods,  published  by  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  in  1891; 
and  the  stud\'  of  Entomostraca  became  later  a  prominent 
aspect  of  Kane's  activities.  His  work-  on  the  Irish  Lepido- 
ptera  had  now  been  carried  so  far  that  in  1893  he  began  in 
the  Entomologist  the  "Catalogue,"  which  maybe  regarded  as 
his  principal  work  ;  it  was  not  concluded  until  1901  ;  after 
the  completion  of  its  serial  publication  it  was  issued  as  a 
separate  volume.  The  old  Irish  list  of  Birchall  was  treated 
by  Kane  with  a  critical  sympathy,  doubtful  records  being 
withdrawn  or  corrected,  and  a  sure  foundation  laid  for 
future  workers.  In  1896  Kane  gave  up  his  house  at  Monks- 
town  and  spent  his  time  chiefly  at  Drumreaske,  where  he 
became  busy  at  fruit  and  bee  culture  and  landscape- 
gardening,  importing  many  flowering  shrubs  from  Japan 
and  elsewhere  to  beautify  his  grounds.  In  1897  Kane  suffered 
heavy  bereavement  in  the  loss  of  his  only  son,  and  again  in 
1 90 1  when  his  wife  died. 

He  had  been  an  original  member  of  the  Dublin  Natural- 
ists' Field  Club  in  1886  ;  in  1901  he  was  elected  President, 
a  compliment  which  gave  him  considerable  gratification. 
Ti  1902  he  contracted  a  second  marriage  with  the  widow 
of  Col.  Green  Wilkinson  ;  for  the  next  few  years  he  divided 
his  time  between  residence  in  Drumreaske  and  Kent  and 
foreign  travel,  ranging  as  far  eastward  as  Egypt  and  the 


100  The  Irish  Naturalist.  July, 

Holy  Land.  In  1904  he  made  over  his  great  collection  of 
Lepidoptera  to  the  National  Museum,  Dublin,  and  tlience- 
forth  devoted  his  zoological  activities  to  the  study  of  the 
Crustacea,  in  which  he  derived  much  pleasure  through 
association  with  the  late  Canon  A.  M.  Norman  of  Durham, 
and  correspondence  with  Dr.  Vejdovsky  of  Prag  and  other 
authorities.  The  latter  named  in  his  honour  the  type 
species  [de  Vismesi)  of  Bathyonyx,  a  new  genus  of  Amphi- 
poda  discovered  by  him  along  with  Niphargiis  kochianus 
in  Lough  Mask.  During  his  last  years  he  renewed  his  early 
interest  in  archaeology  and  published  in  1909  and  1917  two 
papers  of  importance  on  the  "  Black  Pig's  D^/ke  " — the 
ancient  boundary  fortification  of  Ulster — in  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  His  love  for  Irish  antiquities 
was  deep ;  at  the  International  Zoological  Congress  at 
Cambridge  in  1898,  we  recall  how  in  a  friendly  argument 
with  the  late  Judge  Kane  he  claimed  the  chieftainship  of 
his  clan. 

His  vigour  and  energy  to  the  very  end  of  his  long  life 
astonished  all  his  friends  who  knew  his  age,  and  up  to  the 
week  of  his  death  he  was  active  in  promoting  the  agricultural 
and  other  industries  of  his  neighbourhood,  as  well  as  in  the 
cultivation  of  his  own  demesne,  his  archaeological  and 
zoological  studies,  and  the  work  of  the  Church  of  Ireland, 
of  which  he  was  a  devoted  member,  serving  not  only  on  the 
Council  of  his  diocese  but  on  the  General  Synod  and  the  Repre- 
sentative Body.  To  quote  his  daughter's  words  :  "  His 
endless  activities  gave  the  impression  that  he  would  live 
many  years  longer.  This,  however,  was  not  to  be  ;  he  saw 
his  beloved  trees  and  shrubs  in  their  spring  beauty  once  more, 
and,  after  only  a  few  hours'  illness,  passed  quietly  away." 

The  wide  interests  of  his  life  made  him  a  large  circle  of 
friends,  all  of  whom  learned  to  appreciate  some  features  at 
least  of  his  many-sided  character.  He  was  a  delightful 
companion  in  natural  history  field-work,  knowing  much 
about  many  subjects  and  ready  to  convey  information  to 
all  who  consulted  him  ;  in  a  day's  heavy  hill-tramping  he 
could  outsta}^  many  younger  men.  When  dealing  with  the 
groups  that  he  studied  most  closel}^ — the  Lepidoptera  and 
small  Crustacea — he  never  became  a  narrow  specialist  ;   the 


igiS,  William  Francis  de  Vismes  Kane.  loi 

broad  aspects  of  biology  appealed  to  him  more  strongly 
than  the  minute  varietal  and  sub-specific  distinctions  which 
modern  S37stematists  love,  and  indeed  his  naturally  con- 
servative mind  was  somewhat  intolerant  of  the  growing 
elaboration  in  recent  years  of  zoological,  and  especially 
entomological  nomenclature.  Had  he  restricted  his  studies 
more  closely  to  one  of  the  lines  that  attracted  him  he  might 
have  w^on  for  himself  a  more  prominent  name  in  the  world 
of  science.  But  we  who  treasure  his  memory  realise  that 
in  the  life  of  his  country  he  filled  to  admiration  the  part 
for  which  he  was  eminently  fittv-^d — an  Irish  gentleman  and 
a  true  naturalist. 

Geo.  H.  Carpenter. 


LIST    OF    THE    MOKE    IMPOKTAXT    WRITINGS    OF 
W.   F.  DE    VISMES  KANE,   M.A.,   M.R.I. A. 

Compiled  by  J.   N.   Halbert,  M.R.I. A. 

Many  of  the  short  notes  on  Irish  Lepidoptera  contributed  by  Mr. 
Kane  to  the  Entomologist  and  the  Entomologists'  Record  and  Journal  of 
Variation  are  not  included  in  this  bibliography;  nor  are  his  short  notes  in 
the  pages  of  the  Irish  Naturalist,  which  are  indexed  in  the  last  number  of 
volume  XXV.  With  few  exceptions,  the  records  contained  therein  were 
incorporated  in  his  valuable  "  Catalogue  of  the  Lepidoptera  of  Ireland." 
The  first  instalment  of  the  "  Catalogue  "  appeared  in  the  Entomologist  in 
1882.  On  its  completion  in  igoi  it  was  reprinted  as  a  separate  volume  b>- 
West,  Newman  &  Co. 

Crustacea. 

1892.  On  a  New  Species  of  Lernaeopoda  from  the  West  Coast  of  Ireland. 
Proc.  R.  I.  Acad.  (3),  vol.  ii.,  p.  203. 

1900.  Entomostraca  from  Lough  Ree.    Irish  Nat.,  vol.  ix.,  p.  12. 

1901.  Notes  on  Irish  Cladocera.      Irish  Nat.,  vol.  x.,  p.  112. 

1903.   A    Contribution    to    the    Knowledge    of    Irish    Fresh-water    Ento- 
mostraca.   Cladocera.    Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xii.,  p.  210. 

1903.  Rare  blind  Amphipod  from  Lough  Mask.    Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xii.,  p.  273. 

1904.  Further  captures  of  Mysis  relicta  in  Ireland.     Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xiii., 
p.    107. 

1907.  Additional  Records  of  F'resh-water  Entomcstraca  in  Ireland.  Irish 
Nat.,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  305. 


102  Til/"  Irish  Na/uralisf.  July, 

Insecta. 

1882.  Report    on    the    Entomology   of  certain   districts  in  I  Ister.    Pyoc. 
R.  I.  Acad.  (2),  vol.  iii.,  p.  784. 

1S82.  Causes  of  Abundance  or  otherwise  of  Lcpidoptera.      Entomologist, 
vol.  XV.,  p.  244. 

1883.  Remarks  upon  certain  Causes  of  Scarcity  of  Lepidoptera.  Ento- 
mologist, vol.  xvi.,  p.  52. 

1884.  Variation  of  European  Lepidoptera.    Entomologist,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  97. 

1884.  Influence  of  Meteorological  Conditions  upon  Lepidoptera.  Ento- 
mologist, vol.  xvii.,  p.  25. 

18S4.   Report  on  Irish  Lepidoptera.  Proc.  R.  T.  Acad.  (2),  vol.  iv.,  p.  105. 
1886.   Report   on   Researches  on   the   Macrolepidoptera  at  Killarney,  &c. 
Proc.  R.  I.  Acad.,  (2),  vol.  iv.,  p.  588. 

1885.  A  Handbook  of  European  Butterflies.     INIacmillan  <S:  Co.,   f.ondon. 

1885.  Scientific  Nomenclature  and  Dr.   Lang's  "  European  Butterflies." 

Entomologist,  vol.  xviii.,  p.  45. 

1886.  The  Tephrosia  Discussion.    Entomologist,  vol.  xix.,  p.  2oy. 

1886.  Some  Notes  on  tlie  Comparative  Study  of  British  and  Continental 
Rhopalocera.    Entom.  Month.  Mag.,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  244. 

1891.  The  generic  position  of  Dianthoecia  Barrettii.  Entom.  Record, 
vol.  i.,  p.  260. 

1893-01.  A  Catalogiie  of  the  Lepidoptera  of  Ireland.  Entomologist,  vols. 
xxvi.-xxxiv.     Issued  separately  in  1901   (West,  Newman  cS:  Co.). 

1893.  The  Melanism  Controversy.      Entomologist,  vol.  xxvi.,  p.  307. 

1893.  Irish  Entomology.     Irish  Nat.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  32. 

1894.  The  New  Entomology.     Entomologist,  vol.  xxvi.,  p.   185. 

1895.  The  Lepidoptera  of  the  Galway  Excursion.  Irish  Nat.,  vol.  iv.,  p. 
263. 

1895.  On  the  Variation  of  Melitaca  aurinia,  Rott.  Entom.  Record, 
vol.   vii.,   p.   230. 

1895.  The  Resting  Habit  of  Insects  as  exhibited  in  tJic  Plienumcna 
of  Hibernation  and  Aestivation.     Entom.  Record,  vol.  vii.,  p.  243. 

1896.  Observations  on  the  Development  of  Melanism  in  Camptcgramma 

bilineata.     Irish  Nat.,  vol.  \-.,  p.  74.    (Sec  also  vol.  vi.,  p.  44). 

1897.  Leucania  unipuncta,  Haw\,  in  Co.  Cork.     Irish  Nat.,  vol.  \i.,  ]).  104. 

1898.  Lepidoptera  of  Achill.    Irish  Nat.,  vol.  \'n.,  p.  i]j. 

1900.  iNIr.  Donovan's  captures  in  Co.  Cork.      Entomologist ,  vol.  xxxiii.,  p. 

197. 
1907.   Lepidoptera  tjf  Lamba}'.      Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  -j_}. 


Vertebrates. 

1892.  Sharks  in  Irish  Waters.     Eield,  vol.  Ixxx.,  p.  917. 

1893.  Is  the  Frog  a  native  of  Ireland  ?      Irish  Nat.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  95. 

1893.  The  Eagle  Owl  {Bubo  maximus)  in  Ireland,  and  former  .scarcity  of 
the  Magpie  {Pica  nistica).     Irish  Nat.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  113. 


igiS.  William  Francis  de  Vismes  Kane.  103 

1894.  The  Reddish-grey  Bat  {Vesperiilio   Natterevii   Kuhl)  in  Co.  Galway. 

Irish  Nat.,  vol.  iii.,  p.   116. 
1896.  Pine  Martens  recently  taken  in  Ireland.     Irish  Nat.,  vol.  v.,  p.  28. 
1905.  Wild  Cats  formerly  indigenous  in  Ireland.      Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xiv., 

p.  165. 

1916.  The  Crossbill  and  its  Diet.     Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xxv.,  p.  53. 

Archaeology. 

1870.  Account  of  Two  Antiquities  presented  to  the  Academy.    Proc.  R.  I. 

Acad.,  vol.  XV.,  p.   2. 
1885.  Notes   on   Crannoges   in   Co.    Leitrim.       Roy.  Hist,  and  Arch.  Soc. 

Ireland,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  407. 
191 1.   The  Black  Pig's  Dyke:     The  Ancient  Boundary  Fortification  of 

Uladh.     Proc.  R.  I.  Acad..,  vol.  xxvii.,  C.  p.  301. 
1915.  The  Dun  of  Drumsna.     Proc.  R.  I.  Acad.,  vol.  xxxii.,  C.  p.  324. 

1917.  Additional  Researches  on  the  Black  Pig's  Dyke.     Proc.  R.  I.  Acad., 
vol.  xxxiii.  C.  pp.  539. 

General. 

902.  Recent  progress  in  Irish  Natural  Histor}-.      Presidential  Address. 
Irish  Nat.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  ^^. 


BOTANICAL   NOTES   FROM   INISTIOGE. 

BY    K.    LLOYD    PRAEGER. 

I.  Water-borne  Flora  of  Pollard  Willows. 

Just  below  the  bridge  at  Inistioge,  and  about  a  mile  below 
the  spot  where  the  River  Nore  ceases  to  be  affected  by  the 
tide,  the  stream  is  fringed  with  pollard  willows.  The  rise 
and  fall  of  tide  here  averages  about  three  feet,  and  while 
the  tops  of  the  willow  stumps  are  about  six  or  more  above 
the  water  when  the  tide  is  down,  a  spring  tide,  or  a 
combination  of  flood  and  tide,  submerges  them  occasioraUy 
in  autumn  and  winter,  and  seeds  and  mud  are  deposited 
among  the  branches.  Mosses  help  to  hx  these  materials, 
and  a  varied  epiphytic  flora  results.  That  water  rather 
than  wind  is  the  transporting  agent  is  clear  from  the 
subjoined  list,  in  which  will  be  found  many  plants  that  are 
not  light-seeded.      The  flora  of  the  willow-tops  is  generally 


104  '^^^  Irish  Naturalist.  July, 

cut  off  from  that  of  the  ground  by  several  feet  of  bare  trunk. 
An  examination  of  a  dozen  willows  ^ave  the  following 
list  ; — Ranunculus  acris,  R.  repcns,  R.  I'icaria,  Cciniamine 
pralcnsis,  (■.  sylvaiica,  Acer  Psciuio-plalajuis,  Vicia  scpiuni, 
Trijoliuni  rcpois,  Spiraea  Ulniaria,  Rosa  canina,  Sanicula 
curopaca,  Chaerophyllun  sylveslrc,  Angelica  sylveslris, 
Oenanlhc  crocaia,  Hcracleiun  Splwndyliiun,  Hedera  Helix, 
Caliuni  saxalile,  Lonicera  Periclymenum,  Valeriana  sanibiici- 
folia,  Achillea  MillefoUiun,  Senecio  aqualicus,  raraxacnrn 
officinale,  CampanvJa  Trac/ieliiini,  Veronica  Chaniaedrys, 
Origanuni  vulgar e,  Plantago  lanceola'a,  Fagus  sylvaiica, 
Carex  sylvaiica,  Fesfiica  ovina,  Brachy podium  sylvalicum, 
Polyp odi urn  vulga  re . 


2.  Tidal  Influence  on  Vegetation. 

\\'here  the  rise  and  fall  caused  b}'  the  tide  is  four  or  live 
feet,  Callha  f^aluslris  still  abounds  near  the  lower  limit,  and 
may  be  seen  at  high  tide  flowering  abundantly  under  a 
yard  of  water.  The  flowers  appear  uninjured  by  this 
semi-diurnal  drowning,  and  the  seed  follicles  were  swelling. 
Several  of  the  plants  which  root  on  the  bottom  also  appeared 
to  be  not  discommoded  by  these  rapid  fluctuations  of  level 
— for  instance,  Nnphar  luleimi  and  Potamogelon  lucens. 
Saline  influence  is  first  observable  about  two  miles  below 
the  "  top  of  the  tide,"  where  the  river  is  already  very 
muddy  and  estuarine,  and  the  rise  and  fall  almost  that  of 
the  full  amplitude  of  the  tide.  Here  Scirpits  inarilimtis 
and  S.  Tahernaemontani  fringing  the  mud-banks  are  the 
first  halophile  species  to  appear,  growing  among  Caltha 
paluslris,  Runiex  crispus,  Alisma  Planlago,  and  Calliirichc  sp. 
But  the  foreshore  here  exhibits  no  trace  of  marine  influence 
as  regards  either  its  flora  or  its  fauna. 


3.  Floristic  Notes. 

In  connection  with  these  notes  the  following  broad 
features  of  the  area  should  be  borne  in  mind.  The  River 
Nore,  which,  as  far  south  as  Thomastown  (six  miles  N.W. 


i9i8.  Praeger. — Botanical  Notes  front  Inistioge,  105 

of  Inistioge)  flows  through  a  hniestone  valley  with  a  rich 
calcicole  flora,  at  that  point  })asses  into  Old  Red  Sandstone 
and  then  Silurian  rocks,  which  at  Inistioge  are  succeeded 
b}^  niica  schist  with  granite  on  the  higher  grounds  :  through 
these  rocks  the  ri\'er  lias  cut  a  beautiful  richly  wooded 
gorge. 

Ranunculus   Lingua  L. — By  the  Nore  a  mile  below  Inistioge. 

Sisymbrium  Thalianum  j.  Cray. — About  Inistioge. 

Linum  angustifolium  Huds. — Gravel  pit  below  Inistioge. 

Vicia  angustifolia    Roth. — In  several  stations. 

Prunus   Padus   L. — Wood   near  Inistioge.       New  to  Co.    Kilkenny. 

Sedum  spp. — No  native  species  of  Seduni  was  seen  in  the  district,  but 
naturalized  species  eire  unusually  abundant  ;  5.  album  occurs  in 
many  places,  and  vS".  rupestrc,  S.  sexangulare  and  5.  spuriunt  were 
also  seen  growing  "  wild." 

Centranthus  ruber  DC. — Abundant,  and  almost  entirely  in  the  hand.some 
crimson  form.       In  gravel-pits  as  well  as  on  rocks  and  walls. 

Primula  officinalis  J  acq. — Unusually  abundant  for  a  district  where 
limestone  is  absent. 

*  Polygonum  Bistorta  L. — By  the  river  below  Inistioge  bridge.  New  to 
Co.  Kilkenny. 

Colchicum  autumnale  L. — So  far  as  my  observations  go,  this  local  plant 
has  a  very  defined  habitat.  It  haunts  flat  damp  meadows  by  the 
river,  but  above  the  limits  of  floods.  The  wetter  meadows,  with 
Caltha  and  Iris,  are  devoid  of  it,  as  are  the  drier  pastures  which  rise 
from  the  river-flat. 

Polypodium  vulgare  L. — The  prevailing  plant  is  the  broad-leaved  form 
(up  to  8  inches  across  the  frond)  Avith  slightly  serrated  lobes  which 
one  rather  associates  with  limestone  areas. 

Lastrea  spinulosa  Presl. — Sparingly  on  Mount  Alto,  i^  miles  south  of 
Inistioge,  at  700  feet  elevation.      Second  Kilkenny  record. 

Osmunda  regalis  L. — Many  fine  plants  by  a  stream  on  Brandon  Hill. 
I  had  previously  (in  1898)  found  a  few  plants  on  another  part  of 
this  mountain. 

National   Library,  Dublin. 


io6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  July, 

SOME      MORE      IRISH      ICHNEUMONIDAE   AND 

BRACONIDAE. 

BY    REV.    \V.    F.    JOHNSON,    M.A.,    F.E.S.,    M.R.I. A. 

Last  year  was  not  particukirly  good  for  Ichneumon  Flies 
owing  to  the  broken  weather,  especially  in  tlie  autumn,  for 
these  insects  are  lovers  of  sunshine,  and  in  dull  or  wet 
weather  they  are  not  to  be  seen.  My  holiday  in  Donegal 
was  on  this  account  not  nearly  as  productive  as  usual. 
I  broke  new  ground  at  Portnoo,  so  have  a  lot  of  common 
species  to  record  from  thence.  1  found  it  a  very  promising 
locality.  It  is  situated  on  the  south  side  of  Gweebarra 
Bay  about  nine  miles  from  (Uenties,  which  is  the  nearest 
railway  station. 

A  good  many  of  the  species  mentioned  in  the  following 
list  have  not,  as  far  as  1  kno\\',  been  previously  recorded 
from  Ireland,  but  as  our  knowledge  of  these  insects  in  Ire- 
land is  too  imperfect  to  admit  of  an  attempt  at  an  Irish 
List,  it  is  not  necessary  to  specify  them.  1  do,  liowever, 
bring  forward  an  addition  to  the  Britannic  List  in  Spilo- 
cryptus  mansitetor  Tschek,  but  with  some  doubt,  as  to  its 
determination,  I  have  had  to  depend  on  Dr.  O. 
Schmiedknecht's  revision  of  the  Cryptinae  in  the  Ento- 
mologischen  Nadirichten  for  1890,  in  which  there  is  no 
detailed  description. 

Some  of  these  insects  i)ass  tlie  winter  in  the  perfect  state 
like  the  Was])s,  Humble  Bees,  and  certain  Butterflies. 
Mr.  Foster's  specinu>n  of  Ichneumon  sttspiciosiis  was  in  this 
condition,  and  ni}'  specimen  of  /.  cxtensorius  was  probably 
just  awakened  out  of  its  long  sleep,  as  it  was  jumping  about 
on  llie  road  in  a  most  absurd  manner,  and  1  caught  it  with 
m\'  ]iand.  Tlie  variety  of  Glypta  genalis  wiiich  I  took  here 
is  a  very  handsome  creature,  the  red  colour  showing  up 
brilliantly  against  the  dv.v\)  black  of  the  rest  ol  the  body. 
I  was  very  pleased  to  meei  witli  Lissonoia  Intsalis  at  Cool- 
more  and  Portnoo,  and  1  dai"e  say  it  will  prove  to  be  as 
common  as  its  close  ally  /..  sup/iurijcra. 

As  the  summer  draws  on,  ichneumon  Flies  become  more 
plentiful,  f(jr  then  their  victims  are    ready  for  them.      It 


tgi8.      Johnson — Irish  Ichneiimonidae  and  Braconidae.         107 

must  be  remembered  that  these  creatm'es  Hve  on  other 
insects,  attacking  them  either  in  the  larval  or  pupal  stage, 
and  when  their  host  should  emerge  they  emerge  instead, 
and  prepare  for  a  fresh  campaign.  Thus,  the  little  Ichneu- 
mons \\'hich  attack  the  White  Cabbage  Butterfly  are  now 
preparing  to  emerge  so  as  to  be  ready  to  assail  the  larvae  as 
soon  as  they  appear,  and  so  assist  the  grower  of  cabbages, 
who  would  be  very  badl}'  off  indeed  without  the  help  of 
these  tiny  allies. 

The  Coolmore  specimens  were  taken  in  August,  unless 
otherwise  stated,  and  those  at  Portnoo  in  September. 

I  have  once  more  to  thank  Mr.  Claude  Morley,  f.e.s., 
for  most  kind  assistance  with  several  critical  species.  He 
is  always  most  ready  and  generous  in  placing  his  great 
knowledge  at  my  disposal. 

ICHNEUMONIDAE. 

ICHNEUMON  IN  A  E. 

Cratichneumon  fabricator  F. — Coolmore,  in  August,  on  roadside  among 
sallows.    A  variety  of  the  male,  with  the  Lead  entirely  black. 

C.  pallidifrons  Gr. — Antrim,  in  August  ;    taken  by  J.  J.  F.-X.  King. 

Melanichneumon  monastagon  Cir. — Portnoo,  among  sallows,  rare. 

Barichneumon  anator  Fab. — Newcastle,  Co.  Down,  in  June  ;  taken  by 
J.   J.   F.  X.   King. 

B.  vacillatorius  Gr. — Coolmore,  in  a  window,  a  male. 

B.  albicinctus  Gr. — Portnoo,  among  sallows,  and  at  flowers  of  Wild  Carrot  ; 
males. 

Ichneumon    xanthorius    Forsier    \;>i'.  flavoniger    Cr.     Poilnoo,     ani<»iig 

heatlier. 
I.   sarcitorius   L. — Portiujo,   among  sallows. 
I.  latrator  Fab.,  var.  means  Gr. — Coolmore,  in  September,  among  herbage 

in  a  lane  ;    a  variety  with  the  fourth  segment  entirely  red  and  the 

sixth  white  marked. 
I.  melanotis   Ulgr. — Portnoo,  at  Wild  Carrc^t,   uncommon. 
I.    suspiciosus    Wcsm. — Drumagulhon,    near    Stewartstown,    Co.    Tyrone. 

Taken  by  Mr.  N.  H.  Foster  under  a  stone  in  a  field  on  March  J^th  ; 

a  female  in  hybernation. 
I.  uxtensorius  L.— Portnoo,  at  flowers.      I'.  >>  11 1 /pass,   I  took  a  small  form 

of  the  female  of  this  species  running  on  the  road  cm  April  .:nd. 
I,  submarginatus   Gr. — Coolmore,   among  sallows,   a  male. 
I.  cessator  -Mull. — Portnoo,  among  sallows. 
Chasmias  motatorius  Fab.     "] 

Platylabus  pedatorius  l-ab.      ^Poyntzpass,  in  helds,  males,  m  July. 
Phaeogenes  argutus  Wesm.    J 


io8  The  Irish  Xaturalist.  Jul^^ 

Phaeogenes  ophthalmicus  Wcsm. — Poitnoo,  ou  sandhills. 
P.  rusticatus  Wcsm. — Poitnoo,  among  sallows. 

CRYPTINAE. 

MicrocryptuS)  perspicillalor  Gr. — Poitnoo,  at  flowers. 

M.  subguttatus  (ir.— Coolmorc,  a  mal(\  among  sallows. 

M.   improbus   (".r.— Coolmorc   and    riutiiDo,    among   sallows. 

M.  graminicola  Gr. — Coolmorc,   in   Imusi"  ;    Portnoo,  at  flowers. 

M.  nigrocinctus  Gr. — Coolmorc,  among  sallows. 

M.  sperator   M'lH. — Portnoo,  on  sandhills. 

Phygadeuon   ovatus  Gr. — Poyntzpass,   in  a  window,  in  June,  a  female. 

P.  inflatus  Thorns. — Poyntzpass,  in  fields,  in  August. 

Pezomachus  tristis  Fab. — Coolmorc,  among  sallows,  a  female. 

Atractodes   croceicornis    Hal.    -Portnoo,   at  flowers,   a  female.      ^Haliday 

records  it  as  rare  in  Ireland,  and  Alorlcy'-^  records  one  specimen  from 

Suflolk. 
Exolytus  laevigatUS  Gr. — Coolmorc,  .inioiig  sallows. 
Pycnocryptus   peregrinator  L.,   var.   analis  Gr. — A   male,   Newcastle,   Co. 

Down,  in   August,   taken  by   J.   J.   F.  X.   King. 
Spilocryptus  mansuetor  Tschek. — Poyntzpass,  in  my  garden,  in  June,  a 

female.     New  to  the  British  List. 
S.  abbre viator  ¥. — ^ Portnoo,  among  herbage  on  roadside,  a  female. 
S.  nubeculatus  Gr. — Newcastle,  Co.  Down,  in  July;    taken  by  J.  J.  F.  X. 

King,  a  female,  rare. 
Cry  plus  viduatorius  Fab. — Newcastle,   Co.   Down,   in  August  ;    taken  by 

J.  J.  F.-X.  King. 
C.  miniator  Gr. — Coolmorc,  among  sallows. 

PIMPLINAE. 

Pimpla  brevicornis  Gr. — Portnoo,  among  herbage. 

P.  calobata  (ir.-  -Portnoo,  at  flowers  of  Wild  Carrot. 

P.  arctica  Zett. — Portnoo,  r.t  Wild  Carrot. 

P.  turionella  L.       \,,    ^ 
„      ,^  ^,  f  Portnoo. 

P.  alternans  Grav.   J 

P.  ovivora  Boh. — Poyntzpass,  in  June,  a  female,  which  1  took  on  the 
wing  at  a  plant  of  Black  Bryony,  which  grows  at  the  front  on  my 
house. 

Glypta  fronticornis  Gr. — Coolmorc,  among  sallows. 

G.  genalis  M«">11. — Poyntzpass,  in  July,  in  my  lields  ;  a  variety  with  the 
second  segment  of  tlie  abdomen  in  the  female  and  the  second,  third 
and  fourth  segments  in  the  male  red  or  partly  red.  Mr.  Morley  tells 
me  he  has  not  met  with  this  form  before.  Tiic  type  has  the  abdomen 
entirely  black. 

Lissonota  bellator  Gr. — Portnoo. 

L.  variipes  Desv. — Coolmorc,  in  vSeptember,  a  specimen  with  the  arcolct 
pentagonal  ;    Portnoo. 


J .  Ann.  Nal.  Hist.,  ia39,  P-  "Q-     ^-  "  British  Ichneumons,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  253. 


igiS.      JoHNSOX — Irish  Ichfieitmonidae  and  Braconidae.  109 

Lissonota  cylindrator  Vill.        '^Portnoo;     of  the  latter  I  took  a   female 
L.  sulphurifera  Or.  /  with  the  coxae  red. 

L.   basalis    Brischke. — Coolmorc,    Portnoo. 


TRYPHONINAE. 

Homocidus  caudatus  Thoms. 

Mesoleius  semicaligatus  Or.        1 

M.  bicolor  Crr.  | 

M.   nigricollis  Or.  |^ Portnoo   at  Wild  Cn rrot. 

Dyspetes  praerogator  T.. 

Tryphon  elongator  i^ab. 

Perispudius  sulphuratus  Gr. 

Eiiryproctus  atomator  Miill. — Coolmore,  at  Wild  Carrot. 

Prionopoda  glabra  Bridg. — ^Poyntzpass,  in  July,  in  field. 

Polyblas'us  rivalis  Hlgr. — -Portnoo,  at  sallows. 

P.  variitarsus  Or. — Antrim,  in  August,  taken  by  J.  J.  F.  X.  King. 

OPHIONINA  E. 

Campoplex  terebrator  l*<>!"ster. — Newcastle,  Co.  Down,  in  July  ;    taken  by 

j .  j .   F.  X.   King. 
Sagaritis  postica  Bridg. — Poyntzpass,  in  ]\Iay,  in  a  lane,  at  flowers  of  Hedge 

Parsley. 

Limnerium  rufifemur  Thorns.     1 

Pyracmon  obscuripes  Hlgr.  J^  Poynlzpass,  July,  in  fields. 

Nemeritis  sordida  Gr.  J 

Meloboris  litoralis  Hlgr. — Coolmore,  in  September,  at  Wild  Carrot. 
Ophion  luteus  L. — Newcastle,   Co.    Down,   laken   in    July,   by  J.   J.   F.  X. 
King. 

BRACONIDAE. 

Rhogas  irregularis   Wesm. — Poyntzpass,    in    July,    in    field. 

Chelonus  inanitus  Linn. — Athlone,  in  July,  taken  by  J.  J.  F.  X.  King. 

Apanteles  spurius  Wesm. — Newcastle,  Co.  Down,  reared  from  larvae  of 
/  vranieis  cardiii. 

A.  falcatus  Nees. — Poyntzpass,  in  field,  at  Hogweed,  in  July  and  August. 
Coolmore,  at  Dauciis  Carota,  on  roadside.  I  erroneously  recorded  this 
as  Euhadizon  flavipes  H   1.   in  the   frisli  Xntnyalist,   vol.  xxiv.,    1915, 

Microgaster  globatus  Nees. — Poyntzpa.ss,  in  July,  in  field. 
Meteorus  lividus  kuthe. — Portnoo,  on  heather. 
M.  pulchricornis  Wesm.-- -Portnoo,  among  herbage  on  roadside. 
M.   melanostictus  Capron. — Poyntzpass,   in  June,   among  herbage. 
M.  punctriventris  Kuthe. — Coolmore,  on  sandhills,  in  September. 
Macrocentrus  marginator  Nees. — Poyntzpass,  in  July,  in  field. 
Diospilus  capito  Xees. — Coolmore,  in  September,  in  window. 

Poyntzpass,  Co.  Armagh. 


no  The  Irish  NaturaliU.  July, 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 

Recent  gifts  include  a  Grivet  Monkey  from  Lt.  H.  P.  Murphy,  a  Blue 
fronted  Amazon  from  Mrs.  Abdy,  and  a  Grey-lag  Goose  from  Mrs- 
Fitzgerald.  A  rare  Guenon  Monkey  {Cercopithecus  neglectus)  has  been 
received  on  deposit  ;  Chacma  and  Yellow  Baboons  and  two  Vervet 
Monkeys  have  been  purchased  for  the  collection.  Two  male  Lion-cubs 
(parents  "  Finn  "  and  "  Hassanatu  ")  were  born  on  May  13th,  but  did 
not  survive.  Egyptian  and  Canadian  Geese  have  been  hatched  in  the 
Gardens. 

BELFAST    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB. 

Excursion  to  Saintfield. — The  first  excursion  of  the  summer  season 
was  held  to  Saintfield  on  May  18  under  the  leadership  of  S.  A.  Bennett. 
The  demesne  of  Saintfield  House  was  visited  and  also  "  Rowallane  " 
where  the  rock  garden — just  in  its  prime — was  greatly  admired.  Tea 
was  served  here,  after  which  the  usual  business  meeting  was  held,  six 
new  members  being  elected. 


NOTES. 

BOTANY. 

A  New  Station  for  Lathraea  squamaria  in  Co.  Dublin. 

While  taking  a  stroll  early  in  May  last  I  came  across  a  plant  of  the 
above  species  beside  the  small  stream  which  falls  into  the  right  bank  of 
the  Dodder  a  short  distance  above  Bohernabreena  bridge.  It  appears 
to  be  new  to  District  7  of  Mr.  Colgan's  Flora  of  Co.  Dublin. 

J.  P.  Brunker. 
Kathgar. 

Draba  muralis  in  Co.  Down. 

The  only  published  record  for  Draba  muralis  in  Co.  Down  in  "  Walls  at 
Rogers'  Nursery  at  Newry,  '96,  Lett  !  "  A  few  weeks  ago  I  found  a  small 
colony  of  this  plant  growing  on  wall  by  side  of  level  crossing  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  north  of  Hillsborough  railway  station.  Further  search  revealed 
it  in  numerous  other  places  in  the  neighbourhood.  In  Aglisgrove  Nursery 
it  is  growing  literally  in  thousands,  and  it  may  well  be  that  it  has  been 
there  introduced  and  from  thence  spread.  In  the  nursery  it  is  growing 
mainly  in  the  beds  and  on  the  walks,  and  it  is  also  growing  along  the 
adjoining  roadside.  Jt  is  common  in  the  Downshire  gardens,  about  a  mile 
distant  from  the  nursery.    There  is  a  small  colony  in  my  own  garden  (where 


i9i8.  Notes.  Ill 

I  believe  it  did  not  exist  last  year),  and  it  may  be  noted  that  in  this  case 
the  Draba  is  growing  alongside  a  bed  of  cnrleys,  the  plants  of  which  came 
from    Aglesgrove    Nursery    last    August. 

Xfa'IN   J  I.    Foster. 
Hillsborough,  Co.  Down. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Bird    Life   at    Curryg^rane,    Co.    Lonj>ford. 

The  following  records  of  the  dates  on  wliicli  some  of  our  <  ommon 
migratory  birds  were  first  seen  or  heard  during  a  series  of  twenty-nine 
years  (1889-1917)  may  be  of  interest  to  ornithologists  :  — 

Swallow    (first  seen)— 1889,  Apr.  19  ;     1890,  Apr.  19  ;     1891,  Apr.  19  ; 

1892,  Apr.  12  ;  1893,  Apr.  5  ;  1894,  Apr.  15  ;  1893,  Apr.  12  ;  1896,  Apr. 
16  ;  1897,  Apr.  19  ;  1898,  Apr.  8  ;  1899,  Apr.  24  ;  1900,  Apr.  15  ;  1901, 
Apr.  14  ;  1902,  Apr.  9  ;  1903,  Apr.  23  ;  1904,  Apr.,  14  ;  1905,  Apr.  12  ; 
190G,  Apr.  6  ;  1907,  Apr.  22  ;  1908,  Apr.  30  ;  1909,  Apr.  8  ;  1910,  Apr.  16  ; 
1911,  Apr.  18;  1912,  Apr.  11;  1913,  Apr.  21;  1914,  Apr.  18;  1913, 
Apr.  22  ;    1916,  Apr.  22  ;    19 17,  Apr.  23. 

(^'CKoo    (first  heard)  : — 1890,  Apr.  22  ;  "  1891,  Apr.  24  ;      1892,  May  i  ; 

1893,  Apr.  22;  1894,  Apr.  tS  ;  1895,  Apr.  23;  1896,  Apr.  22;  1897, 
Apr.  24  ;  1898,  Apr.  21  ;  1899,  Apr.  21  ;  1900,  Apr.  25  ;  1901,  Apr.  25  ; 
1902,  Apr.  21;  1903,  Apr.  2^;  1904,  Apr.  29;  1903,  Apr.  29;  1906, 
May  I  ;  1907,  May  3  ;  1908,  Apr.  30  ;  1909,  Apr.  24  ;  1910,  Apr.  30  ; 
19TI,  Apr.  28;  1912,  Apr.  25;  1913,  Apr.  21;  1914,  Apr.  19;  1915, 
Apr.  29;    19 1 6,  Apr.  29;    1917,  May  i. 

Corncrake  (first  heard): — 1890,  Apr.  29;  1891,  Apr.  30;  1892, 
May  5  ;  1893,  Apr.  19  ;  1893,  Apr.  2^  ;  1897,  Apr.  26  ;  1899,  Apr.  2^  ; 
1900,  May  3  ;  1901,  Apr.  21  ;  1904,  Apr.  28  ;  1903,  Apr.  24  ;  1907,  Apr. 
2^  ;  1908,  May  i  ;  1909,  Apr.  2^  ;  191 1,  May  3  ;  1912,  Apr.  22  ;  1914; 
May  3  ;    1913,  Apr.  26;    1916,  Apr.  28;    1917,  May  i. 

CuiFFCfiAFF  (first  heard): — 1893,  Mar.  22  ;  1894,  Mar.  21;  1895, 
Apr.  3;     1896,  Mar.  22;     1897,  Apr.  4;     i8g8,  Apr.   10  ;    1899,  Apr.   16; 

1900,  Apr.  17  ;  1901,  Apr.  13  ;  1902,  Apr.  4  ;  1903,  Apr.  3  ;  1904,  Apr.  14  ; 
1905,  Mar.  22  ;  1906,  Apr.  3  ;  1907,  Mar.  28  ;  1908,  Apr.  7  ;  1909,  Apr.  6  ; 
1911,  Apr.  11;  1912,  Mar.  23;  1913,  Mar.  23;  1914,  Apr.  i  ;  1913, 
Apr.  3;     1916,  Apr.  9;     1917,  Apr.   22. 

Spotted  Flycatcher  (first  seen)  : — 1892,  May  11  ;  1912,  J^ay 
13  ;     1913,  May  7. 

Wtllow-Wren  (first  heard)  : — 1894,  Apr.  7  ;  1893,  Apr.  12  ;  1896; 
Apr.  3;    1897,  Apr.  10;    1898,  Apr.  11  ;    1899,  Apr.  16;    1900,  Apr.  24' 

1901,  Apr.  17;  1902,  Apr.  12;  1903,  Apr.  19;  1904,  Apr.  14;  1903, 
Apr.  14;  1906,  Apr.  8;  1907,  Apr.  13;  1908,  Apr.  17;  1909,  Apr.  10; 
1911,  Apr.  17;  1912,  Apr.  16;  1913,  Apr.  7  ;  1914,  Apr.  11;  1915,  Apr. 
19;    1916,  Apr.  20;     1917,  Apr.  30. 

J.  Mack  ay  Wilson. 
Currygrane,  Co.  Longford. 


TI2 


The  Irish  Naturalist. 


July,    1918. 


Green  Sandpiper  in  Co.  Westmeath. 

In  the  Irish  Naturalist  of  January  last  [supra,  p.  14)  Mrs.  I^ait  Ken- 
recorded  an  example  of  Toianus  ochropus  from  King's  County.  It  may 
be  interesting  to  note  that  nearly  a  month  later  a  specimen  was  secured 
near  Killucan  by  a  party  whilst  snipe  shooting.  This,  killed  on  December 
14,  19 1 7,  I  am  told  was  an  adult  male.  It  is  being  preserved  by  Williams, 
Dublin.  As  far  as  I  can  gather  no  other  occurrences  have  been  reported 
from  Co.  Westmeath  within  recent  years. 


Fred.  S.  Beveridge, 
Lt.  3rd  Bn.  Royal  Scots. 


The  Barracks,  MuUingar. 


Snow  Geese  at  Mutton  Island,  Co.  Galway. 

Mr.  John  Glanville,  of  Mutton  Island  lighthouse  informs  me  that  on 
December  5th,  191 7,  he  observed  12  "  White  Geese  "  flying  eastwards  ; 
and  in  subsequent  letters  about  the  birds  he  told  me  that  they  were 
slightly  larger  than  Brent  Geese  and  smaller  than  Barnacle  Geese,  and 
were  pure  white,  except  that  at  least  one  had  black  on  the  wing. 
The  birds  were  under  observation  through  a  telescope  for  about  ten 
minutes.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  they  were  Snow  Geese 
[Anser  hyperhoreus  hyperboreus). 


William  Ruttledge. 


Hollymount,  Co.  Mayo. 


Incubation  Period  of  Birds. 

I  am  very  anxious  to  collect  information  as  to  the  incubation  period 
of  tliosc  British  Birds  which  nest  witli  us,  but  so  far,  though  1  have 
consulted  most  available  works,  I  have  not  seen  any  mention  of  this 
feature,  cxccyit  in  one,  which  casually  records  that  the  incubation  period 
of  wild  birds  {i.e.,  exclusive  of  the  domestic  fowl  and  duck)  varies  iwnw 
ten  days  to  as  many  weeks.  1  am  myself  studying  to  try  to  obtain 
the  exact  periods,  but  at  present  am  unable  to  devote  all  the  time  I 
should  like  to  observations,  and  therefore  I  would  be  very  pleased  if 
any  reader  wlio  lias  already  determined  this  question  would  (with  your 
permission)  inform  me  through  the  pages  f)f  this  Magazine,  of  tlie  results 
they  have  arrived  at.  I  think  that  information  of  this  kind  would  be 
of  special  value  to  those  who  ar(>  marking  birds  for  tlu>  "  P>ritish  Birds  " 
Scheme. 

llKrF.N   M.    K'ait   K'I'.kr, 

lui field.  Co.  Meath. 


Aug.-Sapt.,  1918,  The  Irish  Naturalist.  113 


REAPPEARANCE    OF    LATHYRUS    MARITIMUS 

IN    KERRY. 

BY    REGINALD   W.    SCULLY,    F.L.S. 

The  great  rarity  of  the  Sea  Pea  in  Ireland  and  its 
disappearance  from  its  only  known  station,  the  Castlemaine 
sand-hills  of  Kerry,  for  a  period  of  almost  three  quarters 
of  a  century  are  enough  to  warrant  more  than  a  bald  record 
of  its  reappearance  there  in  the  present  year. 

On  July  28  last  I  was  very  agreeably  surprised  to  receive 

frr»TTJ     m^7     fripnr!       ATr«i       Tpnnpr      an     arrninnli'^hpri      Kprrv 


The  Editors  and  Publishers  regret  the  unavoidable 
suspension  of  this  Magazine  due  to  a  dispute  in  the  Dublin 
Printing  Trade.  It  is  purposed  to  issue  another  double 
number  (for  October-November)  as  early  as  possible  to  be 
followed  by  the  December  number  with  Index,  completing 
the  Volume. 


cliffs  of  rocks,  and  among  pebbles  where  no  earth  is  seen 
to  give  them  nourishment,  for  the  roots  run  to  a  great 
depth,  to  find  the  earth.  In  tim^es  of  scarcity  of  provisions 
they  have  afforded  great  relief  to  the  people  of  England, 
who  lived  near  the  sea  coast,  and  who  having  never  observed 
it,  till  necessity  sent  them  to  its  stores,  they  then  thought 
it  was  sent  by  miracle  for  their  support." 

The  second  notice  occurs  in  a  "  Catalogue  of  Rare 
Plants  found  in  Ireland,"  published  in  1806  by  that 
distinguished  Irish  botanist,  James  Townsend  Macka}'. 
He  there  states  "  I  found  this  [Lathy rus  maritinius  on  the 
sandhills,  bay  of  Castlemain  in  August,  1804."  Mr.  William 
Andrews   appears   to   have   been   the   next   to   gather   the 


TT2 


The  Irish  Naturalist, 


July,    1918. 


Green  Sandpiper  in  Co.  Westmeath. 

In  the  Irish  Naturalist  of  January  last  {supra,  p.  14)  Mrs.  Rait  Ken- 
recorded  an  example  of  Totanus  ochropns  from  King's  County.  It  may 
be  interesting  to  note  that  nearly  a  month  later  a  specimen  was  secured 
near  Killucan  by  a  party  whilst  snipe  shooting.  This,  killed  on  December 
14,  19 1 7,  I  am  told  was  an  adult  male.  It  is  being  preserved  by  Williams. 
Dublin.  As  far  as  I  can  gather  no  other  occurrences  have  been  reported 
from  Co.  Westmeath  within  recent  years. 


Fred.  S.  Beveridge, 
Lt.  3rd  Bn.  Royal  Scots. 


The  Barracks,  IMullingar. 


I  am  very  aiixiuus  hj  uuiicl,i  nm/i  mciciwn  cx.t  ^.yy  vx.^^  ^..^v.^^...^ — ..  j^ 

of  those  British  Birds  which  nest  with  us,  but  so  far,  though  I  have 
consulted  most  available  works,  I  have  not  seen  any  mention  of  this 
feature,  except  in  one,  which  casually  records  that  the  incubation  period 
of  wild  birds  {i.e.,  exclusive  of  the  domestic  fowl  and  duck)  varies  from 
ten  days  to  as  many  weeks.  1  am  myself  studying  to  try  to  obtain 
the  exact  periods,  but  at  present  am  unable  to  devote  all  the  time  I 
should  like  to  observations,  and  therefore  I  would  be  very  pleased  if 
any  reader  who  has  already  determined  this  question  would  (with  your 
permission)  inform  me  through  the  pages  of  this  Magazine,  of  the  results 
they  have  arrived  at.  I  think  that  information  of  this  kind  would  be 
<jf  special  value  to  those  who  are  marking  birds  for  the  "  J^ritish  Birds  " 
Scheme. 

HF.ri'.N    .\i.     I\.MT    Kr.KR. 
Enfield,  Co.  Mcath. 


Aug.-Sspt.,  1918,  The  Irish  Naturalist.  113 


REAPPEARANCE    OF    LATHYRUS    MARITIMUS 

IN    KERRY. 

BY    REGINALD    W.    SCULLY,    F.L.S. 

The  great  rarity  of  the  Sea  Pea  in  Ireland  and  its 
disappearance  from  its  only  known  station,  the  Castlemaine 
sand-hills  of  Kerry,  for  a  period  of  almost  three  quarters 
of  a  centiirv  are  enough  to  warrant  more  than  a  bald  record 
of  its  reappearance  there  in  the  present  year. 

On  July  28  last  I  was  very  agreeably  surprised  to  receive 
from  my  friend,  Mrs.  Jenner,  an  accomplished  Kerry 
botanist,  fresh  specimens  of  this  long  lost  plant  which  had 
just  been  sent  her  by  the  lucky  finder,  Miss  Elsie  Milliard, 
who  had  discovered  it  growing  in  considerable  quantity  in 
its  old  station.  Two  days  later  I  w^as  informed  by  Mr. 
R.  LI.  Praeger  that  he  too  had  received  specimens,  in  his 
case  direct  from  the  finder,  and  it  is  at  his  request  that  I 
have  put  together  the  following  notes  on  Lathyrus  maritimus 
in  Ireland. 

The  first  Irish  record  appears  in  Dr.  Smith's  "  History  of 
Kerry,"  published  in  1756,  where,  on  p.  380,  he  writes  : — 
"  Pisum  maritimum  Ger. — English  sea  peas.  They  grow 
annually  on  the  S.  point  of  Inch  Island  in  the  Bay  of 
Castlemain  in  considerable  quantities  ;  they  are  also  found 
on  the  English  sea  coasts  in  like  manner,  in  barren  naked 
cliffs  of  rocks,  and  among  pebbles  where  no  earth  is  seen 
to  give  them  nourishment,  for  the  roots  run  to  a  great 
depth,  to  find  the  earth.  In  tim^es  of  scarcity  of  provisions 
they  have  aftorded  great  relief  to  the  people  of  England, 
who  lived  near  the  sea  coast,  and  who  having  never  observed 
it,  till  necessity  sent  them  to  its  stores,  they  then  thought 
it  was  sent  by  miracle  for  their  support." 

The  second  notice  occurs  in  a  "  Catalogue  of  Rare 
Plants  found  in  Ireland,"  published  in  1806  by  that 
■  distinguished  Irish  botanist,  James  Townsend  Mackay. 
He  there  states  "  I  found  this  [Lathyrus  maritifrius  on  the 
sandhills,  bay  of  Castlemain  in  August,  1804."  Mr.  William 
Andrews   appears   to  have   been   the   next   to   gather  the 

A. 


11^  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept., 

plant,  as  there  is  a  specimen  bearing  his  name  in  the 
HerV)arium  of  Mr.  xVrthur  Bennett,  labelled  "  Rosbegh, 
Kerry,  July,  1841  "  ;  whilst  the  latest  known  specimen — 
previous  to  Miss  Milliard's  discovery-  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Herbarium  of  the  late  R.  M.  Harrington,  and  appears  to 
have  been  gathered  by  a  coast-guard  named  John  Reilly, 
for  some  years  stationed  at  Cromane,  about  four  miles 
distant  from  Rossbehy,  it  is  labelled  "  Sandhills,  Killorglin 
Bay,  July,  1S45."  From  this  date  until  the  present  year 
no  one  appears  to  have  found  this  plant  in  Ireland. 

Is  this  simply  a  case  of  the  Sea  Pea  having  been 
overlooked  for  a  period  of  more  than  seventy  3'ears  ?  I 
think  not.  Three  of  the  records  given  above  are  rather 
vague  and  might  refer  either  to  the  ve^'y  extensive  three- 
mile  stretch  of  sand-hills  on  the  Inch  or  north  side  of  the 
bay,  or  to  the  much  smaller  two-mile  range  on  the  south 
side.  But  both  these  areas  have  been  searched  several 
times  without  success.  The  Rossbehy  or  south  line  of 
sand-hills  moreover  is  very  accessible  and  not  being  broad 
admits  of  easy  examination.  On  two  occasions  at  least 
the  present  writer  has  walked  these  dunes,  and  to  his 
knowledge  several  other  botanists  have  paid  somewhat 
lengthened  visits  to  this  much  frequented  seaside  resort. 
The  only  drawback  indeed  to  the  peaceful  exploration  of 
these  wind-swept  tracts  lay  in  the  dani2:er  of  the  botanist 
being  mistaken  for  a  moving  target  by  the  artillery  which, 
for  many  years,  made  use  of  these  sand-hills  as  a  practice 

range. 

Several  instances  are  known  in  its  f^nglish  haunts  of  the 
Sea  Pea  disappearing  for  lengthened  periods  after  a  storm 
to  reappear  when  some  favourable  shift  in  the  surface  took 
place,  and  to  some  such  storm  or  storms  this  gap  of  73 
years  in  the  Irish  history  of  this  plant-most  probably 
including  one  or  more  unrecorded  reappearances— is  almost 
certainly  due. 

These  Castlemxaine  sand-hills  lie  exposed  at  the  head  of 
the  broad  Dingle  Bay  to  the  full  force  of  the  Atlantic  gales. 
A  vivid  descri|)tion  of  the  violence  to  which  these  storms 
attain  is  given  bv  Dr.  Smith  in  his  "  History  of  Kerry." 
"  A  few  winters  ago  [he  wrote  in  1756]  there  happened  a 


i9i8.  Scully- — Lathyrus  maritimiis  in  Kerry.  115 

great  storm  in  this  place  [Inch  sand-hills,  Dingle  Bay] 
whereby  the  sand  was  blown  about  so  furiously,  that  a 
large  herd  of  cows  were  driven  off  the  peninsula,  the  poor 
animals  chusing  rather  to  betake  themselves  to  the  enraged 
ocean,  where  many  of  them  were  drowned,  than  to  be 
overwhelmed  on  shore.  Several  of  them  swam  across  the 
bay,  near  two  miles,  through  the  highest  waves  imaginable, 
and  saved  their  lives." 

Comparison  of  the  last  two  Ordnance  maps  issued  for 
this  district,  one  based  on  a  surve}^  made  1841-42,  the 
other  made  in  1899,  shows  that  these  sand-hills  have 
experienced  very  extensive  changes  even  during  this  period 
of  less  than  60  years.  Those  on  the  Rossbehy  side  appear 
to  have  undergone  an  eastward  movement  varying  from 
100  yards  to  quite  200,  while  those  on  the  north  side  of 
the  bay  have  shifted  about  100  yards  to  the  west.  Such 
changes  as  these  would  fully  account  for  the  temporary 
or  even  the  permanent  disappearance  of  this  plant. 

The  Sea  Pea  is  not  a  common  species  anywhere  in  the 
British  Isles.  It  occurs,  at  long  intervals,  from  the  Orkneys, 
round  the  east  coast,  to  Sussex  and  Dorset  on  the  south. 
Elsewhere,  it  has  a  very  wide  range,  chiefly  northern,  in 
Europe,  Asia,  and  North  x\merica.  In  its  Rossbehy  station, 
which  I  purposely  leave  vague,  Miss  Hilliard  reports  that 
there  are  one  or  two  good  sized  patches  of  the  plant,  and 
it  is  much  to  be  wished  that  any  future  gatherer  Vv-ill  be 
as  sparing  of  the  Sea  Pea  as  its  rarity  and  interest  to  Irish 
botanists  fully  warrant. 

This  most  welcomie  proof  of  the  persistence  of  Lathyrus 
maritimiis  in  its  only  Irish  station  finds  an  interesting 
parallel  in  the  history  of  Rubus  Chamaemorus  reported 
from  the  Tyrone  mountains  in  1826  and  not  seen  again 
until  refound  there  in  1892  b}'^  Messrs.  Hart  and  Barrington,. 
as  recorded  in  this  Journal  (vide  vol.  i.,  p.  124). 

Dublin. 


A  2 


ii6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug. -Sept 


SOME    COUNTY    DOWN    PLANTS. 

BY   R.    LLOYD   PRAEGER. 

In  1902,  a  week  spent  in  the  Ardgiass  district^  resulted 
in  the  extension  to  this  portion  of  the  coast  of  County 
Down  of  three  local  trefoils — Trifoliiim  striatum,  T.  filijorme, 
and  Trii^onella  ornithopodioides  :  the  first  and  third  each 
resting  its  claim  for  admission  to  the  flora  of  the  north- 
east on  a  single  old  unverified  record,  the  second  previously 
unknown  in  that  area.  T.  striatum  then  proved  to  be  still 
abundant  in  the  old  station  referred  to — Whitehead,  in  Co. 
Antrim. — and  to  be  of  fre([uent  occurrence  in  the  Ardgiass 
district.  The  Fenugreek  (Trigonella)  could  not  be  refound 
in  its  old  station  (Kinnegar,  Holy  wood)  :  S.  A.  Stewart 
and  others  had  previously  failed  to  find  it  there,  and  it  was 
set  down  as  casual  in  "  Flora  of  the  North-east  of  Ireland  "  ; 
but  its  occurrence  in  three  places  in  the  Ardgiass  district 
went  to  suggest  that  it  had  previously  occupied  the  Kin- 
negar as  a  native.  The  third  plant,  T.  fdiforme,  new  to  the 
north-east,  was  seen  in  only  one  station  in  the  Ardgiass 
district — a  rocky  knoll  in  Ardgiass  where  the  sceptical 
might  doubt  its  being  native,  for  it  is  certainly  introduced 
in  some  of  its  Irish  stations,  being  indeed  an  accepted 
constituent  of  seed-mixtures  for  lawns.  In  the  following 
season  (1893),  in  the  adjoining  area  of  the  Ards,  I  hoped 
to  extend  the  range  of  these  plants,  but  no  trace  of  any 
of  them  was  seen.  The  season  was,  however,  unfavourable, 
and  my  visit  too  late  (end  of  Juh^  ;  but  I  wrote  at  the 
time  tliat  there  was  plenty  of  suitable  ground  there  for 
them,  and  that  I  thought  it  probable  that  some  of  th^m — 
T.  striatum  at  least — would  yet  turn  up  in  the  Ards. 2 


1  Praeger  :     Some  Plants  ot   the  North-east   Coast.     Irish.   Nat.,   xi., 
200.      1902. 

^Praeger:    Botanizing  in  the  Ards.     I4'ish  Nat.,  xii.,  259,   1903. 


i9i8.  pRAEGER. — Sofuc  County  Down  Plants.  iiy 

Last  July,  in  the  course  of  a  week  spent  at  Portaferry, 
I  made  an  attempt  to  determine  the  range  along  the  coast 
of  these  rare  trefoils.  The  season  was  again  unfavourable. 
A  severe  drought  had  the  country  in  its  grip,  and  the  rocky 
knolls  which  experience  had  shown  to  be  the  chosen  habitat 
of  these  plants  was  occupied  by  brown  dead  vegetation, 
dry  as  tinder.  T.  striatum,  on  account  of  its  comparatively 
large  heads,  was  fairly  eas}^  to  see,  and  it  was  found  in 
five  stations,  growing  either  on  glaciated  knolls  of  Silurian 
rock  or  on  raised  beach  gravels  well  turfed  over.  Its  range 
is  now  extended  as  far  as  Kearne\^  in  the  Ards,  and  probably 
other  stations  further  north  will  be  found  linking  up  its 
Antrim  station  at  Whitehead — Ballymacormick  Point,  for 
instance,  would  appea.r  a  very  likel}^  spot  for  it.  The 
problem  of  finding  the  other  two  Trefoils  was  more  diflficult, 
on  account  of  the  state  of  the  ground  and  their  inconspicuous 
appearance,  but  by  dint  of  hands-and-knees  work  the 
position  of  T.  flli forme  as  an  LUster  native  was  confirmed 
by  the  finding  of  three  quite  satisfactory  stations  on  rocky 
ground  amid  a  purely  native  flora.  Trigonella  alone  defied 
all  efforts  to  find  it,  but  it  seems  likely  enough  that  under 
more  favourable  circumstances  it  will  be  found. 

For  the  rest,  my  observations  on  the  plants  of  the  area 
went  to  verify  the  facts  set  down  in  the  two  papers  quoted 
above,  \\ithout  adding  ver}-  much  to  them.  Most  of  the 
rarer  plants  were  seen  in  the  stations  there  quoted,  and 
some  in  fresh  stations  as  given  below.  Crambe  maritima 
is  at  present  less  abundant  than  formerly  in  South  Bay, 
four  large  and  six  small  plants  forming  this  colony  at 
present.  Glyceria  festucaeformis  is  as  abundant  as  ever  on 
the  islets  in  Strangford  Lough,  and  v.rs  seen  also  in  the 
original  station  in  Marlfield  Bay^  and  in  ^Tr.  \\'addell's 
station  half  a  mile  north  of  Portaferry. 2  With  regard  to 
the  comparison  made  in  m}^  Ards  paper  on  the  floras  of 
Ards  and  of  Lecale,  Orchis  pyramidalis  was  added  to  the 
flora  of  the  former,  and  G-'ranitcm  columhinum  to  that  of 
the  latter. 


"^  Irish  Nat.,  xii.,   255.  ^  Irish  Nat.,  xiv.,   19 

*  0 


A  ^ 


Ii8  The.  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept., 

Papaver  Argemone  L. — Knockinelder  and  near  Portaferry. 

P.  Rhoeas  L. — About  Portaferry. 

P.    somniferum  L. — Apparently  naturalized  on  stony  beach  at  Tara. 

Senebiera  didyma  Pers. — Strangford  Quay. 

Raphanus    maritimus    Smith. — Abundant   south   of   Kilclief   Castle ;     at 

Cloghy,  north  of  Kearney,  and  north  of  Newcastle  (Ards). 
Erodiura  moschatum  L'Herit. — A  good  colony  at  the  base  of  Audley's 

Castle,  Strangford. 
Trifolium  striatum  L. — In  Lecale  N.E.  of  the  corn  mill  in  Mill   Quarter 

Bay,  and  a  quarter  mile  N.E.  of  Kilclief  Castle.       In  the  Ards  a 

little  N.  and  S.  of  Long  Port,  a  quarter  mile  S.E.  of  Quintin  Castle 

and  a  quarter  mile  S.  of  Kearney. 
T.  filiforme  L. — On  glaciated  hummocks  S.  of  Ballyedock  Lodge  (opposite 

Kilclief)  and  a  quarter  mile  N.  of  Long  Port  ;    on  turfed  raised 

beach   gravels  at   Ballyquintin   Point.      I  think  certainly  native 

in  these  stations. 
Geranium  columbinum  L.— Roadside  bank  a  mile  S.  of  Strangford. 
Anthriscus  vulgaris  Pers. — Cloghy  and  Kearney. 
Crithmum  maritimum  L. — In  addition  to  its  station  north  of  Kearney, 

a  small  colony  was  found  a  quarter  mile  south  of  Kearney,  on 

gravel. 
Petroselinum     sativum     Hoffm. — Seems  naturalized   on  stony  beach  at 

Tara. 
Hyoscyamus  niger  L. — Still  in  Corry's  station  on  north  shore  of   Killard 

Point. 
Cuscuta  ^p. — A  Dodder,  too  immature  to  name,  was  found  on  seaside 

herbage  in  three  places — on  the  top  of  the  calcrtte  cliff  of  Benderg 

Bay,   near   Ballyedock  Lodge    (opposite   Kilclief)    and  at  Cloghy. 

Mr.  Waddell  has  recorded    (/.  A^,  xxi.,   134)  C.  Epithymum  from 

Killard,  near  the  first-named  station,  and  tells  me  he  has  collected 

the  same  plant  at  Cloghy,   so  probably  my  plants  are  all  this. 

It  appears  to  be  naturalized  in  this  district  ;    all  the  stations  are 

away  from  cultivated  land. 
Atriplex  farinosa  Dum. — Kilclief. 
A.  portulacoides  L. — North  and  south  of  Portaferry,  and  a  half  mile  north 

of  Ballyquintin  Point. 
Habenaria  viridis   R.   Br. — Abundant  at   Killard,   and  varying  much  in 

colour — green,  yellow,  brown,  and  almost  red. 
Orchis   pyramidalis   L. — Sparingly  a  little   north  and   south  of   Quintin 

Castle,  and  a  half  mile  north  of  Kearney. 
Juncus  glaucus  Ehrh. — White  Hills  near  Strangford. 
Typha  angustifolia  L. — Ballyfinragh  Lough, 
Shara  polyacantha  Braun. — In  the  extensive  marsh  at  White  Hills  near 

Strangford. 

National  Library,  Dublin. 


igiS.      HuGGiNS — Limnaeac  of  West  Cork  Alpine  Lakes.      119 

THE  LIMNAEAE  OF  THE  ALPINE  LAKES  IN  THE 
GLENGARRIFF  DISTRICT,  WEST  CORK. 

BY   H.    C.    HUGGINS. 

During  the  past  few  years  I  have  on  several  occasions 
visited  Glengarriff,  West  Cork  ;  usually  in  the  month  of 
May  ;  and  my  time  has  more  especially  been  devoted  to 
the  study  of  the  Limnaea  pereger  group  of  snails  found  in 
the  neighbouring  mountain  tarns.  Several  of  these  have 
already  been  visited  by  Fleet-Surgeon  K.  H.  Jones,  Dr. 
R.  F.  Scharff,  and  Messrs.  A.  W.  Stelfox,  J.  N.  Milne,  and 
R.  A.  Phillips,  to  all  of  whom  I  am  indebted  for  information 
concerning  the  district.  In  the  present  year,  however, 
owing  to  the  exceptionally  fine  weather,  I  was  enabled  to 
work  some  of  the  lakes  in  the  Caha  mountains,  which,  to 
the  best  of  my  knowledge,  have  never  previously  been 
visited  by  collectors. 

These  lakes,  which  are  situated  on  a  mountain  plateau 
overlooking  both  Barley  L?Jce  and  the  Coomarkane  Valley, 
vary  in  altitude  between  1,400  and  1,550  feet  above  the 
sea  level.  They  are  all  deep,  with  stony  bottoms,  and 
contain  scarcely  an}^  vegetation  except  a  few  stray  reeds 
round  their  edges.  In  one  only  did  I  see  some  plants  of 
Potamogeton,  though  the  bottoms  were  in  most  cases 
partly  covered  with  dead  sheep-grass  that  had  been  blown 
or  washed  in  during  the  winter.  The  water  in  all  of  them 
is  decidedly  peaty,  and  judging  from  the  taste  contains 
traces  of  iron  in  several  cases,  though  not  to  the  same 
extent  as  the  water  at  Glengarriff  itself,  which  has  a  rusty 
flavour  which  renders  it  most  unpleasant  to  strangers. 

As  might  be  expected  the  shells  of  the  L.  pereger  group 
found  in  them  were,  owing  to  the  great  altitude,  the  presence 
of  the  peat,  and  the  depth  and  coldness  of  the  water,  of 
very  extreme  forms  ;  two  lakes  contained  specimens  refer- 
able to  L.  praetenuis,  but  mostly  with  very  low  or  intorted 
spires,  and  two  more  were  inhabited  b}^  L.  involuta. 

The  shells  of  the  neighbourhood  fall  roughly  into  three 
groups,  a  dark  sluggish  usually  intorted  one,  small  in  size 
and  moderatety  thick  in  shell,  which  includes  the  shells 


120  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept., 

previously  called  "  L.  involuta  "  ;  a  much  more  active 
larger-shelled  one,  which  has  a  higher  spire  and  appears 
glistening  whitish  in  the  water,  and  from  its  extreme  tenuity 
of  shell  may,  for  purposes  of  reference,  be  called  "  L. 
praetemns,"  and  a  usually  strongly  spired,  rougher,  still 
thicker-shelled  group  which  appears  brown  or  dark  yellow 
in  the  water,  to  which  I  shall  refer  as  "  L.  pereger."  The 
characters  in  these  groups  are  not  constant,  "  L.  involuta  " 
sometimes  has  a  spire,  and  "  L.  praetenuis  "  in  one  locality 
is  almost  invariably  intorted,  though  differing  in  no  other 
respect  from  the  shell  described  as  that  species  from  Lough 
Nagarriva. 

I  carefully  examined  each  lake  but  on  no  occasion  did 
I  find  L.  praetenuis  or  L.  involuta  co-existing  with  L.  pereger 
or  each  other,  and  as  none  of  these  three  molluscs  co-exist 
in  any  other  locality  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  L.  involuta 
and  L.  praetenuis  are  simply  extreme  forms  of  a  lacustrine 
race  of  L.  pereger,  though  this  may  possibly  prove  to  be  a 
distinct  species  from  the  L.  pereger  found  in  streams  and 
ditches.  My  idea  is,  I  think,  borne  out  by  the  fact  that, 
though  all  the  lakes  appear  of  an  exactly  similar  character, 
there  are  nevertheless  some  factors  connected  with  each  of 
them  causing  variation,  as  I  am  assured  by  the  local 
fishermen  that  each  contains  a  distinct  race  of  trout  ; 
and  the  fish  I  had  an  opportunity  of  examining  from 
five  lakes  bore  out  the  statement.  The  fish  from  Lough 
Nambrack,  pale  green,  oval,  with  a  very  few  small  black 
and  pink  spots,  made  a  striking  contrast  with  the  thick 
copper-red  ones  from  Red  Trout  Lough,  only  half  a  mile 
away  ;  the  latter  being  covered  with  large  black  and 
flaming  crimson  spots.  If  any  collector  who  is  also  a  fly- 
fisherman  should  visit  the  neighbourhood  it  might  prove 
of  interest  to  catch  and  compare  the  fish  from  each  lake, 
possibl}'  similar  races  of  trout  would  be  found  to  inhabit 
the  L.  praetenuis  tarns,  and  corresponding  races  the  localities 
for  L.  pereger  and  L.  involuta. 

Very  few  of  the  Caha  lakes  are  named  on  the  one-inch 
ordnance  map,  but  I  kept  a  note-book  as  I  collected  in 
which  I  marked  the  lakes  A,  B,  C,  etc.,  as  in  the 
accompanying  map.      Although  the  lakes  themselves  are 


igiS.       HuGGiNS. — Limnaeae  of  West  Cork  Alpine  Lakes.     I21 


really  situated  on  the  watershed  of  the  district,  the  majority 
of  those  I  visited  being  within  the  1,500  feet  contour, 
nevertheless  there  is  a  ridge  across  the  plateau  dividing 
them  into  two  systems.      On  the  south-western  side  of  the 


EZKENO  HOOU  KEAqH/'Wi, 
850, 


3Ke:tch  maf 

OF    THC 

CAHA    LAKCS, 


ridge  Loughs  "  K,"  "  L,"  and  the  main  stream  from  Red 
Trout  Lough  (w^hich  lies  in  a  hollow  of  the  ridge  itself) 
drain  into  the  big  lake  system  towards  Castletown  on  the 
further  side  of  Mount  Glenlough.  Lough  "  D,"  again  in 
the  ridge  itself,  drains  into  Lough  Nambrack,  the  stream 
from  the  latter,  joining  the  rivulet  from  Lough  "  E," 
plunges  over  the  cliff  into  Derreenadavodia  and  thence 
drains  into  the  Coomarkane  valley. 

On  the  north-eastern  side  of  the  ridge  the  smaller  stream 
from  the  north  end  of  Red  Trout  Lough  drains  into  Lough 
"  J,"  which  again  drains  into  Lough  "  1,"  the  stream  from 
which  joins  that  from  Loughanillaun  (which  in  its  turn 
drains  Lough  "  G  "  and  receives  one  of  the  two  effluents 


122  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept., 

of  Lough  "  H  ")  and  flows  in  a  north-easterly  direction 
into  the  Kerry  River.  The  other  stream  from  Lough 
"  H  ''  and  also  that  from  Lough  "  F  "  flow  into  Lough 
"  C,"  and  the  stream  from  the  latter  after  receiving  the 
rivulets  from  the  two  isolated  Loughs  "  B  "  and  "  A  " 
flows  into  Barley  Lake,  the  river  from  which,  the  Owena- 
cahina,  effects  a  junction  with  the  Kerry  River  in  the 
valley  to  form  the  main  Glengarriff  River. 

It  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  my  list  given  below  that 
the   three   "  species "   L.    involuta,   L.   praetenuis,   and  L. 
pereger,  are  found  on  each  side  of  the  main  ridge,  and  also 
that  almost  every  lake  of  the  Caha  series  is  connected  with 
at  least  one  other.      Having  regard  to  the  shortness  of  the 
distance  traversed  by  these  streams,  and  their  size,  it  is 
quite  certain  that  in  rainy  weather  a  fair  number  of  molluscs 
must  be  washed  from  one  lake  into  another,  yet  in  none 
of  them  can  two  kinds  be  found  together.     This  phenomenon 
is  all  the  more  striking  as  egg-capsules,  which  appear  to 
be  chiefl}'  deposited  on  the  loose  fragments  of  dead  sheep- 
grass  mentioned  above,  must  be  washed  from  one  pool  to 
another  with  the  slightest  freshet,  as  the  pieces  of  grass 
were  running  freely  out  of  several  of  the  pools  on  the  day 
of  my  first  visit,  when  we  had  had  rain  two  days  previously. 
It   is  idle  to  suppose  that  conditions  can  be  so    widely 
different  in  the  lakes  that  it  is  physically  impossible  for  one 
species  to  exist  in  a  locality  which  supports  abundantly 
members  of  another,  yet  to  some  such  theory  must  anyone 
be  driven  who  has  examined  the  plateau  unless  he  take 
the  simple  solution  that  L.  involuta  and  L.  praetenuis  are 
"  syntonic  "  forms  of  L.  pereger,  in  which  case  the  difficulty 
disappears  at   once.      In  a  syntonic  form,   as  defined  by 
Messrs.    Kennard  and  Woodward ,i  varietal  characters  are 
not  inherited  but  remain  constant  so  long  as  environment 
is  unchanged,  a  resumption  of  normal  conditions  causing 
reversion  to  type.      Thus  L.  praetenuis,  if  a  syntonic  form 
of  L.  pereger,  would,  on  coming  into  a  lough  containing 
L.  pereger,  produce  nothing  but  L.  pereger. 


1  "  The  Post-Pliocene  Non-Marine  Mollusca  of  Ireland."     Proceedings 
of  the  Geologists'  Association,  vol.  xxviii.,  p.  112,  part  3,  1917. 


igiS.       HuGGiNS. — Limfiaeae  of  West  Cork  Alpine  Lakes.     123 

One  would  expect,  however,  in  the  lower  lakes  where 
there  was  a  constant  influx  of  new  blood  that  the  local 
races  would  be  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  flux,  and  this  is 
borne  out  b}/  the  facts,  for  on  carefully  going  over  my  notes 
I  find  L.  praetenuis  is  found  in  a  lake  very  difficult  of  access 
from  below%  either  an  isolated  lake,  as  Caha  "A,"  which 
only  communicates  with  Barley  Lake  some  hundreds  of 
feet  below,  or  the  top  lake  of  a  series  like    Caha  "  D." 
Similarly  in  Caha  "  B  "  I  found  a  most  remarkable  glossy 
thin-shelled  race  of  L.  pereger,  not  an  example  exhibiting 
the  slightest  trace  of  variation,  and  as  might  be  expected 
Caha   "  B  "   is   again   an   isolated   mountain   basin,    com- 
municating only  with  Barley  Lake.      It  is  also  interesting 
to  note  that   Lough  Nambrack  receives  only  the  stream 
from  the  L.  praetenuis  Lough   "  D  "   above,   and   the  L. 
involuta  found  in  this  lake,  though  hving  at   no  greater 
height  than  those  in  Caha  "  C  "  scarcely  half  a  mile  away, 
are  of  a  constant  very  highly  specialised  form,  being  as 
extremely    intorted    as    those    of    Lough    Crincaum    and 
beautifully  polished  and  striated.      Those  found  in  Caha 
"  C,"  which  receives  the  efliuents  from  Loughs  "  F  "  and 
"  H,"  lakes  on  the  same  level  in  which  L.  pereger  abounds, 
are,    on   the   other   hand,   rougher,    much     more   coarsely 
striated,    and    display    considerable    variation,    frequently 
having  a  rudimentary  spire  as  in  Barley  Lake. 

As  the  weather  was  hot  I  spent  some  time  this  year  in 
watching  the  behaviour  of  the  animals  in  their  native 
places,  and  the  three  groups,  "  L.  involuta,"  "  L.  praetenuis," 
and  "  L.  pereger  "  each  have  somewhat  different  habits. 
L.  involuta  looks  jet  black  in  the  water  and  sticks  tight 
to  stones  like  an  Ancylus,usually  with  its  tentacles  projecting. 
It  crawls  very  little  and  very  slowly,  clinging  so  firmly 
that  the  stone  can  be  lifted  from  the  water  with  the  animal 
still  adhering,  and  often  it  is  hard  to  scrape  it  off  without 
damaging  the  shell.  L.  pereger  is  more  active  and  looks 
yellowish-brown,  when  a  dark  individual  is  seen  in  the 
water  it  has  a  bronze-golden  lustre,  absent  in  L.  involuta 
(no  doubt  from  the  greater  thickness  of  shell)  ;  while  L, 
praetenuis,  which  has  a  glistening  whitish  appearance  in 
the  water  recalling  the   sheen   of  a  water-spider,    is    an 


124  ^^"''  ^^i^^i'  Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept., 

exceedingly  nervous  excitable  mollusc,  crawling  actively 
about  and  frequently  loosening  its  hold  and  floating  to  the 
surface,  where  it  coasts  about  with  its  foot  uppermost. 
1  have  often  noticed  this  habit  in  L.  peveger,  but  not  to 
the  same  extent  as  in  L.  praetemiis.  The  latter  mollusc 
is  so  sensitive  that  if  a  shadow  come  across  the  sun  many 
individuals  immediately  retire  beneath  the  stones,  and  if 
the  sunHght  fall  on  a  spot  hitherto  shaded  by  the  high 
rocks  which  surround  a  tarn  specimens  come  crawling  out 
in  all  directions  where  few  were  visible  five  minutes  before. 
The  difference  in  the  habits  of  L.  praetenuis  and  L.  involuta 
has  already  been  noticed  by  Fleet-Surgeon  K.  H.  JonesJ 
but  in  his  case  the  more  active  mollusc  was  seen  climbing 
on  weed  in  Lough  Nagarriva,  whereas  there  are  few  or  no 
weeds  in  the  Caha  Lakes.  I  noticed  one  other  point  that 
may  prove  of  interest  ;  on  reaching  home  I  found  that  L. 
pereger  had  usually  withdrawn  far  into  its  shell,  L.  praetenuis 
just  to  the  lip,  and  L.  involuta  had  rarely  wholly  retired. 
I  do  not,  however,  regard  this  difference  in  the  habits  of 
the  three  as  being  of  more  than  racial  importance,  any 
more  than  I  regard  the  different  habits  of  the  trout  in  the 
various  lakes  as  any  claim  to  specific  rank  ;  in  one  lake 
the  trout  will  rise  furiously  to  fly  while  in  the  next  it  will 
be  useless  to  fish  for  them  except  with  worm  on  a  dull  day. 
The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the  lakes  I  have 
visited  round  Glengarriff  and  of  the  Limnaeae  inhabiting 
them  ;  the  heights  are  approximate,  to  the  nearest  50  feet, 
for  as  can  be  seen  from  my  description  of  the  flow  of  the 
streams  there  are  slight  differences  in  the  height  of  almost 
all  of  them.  ^ 

Barley  Lake,  Caha  range,  779  feet,  contains  L.  involuta, 
,     where  it  was  discovered  by  Mr.   R.  A.  PhiUips  some 

years  back  ;   it  is  not  of  such  an  extreme  form  as  those 

from  Lough  Crincaum,   Killarney.      A  few  specimens 

have  rudimentary  spires. 
Lough  "  A,"  Caha  Lakes,   1,400  feet. — L.  praetenuis,  all 

extremely   short-spired,    quite   fifty   per   cent,    of   the 

specimens  being  more  or  less  intorted. 

^Journal  of  Conchology J  vol.  13,  p.  288. 


igiS.       HuGGiNS. — Limnaeae  of  West  Cork  Alpine  Lakes.     125 

Lough  "  B,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,450  feet,  is  inhabited  by  a 
very  beautiful  race  of  L.  pereger,  extremely  thin, 
glossy,  and  closely  striated,  with  short,  perfectly  formed 
acute  spires.      A  very  clean  and  attractive  shell. 

Lough  "  C,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet,  contains  L.  invokita, 
almost  exactly  similar  to  the  race  in  Barley  Lake,  but 
slightly  more  square-shouldered  and  deeply  intorted. 

Lough  "  D,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,550  feet  : — L.  praetenuis, 
almost  all  intorted,  with  narrower  mouth  and  less 
suture  than  the  Lough  Nagarriva  form. 

Lough  Verdanillaun,  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — Nil. 

Lough  "  E,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  :— Nil. 

Lough  "  F,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — L.pereger,  a  rough, 
thicker,  more  coarsely  striated  form,  many  specimens 
were  decollated  and  a  few^  slightly  intorted. 

Lough  Nambrack,  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — L.  involufa, 
an  extremely  bright  glossy  form,  many  specimens  were 
as  deeply  intorted  as  any  I  have  seen  from  Lough 
Crincaum. 

Lough  "  G,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — Nil. 

Lough  "  H,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — L.  pereger,  a  round 
short  spired,  somewhat  glossy  form  ;  nearly  all  the 
specimens  were  decollated  and  several  appeared  to  be 
naturally  intorted. 

Lough  "  I,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — L.  pereger,  rough, 
not  glossy,  and  coarsely  striated,  with  a  moderately 
raised  spire,  almost  all  showing  signs  of  decollation. 

Lough  "  J,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — L.  pereger,  rough, 
not  glossy  and  coarsely  striated,  with  a  moderately 
raised  spire,  almost  all  showing  signs  of  decollation. 

Lough  "  K,"  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  f^'  P^reger-jmilar  to 

r  ^   ^.   '<  T  "  r  u    T    ^  ^      -cx^  thosc     found    m 

Lough     L,    Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  )  ^       , 

I         Lough  "J," 

inhabited  both  these  tarns  but  owing  to  lack  of  time 
I  did  not  take  specimens. 

LouGHANiLLAUN,  Caha  Lakes,  1,500  feet  : — Nil. 

Red  Trout  Lough,  Caha  Lakes,  1,550  feet.  Curiously 
enough  the  L.  pereger  in  this,  almost  the  highest  lake 
of  the  series,  were  exceedingly  high-spired  in  some 
instances.   .  Almost  all  the  specimens  were  damaged 


126  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept., 

by  decollation,  but  one  or  two  of  the  perfect  ones  I 
took  were  the  highest  spired  I  have  taken  in  any  Irish 
pool,  except  some  extraordinary  ones  from  a  pool  on 
Inishmore  in  the  Aran  Islands,  which  Mr.  R.  A. 
Phillips  jokingly  remarked  looked  like  a  cross  between 
L.  pereger  and  L.  trimcatula.  The  shells  were  rough 
and  coarse  with  no  glossiness  at  all. 
Lough    Derreenadavodia,    800    feet,    nil ;     I    was   very 

disappointed  in  this  fine  sheet  of  water. 
Lough  Eekenohoolikeaghaum,  850  feet  ;    this  lake  and 
Lough  Derreenadavodia  are  situated  in  a  high  saddle 
at  the  end  of  the  Coomarkane  Valley,  where  the  Caha 
mountains  jut  out  to  Slieve-na-Goil  (sugar  loaf).     It 
contains  a  race  of  Limnaea  pereger  exactly  similar  to 
that  found  in  Lough  More,  small,  closely  striated  and 
glossy,  with  a  deep  suture  and  short  spire,  often  slightly 
decollated.      In    a    few    instances    perfect    full-grown 
specimens    had    no    projecting    external    spire,    the 
specimens  were  not  intorted  but  the  top  of  the  spire 
was  flush  with  the  next  and  subsequent  whorls,  giving 
a  rounded  top  to  the  shell. 
Lough  Avaul,  400  feet,  on  the  Castletown  Road,  wdiere 
the  hills  drop  from  Slieve-na-Goil  to  the  sea.      This 
interesting  lake,  partially  drained  last  autumn,  formerly 
contained    (1914)   two  races   of  L.  pereger  ;    a  round 
short-spired  rough  form  inhabiting  the  lake  itself,  while 
a    narrow,    very    smooth    and   glossy,    bright    reddish 
coloured  one  was  abundant  clinging  to  the  rocks  of 
the  waterfall  at  its  outlet.      The  lake  specimens  were 
.     perfect,  the  outlet  ones  almost  all  decollated. 
Lough  Nagarriva,   1,200  feet.      In  vSouth  Kerry.      The 
historic   locality  where  L.   praetcmiis  was   discovered 
by  Messrs.   Stelfox  and  Milne  in   1907  ;    the  hills  in 
which  it  is  situated  are  a  continuation  of  the  same 
range  as  the  Cahas  ;   the  specimens  have  higher  spires 
than  the  Caha  ones,  but  appear  identical  in  habits, 
appearance  in  the  water,  and  the  diaphanous  texture 
of  the  shell,  which  when  fresh  and  wet  can  be  pressed 
almost  fiat  and  inflated  again  like  that  of  Hygromia 
jusca.  • 


igiS.       HUGGINS. — Limnaeae  of  West  Cork  Alpine  Lakes,     127 

Lough  Namaddra,  1,200  feet ;   also  contains  L.  praetemtis. 

I  noted  the  fact  as  lakes  just  as  close  together  in  the 

Caha  range  contain  different  races. 

Lough  More,  400  feet,  on  the  Bantry  Road,  contains  a 

race   of  L.  pereger  exactly  similar  to   that   found  in 

Lough  Eekenohoolikeaghaum,   except  that  specimens 

are  rarely  decollated,  and  I  noticed  none  of  the  curious 

round-spired  specimens  mentioned  above. 

For  a  thorough  comprehension  of    these  alpine  shells  it 

must  be  borne  in  mind  that  such  shells  as  "  L.  praetenuis  " 

and  "  L.  involuta  "  are  by  no  means  constant,  even  in  their 

original  type-locality.      I    do   not   attach   an   exaggerated 

importance  to  unsupported  testaceological  characters,  but 

it  must  be  noted  that  by  judicious  selection  a  series  can 

be  made  grading  from  the  lake  form  of  ''  L.  pereger  "  found 

in  Caha  Lough   "  F  "   to  the  slightly  intorted  specimens 

found  there,   and  thence   through   the   "  L.   involuta  "   of 

Barley  Lake  down  to  the  most  extreme  forms  found  in 

Lough  Crincaum,  without  the  slightest  break  in  the  chain. 

"  L.  praetenuis  "  exhibits  the  same  variations  ;  Dr.  R.  F. 

Scharff  tells  me  the  Donegal  specimens  differ  somewhat 

from  the  Kerry  ones,  and  ]\Ir.  A.  S.  Kennard  has  shown 

me  some  from  Donegal  localities,  of  which  some  specimens 

are  quite  as  thick  as  some  of  the  Glengarriff  "  L.  pereger," 

and  others  as  extremely  intorted  as  any  "  L.  involuta  "  I 

have    seen.      Finally    Dr.    Scharff   tells    me    that    he   was 

informed   some   years  back  that    "  L.   involuta,"   bred   in 

captivity,  produced  "  L.  pereger  "  in  the  second  generation, 

but    most    unfortunately    we    do    not    know    under    what 

conditions   this   otherwise   most   valuable   experiment   was 

carried  out,  and  hence  must  discard  it  for  the  present. 

Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  been  able,  through  the 
kindness  of  Mr.  A.  S.  Kennard,  to  examine  the  specimens 
of  "  L.  praete  ids  "  taken  in  the  lakes  of  Donegal  and 
Fern.anagh  by  the  late  Major  Trevelyan.  Further  ex- 
amination has  only  confirmed  my  previous  opinion  that 
"  L.  praetenuis  "  is  a  myth,  at  least  so  far  as  testaceolo- 
gical characters  go ;  no  specimens  from  any  one  locality 
resemble  closely  those  from  any  other,  and  none  agree 
with  the  description  of  the  shell  given  in  the   Rev.  E.  W, 


128  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept, 

Bowell's  original  paperi  either  in  size,  shape,  or  tenuity. 
They  also  bear  little  resemblance  to  the  Nagarriva 
specimens  from  which  the  description  was  made,  but  have, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  strong  family  likeness  to  ''  L.  pereger" 
collected  by  me  in  many  localities  in  the  west  and  south- 
west of  Ireland. 

I  am  sensible  of  the  gravity  of  my  omission  in  giving 
no  anatomical  details  in  this  paper  and  can  only  say  as 
an  excuse  that  I  am  no  anatomist  myself  and  all  those  1 
know  are  at  present  otherwise  engaged  owing  to  the  war. 
It  was  my  first  intention  merely  to  write  a  short  note 
recording  my  new  captures  in  the  Caha  Lakes,  and  to 
continue  my  investigation  of  other  lakes  in  those  mountains 
in  the  future,  waiting  till  after  the  war  when  I  could  have 
dissections  made  of  specimens  from  each  locality  before 
publishing  these  notes,  but  private  reasons  render  it  unlikely 
that  I  shall  be  able  to  visit  Ireland  again  in  the  near  future 
and  present  publication  imperative.  1  have  a  few  specimens 
preserved  in  spirit  for  the  future,  and  must  be  content 
with  this,  but  wish  to  emphasise  the  fact  that  my  conclusions 
are  not  based  on  a  random  collection  of  shells  but  on  a 
careful  investigation  of  local  conditions  which  may  at  any 
rate  have  some  value  to  future  workers. 

Syndale  House,  Sittingbourne. 


OBITUARY. 

ROBERT  OLIVER  CUNNiNQHAM. 

The  announcement  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Robert  O.  Cunningham,  at 
the  age  of  77  years,  will  be  received  with  much  regret  by  many  Ulster 
naturalists  who  were  associated  with  him  during  his  thirty  years'  occupancy 
of  the  chair  of  Natural  History  at  Queen's  College,  Belfast.  He  was 
born  in  1841  at  Prestonpans,  Scotland,  where  his  father  was  minister 
of  the  Free  Church,  and  graduated  in  'cience  and  medicine  at  Edinburgh 
University.  As  a  young  man  he  was  attached  as  naturalist  to  a 
scientific  expedition  to  South  America,  and  published  on  his  return  an 
account  of  the  voyage  in  whicli  he  added  to  the  knowledge  of  the  natural 
history  of  Patagonia  and  Argentina.  Shortly  afterwards  (in  1871)  he 
was  appointed  to  a  comprehensive  chair,  whose  occupant  "  professed  " 
the  three  natural  sciences  of  zoology,  botany,  and  geology  at  the  Queen's 


J-  Irish  Naturalist,  vol.  xvii.,  1908,  p.  46. 


i9i8.  Obituary.  izg 

College,  Belfast,  where  he  faithfully  carried  out  his  arduous  teaching 
duties  until  his  resignation  of  the  post  in  1902.  During  his  well-earned 
retirement.  Dr.  Cunningham  lived  in  the  south  of  England. 


JAMES   NAPIER   MILNE. 

On  13th  June  there  passed  away  in  Glasgow  James  Napier  Milne,  a 
naturalist  in  the  truest  sense.  Born  at  Forres,  in  Elgin,  in  1841,  Milne's 
parents  came  to  Ireland  when  he  was  quite  a  boy,  and  took  up  their 
residence  in  Navan,  Co.  Meath. 

On  the  completion  of  his  course  as  a  teacher  at  the  Training  College, 
Dublin,  he  was  appointed  to  the  school  at  Armoy,  Co.  Antrim. 
Subsequently  he  became  principal  in  the  school  at  Waterside,  Londonderry, 
leaving  this  to  take  charge  of  that  at  Culmore,  where  he  remained  for 
upwards  of  twenty  years,  until  his  retirement  in  1903.  During  this 
time  he  was  actively  interested  in  entomology,  conchology,  and  was  a 
keen  fisherman.  On  his  coming  to  reside  in  Belfast  entomology  ceased 
to  be  a  possible  study,  for,  as  he  told  me  once,  the  sight  of  an  elderly 
gentleman  \\-ith  a  butterfly  net  skipping  nimbly  round  a  lamp-post  after 
dark,  attracted  considerable  attention,  the  last  thing  in  the  world  Milne 
desired  ;  while  his  investigation  of  the  suburban  lanes  with  treacle  pot 
and  lantern  was  resented  by  the  lovers  who  frequented  such  places. 
Milne,  therefore,  turned  his  attention  to  the  land  and  freshwater  shells, 
assisting  others  to  explore  unworked  districts  in  Mayo,  Kerry,  and  Donegal, 
and  at  the  same  time  steadily  working  at  the  local  shells  of  the  north- 
eastern counties. 

A  man  of  the  most  modest  and  retiring  disposition,  he  recorded 
practically  none  of  his  finds,  so  that  future  workers  will  never  realize 
the  amount  of  field  work  accomplished  by  him.  For  a  companion  in 
the  field  his  was  an  ideal  nature  ;  no  discomforts  produced  a  grumble, 
no  failures  damped  his  good  humour.  But  it  was  as  a  raconteur  of  his 
experiences  that  he  will  be  best  remembered  by  his  most  intimate  friends, 
to  whom  his  quiet  mirth  and  fund  of  anecdote  were  alone  revealed.  In 
his  last  years  he  suffered  greatly  from  rheumatism,  which  prevented  him 
from  undertaking  long  excursions.  Nevertheless  he  still  continued  his 
local  work,  until  the  death  of  his  sister,  Mrs.  Hunter,  with  whom  he  lived 
necessitated  his  removal  to  Glasgow. 

Like  many  keen  naturalists  he  was  gifted  with  remarkable  sight  and 
appreciation  of  detail  ;  that  vision  which  can  not  only  see  differences, 
but  that  much  rarer  gift,  the  faculty  of  seeing  relationships  between 
things  of  different  habit  and  appearance. 

I  hope  to  collect  and  publish  in  the  future  some  of  Milne's  most 
interesting  finds  in  the  realm  of  conchology,  but  of  his  entomological 
wcrk  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  speak.  To  these  two  studies  Milne's 
attention  was  by  no  means  confined,  as  all  animals  and  plants  were  of 
like  interest  to  him, 

A,  W,  Stelfox, 


130  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Aug. -Sept., 

NOTES, 

BOTANY. 

Chrysomyxa  abietis  in  Ireland. 

On  May  15th,  1918,  Sir  Frederick  Moore  sent  me  a  specimen  of  Spruce 
from  Kilmacurragh,  Rathdrum,  Co.  Wicklow,  affected  with  a  form  of 
"  rust  "  on  the  needles  which,  on  microscopic  examination,  turned  out 
to  be  Chrysomyxa  abietis  Wallr.  The  "  Needle  Rust  "  of  the  Spruce 
is  common  in  Switzerland  and  in  Germany,  but  in  the  British  Isles 
it  was  not  until  191 1  that  it  was  first  discovered  by  Dr.  Somerville  in 
Scotland.  According  to  Borthwick  and  Wilson  {Trans.  R.  Scott.  Arbor. 
Sac.  vol.  xxix.,  July,  1915,  p.  187)  this  rust  has  spread  considerably  in 
Scotland  in  recent  years.  Lately  it  has  also  been  recorded  [Quart.  Journ. 
Forestry,  vol.  xi.,  3,  July,  1917,  p.  191)  for  the  north  of  England  (North- 
umberland). Sir  Frederick  Moore's  specimen  is  the  first  that  has  been 
observed  in  Ireland,  and  it  seems  desirable  to  record  the  first  appearance 
of  this  parasitic  fungus  in  Ireland  in  the  pages  of  the  Irish  Naturalist. 

George  H.  Pethybridge. 
Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 


The  Poisonous  Properties  of  Oenanthe  crocata. 

In  Nature  for  July  4  the  question  of  the  poisonous  properties  of  the 
Water  Dropwort  is  discussed,  based  on  an  observation  communicated 
by  C.  B.  Moffat  to  the  effect  that  cattle  in  Co.  Wexford  were  observed 
eating  this  plant  without  any  injury  resulting.  It  is  pointed  out  that 
according  to  most  authorities  the  plant  is  highly  poisonous  to  cattle,  as 
witnessed  by  numerous  cases,  but  that  at  the  same  time  well-confirmed 
observations  exist  of  no  ill  effect  following  eating  of  the  plant.  It  would 
seem  that  the  plant  is  a  dangerous  poison  in  some  districts,  but  not  in 
others  ;  and,  as  the  Editor  of  Nature  very  properly  observes,  there  is 
here  a  very  interesting  problem  requiring  investigation. 


ZOOLOGY. 
Black  Terns  on  Lough  Carra,  Co.  Mayo. 

On  September  2nd  (1918),  when  fishing  on  Lough  Carra,  I  observed 
two  Black  Terns  flying  low  and  at  no  great  speed  at  a  short  distance 
from  the  boat  ;  the  white  undertail  coverts  being  clearly  visible.  The 
birds  were  flying  in  a  south  westerly  direction. 

W.  Ruttledge. 
HoUymount,  Co.  Mayo, 


igiS.  Notes.  131 


Jays  feeding:  on  Wheat. 

There  is  probably  nothing  very  remarkable  in  the  fact  that  Jays 
should  visit  the  wheat-fields  at  this  time  of  the  year  and  partake  of  the 
harvest,  provided  that  it  can  be  done  with  safety.  I  have  been  much 
interested  for  the  past  fortnight  (September  1-15)  in  watching  these 
foraging  expediti  ns  almost  daily,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
carried  out  seems  very  characteristic  of  the  bird.  A  large  field  of  wheat, 
which  had  been  cut  and  was  in  "  stooks,"  was  the  scene  of  all  my 
observations.  It  sloped  down  rapidly  to  a  river  which  was  about  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  yards  in  width,  and  along  the  bank  there  was  a  row  or  two 
of  very  fine  beeches,  the  lower  branches  of  which  were  about  nine  feet 
from  the  ground.  Close  to  these  there  were  several  "  stooks  "  of  wheat. 
Across  the  river  on  rising  ground  were  the  woods  of  Castlecomer  Demesne, 
where  I  had  frequently  seen  and  heard  Jays  for  some  months  past.  The 
expeditions  were  always  organized  well  in  in  these  woods  on  the  high 
ground.  One  or  two  birds  there  would  utter  their  harsh  cries  for  a  few 
seconds,  these  would  be  answered  from  various  parts  of  the  wood,  and 
by  their  cries  I  could  make  out  that  the  birds  were  all  making  for  the 
rendezvous.  Then  there  would  be  a  regular  chorus  lasting  for  a  minute 
or  two  ;  then  a  dead  silence,  and  I  knew  the  birds  had  set  out  and  I  had 
better  take  cover.  After  a  few  minutes  the  party  could  be  seen  advancing 
from  tree  to  tree,  keeping  in  cover  as  well  as  possible  and  avoiding  open 
spaces.  The  party  nearly  always  flew  singly,  a  bird  would  flap  across 
an  open  space,  and  just  as  it  regained  cover  a  second  would  follow  in 
practically  the  same  line,  and  so  on.  On  only  two  occasions  did  I  see 
two  birds  crossing  an  open  space  at  the  same  time.  In  this  manner 
they  worked  their  way  across  the  river  and  into  the  beech  trees  over  the 
wheat.  Then  the  leader  would  drop  down  on  a  "  stook,"  take  a  very 
careful  survey  around,  and  if  all  was  right  the  other  birds  would  follow. 
On  o  e  occasion  I  purposely  allowed  myself  to  be  seen  though  I  remained 
motionless.  The  leader  as  he  dropped  on  the  wheat  spotted  me.  He 
perched  on  top  of  the  "  stook,"  very  alert,  for  fully  two  minutes  watching 
and  then  silently  flew  back  into  the  branches  overhead,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  I  saw  the  party,  on  this  occasion  consisting  of  eight  birds, 
recrossing  the  river  in  single  file.  If.  when  feeding,  they  became  aware 
of  some  danger  at  a  distance  they  would  recr  ss  the  river,  as  I  have 
described,  silently,  and  in  order,  but  if  they  were  taken  by  surprise  they 
retreated  in  haste  and  disorder,  and  general]}^  uttered  angry  cries  at 
first.  The  part}'^  varied  in  numbers  ;  on  one  occasion  I  counted  twelve 
birds,  whilst  on  others  there  were  only  five  or  six.  Once  a  single  bird 
came  but  it  was  knocked  over  by  a  Sparrow  Hawk,  and  had  I  not  run 
to  its  assistance  would  have  been  killed.  The  regularity  of  the  whole 
proceeding  was  what  struck  me  most.  First  the  assembling  in  the  wood 
with  harsh  cries,  then  the  absolutely  silent  passage  between  the  wood 
and  the  field,  the  regular  order  of  the  advance  and  of  the  retreat  if  the 
birds  were  not  frightened.       I  never  saw  any  of  the  birds  out  at  a  distance 


132  '         The  Irish  'Naturalist.  Aug.-Sept.,  1918. 

in  the  field,  they  only  attacked  the  "  stocks  "  of  wheat  close  in  under 
the  beech  trees.  Practically  the  same  line  of  flight  was  follow^ed  day 
after  day  ;  they  appeared  to  me  to  meet  in  the  same  place  in  the  wood, 
and  certainly  on  each  occasion  when  I  have  watched  them  they  arrived 
in  the  same  beech  tree.  Occasionally  they  uttered  a  few  cries  when 
they  got  safely  back  to  the  wood,  but  more  often  they  remained  silent. 

W.  M.  Abbott. 
Fermoy. 


Scarcity  of  the  Fieldfare. 

Fieldfares  were  totally  absent  from  this  part  of  Co.  Wexford  during  the 
whole  of  the  late  autumn  and  winter  of  1917-18  ;  but  as  we  generally  have 
our  largest  influx  of  that  species  in  April  at  Ballyhyland  I  waited  till  that 
month  was  over  before  sending  any  report.  The  winter,  in  fact,  had 
no  sooner  gone  than  these  "  winter-birds  "  began  to  arrive.  I  saw  only 
one  small  party  during  the  last  week  of  March  ;  but  by  April  12th  they 
were  fairly  numerous,  and  they  remained  so  until  the  20th  of  that  month, 
after  which  I  saw  them  no  more.  I  have  never  before  known  the 
Fieldfare  to  be  an  absentee  during  the  entire  winter  ;  but  it  was  at  least 
cheering  to  see  the  spring  passengers  in  something  like  their  usual  force 
and  plenty. 

C.  B.  Moffat. 

Ballyhyland,  Enniscorthy. 


Owls  clapping-  their  Wing's. 

To  the  notes  furnished  on  this  subject  by  Messrs.  Burkitt  (/.  Nat., 
vol.  xxvi.,  p.  161),  and  Bolam  (vol.  xxvii.,  p.  15)  I  should  like  to  add 
that  the  Barn-Owl  is  also  addicted  to  clapping  its  wings — chiefly,  as  in 
the  case  of  both  the  other  species  referred  to,  during  the  excitement  of 
the  nuptial  season.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  that  both  sexes  of  the 
Barn-Owl  occasionally  clap ;  but  from  frequently  watching  them  at 
their  time  of  first  taking  flight  I  can  confidently  say  that  one  bird  in 
each  pair  does  it  habitually,  while  the  other,  as  a  rule,  takes  its  flight 
silently,  so  far  as  the  wings  are  concerned.  This,  I  ha\e  also  found  to 
be  the  case  (from  watching  several  pairs  in  the  Ballyhyland  woods),  with 
the  Long-eared  Owl  ;  but  Mr.  Burkitt  has  successfully  shown  as  to  that 
species  that  the  clapping  is  not  restricted  to  the  male,  so  I  can  only  say 
that  the  female  bird  goes  in  for  it  very  much  more  sparingly  than  her 
mate.       The  same  is  true,  in  general,  of  the  Nightjar, 

C.  B.  Moffat. 
Ballyhyland,  Enniscorthy. 


Oct.-Nov.,  191 8.  The  Irish  Naturalist,  133 

THE    IRISH    RED    DEER. 

BY   R.    F.    SCHARFF,    B.SC,    M.R.I. A. 

Three  kinds  of  deer  formerly  inhabited  Ireland,  viz.  : — 
the  Reindeer  [Rangifer  tarandus),  the  Irish  Giant  Deer  or 
Irish  "  Elk  "  [Cervus  giganteus),  and  the  Red  Deer  {Cervus 
elaphus).  The  first  two  became  extinct  so  long  ago  that 
we  do  not  even  possess  any  evidence  of  their  having  existed 
in  this  country  within  historical  times.  It  is  quite  different 
with  the  Red  Deer  which  still  survives  in  a  semi-domesticated 
and  not  entirely  pure  strain  in  the  forests  of  Killarney. 
The  deer  which  we  notice  in  the  Phoenix  Park,  Dublin, 
and  many  other  parks,  belong  to  quite  another  species  which 
never  was  indigenous  in  Ireland.  They  are  Fallow  Deer 
and  are  easily  distinguished  from  the  Red  Deer  by  their 
flattened  or  palmated  antlers. 

The  extinction  of  the  Red  Deer  in  Ireland  as  a  wild 
animal  is  quite  a  recent  historical  event.  There  may  still 
be  people  living  who  have  actually  seen  wild  Red  Deer. 
William  Thompson  (1)  states  that  when  travelling  in  the  west 
in  1834  he  was  informed  that  there  were  still  thirteen  Red 
Deer  in  Connemara  and  tw^elve  in  the  barony  of  Erris. 
About  this  time  a  few  were  believed  to  survive  in  the  Galtee 
Mountains  in  Tipperary,  and  also  near  Glengarriff  in 
County  Cork.  According  to  Mr.  George  T.  Macartney's 
note  in  the  Field  of  1874  an  exceptionally  heavy  snowfall 
occurred  in  the  year  1834  which  seems  to  have  led  to  the 
final  extinction  of  the  Erris  herd  of  Red  Deer.  From 
another  source  it  was  reported  that  the  last  specimen  in 
Erris  was  shot  near  Nephin  Beg  in  1830  by  Thomas  Lynn, 
but  that  in  the  year  of  the  great  snow  (1834  ?)  another 
came  down  into  the  lowlands  and  was  killed  by  the  country 
people  with  spades  and  pitchforks. 

About  the  same  period  several  country  gentlemen  in 
the  west  of  Ireland,  notably  Lord  Sligo  and  Major  Knox, 
kept  small  herds  of  Red  Deer  in  their  parks.  Occasionally 
it  happened  that  some  of  these  escaped  and  were  shot  in 
the  mountains,  and  to  this  fact  may  be  due  the  report 
that  five  deer  were  killed  in  Erris  in  the  year  1850. 

A 


134  ^^'^  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Nov., 

As  regards  the  south  of  Ireland  WilHam  Thompson  (1) 
states  that  he  was  informed  in  1850  by  Lord  Bantry's 
gamekeeper  that  some  wild  Red  Deer  still  existed  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  (ilengariff  in  County  Cork.  In 
Waterford  and  Tipperary  the  Red  Deer  seems  to  have 
become  extinct  at  a  much  earlier  period,  for  we  are  told 
by  Mr.  Ussher  (2)  that  in  the  mountains  of  Knockmealdown 
which  occupy  a  large  area  between  these  counties  they  were 
apparently  on  the  verge  of  extinction  in  1774,  although, 
according  to  Wilham  Thompson  (1)  a  few  Red  Deer  still 
lived  in  the  Galtee  Mountains  at  the  beginning  of  last 
century. 

Earlier  records  of  the  existence  of  the  Red  Deer  in 
Ireland  are  scattered  about  in  various  books  and  pamphlets 
but  they  lack  detail.  Sir  William  Brereton  (3)  writes  in 
the  year  1635  that  in  the  large  park  near  Carnew  in 
County  Wicklow  there  are  plenty  of  both  Red  and  Fallow 
Deer.  References  are  made  in  the  State  Papers  of  Henry 
VIII.  (4)  to  the  number  of  people  engaged  in  deer-hunting 
in  Kilkenny  and  Tipperary  in  the  year  1525.  According 
to  the  Calendar  of  Close  Rolls  (5)  Edward  the  First  sent  a 
messenger  to  Ireland  in  1275  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing 
"  brackets  "  (hounds)  for  stag-hunting.-^  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis  (6)  during  his  travels  in  Ireland  in  the  twelfth 
century  speaks  of  the  stags  as  being  so  fat  that  they  lose 
their  speed,  and  the  more  slender  they  are  in  shape  the 
more  nobly  they  carry  their  heads  and  branching  antlers. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  the  Red  Deer  was  indigenous  in 
Ireland  and  must  have  been  very  abundant  throughout  the 
country  for  many  centuries  past.  And  yet  we  are  told 
that  when  the  Royal  Forest  at  Glencree  in  County 
Wicklow  was  established  in  the  thirteenth  century  eighty 
deer  were  sent  from  the  Royal  Forest  at  Chester  in  the 
year  1244  to  stock  this  park.  Mr.  Le  Fanu  (7)  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  this  information  assumes  that  it  is 
hardly  likely  such  trouble  and  expense  would  have  been 
incurred  had  there  been  no  natural  or  artificial  boundary 
to  prevent  the  deer  from  straying  away. 

^  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  J.  de  W.  Hindi  for  furnishing  me  with 
above  particulars. 


i9i8.  ScHARFF. — Tlic  Irish  Red  Deer.  135 

Anyone  unacquainted  with  the  fossil  remains  of  Red 
Deer  in  Ireland  might  conclude  from  this  introduction  of 
foreign  stock  that  deer  could  not  have  inhabited  this  country 
at  that  time.  But  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  Red 
Deer  from  the  remotest  time  must  have  been  extraordinarily 
abundant  in  Ireland.  It  seems  strange  therefore  that  Red 
Deer  had  to  be  brought  from  England  to  stock  this  Royal 
Forest.  We  meet  with  the  bones  and  teeth  of  this  deer 
in  the  superficial  gravels,  in  bogs  and  marls.  In  the 
kitchen-middens  all  round  the  coast,  and  in  the  crannogs 
the  bones  of  Red  Deer  may  be  picked  up  almost  anywhere 
often  associated  with  those  of  domestic  animals.  Implements 
of  various  kinds  were  manufactured  in  Ireland  from  the 
antlers  of  this  deer.  In  almost  all  the  Irish  caves  Red 
Deer  remains  have  been  found  in  profusion,  sometimes 
along  with  those  of  Bear,  Irish  Elk,  Reindeer  and  other 
extinct  species.  There  is  ample  evidence  therefore  that 
the  Red  Deer  lived  in  Ireland  before  the  introduction 
alluded  to.  The  only  doubt  that  might  possibly  occur  to 
anyone  would  be  whether  this  deer  might  not  have  become 
extinct  in  the  thirteenth  century  so  as  to  need  reintroduction. 
In  that  case  it  would  have  spread  from  Glencree  Forest  all 
over  Ireland,  and  the  existing  semi-domesticated  Killarney 
stock  would  be  the  descendants  of  English  ancestors  and 
not  of  the  old  Irish  race. 

During  the  last  century  Red  Deer  supposed  to  have 
descended  from  the  old  Irish  stock  were  kept  in  other 
demesnes  besides  Killarney.  Thus  Lord  Maurice  Fitzgerald 
had  a  herd  in  Wexford  and  presented  to  the  National 
Museum  in  Dublin  a  stag,  hind  and  young,  while  a  skeleton 
of  a  Red  Deer  from  Sir  Victor  Brooke's  park  in  Fermanagh 
was  sent  to  the  Museum  in  1877.  They  still  ornament  the 
collection  of  Irish  animals,  and  w^e  are  thus  able  to  compare 
the  modern  Irish  Red  Deer  with  the  old  deer  found  in  bogs 
and  caves.  If  they  show  very  close  agreement  we  may 
assume  that  the  old  Irish  Deer  survived  until  the  nineteenth 
century  unimpaired  by  the  occasional  introduction  of 
English  and  other  stock. 

The  collection  in  the  National  Museum,  DubHn,  contains 
numerous  antlers  of  Red  Deer  found  in  bogs,  one  pair  with 

A  2 


1^6 


The  Irish  Naturalist. 


Oct.-Nov., 


no  less  tlian  seventeen  points,  one  complete  skeleton  of  a 
stag  from  Boho,  Co.  Fermanagh,  and  the  skull  of  a  stag 
from  Moatc,  Co.  \\'cstmeath.  I  shall  give  some  measmx- 
ments  in  millimetres  of  the  skulls  of  the  recent  hind  and  the 
two  fossil  stags.  The  measurements  correspond  with  those 
given  by  Dr.  Stejneger  (8)  of  some  Scandinavian  deer,  and 
will  enable  us  to  compare  them  with  one  another.  The 
skull  of  the  recent  Irish  hind  was  figured  by  Prof.  Lonnberg 
in  his  paper  on  the  Red  Deer  of  Scandinavia.  (9) 


Recent 
Irish  Hind 

from 
Co.   Fer- 

Sub-fossil 

Irish  Stag 

from 

Boho. 

Sub-fossil 

Irish  Stag 

from 

Moate. 

managh. 

I.   Basicranial  length 

301   mill. 

370 

mill. 

372   mill. 

2.  Distance  from  ant.  tip  of  premax. 

187     „ 

224 

224     ,, 

to  orbit. 

3.   Zygom.    width   at   post,    end   of 

135     .. 

167 

172     ,. 

jugal. 

4.  Width  of  skull  behind    premax 

56     ,. 

65 

72     » 

illaries. 

3.   Length  of  nasals 

116     „ 

128 

133     .. 

6.  Greatest   width    of   both    nasals 

39     .> 

41 

38     » 

combined. 

7.  Vert,  height  of  nose  at  post,  end 

44     " 

Co 

60     „ 

of  premax. 

8.  Length  of  upper  molar  and  pre- 

98    „ 

98 

99     .. 

molar  series. 

0.  Width  of  antorbital  vacuity     . . 

17     " 

20 

22 

10.   Length  of  antorbital  vacuity  ,  . 

47     " 

32 

54      " 

II.   Longest    diam.    of    supraorbital 

II      „ 

12 

12      ,, 

foramen. 

12.   Height  of  maxillary  above  fore- 

39    .. 

46 

46     ,. 

most  molar. 

13.  Height  of  maxillary  above  fore- 

55    '• 

67 

67     ,. 

most  premolar. 

14.  Distance  from  lower  orbit,  rim 

42     „ 

49 

54     .. 

to  last  molar. 

15.   Antlers,  inside  dist.  betw.  beams 

620 

685     ., 

at  base  of  subroyals. 

16.   Antlers,   distance  from   burr  to 

665 

635     » 

farthest  point. 

i9i8.  ScHARFF. — The  Irish  Red  Deer.  137 

Some  of  these  measurements  seem  to  me  of  little  value, 
and  it  is  very  difficult  to  indicate  precisely  how  they  were 
taken.  However,  on  the  whole,  they  give  us  a  fair  idea 
of  the  general  proportions  of  the  skull.  Taking  into 
consideration  the  fact  that  we  are  comparing  quite  a'  small 
modern  Red  Deer  hind  with  large  skulls  of  old  stags  which 
may  be  of  great  antiquity,  there  is  a  remarkable  resemblance 
between  them.  As  we  should  expect  the  two  stag  skulls 
are  much  larger  in  every  respect.  Yet  the  proportions 
between  the  nasals,  for  example,  and  the  antorbital  vacuity 
are  about  the  same,  while  the  lengths  of  the  upper  molar 
and  premolar  tooth  series  are  practically  identical.  From 
the  measurements  given  it  would  be  impossible  to  prove 
that  the  recent  hind  is  the  genuine  descendant  of  the  old 
Irish  stock  of  Red  Deer,  because  the  latter  may  not  be 
distinct  from  the  British  stock,  and  I  have  no  skulls  available 
from  England  or  Scotland. 

In  the  paper  already  cited  by  Prof.  Lonnberg  two  adult 
Scottish  stags   are   referred  to,   and  he   states   that   their 
dimensions  agree  fairly  well  with  that  of  the  Irish  recent 
hind  in  the  Dublin  Museum.      Both,  he  remarks,  are  small- 
headed  and  short-nosed  with  small  antorbital  vacuities  and 
large  "  foramina  supraorbitalia."      Although  the  Scottish 
skulls  examined  by  Prof.  Lonnberg  belonged  to  fully  adult 
Red  Deer  with   antlers  carrying  five  tines   on    each   side 
they  only  had  a  basicranial  length  of  311   and  319  mill, 
respectively.    They  were  therefore  not  much  longer  than  the 
skull  of    the  Irish  hind  and  greatly  shorter  than  the  two 
Irish  stag  skulls  given  in  my  list.      Nevertheless  the  length 
of  the  upper  premolar  and  molar  series  in  all  these  skulls 
varies  from  92-99  mill.      The  size  of  the  antorbital  vacuity 
agrees  in  the  three  Irish  skulls  examined.      Prof.  Lonnberg 
only   states   that   the   antorbital   vacuity   in   the   Scottish 
skulls   corresponds   in    size   and  shape   with  that   of    the 
Norwegian  skulls  which  he  tells  us  resembles  that  of  the 
Irish  hind.      The  dimensions  of  this  vacuity  in  the  Scottish 
skulls  are  about  48  mill,  long  by  18  mill,  broad.     The  cor- 
responding measurements  in   the    Irish   skulls  are  50  mill, 
by  20  mill.      The  size  of  the  antorbital  vacuity  therefore 
agrees  fairly  well  in   the   Irish,   Scottish,   and  Norwegian 


13^  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.--Nov., 

skulls,  whereas  in  the  Swedish  skulls  it  averages  60  mill, 
by  2^  mill.  One  of  the  main  differences  between  the 
Irish  and  Scottish  as  compared  with  the  Norwegian  skulls 
lies  in  the  shape  of  the  nasal  bones.  They  are  flattened 
in  the  Norwegian  skulls  according  to  Prof.  Lonnberg  (9). 
In  the  Irish  and  Scottish  skulls  they  are  curved,  forming 
a  longitudinal  ridge  from  the  tip  to  the  base  and  being 
well  visible  when  the  skull  is  looked  at  laterally.  In 
the  other  hand  Dr.  Stejneger  (8)  maintains  that  an  adult 
male  Norwegian  skull  in  the  United  States  National  Museum 
agrees  with  the  Irish  and  Scottish  skulls  in  the  possession 
of  very  convex  nasal  bones,  and  in  his  opinion  (p.  464)  the 
Scottish  and  Norwegian  deer  belong  to  the  same  race  or 
geographic  subspecies  called  by  Prof.  Lonnberg  Cervus 
elaphiis  atlanticus. 

We  need  not  enter  here  into  the  interesting  speculations 
concerning  the  origin  of  the  Norwegian  deer  raised  by  Dr. 
Stejneger.  One  of  the  objects  of  my  investigations  was 
to  show  that  the  modern  Irish  Red  Deer  were  the  true 
descendants  of  the  ancient  Irish  stock.  Although  I  have 
been  unable  to  prove  this  point  by  a  comparative  study 
of  the  skulls  it  is  extreme^  unlikely  that  the  Old  Irish  Red 
Deer  became  entirely  extinct  in  Ireland  and  had  to  be 
reintroduced  from  England,  ^^^e  have  learned  from  this 
study  that  there  exists  a  close  relationship  between  the 
Irish,  Scotch,  and  Norw^egian  Red  Deer.  They  belong 
to  the  same  sub-species,  whereas  the  Swedish  Red  Deer 
is  sufficiently  distinct  to  form  a  separate  w^ell-recognisable 
race. 

There  is  one  other  point  which  deserves  to  be  mentioned 
about  the  Irish  Red  Deer,  viz.,  the  colour  of  its  fur,  which 
never  can  be  called  red.  It  varies  from  yellowish  brown 
in  summer  to  greyish  bro\N-n  in  winter,  whereas  the 
continental  form  is  generally  more  distinctly  reddish  brown 
in  colour. 

As  regards  the  antlers  of  the  typical  European  Red  Deer 
they  terminate  in  a  cup.  This  cupping  in  the  crown  of 
the  antler  seems  to  become  simplified  gradually  as  we 
proceed  eastward  where  we  meet  with  Deer  which  resemble 
Red    Deer   but    are   practicall}^   identical   in     their   antler 


I9i8.  ScHAHFF — The  Irish  Red  Deer.  139 

structure  with  the  Wapiti  Deer  of  North  America.  A 
Wapiti  [cerviis  canadensis)  skull  apart  from  the  antlers 
is  not  much  longer  than  that  of  a  large  Irish  Red  Deer. 
The  zygomatic  width  at  the  posterior  end  of  the  jugal 
bone  is  about  the  same  in  both.  A  striking  feature  of 
difference  is  noticeable  in  the  length  and  width  of  the  nasal 
bones  which  are  much  longer  and  broader  in  the  Wapiti 
than  in  the  Irish  Red  Deer.  The  antorbital  vacuity  also 
is  longer  and  broader  in  the  Wapiti.  Turning  over  the 
skull  we  further  note  that  the  series  of  molar  and  premolar 
teeth  is  considerably  longer  in  the  Wapiti  than  in  the 
Irish  Red  Deer.  The  Red  Deer  has  been  known  to  cross 
with  the  Wapiti,  as  reported  from  Caledon  Park,  Co.  Tyrone, 
and  the  two  no  doubt  are  nearly  related  to  one  another. 
The  fact  of  their  crossing,  however,  does  not  imply  near 
relationship,  since  we  know  that  the  Red  Deer  and  Japanese 
Deer  are  regularly  producing  hybrids  in  Powerscourt  Park, 
Co.  Wicklow\  It  is  the  structure  and  formation  of  the 
skull  and  teeth  which  are  very  similar  in  the  Red  Deer 
and  Wapiti.  Through  the  kindness  of  the  Earl  of  Kenmare 
and  his  representative,  Mr.  Mathews,  I  am  now  being 
supplied  with  a  series  of  Red  Deer  skulls  from  Killarney, 
and  when  these  have  been  thoroughly  cleaned  I  may  be 
able  to  describe  more  clearly  the  structure  of  the  surviving 
race  of  the  Irish  Deer. 


List  of    Works  cited  in  this  Paper, 

1.  Thompson,  W. — -Natural  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  iv.,  1856. 

2.  UssHER,  R.  J. — Notes  on  Irish  Red  Deer,  Zoologist,  vol.  vi.  (3),  1882. 

3.  Brereton,  W. — Travels  in  Holland  and  Ireland,  Chethani  Soc,  vol.  I, 

1844. 

4.  State  Papers,  Henry  VIII.,  Part  3,  1834. 

5.  Calendar  of  Close  Rolls  iii.,  Edward  I.,  Membrane  5,  1275. 

6.  GiRALDUs  Cambrensis. — Topography  of  Ireland,  London,  1881. 

7.  Le  Fanu,    T.    P. — Royal    Forest   of     Glencrce,    Journ.    Soc.    Antiq. 

Ireland,  vol.  3,  1893. 

8.  Stejneger,  L. — Origin  of  so-called  Atlantic   animals  and  plants  of 

Norway,  Smithsonian  MisceH.  Coll.,  vol.  48,  1907. 

9.  Lonnberg  E. — On  the  geographic  races  of  Red  Deer  in  Scandinavia, 

Avkiv  fov  Zoologi,  vol.  3,  igo6. 

National  ]\luseum,   Dublin. 


140  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Nov., 

SOME    NOTES    ON    BIRDS,    ESPECIALLY    THE 

WHITETHROAT. 

BY   J.    P.    BURKITT. 

That  some  migrant  birds  return  to  the  same  neighbourhood 
is  commonly  held  in  regard  to  Swallows,  but  the  more  I 
study  birds  the  more  evident  it  is  to  me  that  individuals 
of  many  species,  if  not  of  most,  return  to  exactly  the  same 
sites  of  previous  years.  In  the  more  abundant  species 
this  mieht  be  hard  to  verify,  but  I  can  see  it  in  the  cases 
of  Goldfinch,  Long-tailed  Tit,  Redpoll,  Whinchat,  Nightjar, 
Grasshopper  Warbler,  Garden  Warbler,  and  Whitethroat, 
specially  clearly  in  tlie  latter  five  cases. 

A  pair  of  Whinchats  were  at  a  site  for  seven  years, 
until  I  let  a  man  take  the  nest  ;  thereafter  the  place  was 
empty.  The  Nightjar,  as  I  can  corroborate,  is  known  to 
nest  for  several  years  in  the  exact  same  spot  if  undisturbed. 
The  Garden  Warbler  is  unmistakable  in  returning  to  the 
exact  S])ot  ;  and  I  have  frequently  located  a  bird  b}^  my 
returning  in  the  spring  to  where  I  had  found  an  old  nest 
in  the  winter.  A  Grasshopper  Warbler  has  come  to  the 
same  bush  in  a  big  waste  scrub  land  for  at  least  five  years, 
omitting  last  year.  And  I  can  sa}'  just  the  same  of  other 
sites  of  this  bird,  though  not  observed  for  so  long.  In  one 
case  the  same  bush  was  occupied  after  a  skip  of  two  years. 

With  the  Whitethroat  I  shall  deal  below.  From 
observation  of  the  last  three  species,  I  have  come  to  realise 
that  the  return  of  the  same  birds  is  marked  not  onty  by 
coming  to  a  particular  spot,  but  by  coming  at  a  regular 
time,  regularly  late  or  regularly  early.  For  example,  with 
these  three  species  1  will  always  at  certain  spots  find  the 
tenant  when  no  other  of  its  kind  has  arrived,  and  at 
other  very  late  spots  the  tenant  will  not  appear  till  up  to 
three  weeks  or  more  later. 

The  Greater  Whitethroat. 

A  certain  number  of  Whitethroats  come  to  sites  by 
roads  near  me,  but  they  appear  to  come  in  a  regular  order. 


igiS.  BuRKirr. — Notes  on  Birds.  I41 

The  nest  at  one  site  for  example  will  be  well  on  within  four 
days  after  the  very  first  song  has  been  heard  in  the  country. 
The  tenant  of  another  site  does  not  appear  for  about  thirteen 
days  later  (though  he  thus  risks  being  mateless,  see  below). 
Thirteen  days  is  a  long  time  with  Whitethroats  as  they 
come  in  a  wonderful  rush.  There  is  no  mistaking  the 
return  being  to  the  same  spot  ;  there  is  the  same  favourite 
perch  in  the  same  bush  in  a  hedge,  or  on  the  same  identical 
inch  of  telegraph  wire.  This  migration  to  the  same  site 
and  at  the  same  regularly  early  or  late  date  suggests  food 
for  thought  to  those  better  up  in  migration  than  I  am. 
Or  is  it  already  old  ground  ? 

I  hav^e  further  interesting  matter  about  the  White- 
throat.  In  the  Irish  Naturalist  of  September,  1916,  there 
was  a  note  by  me  on  what  I  then  called  dummy  nests  of 
Whitethroat  and  Garden  Warbler.  I  found  least  year  a 
male  Whitethroat  (A)  building  such  a  nest.  That  is  to 
say  there  was  no  female,  and  when  the  outside  frame- 
v.'ork  was  done  he  proceeded  to  decorate  with,  and  pile  on 
on  one  side  masses  of  wool  (otherwise  always  willow-down 
and  catkin  scales,  see  my  note).  About  ten  days  after  his 
frame  nest  had  been  made,  eggs  appeared  to  my  surprise. 
He  had  found  a  mate  ;  and  though  it  became  a  poor 
lopsided  nest  ^-et  the  young  were  brought  up.  I  naturally 
suspected  that  I  must  have  been  in  error  about  the  original 
absence  of  a  female,  though  I  had  followed  the  male  up 
and  down  the  hedges  without  a  sign  of  her,  and  he  showed 
the  peculiarities  of  the  lonely  male  builder  mentioned 
below.  So  I  waited  till  this  year  to  see  further.  I  also 
wanted  to  check  a  note  in  our  great  Ussher's  book  that  a 
certain  careful  observer  "  invariably  found  the  male  the 
nest-builder  without  any  assistance  from  the  female,  and 
singing  as  he  built."  From  my  experience  of  paired  birds 
I  found  it  hard  to  accept  that.  So  I  took  pains  to  watch 
this  year  an  early  pair  until  I  saw  conclusively  that  that 
female  did  the  building  ;  and  I  think  the  male  does  no 
building  when  he  has  a  mate. 

Then  I  watched  for  my  (A)  bird  to  arrive,  which  he 
did  on  the  20th  May.  Five  days  later  I  found  the  frame 
built  and  decorations  in  progress.      There  was  no  female. 


142  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Xov., 

Tliese  males  build  tlie  frame  in  from  one  to  one  and  a  half 
days.  It  is  a  complete  nest  only  that  it  never  has  the 
inside  lining  of  fine  roots  or  grass  or  hair.  He  kept  on 
and  oft  at  this  piling  of  willow-down  till  at  least  the  ist 
June.  I  found  another  such  lonely  male's  nest  (C)  on  the 
3rd  June.  He  was  also  at  a  last  year's  site.  It  must 
have  been  made  for  some  time  as  I  had  known  he  was  there, 
and  it  was  well  decorated  with  the  usual  willow-down. 
But  what  was  m}^  surprise  to  find  him  on  the  7th  with  a 
second  nest  C2,  and  "  curiouser  "  still  carrying  the  down 
from  the  first  to  the  second  ;  finally  by  the  nth  stripping 
the  first  of  every  speck  of  decoration.  On  the  19th  June 
I  found  all  the  decoration  gone  from  C2 — plainly  to  C3, 
but  I  did  not  find  C3.  On  the  24th,  however,  I  found 
him  beginning  another  nest,  which  would  be  at  least  C4. 
On  the  nth  June  I  found  another  male  (D)  building,  but 
he  was  lucky  in  getting  a  mate  soon  as  there  was  an  egg 
on  the  I7th.  On  the  19th  June  I  found  another  such 
nest,  B,  well  decorated,  and  it  must  have  been  there  a 
long  time  as  I  had  known  of  the  male's  presence  for  long. 
On  the  23rd  he  began  another,  B2.  On  the  24th  June  I 
found  another  m.ale  (E),  building. 

B2,  C4,  and  E  got  little  or  no  decoration  as  willow-down 
was  now  scarce.  I  was  nearly  tired  of  watching  these 
various  nests,  but  on  July  3rd  the  bird  A  suddenly  stopped 
the  usual  loud  and  ceaseless  singing,  and  on  July  5th  I 
saw  he  had  a  mate,  as  I  suspected.  On  the  7th  July  C 
had  also  got  a  mate,  and  on  the  same  day  I  found  B  with 
four  fresh  eggs  but  laid  in  Bi,  not  B2.  The  singing  had 
all  stopped.  C  brought  out  a  brood,  but  circumstances 
prevented  my  getting  the  nest,  it  was  not  in  Ci,  C2,  or  C4, 
though  close  at  hand.  I  could  not  be  certain  about  A's 
brood.  The  final  nest  was  probabl}^  cut  away.  Ki  was 
never  occupied.  A,  B,  and  C  thus  all  got  mates  in  the 
last  days  of  June.  C2  was  20  \^ards  from  Ci  ;  C4  was 
35  yards  from  C2  ;  B2  was  90  yards  from  Bi  ;  A,  Ci,  and 
C2  were  in  hedges  ;  C4,  Bi,  and  B2,  D,  and  E  were  in 
weeds  or  the  like. 

These  lonely  males  are  most  plainly  distinguishable,  as 
follows.      They  advertise  their  presence  in  the  most  public 


191 8.  BuRKiTT. — Notes  on  Birds.  143 

way  by  singing  lustily  all  day,  with  occasional  rests  of 
half  an  hour  or  so,  and  on  to  9.30  p.m.  from  the  topmost 
branches,  as  well  as  while  down  in  the  roots  of  a  hedge, 
and  in  each  interval  between  carrying  building  material. 
They  make  practically  no  concealment  of  building  operations. 
There  is  seldom  if  ever  any  alarm  or  scold  notes.  They  may 
sing  even  when  they  see  one  at  the  nest,  and  on  one's  moving 
away  the  building  proceeds.  This  is  all  so  totally  different 
from  when  paired.  They  then  are  most  wary  and  give 
the  alarm  at  once.  The  arrival  of  a  mate  and  eggs  is  at 
once  indicated  by  the  cessation  of  the  song  and  by  the 
call  or  the  scold. 

The  above,  then,  would  explain  why  Mr.  Ussher's 
observer  invariably  found  the  male  the  builder  without  any 
assistance  from  the  female — there  was  no  female.  1  may 
here  say  that  the  true  female's  nest  has  seldom  a  speck  of 
willows-down,  and  if  she  inhabits  a  male's  nest  she  removes 
as  much  of  the  decoration  as  she  can. 

Now  the  birds  which  pair  at  the  main  arrival  have 
their  nests  made  by  the  end  of  the  second  or  third  week 
in  ]\Iay  and  are  then  silent  (unless  for  a  very  rare  low^  half 
song  when  feeding  young).  Nevertheless  the  whole  country 
resounds  with  Whitethroats'  song  on  through  June — the  last 
I  heard  being  two  on  July  nth.  I  have  proved  abundantly, 
at  least  to  my  own  satisfaction,  that  every  one  of  these  late 
singers  is  a  lonely  male.  A,  B,  C  were  three  consecutive 
birds  along  a  road  by  my  place,  thus  exemplifying  the 
great  number  of  these  males.  It  thus  appears  plain  that 
the  whole  country  is  swarming  at  the  end  of  May  and 
through  June  with  these  lonely  males,  and  all  building 
away  at  a  series  of  nests.  A  few  pick  up  mates  compara- 
tively early,  but  the  main  body  do  not  till  the  last  days 
of  June.  The  silencing  of  A,  B,  C  corresponded  with  the 
rest  of  the  birds  in  the  countr}-.  Where  do  the  mates 
come  from  ?  Well,  I  should  guess  that  the  late  ones 
like  A,  B,  C — apparently  in  large  supply — come  from  a 
breaking  up  of  the  early  pairs,  as  the  3^oung  are  seen  looking 
after  themselves  just  about  the  end  of  June.  The  original 
males,  perhaps,  being  tired  of  married  life.  But  where 
do  the  less  late  females  come  from  ?  Is  it  from  a  late 
female  migration  ?      And  above  all,  why  is  there  such  a 


144  ^^^^  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Nov., 

huge  preponderance  of  males  after  the  first  week  or  so 
from  the  first  arrival  ? 

Wren. 

The  well  known  unlincd  "  Cocks  "  nests  of  the  common 
Wi'en  led  me  to  expect  parallel  information  from  Saunders. 

He  says  of  the  Wren  "  imperfect  nests  are  frequently 
found  near  an  occupied  one,  and  owing  to  the  notion  that 
they  are  built  by  the  male  bird  for  his  lodging  at  night, 
they  are  commonly  known  as  '  cocks  '  nests/'  I  have 
had  a  piece  of  unsought-for  good  luck  in  elucidating  this. 
When  sheltering  at  a  roadside  on  24th  May  a  Wren  was 
building.  It  frequently  sang,  so  presumably  it  was  a 
male.  He  did  not  mind  my  presence  at  a  couple  of  yards 
away.  No  alarm.  No  mate  seen.  The  outside  of  the 
nest  was  formed.  On  the  nth  June,  nearly  three  weeks 
later,  there  w^as  no  lining  (of  the  usual  feathers).  Here  is 
at  least  one  proven  cock's  nest  ;  and  note  the  exact  parallel 
to  Whitethroat  in  the  manner  of  male  and  in  absence  of 
nest  lining.  On  the  bare  chance  of  the  parallel  being 
completed  by  subsequent  occupation  of  the  nest,  I  went 
there  on  the  23rd  July  and  was  delighted  to  find  that  it 
had  been  lined,  occupied,  and  an  infertile  egg  left  behind. 
(I  have  noticed  this  occurrence  of  an  infertile  egg  in  a 
couple  of  the  late  Whitethroats'  nests,  while  the  brood 
seems  not  five,  but  four,  or  oftener  three).  So  that  now^ 
we  appear  to  have  tlie  same  problems  about  the  Wrens 
as  about  the  Whitethroats.  Is  it  not  strange  that  all  this 
was  not  known  long  ago  about  such  ubi(j nitons  birds  ? 

Garden  Warbler. 
The  numerous  beginnings  of  nests  by  the  Garden  Warbler 
(see  my  note,  September,  1916)  seem  to  me  to  be  similar 
strivings  by  the  male  preparatory  to  the  female's  arrival, 
if  arrive  she  does.  It  would  be  hard  in  the  case  of  the 
Garden  Warbler  to  prove  definitely  no  mate,  but  as  in 
the  other  cases  I  find  he  takes  little  notice  of  me,  keeps 
up  his  singing,  and  makes  no  alarm,  all  of  which  is  totalW 
opposite  to  v/hen  the  female  is  there.  Perhaps  a  prepon- 
dcnrnce  of  males  is  general  among  our  songsters,  and 
accounts  for  the  lengthened  period  of  song  to  which  we 
are  treated. 


19 1 8.  BuRKiTT. — Notes  On  Birds.  145 

Gadwall. 
I  found  on  March  14th  six  males  and  four  females  in 
the  lakes  near  the  seashore  at  Mullaghmore,  south  of 
Donegal  Bay  (see  map  in  Mr.  Workman's  paper  on  the 
Woodcock  in  the  June  /.  Nat.).  It  was  my  first  acquaintance 
with  the  bird,  and  I  was  puzzled  b}^  there  being  no  particle 
of  a  white  wing-spot  on  any  of  the  males  and  only  on  one 
of  the  females.  On  6th  April  there  were  four  of  each  sex 
there  (presumably  the  same  flock)  all  evidently  paired,  but 
only  one  of  the  drakes  showed  the  white  wing-spot  and  only 
one  more  of  the  fem.ales  showed  a  small  spot.  On  May 
3rd  there  were  two  pair — possibly  a  third,  and  all  had 
wing-spots  distinct.  On  the  14th  May  I  saw  none.  This 
absence  of  the  wing-spot  in  both  sexes  at  certain  seasons 
seems  either  unnoticed  by  or  contradictory  to  "  the  books." 
As  there  is  any  amount  of  reeds  and  unwalkable  swamp  at 
one  part  of  the  area  I  had  hoped  they  were  going  to  breed  ; 
though  I  had  never  seen  them  near  the  reed  area,  but 
feeding  in  open  shallows  or  asleep. 

Widgeon. 
At  the  same  place  on  May  22nd  I  was  surprised  to 
see  a  male  Widgeon  feeding  with  Shoveller  and  Mallard 
drakes,  whose  mates  would  be  nesting  in  the  vicinit}'.  It 
was  not  a  winged  bird,  and  a  mate  might  be  suspected  ; 
but  for  a  casual  visitor  to  attempt  to  seek  for  her  would 
have  been  futile.  When  he  was  disturbed  he  seemed  to  fly 
to  the  hedge  area  and  was  not  visible  in  the  open.  The 
keeper,  Mr.  Bracken,  told  me  that  a  young  Widgeon  had 
been  shot  in  August  a  couple  of  years  ago.  The  place  is 
full  of  Widgeon  in  the  winter.  For  several  days  in  August, 
but  not  after  the  i^th,  I  saw  what  was  probably  the  same 
Widgeon.  In  plumage  it  was  then  distinguishable  at  a 
distance  on  the  water  mainly  b}^  the  white  shoulder  strip 
and  glimpses  of  the  white  lower  breast,  and  in  flight  by 
the  white  splash  on  the  wings. 

POCHAPJD. 

On  i6th  August  I  saw  at  the  same  place  one  Pochard. 
During  the  remainder  of  August  I  could  detect  neither  the 
Widgeon  nor  the  Pochard,  nor  even  any  sign  of  comrades. 
Therefore  such  instances  may  only  mean  non-breeding  birds. 


146  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct. -Nov , 

Long-tailed  Duck. 

I  saw  a  pair  apparently  in  full  plumage  on  14th  March. 
They  were  in  what  is,  I  believe,  their  usual  place — just 
outside  the  surf.  T  mention  it  because  its  Irish  visits 
seem  to  be  irregular  and  seldom  in  the  spring. 

White-fronted  Goose. 

These  birds  •  seem  commonly  grazing  at  Mullaghmore 
and  if  risen  from  one  spot  fly  to  another.  There  were 
three  on  the  14th  May  and  the  keeper  says  the  20th  is  his 
latest  observation.  These  correspond  to  the  ver}^  latest 
cases  heard  of  by  Mr.  Ussher. 

Brent  Goose. 

On  3rd  May  one  of  these  birds  grazing  in  the  open  let 
me  get  within  44  yards. 

White  Wagtail. 

On  3rd  May  I  saw  three  birds  at  this  place,  very  tame  ; 
two  of  which  seemed  paired.  On  the  14th  I  saw  one  male 
near  the  same  spot.  With  the  usual  perversity,  the  bird 
disappeared  at  the  only  moment  I  took  my  glasses  off  it. 
I  therefore  dare  not  suggest  breeding. 

Dunlin  and  Turnstone  flocking  with  Golden  Plover. 

Ussher  mentions  "  an  instance  "  of  Dunlin  flying  with 
Golden  Plover.  At  this  place  I  have  often  seen  the  Dunlin 
with  them,  as  regular  companions  and  disappearing  with 
them  into  the  clouds.  I  saw  Turnstone  as  similar 
companions,  and  though  not  feeding  when  on  the  grass, 
thev  came  and  went  with  the  Plover.  The  Dunlin  is  the 
only  bird  I  know  which  will  place  its  nest  on  ground  so 
frequently  flooded  that  the  grass  is  quite  short  and  much 
discoloured. 

OUAIL. 

I  find  that  last  year  in  the  south  ol  this  county  in  a 
district  of  much  low-lying  meadow  land  and  cut-awa}^  bog 
Quails  came  in  great  numbers  and  could  be  heard  everywhere. 
The  rote  was  heard  a  couple  of  times  this  year  and  the 
same  about  six  years  ago  ;  otherwise  they  have  not  been 
known  for  thirty  years  when  they  were  often  shot.  I 
have  no  acquaintance  with  the  bird. 


igiS.  BURKITT. — Notes  On  Birds.  147 

Swallow. 

Was  the  Swallow  extraordinary  late  elsewhere  as  here  ? 
Though  I  saw  one  on  the  4th  April  and  another  on  the 
13th,  there  was  no  real  arrival  till  the  last  day  of  April. 
Its  complete  absence  alter  the  Corncrake  and  Cuckoo  had 
come  was   very  remarkable. 

Grasshopper  Warbler. 

I  noted  in  the  /.  NM.  of  October,  19 17,  the  peculiar 
complete  absence  here  in  1917  of  this  bird.  I  have  had 
further  confirmation  in  respect  to  this  county.  Mr.  Moffat 
suggested  to  me  that  as  with  him  it  might  be  disappearing 
from  diminution  of  suitable  habitat.  But  our  disappearance 
was  too  sudden.  I  wish  there  had  been  some  other  notes 
from  Ireland,  because  this  vear  the  bird  is  back  in  full  force. 
This  bird  at  the  arrival  period  niakes  itself  very  evident, 
so  that  to  a  bird-observer  it  can  hardly  be  missed.  At 
that  period  it  sings  freel}^  at  all  hours  of  the  day  as  well 
as  at  night,  and  at  all  kinds  of  places  wiiich  are  not  its 
permanent  abode.  You  next  hear  them  singing  at  suitable 
sites,  but  m}^  experience  is  that  out  of  half  a  dozen  singers 
only  a  couple  seem  to  sta}-,  unless  it  be  that  the  mated 
birds  soon  cease  to  sing.  I  have  often  noticed  that  the 
song  is  kept  up  on  disturbance,  like  the  Sedge  Warbler. 
1  have  watched  the  male  rise  and  sing  out  of  a  very  low  bed 
of  dead  brambles  only  about  eight  yards  by  tw^o,  and  as  I 
went  to  one  end  and  beat  it  with  a  stick  he  crept  and  sang 
at  the  other.  Quick  as  I  ran  from  point  to  point,  he 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  game  and  sang  away,  quite  outlasting 
me. 

With  reference  to  the  exterminating  winter  of  1916-17 
I  have  now  and  again  seen  the  Gold-crest,  but  the  Long- 
tailed  Tit  seems  the  worst  hit.  I  have  only  seen  one  pair 
in  the  past  eighteen  months.  In  reference  to  Mr.  Abbot's 
note  in  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  Ma}^  (supra  p.  79),  I  did 
not  notice  a  single  Fieldfare  last  winter. 

Enniskillen, 


148  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Nov., 

DERC-FERNA  :    THE  CAVE   OF   DUNMORE. 

BY   R.    LLOYD    PRAEGER. 

A  GOOD  many  years  ago — in  1901,  to  be  precise — Prof. 
Haddon,  Prof.  H.  J.  Seymour,  Mr.  J.  N.  Halbert  and  I 
spent  a  December  day  in  exploring  the  Cave  of  Dunmore. 
Our  intention  at  the  time  was  to  make  a  complete  survey, 
including  a  map,  an  account  of  the  cave  fauna,  and  a  report 
on  the  human  remains,  to  the  abundance  of  which  previous 
writers  have  drawn  attention.  With  reference  to  the  last 
item,  Prof.  Haddon  examined  the  remains  which  strew  the 
floor  of  the  cave  in  several  parts,  but  could  come  to  no 
definite  conclusion  regarding  them.  As  to  the  cave  fauna. 
Mr.  Halbert  and  Prof.  Carpenter  have  published  already 
anything  there  was  to  be  said.  An  accurate  map  of  the 
cave  could  not  be  completed  on  one  visit.  There  remains 
an  account  of  the  history  of  the  cave  which  I  wrote  at 
the  time,  and  which,  as  it  has  a  certain  permanent  interest, 
is  printed  here. 

The  Cave  of  Dunmore,  which  lies  six  miles  due  north 
of  the  City  of  Kilkenny,  has  a  literary  history  which  carries 
us  far  behind  the  era  of  scientific  cave-hunting.  In  the 
"  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,"  under  date  A.C.  928,  we 
read  : — 

Godfrey,  grandson  of  Imhar,  with  the  foreigners  of  Ath-Cliath  [Dublin], 
demolished  and  plundered  Dearc  Fearna,  where  one  thousand  persons 
were  killed  in  this  year,  as  is  stated  in  this  quatrain  : — 

Nine  hundred  years  without  sorrow,  twenty-eight  it  has  been  proved, 
Since  Christ  came  to  our  relief,  to  the  plundering  of  Dearc  Fearna. 

And  again,  in  the  ancient  Irish  "  Triads  "  as  edited  and 
translated  b}^  Kuno  Meyer, ^  which  enumerate,  among 
proverbs  and  wise  sayings,  three  of  each  of  the  most 
remarkable  natural  or  artificial  objects  in  Erin,  it  is  stated 
that  the  three  "  dark  places  "  of  Ireland  are  Uam  Chnogba, 
IJam  Slangae,  Derce  Ferna.      We  have  the  authority  of 

1  R.  I.  Academy,  Todd  Lecture  Series,  xiii.,  1906,  p.  4, 


i9i8.       Praeger. — Derc-Ferna:  The  Cave  of  Dimmore.         149 

O'Donovan/  Wilde,^  and  Joyce^  for  identifying  the  Dearc 
Fearna,  or  Cave  of  Alders,  of  the  above  MSS.,  with  what 
is  now  commonly  named  the  Cave  of  Dunmore  ;  it  is 
important  to  note  that  those  who  should  know  best — the 
local  peasantry — still  call  this  cavern  by  its  ancient 
designation — Dearc  Fearna.  An  interesting  reference  to 
the  cave  occurs  in  Broccan's  Poem  in  the  "  Book  of 
Leinster  "  : — Ro  shaltair  for  in  luchthigern  i  ndorus  derci 
Ferna  :    the  full  passage  in  English  reads  as  follows*  : — 

Aithbel,  she  was  a  jewel  of  a  worn  ui,  mother  of  Ercoil,  the  wife  of  Midgna, 
Who  killed  the  ten  Fomorians  in  the  strand  at  Tonn  Chlidna, 
Who  burned  the  seven  wild  men  in  the  glen  at  Sliabh  Eibhlenn, 
Who  scattered  the  black  fleet  against  which  the  men  of  Ireland  failed, 
Who  hunted  the  red  bag  that  drowned  her  in  the  midst  of  the  Barrow, 
Who  trampled  on  the  luchthigern  in  the  door  of  Derc  Ferna.^ 

The  luchthigem,  "  lord  of  the  mice  "  which  this  formidable 
person  treated  so  badly  was  a  gigantic  cat  that  lived  in 
the  Cave  of  Dunmore,  and  of  whose  prowess  wonderful  tales 
are  told  ;  a  Sabre-toothed  Tiger  could  scarcely  have  been 
more  terrible. 

From  these  references  belonging  to  the  period  of  tradition 
we  pass  somewhat  abruptly  to  those  of  the  period  of 
scientific  observation.  In  the  year  1709,  Dr.  Thomas 
Molyneux,  well  known  in  connection  with  his  discourse 
on  the  "  Irish  Elk,"  visited  the  cave,  and  his  picturesque 
description,  as  preserved  in  his  journal,  was  long  afterwards 
given  to  the  world  by  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society 
(11).  Dr.  Molyneux  was  much  struck  with  the 
"  dreadfull  Romantick  appearance  "  of  the  entrance  ;  and 
well  describes  how  "  from  the  top  the  water  distilling  in  a 
1,000  places,  and  trickling  down  the  sides,  was  petrified,  so 
that  the  inside  of  ye  Cave  is  almost  entirely  covered  with 


1  "  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,"  loc.  cit.  ^  "  Beauties  of  the  Boyne 
and  Blackwater,"  p.  150,  1850.  ^  "  Irish  Names  of  Places,"  2nd  ed. 
I.,  p.  437,  1895. 

^  See  T.  O'N.  Russell  :  Fiov  Chlairseach  na  h'Eireann  :  "  The  True 
Harp  of  Erin,"  pp.  121,  125  ;    1900. 

^  Mr.  Russell  translated  this  "  Cave  of  Ferns  "  ;  but  Dr.  Joyce  informed 
me  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  reference  is  to  the  Cave  of  Dunmore. 

B 


150  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct    Nov., 

this  petrifu'd  substance."  He  mentions  a  colony  of  Rabbits 
ill  tliat  part  of  tlic  cave  which  is  still  called  the  Rabbit 
Burrow  ;  and  describes  the  bottom  of  the  well,  and  the 
adjoining  part  of  the  cave  beyond  the  Rabbit  Burrow,  as 
being  "  full  of  human  bones,  but  especially  the  well,  in 
which  there  are  several  skulls  " — the  first  reference  to  the 
abundant  human  remains  that  so  much  exercise  the  minds 
of  the  later  writers. 

The  next  reference  to  the  cave  which  we  find  is  in  an 
anonymous  pamphlet  entitled  "  A  Tour  through  Ireland, 
in  several  Entertaining  Letters  .  .  .  ."  Dublin,  1746  (17)  ; 
written  as  we  learn  from  the  Advertisement,  by  "  two 
English  gentlemen."  These  visitors  surpass  Dr.  Molyneux 
in  thrilling  description.  The  approach  to  the  cave  is 
guarded  by 

"  a  monstrous  Flight  of  different  Species  of  Birds,  whose  Numbers  darken 
the  Air  as  you  come  near  the  Mouth,  and  their  different  Voices  seemed 
to  tell  us  we  were  going  to  view  something  extraordinary,  .  .  .  When 
you  enter  the  Mouth,  a  sudden  Chilness  seizes  all  parts  of  the  body,  and 
a  Dimness  surrounded  our  lights,  as  if  the  Place  was  filled  with  a  thick 
Fog.  .  .  .  Our  Faces,  through  this  Gloom,  looked  as  if  we  were  a 
Collection  of  Ghosts,  and  the  Lights  in  our  Hands  seemed  as  if  we  were 
making  a  Visit  to  the  infernal  Shades.  .  .  .  The  Shining  of  the 
petrified  water  (for  I  think  we  may  justly  call  it  so)  forms  so  many 
different  Objects,  that  it  is  not  unpleasing  ;  and  by  the  Help  of  a  little 
Imagination,  we  might  make  out  Organ  pipes.  Pillars,  Cilinders,  Pyramids 
inverted,  and  ten  thousand  various  Things  in  Art.  ...  In  several 
Places  were  Skulls  and  human  Bones,  as  it  were  set  in  this  crystalline 
Substance,  .  .  .  We  were  informed,  that  two  miles  from  the  Mouth 
was  a  Well  of  Wonders  ;  but  indeed,  my  Lord,  none  of  us  had  Curiosity 
or  Courage  enough  to  travel  so  far.  ,  .  .  When  we  came  out,  we 
thought  we  had  abandoned  the  Regions  of  the  Dead,  to  draw  the  Air 
of  Paradise.      They  tell  you  many  romantick  Legends  of  this  Cave." 

The  next  visitor  who  recorded  his  impressions  was 
Adam  Walker,  physicist,  lecturer,  and  inventor,  who 
explored  the  cave  in  1771,  and  thought  it  of  sufficient 
interest  to  form  the  subject  of  a  letter  to  Charles  Morton, 
then  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society,  who  had  it  duly 
published  in  the  Philosophical  Trmisactions  (19).  Compared 
to  the  graphic  and  enthusiastic  outbursts  of  previous  writers, 
Mr,  Walker's  account  is  somewhat  wanting  in  imagination, 


igiS.       Praeger. — Derc-Ferna  :  The  Cave  oj  Dunmore.         151 

though  he  rises  to  the  occasion  when  he  speaks  of  the 
spectator  standing  in  the  cave  as  "  in  the  mouth  of  a  huge 
wild  beast,  with  ten  thousand  teeth  above  his  head,  and 
as  many  under  his  feet."  His  suggestion  that  the  statactitic 
deposits  are  formed  by  the  evaporation  of  water  charged 
with  carbonate  of  hme  show  that  we  are  approaching  the 
period  of  unromantic  modern  science.  Colonies  of  Pigeons 
and  Jackdaws  are  mentioned  as  inhabitmg  the  cave,  and 
"  the  bones  of  at  least  a  hundred  of  the  human  race  " 
were  seen  in  the  cavern.  The  fossils  of  the  Carboniferous 
limestone  are  described,  with  the  assurance  that  they  are 
"  real  shells  "  ;  and  with  a  hint  that  he  has  further  notes 
of  the  kind  for  this  "  respectable  Society,"  the  writer 
remains  your  most  obedient  humble  servant. 

An  anonymous  work  entitled  "  A  Trip  to  Kilkenny  from 
Durham  by  way  of  Whitehaven  and  DubHn,  in  the  year 
1776,"  (18)  the  writer  describes  the  cave  merely  from 
hearsay,  and  without  adding  anything  to  our  knowledge. 

Much  less  appreciative  than  Adam  Walker  is  Thomas 
Campbell,  who  published  "  A  Philosophical  Survey  of  the 
South  of  Ireland  "  in  1778  (2).  "  Even  beauties  too  highly 
extolled,  before  you  see  them,  seldom  answer  your  expecta- 
tions. I  will  not,  however,  rank  this  among  beautiful 
objects,  for  to  me  it  had  nothing  to  recommend  it."  He 
began  the  descent  to  the  cave's  mouth,  but  finding  it  "  damp 
and  slippery,"  returned,  and  held  the  horses  while  his 
servant  explored  the  cavern.  "  I  cannot  conceive  that 
the  exhibition  would  rew^ard  the  trouble.  Do  not,  however, 
imagine  that  I  lost  my  day  with  this  bawble." 

William  Tighe,  commissioned  by  the  Dublin  Society  to 
report  on  Co.  Kilkenny  under  their  ''  Statistical  Surveys  " 
scheme  (16)  publishes  his  observations  in  1802,  and  briefly 
describes  the  cavern.  He  gives  the  English,  Irish,  and 
Latin  names  of  the  plants  which  festoon  the  entrance, 
mentions  the  wild  pigeons,  the  human  remains,  stating  that 
some  of  the  skulls  found  were  enveloped  in  calcareous 
spar  ;  he  wonders  that  the  stalagmitic  deposits  are  not 
worked  up  into  ornaments,  and  refers  to  the  occurrence  of 
clay  coloured  by  carbon. 

'The   "  Post  Chaise  Companion,"  3rd.  ed.,  ?   1806  (13) 

b2 


152  ^^*^  Irisli  NafuYalisi.  Oct. -Nov., 

mentions  the  cave,  the  description  being  a  hash-up  of  the 
accounts  of  older  writers,  made  without  acknowledgment 
or  personal  knowledge,  in  true  guide-book  style. 

In  1825  the  Cave  of  Dunmore  makes,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware,  its  first  and  last  appearance  in  fiction.  In  "  Crohoore 
of  the  Billhook,"  by  Michael  Banim  (1),  part-author  of  the 
well-known  Tales  by  the  "  O'Hara  Family,"  Chapter  viii. 
opens  W'ith  a  description  of  the  cavern,  and  closes  with  a 
tragedy  perpetrated  in  its  depths. 

In  the  Dublin  Philosophical  Journal  and  Scientific 
Review  for  February,  1826  (8),  John  Hart,  first  restorer  of 
the  skeleton  of  the  "  Irish  Elk,"  publishes  the  first  accurate 
description  of  the  cave,  with  measurements.  He  found 
abundance  of  human  bones,  but  none  of  any  other  animal — 
not  even  of  the  Rabbits,  which  still  colonize  the  earthy 
floor.  He  points  out  that  the  burying  ground  of  the 
Church  of  Mothel  stands  within  sixty  perches  of  the  entrance, 
and  believes  that  the  human  remains  were  washed  into  the 
cave  from  that  spot. 

Thomas  Kitson  Cromwell,  in  his  anonymous  work 
"  Excursions  through  Ireland,"  vol.  iii.,  1828  (3),  considers 
the  cave  as  "  somewhat  too  greatly  celebrated  "  ;  he  failed 
to  see  all  the  wonders  of  the  "  Post-Chaise  Companion," 
but  mentions  that  the  extent  of  "  this  excavation  "  is  such 
that  there  English  olftcers,  venturing  in  without  guides, 
were  lost  there  for  twenty-four  hours,  till  finally  rescued  by 
their  friends. 

The  Dublin  Penny  Journal,  storehouse  of  local  descrip- 
tion, publishes  in  1832  (12)  the  first  illustration  of  the  cave, 
a  wood-cut  portraying  the  entrance,  with  a  description 
(over  the  signature  "  P  "),  which  is  mainly  a  quotation 
from  "  Crohoore  of  the  Billhook." 

The  next  notice  of  the  cave  will  be  found  in  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Geological  Society  of  Dubhn  for  1848 
(10),  where  the  President,  Robert  Mallet,  discusses  the 
composition  of  the  stalagmites,  pointing  out  the  existence 
in  them  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  the  fact  that  between 
the  layers  fine  bands  of  charcoal  occur. 

On  March  31st,  1854,  Mr.  J.  G.  Robertson  read  a  paper 
on    Dunmore    Cave    before    the    Kilkenny     Literary    and 


igiS.      Prarger- ~D ere- F erna  :  The  Cave  of  Dunmore.       153 

Scientific  Institution  (14),  his  communication  consisting 
mainly  of  notes  made  by  Mr.  William  Robertson,  architect, 
some  years  previously.  The  discussion  on  the  paper  having 
brought  out  the  fact  that  these  notes  referred  only  to  the 
eastern  (southern  or  Market  Cross)  branch  of  the  cave,  the 
northern  or  Rabbit  Burrow  branch,  in  which  the  well 
and  human  bones  are  found,  was  visited  by  Mr.  J.  G. 
Robertson  in  company  with  Rev.  James  Graves,  late  Bishop 
of  Limerick,  and  Mr.  John  G.  A.  Prim,  and  the  results  of 
their  exploration  appear  in  a  supplementary  paper  read 
on  April  28th  (15).  Both  papers  fortunatety  achieved 
publication  by  the  agency  of  the  Natural  History  Review. 
Though  fully  describing  the  cavern,  they  do  not  throw 
much  new  light  on  the  scientific  aspect  of  the  subject  ; 
according  to  the  testimony  of  these  observers,  the  human 
bones  occur  only  in  that  part  of  the  northern  chamber 
which  is  close  to  the  well. 

We  next  come  to  the  most  important  paper  which  has 
been  published  either  on  the  cave  or  on  its  human  remains. 
Dr.  Arthur  W^ynne  Foot  visited  the  spot  on  September 
loth,  1869,  in  company  with  Rev.  James  Graves  and  Mr. 
Peter  Burtchaell,  explored  the  cave,  and  collected  and 
brought  away  a  large  quantity  of  bones,  which,  having 
been  named,  were  duly  deposited  in  the  museum  of  the 
Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society.  His  observations  appear 
in  the  Society's  Journal  for  the  following  3^ear  (4).  After 
giving  an  excellent  review  of  the  literature  of  the  subject, 
with  quotations  from  some  of  the  earlier  writers  of  greater 
length  than  the  exigencies  of  space  allow  me  to  make  here, 
Dr.  Foot  fully  describes  both  branches  of  the  cave.  No 
living  animal  of  any  description  was  observed  of  the  several 
that  have  been  recorded,  from  Rabbits  down  to  Acarinae, 
but  he  recommends  a  thorough  zoological  exploration.  In 
the  following  sentence  he  gives  a  useful  hint  : — "A  very 
small  bo3^  who  accompanied  us  was  of  the  greatest  use,  as 
he  acted  like  an  inverted  chimney  sweep  ;  squeezing  his 
body  through  crevices  impassable  to  others,  he  and  his 
light  could  be  seen  through  the  chinks  of  the  rocky  floor, 
working  away  underneath  us."  Large  quantities  of  human 
bones  were  collected  from  the  soil  about  the   pool,   the 


154  ^^  Irish  Naturalist.  '  Oct.-Nov., 

guides  showing  none  of  the  usual  compunction  in  disturbing 
the  remains,  protesting  that  people  who  could  frequent 
such  a  place  must  have  been  "  worse  nor  haythens  "  ;  113 
bones  were  thus  obtained,  and  carefully  catalogued  in  the 
paper.  Bones  of  pig,  sheep,  lamb,  goat,  cow  and  calf 
were  also  identified,  but  the  fact  that  they  were  all  found 
near  the  entrance,  and  that  immature  bones  were  in  a 
considerable  proportion,  renders  it  probable  that  they 
belonged  to  animals  which  had  wandered  or  fallen  into  the 
cave  in  comparatively  recent  times.  Dr.  Foot  then  enters 
very  fully  into  the  question  of  the  human  remains,  and 
inclines  to  the  view  that  they  are  of  great  antiquity,  probably 
representing  the  massacre  recorded  in  the  "  Annals  of  the 
Four  Masters  "  in  A.D.  928. 

Lastly,  in  1875,  Mr.  Edward  T.  Hardman  of  the 
Geological  Survey  read  a  paper  on  the  cave  before  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy  (6),  in  which  he  records  the  occurrence 
of  further  deposits  of  bones  in  the  cave  ;  this  paper  is  a 
very  valuable  contribution  to  our  knowledge  of  the  cavern. 
The  well-known  bone-bed  is  near  the  well  at  the  extremity 
of  the  "  Rabbit  Burrow  "  ;  the  new  deposits  discovered 
by  Mr.  Hardman  and  lieut.  Smith  are  beside  the  beautiful 
statactitic  pillar  called  the  "  Market  Cross."  In  all  cases 
Mr.  Hardman  finds  that  the  remains  occur  in  layers  of 
silt,  sand,  and  stalagmite  ;  in  the  newly-found  deposit, 
the  human  bones  belonged  largely  to  children  and  infants, 
and  were  mixed  with  those  of  pig,  and  of  sheep  or  goat. 
Mr.  Hardman  believes  that  the  bones  and  the  stratified 
material  in  which  they  occur  were  brought  down  by  water 
from  higher  chambers  of  the  cave,  the  entrances  to  which 
they  now  cover,  and  that  the  bones  are  at  least  as  old  as 
the  Danish  invasion  recorded  by  the  Four  Masters,  perhaps 
much  older.  Mr.  Hardman's  valuable  paper  is  illustrated 
by  a  plate  on  which  appear  a  sketch  of  the  "  Market  Cross," 
and  rough  plan  and  sections  of  the  cave — the  first  and 
last  attempt  at  mapping  it. 

In  the  Geological  Survey's  "  Explanatory  Memoir  on 
the  Geology  of  the  Eeinster  Coal-field"  (7)  published  in 
1881,  Mr.  Hardman  briefly  recapitulates  the  facts  given  in 
his  paper  above-mentioned,   and  adds,   on   a  larger  scale, 


igiS.      Fraeger-  Derc-Ferna  :  The  Cave  of  Dunmore.       155 

the  sketch  of  the   "  Market  Cross  "  pubHshed  therewith. 
This  is  the  last  reference  to  the  cave  in  scientific  hterature. 

The  latest  scientific  explorers  of  the  Cave  of  Dunmore 
were  Prof.  A.  C.  Haddon,  Prof.  H.  J.  Seymour,  Mr.  J.  N. 
Halbert,  and  myself.  We  werTt  to  Kilkenny  on  the  after- 
noon of  December  ist,  1901,  and  devoted  the  next  day  to 
examining  the  cavern.  The  preceding"  week  had  been  one 
of  almost  incessant  rain,  and  we  anticipated  a  very  wet 
and  muddy  task.  To  our  great  surprise,  the  cave  was 
exceedingty  dry  ;  and  in  the  few  places  where  water  was 
dripping,  the  dense  deposit  of  fresh  stalagmite  showed 
that  the  drip  was  perennial. 

The  cave  is  situated  on  elevated  ground  overlooking 
the  Dinin  River,  between  Kilkenny  and  Castlecomer,  on  a 
tongue-shaped  inlier  of  Carboniferous  limestone,  with  Coal- 
measures  all   around.      As  described  by  previous  writers, 
the  entrance  is  not  conspicuous,  and  though  we  knew  we 
were  within  a  couple  of  hundred  yards,  we  found  it  a  saving 
of  time  to  ask  our  way.      The  entrance  is  highly  picturesque. 
The  steep  semi-circular  slope  is  tenanted  by  ancient  Elders, 
beneath  which  is  a  wonderfully  luxuriant  growth  of  Golden 
Saxifrage.      This  half -cone  faces  a  vertical  wall  of  rock 
which  rises  above  the  mouth,  adorned  with  Ivy,  Hawthorn 
and  Hazel.      The  Ivy,  trailing  down  over  the  mouth  in 
long  streamers,  forms  a  green  veil  of  much  beauty  which, 
as  viewed  from  above,  almost  closes  the  entrance.     Around 
the  mouth,  the  rocks  are  draped  with  an  exquisite  growth 
of  Hart's-tongues,  many  being  multifid  and  crested,  and  all 
having  unusually  wavy  margins,  recalling  the  var.  crisp itm. 
Inside  the  entrance,  a  litter  of  twigs  and  wool  showed  that 
the  Jackdaws  referred  to  by  previous  writers  still  hold  their 
ground  ;   but  not  a  bird  was  seen,  and  we  could  not  decide 
whether  the  Rock  Pigeons  also  are  still  there.      The  main 
cave   plunges   straight    down   in   a   uniform   slope   to   its 
extremity,  the  floor  being  formed  of  a  talus  of  unknown 
depth.      On  the  left  near  the  entrance  is  the  wide  recess 
in  which  are  situated  the  steep  and  narrow  entrances  to 
both  the  Rabbit  Burrow  and  Market  Cross  branches.     We 
first  explored  the  Rabbit  Burrow  branch.      A  steep  ascent 
through  a  chimney-like  opening  led  into  a  long  chamber 


156  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Nov., 

of  rectangular  section,  from  which  an  ascent  brought  us 
into  a  \'ery  fine  chamber  with  a  high  dome-shaped  roof 
which  we  named  "  Haddon  Hall."  The  floor  was  formed 
of  great  fallen  blocks,  concealing  the  true  floor  of  the  cavern, 
which  was  probably  ten  or  thirteen  feet  below.  A  steep 
descent  over  stalagmite  succeeded.  On  the  right  hand 
(east)  wall  is  a  handsome  veil  of  stalagmite,  and  over  this 
is  the  entrance  of  an  unexplored  branch  ;  without  a  ladder 
this  could  not  be  reached.  The  descent  leads  to  "  the 
Well  "  mentioned  by  all  the  writers,  and  around  this  the 
remarkably  abundant  human  remains  for  which  the  cave 
has  long  been  famous  have  been  mostly  found.  Beyond, 
the  ground  rises  again  over  stalagmite  and  finally  the  cave 
dwindles  into  a  low  passage  of  wedge-shaped  section,  which 
narrows  vertically  until  roof  and  floor  meet.  At  this  end 
we  commenced  operations,  Mr.  Seymour  and  I  mapping 
the  cave,  and  making  halts  while  he  took  photographs  ; 
Prof.  Haddon  examining  the  human  remains,  and  helping 
I\Ir.  Halbert,  who  diligently  searched  for  cave-animals.  In 
a  hollow  near  the  extremity,  where  the  height  of  the  cave 
was  only  about  three  feet,  we  found  a  quantity  of  human 
bones  ;  this  site  has  not  been  previously  noted.  By  the 
time  we  had  mapped  and  photographed  the  Rabbit  Burrow 
— in  which  no  trace  of  Rabbits,  or  of  their  holes,  is  now 
to  be  seen — and  collected  samples  of  the  stalactites, 
stalagmites,  clay  and  sands,  and  of  the  minute  cave-animals, 
we  were  hot,  dirty  and  hungry,  and  lunch  in  the  main  cave 
was  a  welcome  respite.  We  then  hastened  to  make  a 
rough  examination  of  the  Market  Cross  or  southern  branch. 
This  is  reached  by  a  steep  rough  ascent.  Beyond,  it 
widens  and  the  roof  rises,  till  at  the  extremit}/  it  is  a  noble 
chamber.  The  Market  Cross,  so  often  described,  is  a 
stalagmitic  pillar  of  great  beauty.  The  floor  around  is 
extremely  irregular,  covered  with  huge  blocks  of  rock, 
between  which  one  can  let  oneself  down  to  the  true  floor, 
and  crawl  along  it  underneath  the  superincumbent  chaos 
of  fallen  rocks.  On  this  floor  human  remains  were  to  be 
found  abundantly.  Crevices  in  the  end  wall  of  this  chamber 
open  into  the  lofty  roof  of  the  extremity  of  the  main  cave, 
and  we  could  look  down  sixty  or  seventy  feet  through  the 


igi8.      Praeger. — Derc-Ferna  :  The  Cave  of  Dunnwrc.       157 

dim  green  twilight  to  the  sloping  floor  far  below.  All  too 
soon  our  time  was  exhausted,  and  without  being  able  to 
property  map  this  portion  of  the  cave  we  had  to  leave. 
Photographs  of  the  Market  Cross  were  attempted,  and 
Mr.  Halbert  much  enriched  his  collections  from  the  damp 
floor  around.  Then  we  climbed  the  steep  slope  of  the 
main  chamber  into  the  waning  daylight,  rapidly  descended 
the  hill  to  where  our  car  was  waiting  for  us,  and  at  10  p.m. 
were  once  more  in  Dublin. 


Bibliography. 

1.  Banim  (Michael)  :    Crohoore  of  the  Billhook,  chap.  viii.      1825  (first 

edition). 

2.  [Campbell    (Thomas)]  :     A    Philosophical    Survey   of   the   South   of 

Ireland,  in  a  series  of  letters  to  John  Watkinson,  M.D.  pp.  106-7. 
8vo.     Dublin,   1778. 

3.  [Cromwell  (Thomas)]  :    Excursions  through  Ireland.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  58. 

i2mo.,  London,   1828. 

4.  Foot  (Arthur  Wynne),  M.D.  :    An  account  of  a  visit  to  the  Cave 

of  Dunmore,  with  some  remarks  on  human  remains  found  therein. 
Journ.  Royal  Hist,  and  Arch.  Assoc,  of  Ireland,  4th  ser,,  vol.  i., 
pt.    I,  pp.  65-94.     1870. 

5.  Griffith   (Richard),   F.R.S.  :     [I   have  a  note  that  this  writer  has 

referred  to  the  Cave  of  Dunmore  in  one  of  his  papers,  but  cannot 
find  the  reference.  If  any  reader  can  supply  information  I  shall 
welcome  it]. 

6.  Hardman  (Edward  T.)  :    On  two  new  Deposits  of  human  and  other 

Bones,  discovered  in  the  Cave  of  Dunmore,  Co.  Kilkenny.  Proc. 
R.I. A.,  ser.  2,  vol.  ii.  (Science),  pp.  168-176,  plate  18.      1875. 

7.  Ibid.  :    Explanatory  Memoir  on  the  Geology  of  the  Leinster  Coalfield, 

to  accompany  parts  of  sheets  127,   128,   136,   137,   145,   146,   147, 
155,    156,   and   166  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Ireland     .     . 
pp.   10- II.      8vo,,  Dublin,   1881. 

8.  Hart    (John)  :     Notice    concerning    Human    Bones    found    in    the 

Limestone  Cave  of  Dunmore  Park,  in  the  County  of  Kilkenny, 
Dublin  Phihsophical  Journal  and  Scientific  Review  [vol.  i.l,  No.  3, 
February,  1826,  pp.  88-92. 

g.  Kinahan   (John  Robert)  :    Three  days  among  the  bats    in  Clare. 
Pfoc.  Dublin  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  96  (1859)   i860. 

10.  Mallet  (Robert),  Ph.D.  :  On  some  Stalagmites  from  the  Cave  of 
Dunmore,  County  of  Kilkenny.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  Dublin,  vol.  iii,; 
pp.  262-3  (1848)   1849. 


158  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Nov., 

11.  MoLYNEUX   (Thomas),   M.D.  :    A  Journey  to   Kilkenny  in  the  year 

1709.  From  the  MS.  notes  of  Dr.  Thomas  Molyneux  [MS.  in 
T.C.D,].  Edited  by  Rev.  James  Graves.  Joiirn.  Kilkenny  and 
S.E.  of  I.  Archaeol.  Assoc,  N.S.  iii.,  pp.  296-303.      1860-1. 

12.  P.  :    The  Cave  of  Dunmore.       Dublin  Penny  Journal,  vol.  i,,  pp.  73-4. 

1832. 

13.  The    Post-chaise    Companion  ;     or  Traveller's    Directory   through 

Ireland,  pp.  322-3.       3rd  ed.     Svo.     Dublin  [1806  or  later]. 

14.  Robertson  (J.  G.)  :  Cave  of  Dunmore  [paper  read  before  the  Kilkenny 

Lit.    and    Scient.    Institution,    31st    March,    1854].      Nat.    Hist. 
Review,   vol.   i.,   pp.    169-73.      1854. 

15.  J  bid.  :    The  Cave  of  Dunmore  [suppl.  paper,  read  28th  April,   1854], 

Nat.  Hist.  Review,  vol.  i.,  pp.  174-6.      1854. 

16.  TiGHE   (William)  :    Statistical  Observations  relative  to  the  County 

of  Kilkenny,  made  in  the  years  1800  and  1801,  pp.  107-9.  Svo. 
Dubhn,  1802. 

17.  A  Tour  through  Ireland,  in  several  Entertaining  Letters     .     .     . 

[by  "  two  English  gentlemen  "J.  Part  i,  pp.  192-5.  8vo.  Dublin, 
1746. 

18.  A  Trip  to   Kilkenny  from   Durham  by  way  of  Whitehaven  and 

Dublin,  in  the  year  1776.  [Referred  toby  Eoot  (4)  :  I  have  not 
been  able  to  see  this  in  Dublin]. 

19.  Walker  (Adam)  :    A  letter  to  Charles  Morton,  M.D.,  Sec.  R.  S.,  from 

Mr.  Adam  Walker  ;  containing  an  account  of  the  Cavern  of  Dunmore 
Park,  near  Kilkenny,  in  Ireland.  Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  Ixiii.,  part  i, 
pp.  16-19  (1771)  1773- 

To  the  above  the  three  early  MS.  notices  quoted  on  p.  148-9  must  be 
added  to  make  the  list  of  references  complete,  and  a  lev.^  guide-book 
notices  totally  devoid  of  interest.  Three  vague  references  I  have  not 
succeeded  in  hunting  down  : — Tighe  (16)  says  that  a  notice  of  the  cave 
appeared  in  the  London  Magazine  ;  Hardman  (6)  mentions  that  Rev. 
James  Graves  informed  him  that  Bishop  Berkeley  was  the  earliest  writer 
on  the  cave  ;  and  Richard  Griffith's  reference,  I  have  not  succeeded  in 
finding. 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

ROYAL   ZOOLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 

Recent  gifts  include  a  Vervct  Monkey  from  Lt,  H.  P.  Murphy,  three 
Cavies  and  some  fancy  Mice  from  Mr.  W.  D.  Freeman,  a  Belgian  "  Hare  " 
from  Sir  F.  Shaw,  three  Rabbits  from  Mr.  H.  Hammond,  a  Blue-fronted 
Amazon  Parrot  from  Mr.  G.  MTldowie,  a  Barn-Owl  from  Mrs.  Moran, 
a  Golden  Eagle  from  Mr.  R.  Berkeley,  four  Kestrels  from  Lord  Decies. 
and  a  Glaucous  Gull  from  Mrs.  Wallace.  A  Zebu  Calf  and  two  Lion 
Cubs  (parents  "  Oseni  "  and  "  Sheila  ")  have  been  born  in  the  Gardens, 


igiS,  Irish  Societies.  159 


BELFAST  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

May  18. — Excursion  to  Saintfield, — Under  the  leadership  of  S.  A. 
Bennett,  the  party  visited  the  church  and  then  walked  through  the 
demesne  of  Saintfield  House,  by  permission  of  Mrs.  Blackwood-Price. 
Returning  through  Saintfield  a  quarry  in  the  Silurian  grits  was  visited— 
good  examples  of  shearing  and  slickensides  being  exposed  there.  The 
party  then  proceeded  to  Rowallane,  kindly  thrown  open  by  Mr.  H. 
Armytage  Moore.  The  rock  garden,  just  in  its  prime,  was  a  blaze  of 
colour.  In  addition  to  the  plants  in  the  rock  garden  there  were  many 
other  species  of  interest  to  botanists,  the  Rhododendrons  being  particularly 
tine.  The  party  was  unusually  large,  122  members  and  friends  gathering 
at  Rowallane  where  tea  was  served.  A  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Armytage-Moore  terminated  the  usual  business  meeting  at  which  six 
new  members  were  elected.  The  only  wild  plant  seen  of  note  was  the 
Adder's  Tongue,  Ophioglossitm  vulgatiim. 

June  i. — Excursion  to  the  Giant's  Ring.— Fifty-four  members 
and  friends  met  the  conductor  (W.  B.  Burrowes)  at  Malone  tram  terminus 
and  walked  to  the  Giant's  Ring.  Mr.  Burrowes  explained  to  the  party 
the  recent  research  work  carried  out  under  the  auspices  of  the  Belfast 
Natural  History  and  Philosophical  Society  at  this  important  monument. 
A  further  walk  of  two  miles  brought  the  party  to  Drurabo,  in  the  grave- 
yard of  which  the  ruins  of  a  round  lower  remain.  Mr.  R.  May  described 
the  origin  and  uses  of  these  early  Christian  bell-houses.  After  tea  the 
usual  business  meeting  of  the  Club  was  held,  the  President  (A.  MT. 
Cleland)  in  the  chair.      Two  new  members  were  elected. 

The  botanists  found  Drumbo  Glen  interesting — Melica  itniflora  and 
Polystichmn  aculeatmn  being  noted  ;  also  a  fine  plant  of  Vicia  sepimn 
with  pure  white  flowers.  Ulex  Gallii  was  observed  growing  in  a  hedge 
on  the  road  coming  from  Farrell's  Fort. 

June  15. — Excursion  to  Muckamore. — About  twenty  members  and 
friends  travelled  by  the  2  p.m.  train  to  Muckamore.  A  walk  of  about 
two  miles  brought  the  party  to  Muckamore  Abbey,  where,  by  the  kind 
permission  of  Captain  Thompson,  the  party  visited  the  historic  grounds. 
Muckamore  House  occupies  the  site  of  the  ancient  priory.  A  small 
portion  of  the  ruins  of  the  Abbey  are  still  standing  outside  the  garden 
wall.  Muckamore,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  monasteries  in  the  diocese 
of  Connor,  was  founded  by  St.  Colman  Ela,  late  in  the  sixth  century. 
His  mother  was  a  sister  of  St.  Columbkille.  Mr.  R.  May  then  gave  a 
short  historical  account  of  the  Abbey.  The  party,  by  the  kind  permission 
of  Major  Maxwell,  also  visited  the  grounds  of  the  Model  Farm. 

June  29. — Excursion  to  Comber  and  Rough  Island. — The  party 
of  about  twenty-four  members  arrived  at  Comber  at  2.20  p.m.,  and, 
under  the  conductorship  of  the  Rev.  K.  Dunbar,  proceeded  to  the  Comber 
River  and  to  the  shore  half  a  mile  from  Island  Hill.  The  estuarine  marsh 
afforded  a  good  field  for  the  botanists.  Among  the  plants  noted  wer 
Spergularia    mpestris,    Apiimi    gvaveolens,    Samolus    Valevandi,    Suaeda 


i6o  The  IrisJi  Naturalist.  Oct. -Nov., 

viaritima,  Polygonum  maculaium,  and  Salicornia  herbacea.  The  weather 
during  the  afternoon  was  perfect.  On  the  shore  near  Castle  Espic  a 
Hock  of  over  thirty  swans  was  seen.  N.  H.  Foster  reported  a  bird  hst 
of  thirty-one  species.  The  most  interesting  ornithological  feature  was 
the  observation  of  the  Stonechat  (one  female  seen),  as  the  severe  winter 
of  1916-17  had  exterminated  this  species  in  some  districts  in  Ireland 
[vide  Irish  Naturalist,  vol.  xxvi.].  The  four  common  species  of  woodlice 
were  found  Tea  was  served  in  a  field  at  Island  Hill  at  4.30.  Owing  to 
the  tide  being  full  it  was  found  impossible  to  visit  Rough  Island.  Those 
of  the  party  who  remained  till  the  late  train  had  an  enjoyable  walk  back 
to  Comber  by  way  of  the  fields  through  Cherryvalley. 

July  27. — Excursion  to  Raughlan. — Under  the  conductorship  of 
S.  'Si.  Macoun  the  members  travelled  by  the  lo.o  o'clock  train  to  Lurgan 
and  drove  to  Raughlan,  where  the  day  was  spent  on  the  shore  of  Lough 
Neagh.  Before  leaving  Raughlan  the  President,  A.  McI.  Cleland,  thanked 
Miss  Forde  for  permission  to  visit  the  demesne,  after  which  the  party 
drove  back  to  Lurgan.  After  tea  two  members  were  elected.  Several 
of  the  rarer  or  local  species  of  plants  were  noted,  but  the  most  interesting 
botanical  find  fell  to  the  conductor,  who  first  detected  Spiranthes  Romanz- 
offiana  growing  in  a  dry  meadow  close  to  the  shore.  Collections  of 
invertebrates  were  made  in  several  groups  which,  when  worked  out,  will 
be  published  in  the  Club's  Proceedings. 

August  10. — Excursion  to  Banks  of  the  Lagan  from  Shaw's  Bridge 
to  Drumbeg.  A  party  of  thirty  members  met,  and  as  the  district  is  one 
peculiarly  rich  in  plant  life  the  botanists  were  soon  hard  at  work,  the 
following  among  other  plants  being  noted  : — Ceterach  officinarum,  Hyperi- 
cum quadrangulum,  Butomus  ztmbellatus,  Lycopus  europaeus.  Nasturtium 
amphibium,  Lycium  barbarum  and  Equisetum  hyemale.  On  reaching 
Drumbeg  tea  was  served  in  the  Parochial  Hall.  From  the  church  the 
members  proceeded  to  view  the  grounds  of  Drum  House,  which  had  been 
very  courteously  thrown  open  by  the  owner.  Sir  Samuel  R.  Keightley. 
Here  the  party  separated,  some  returning  to  town  by  the  road,  some  by 
the  river. 


DUBLIN  NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUB. 

June  i. — Excursion  to  Killiney  Bay. — Eighteen  members  and 
visitors  took  part,  the  interest  being  mainly  geological.  From  Dalkcy 
at  2.30  p.m.  the  party  walked  via  Coliemore  and  Sorrento  to  the  junction 
of  the  Ordovician  slates  with  the  Leinster  granite  on  the  sea-shore,  when 
the  President  (J.  de  W.  Hinch),  who  acted  as  conductor,  gave  an  account 
of  the  metamorphism  produced  in  sedimentary  rocks  of  the  local  Ordo- 
vician slates  by  the  injection  of  the  molten  igneous  granite.  The  mica- 
schist  of  the  district,  with  its  characteristic  minerals,  andalusite  and 
chiastolite,  was  then  examined,  and  from  the  adjoining  granite  specimens 


igiS.  Irish  Societies.  i6i 

of  plumose  mica  were  obtained.  A  short  account  of  the  Glacial  deposits 
as  developed  at  the  northern  end  of  Killiney  was  also  given.  At  a  short 
business  meeting,  the  President  in  the  chair,  INIrs.  Colles  JNIoore  and  Miss 
Emma  Barton  were  elected  members  of  the  Club.  After  tea  many  members 
wandered  along  the  shore  as  the  weather  was  brilliantly  fine,  and  did  not 
return  to  town  until  late  in  the  evening. 

June  29, — Excursion  to  Portrane. — The  members  left  Amiens  Street 
by  the  1.50  p.m.  train,  twenty-two  taking  part  in  the  visit,  many  no  doubt 
attracted  by  the  brilliant  sunshine  of  the  day.  Owing  to  the  much- 
regretted  indisposition  of  Mr.  N.  Colgan,  who  was  to  have  been  the  con- 
ductor, the  leadership  of  the  excursion  devolved  upon  the  President 
(J.  de  W.  Hinch)  and  the  Hon.  Secretary  (Mrs.  Long).  At  Donabate  the 
lane  and  field  track  to  Balcarrick  and  the  Island  were  taken,  and  here  the 
party  was  joined  by  Mr.  Launcelot  Smith,  of  Beaverstown  House,  Dona- 
bate, whose  very  extensive  knowledge  of  the  geology  of  the  peninsula 
made  him  virtual  conductor  during  the  remainder  of  the  afternoon.  When 
the  shore  had  been  reached  near  Balcarrick,  a  section  of  the  excursion 
turned  northwards  to  obtain  specimens  of  the  famous  Lambay  porphyry, 
while  the  remainder  of  the  party  scattered  over  the  Island  studying  the 
sand-dune  flora  so  well  developed  there.  Near  Corballis  at  5  o'clock,  tea 
was  made  by  members  carrying  from  town  most  of  their  own  supplies. 
The  party  then  walked  along  the  northern  shore  of  Malahide  Creek,  and 
had  the  opportunity  of  examining  the  excellent  sections  of  Boulder-clay 
exposed  here.  From  these  sections  the  President  obtained  a  number  of 
shell-fragments  and  northern  erratics  (chalk,  flints,  granites).  At  Cor- 
ballis House  a  field  track  brought  the  party  back  to  Donabate,  where  the 
6.19  p.m.  train  was  taken  to  Dublin  after  a  most  enjoyable  and  profitable 
afternoon. 

July  13. — Excursion  to  Hollybrook  Demesne,  Bray. — Under  very 
favourable  weather  conditions  twenty  members  and  visitors  took  part  in 
this  outing.  Leaving  Harcourt  Street  by  the  12.35  train  for  Bray,  the 
party  proceeded  along  the  Glen  of  the  Downs  road  to  the  near  gate  of 
Hollywood,  a  well-wooded  demesne  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  Little 
Sugar-loaf,  belonging  to  Sir  Robert  Hodson,  Bart.,  who  had  kindly  given 
permission  to  see  all  parts  of  the  grounds.  Here  Prof.  Henry,  M.A.,  F.L.S., 
acting  as  conductor,  pointed  out  many  remarkable  trees,  including  some 
splendid  and  very  old  beech,  silver  fir,  spruce,  and  Scots  pine,  the  latter 
of  unusual  beauty  and  dimensions.  Many  comparatively  rare  conifers 
were  represented  by  fine  specimens  as  Deodar,  Cttpvessus  sempervirens, 
C.  iondosa  and  C.  funehris,  Cryptomeria  japonica,  Tsuga  A  Ibertiana  and 
Pinus  Pinea.  Some  curious  old  yews  and  evergreen  oaks  were  noted  and 
a  grafted  specimen  of  the  Madeira  Holly  was  worthy  of  inspection.  A 
natural  birch  wood,  which  sprang  up  in  a  clearing  made  by  the  storm  of 
1903,  presented  many  features  of  interest.  Leaving  Hollybrook,  the 
party  proceeded  to  Kilmacanogue,  where  tea  was  taken,  after  which 
a  small  party  under  the  guidance  of  the  President  (J.  de  W.  Hinch), 
walked  up  the  Rocky  Valley  to  Killough. 


i62  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct.-Nov., 


OBITUARY. 

ALICE     SCHARFF. 

With  deep  regret  we  announce  to  our  readers  the  death  of  Mrs.  R. 
F.  Scharff,  which  took  place  on  August  15th,  after  a  very  short  illness. 
The  younger  daughter  of  the  late  L.  O.  Hutton,  she  was  married  to  Dr. 
Scharff  in  1889,  and  devoted  herself  zealously  to  helping  his  zoological 
studies  both  as  collector  and  writer.  She  shared  particularly  his  keen 
interest  in  the  Irish  Naturalist,  and  rendered  no  small  service  to  the 
Magazine  by  compiling  the  twenty-five  years'  autho-rindex  that  formed 
the  concluding  number  of  the  volume  for  1916. 


ARTHUR  B.   E.  H1LLA5. 

The  scientific  institutions  of  Ireland  have  suffered  yet  a  further  loss 
in  the  death  of  A.  B.  E.  Hillis,  Junior  Inspector  of  Fisheries,  who  received 
a  commission  in  the  Gordon  Highlanders  early  in  the  war,  and  had  risen 
to  the  rank  of  Captain.  He  proved  himself  an  exceptionally  capable 
officer  :  "a  splendid  soldier  keenly  interested  in  the  welfare  of  his  men," 
was  the  testimony  of  his  colonel.  He  was  reported  "  wounded  and 
missing  "  on  the  western  front  in  April,  1917,  but  not  till  the  spring  of 
this  year  was  it  certified  that  he  had  given  his  life.  Born  in  Co.  Sligo 
in  1876,  Hillas  was  educated  at  St.  Columba's,  the  High  School,  and 
Trinity  College,  where  he  took  a  Senior  Moderatorship  in  189S.  Two 
years  later  he  joined  the  scientific  staff  of  the  Irish  Fisheries  Office,  where, 
imtil  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  191 4,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the 
observational  and  experimental  work  on  the  life-history  and  migration 
of  food-fishes,  devising  a  new  method  of  marking  Salmon  smolts.  The 
results  of  this  work  and  also  a  series  of  Eel-fry  records  made  by  him 
were  published  in  the  Scientific  Investigations  of  the  Irish  Fisheries  Office. 


NOTES. 

W.  H.  Harvey  and  Charles   Darwin. 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  "  Origin  of  Species  "  Prof.  Harvey 
read  before  the  Dublin  University  Zoological  and  Botanical  Association 
(on  17th  February,  i860)  a  paper  entitled  "  AJGuess  at  the  Probable  Origin 
of  the  Human  Animal  considered  by  the  light  of  Mr.  Darwin's  Theory  of 
Natural  Selection,  and  in  opposition  to  Lamarck's  notion  for  a  Monkey 
Parentage,"  which  was  subsequently  printed  for  private  circulaticn  under 
a  slightly  emended  title.  In  this  he  expresses  disbelief  in  the  efficacy 
of  natural  selection  in  the  production  of  species,  and  indeed  gently  ridi- 
cules the  whole  theory,     Darwin  seemed  disappointed  that  a  man  of  Har- 


i9i8.  Notes.  163 

vey's  eminence  should  not  at  least  have  thought  his  arguments  worthy 
of  serious  treatment,  and  wrote  to  J.  D.  Hooker,  "  I  was  not  sorry  for 
a  natural  opportunity  of  writing  to  Harvey,  just  to  show  that  I  was  not 
piqued  at  his  turning  me  and  my  book  into  ridicule,  not  that  I  think  it 
was  a  proceeding  which  I  deserved,  or  worthy  of  him." — ("  Life  and 
Letters  of  C.  Darwin,"  ii.,  314). 

Among  some  pamphlets  from  the  library  of  Omeath  House  recently 
acquired  by  the  National  Library  of  Ireland  there  is  a  copy  of  this 
pamphlet,  no  doubt  sent  by  the  author  to  Mr.  J.  O.  Woodhouse  ;  in  it  is 
the  inscription — "  This  is  rubbish — merely  got  up  to  amuse  an  evening 
meeting  of  a  private  Society. — W.  H.  H."  It  is  worth  nothing,  then, 
that  our  eminent  Irish  botanist  did  not  in  any  way  intend  his  brochure  to 
be  taken  serious'y,  as  Darwin  seemed  inclined  to  do.  Possibly  Harvey 
regretted  having  written  his  essay  at  all,  for  we  gather  from  an  editorial 
note  in  Darwin's  "  Life  and  Letters  "  that  the  copy  sent  to  the  author 
of  the  "  Origin  of  Species  "  was  inscribed  "  With  the  writer's  repentance, 
Oct.,  i860." 


R.  Lloyd  Praeger. 


DubHn. 


BOTANY. 

Spiranthes  Romanzoffiana  in  Co.  Armagh. 

At  a  recent  B.  N.  F,  C.  excursion  Spiranthes  Romanzoffiana  was  found 
at  Raughlan,  on  the  Co.  Armagh  shore  of  Lough  Neagh.  On  this  pro- 
montory the  plant  did  not  appear  to  be  plentiful,  as  careful  search  in  the 
shore  meadows  only  yielded  two  plants,  the  first  of  which  was  found  by 
Mr.  S.  M.  Macoun.  Some  time  ago  Mr.  N.  Carrothers  traced  this  plant 
growing  practically  all  the  way  between  Ellis's  Cut  and  Kinnagoe,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  two  miles,  and  in  some  of  the  meadows  in  large  numbers. 
This  was  recorded  by  Mr.  Praeger  {vide  vol.  xxii.,  p.  179).  The  Raughlan 
station  is  some  i|  miles  west  of  Kinnagoe,  and  from  thence  to  the  Co. 
Tyrone  boundary  there  are  some  twelve  miles  of  shore  line  which  should 
repay  investigation. 

Nevin  H.  Foster. 

Hillsborough,  Co.  Down, 

Sir  Frederick  Moore  sent  me  last  August  a  specimen  of  this  plant  collec- 
ted in  the  cut-away  bog  at  Brackagh  by  Mr.  John  S.  W.  Richardson. 
This  is  my  original  station  for  the  plant  (/.  AT.,  ii.,  159),  which  at  the  time 
it  seemed  better  not  to  publish.     Mr.  Richardson  saw  six  plants. 

R.  Lloyd  Praeger. 
Dublin. 


164  The  Irish  Naturalist.  Oct. -Nov.,    191 8 


Galium  sylvestre  in  Co.   Antrim. 

In  tlie  Irish  Naluralist,  \()1.  xvi.,  p.  ;^zz,  the  late  Mr.  J.  H.  Davics 
notified  that  there  was  in  the  National  Herbarium  a  specimen  labelled 
thus,  in  Dr.  Moore's  handwriting — "  G.  pusillum  {^=G.  sylvestre].  Rare, 
observed  near  Fairhead  and  on  Lurigedan  Mountain,  near  Cushendall, 
July,  1836."  The  above  Galium  was  excluded  from  Stewart  and  Corry's 
"  Flora  of  the  N.E.  Ireland  "  {vide  page  295).  On  the  24th  June,  of  this 
year,  I  gathered  on  Lurigedan  specimens  of  a  Galium  which  I  took  to  be 
sylvestre.  The  plants  were  submitted  to  i\Ir.  N.  Colgan,  who  wrote  in 
reply  as  follows  : — "  I  have  examined  the  Lurigedan  Galium  .  .  .  and 
have  little  hesitation  in  accepting  it  as  good  Galium  sylvestre,  Poll.  .  .  . 
On  the  faith  of  the  specimens,  which  I  now  return  you,  I  am  satisfied  to 
restore  G.  sylvestre  to  the  Flora  of  N.E.  Ireland."  Later  I  found  Galium 
sylvestre  at  Ardclinis,  fide  Miss  Knowles. 


W.  R.  Megaw. 


Ahoghill. 


ZOOLOGY. 

Whales  and  Dolphins  Stranded  in  Ireland. 

Reference  was  made  to  Dr.  Harmer's  reports  on  the  Cetacea  stranded 
on  the  coasts  of  the  British  Islands  "in  the  years  1915  and  1916  in  the 
Irish  Naturalist  of  July,  191 7.  Another  report  has  just  been  issued  b}^ 
Dr.  Harmer  published  as  before  by  the  British  Museum,  on  the  Whales 
and  allied  creatures  which  have  been  cast  ashore  during  last  year.  Most 
of  the  localities  given  are  in  England  or  Scotland.  A  few  of  them  are 
in  Ireland  : — 

Porpoise  [Phocaena  phocena),  Sheephaven,  Co.  Donegal,  March  20. 

White-beaked  Dolphin  {Lagenorhynchns  albirostris),  Sheephaven, 
Co.  Donegal,  March  23. 

Rorqual  {BaJaenoptera  sp.l),  Rinvyle,  Co.  Galway,  March  26. 

Cuvier's    Whale    {Ziphius     cavirostris) ,    Liscannor,    Co.    Clare, 
June  9. 

Lesser   Rorqual   [Balaenoptera   acutorostrata),   Schull,   Co.   Cork, 
September  22. 

Bottle-nosed  Whale   {Hyperoodon  rostratiis),   Schull,   Co.   Cork, 
September  20. 

In  a  note  headed  "  errata  "  Dr.  Harmer  again  alludes  to  a  supposed 
specimen  of  Rudolphi's  Rorqual  [Balaenoptera  horealis)  which  was  reported 
to  have  been  stranded  at  Derrynane,  Co.  Kerry,  on  the  28th  February, 
1914.  He  has  since  come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  whale  was  more 
probably  a  Common  Rorqual. 


December,  191 8,  The  Irish  Naturalist.  165 

ON    THE    REPRODUCTION    OF    THE    COMMON 
GARDEN   SNAIL,   HELIX  ASPERSA. 

BY   NATHANIEL   COLGAN,    M.R.I. A. 

There  is  in  existence  a  considerable  body  of  literature 
dealing  with  the  life-history  and  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  Common  Garden  Snail  {Helix  aspersa),  that  air- 
breathing  or  pulmonate  mollusc  so  well  known  to  and  so 
little  respected  by  the  horticulturist.  The  animal  thrives  in 
my  garden  in  spite  of  persistent  discouragement,  and  this 
summer  I  found  it  to  be  uncommonly  active  in  providing 
for  the  future  supply  of  the  species.  In  the  course  of  a  single 
day's  gardening  I  came  across  no  less  than  ten  individuals 
half  buried  in  the  soil  and  laying  those  clusters  of  pearly 
eggs  so  familiar  to  us  all  as  common  objects  of  the  flower 
bed.  As  one  of  these  ten  had  only  begun  egg-laying,  the 
cluster  having  but  five  eggs,  I  was  tempted  to  make  some 
observations  on  the  life  history  of  the  species  in  the  hope 
of  adding  something  new  to  the  lore  of  a  somewhat  thread- 
bare subject. 

Selecting  for  the  purpose  the  snail  which  had  already 
laid  five  eggs,  I  lifted  it  from  its  burrow  at  5  p.m.  on  the 
27th  June  last,  and  taking  it  indoors  placed  it  on  a  bed  of 
potting  mould  in  a  glass  petrie-dish,  two  inches  in  diameter 
and  one  and  a  half  inch  in  depth,  covering  the  animal  with 
an  inch  of  mould.  On  examining  the  dish  at  i  p.m.  on  the 
following  day  the  number  of  eggs  was  found  to  be  74,  so 
that  69  had  been  laid  in  the  course  of  20  hours.  Placing 
the  snail  on  the  surface  of  the  mould,  I  was  able  to  watch 
the  process  of  egg-laying,  which  continued  up  to  3  p.m., 
within  which  period  9  additional  eggs  were  laid,  bringing 
the  total  up  to  83.  The  time  taken  for  extrusion,  from  the 
first  appearance  of  the  egg  at  the  orifice  beneath  the  right 
upper  tentacle  until  it  had  been  passed  downward  to  the 
sole  of  the  foot,  there  to  be  cemented  by  mucus  to  the  eggs 
previously  laid,  varied  from  30  seconds  to  a  minute.  A 
few  of  the  eggs  just  laid  were  removed  for  examination, 
and  the  remainder,  about  75  in  number,  were  buried  in  the 


l66  The  Irish  Naturalist.  December, 

mould  in  the  petrie-dish,  which  was  covered  by  its  glass 
cap  and  laid  aside  in  a  desk  to  await  developments. 

The  eggs  varied  slightly  in  form  and  size.  The  majority 
were  globular,  with  a  diameter  of  4*5  mm.  ;  a  few  were 
ellipsoidal,  with  a  longer  axis  of  5-5  mm.,  or,  say,  one-fourth 
of  an  inch.  An  outer  filmy  skin  enclosed  a  dense  layer  of 
what  appeared  to  be  minute,  white  granules,  the  two 
forming  a  tenacious  coat  which  enclosed  a  second  filmy 
skin  containing  the  colourless,  glairy,  albuminous  matter 
destined  for  the  nutriment  of  the  embryo.  Under  a  one-sixth 
inch  objective  the  white  granular  coating  was  resolved  into 
a  dense  layer  of  transparent  crystals  of  the  form  known  as 
rhombohedrons,  these  crystals  being  free  or  aggregated  into 
small  groups.  In  dilute  nitric  acid  this  crystal  coating 
dissolved  with  brisk  effervescence,  leaving  behind  the 
structureless,  filmy  outer  skin.  The  crystals  were  apparently 
carbonate  of  lime,  and  their  presence  suggested  that  they 
might  be  destined  to  furnish  material  for  the  shell  of  the 
young  snail  before  it  broke  loose  from  the  Qgg.  This  sug-, 
gestion  was  strengthened  by  examination  of  a  number  of 
eggs  just  after  the  young  snails,  provided  with  a  well-formed 
spiral  shell,  had  been  hatched  out.  In  all  cases  the  thick 
opaque  coating  of  crystals  was  found  to  have  disappeared 
from  the  outer  envelope  of  the  egg,  leaving  behind  a  filmy 
skin,  dotted  here  and  there  with  scattered  crystals.  Many  of 
the  still  sharp-edged  crystals  were  found  embedded  in  the 
remnants  of  the  albumen  carried  off  by  the  young  snail 
attached  to  its  foot,  many  more  were  seen  lying  inside  of 
the  snail-shell  against  the  animal's  body,  and  a  stiU  larger 
number,  much  reduced  in  size  and  with  blunt  or  rounded 
edges,  appeared  in  both  positions.  Intermediate  steps  in 
this  process  of  translation  of  the  crystals  from  the  outer 
coating  of  the  egg  could  be  traced  on  examination  of  juveniles 
towards  the  end  of  the  incubation  period,  so  that  the  process 
progressed  pari  passu  with  the  later  stages  of  growth  of  the 
young  snail-shell.  Treated  with  dilute  nitric  acid,  these 
young  shells  gave  a  brisk  effervescence,  while  the  enclosed 
animal  similarly  treated  gave  no  reaction. 

At  this  stage  of  the  inquiry  a  more  diligent  search  through 
the  scattered  literature  of  the  subject  showed  me  that  a 


i9i8.       CoLGAN. — Reproduction  of  the  Common  Snail.  167 

French  investigator,  M.  P.  J.  F.  Turpin,  had  forestalled 
me  by  eighty-seven  years  in  the  discovery  of  the  carbonate 
of  lime  crystals  in  the  egg-shell  of  the  garden  snail.  His 
paper,  illustrated  by  excellent  figures,  was  read  before  the 
French  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  in  1831  and  published 
the  following  year  in  the  Annales  des  Sciences  Naturelles.^ 
In  all  points  but  one,  and  that  not  the  least  interesting, 
M.  Turpin's  observations  and  conclusions  agree  with 
those  just  detailed.  This  disagreement  occurs  on  page 
448,  where  he  poses  the  question  whether  the  crystals  in 
the  outer  envelope  of  the  egg  are  designed  to  serve  in  the 
formation  of  the  young  snail-shell,  a  question,  which,  he 
tells  us,  he  would  have  been  almost  ashamed  to  ask  had  it 
not  been  addressed  to  him  by  several  zoologists.  He  answers 
with  a  decided  negative,  asserting  that  these  crystals  are 
no  more  destined  to  form  the  shell  of  the  young  snail  than 
the  shell  of  the  bird's  egg  is  destined  to  form  the  bird's 
bones.  This  opinion  he  bases  partly  on  analogy  and  partly 
on  insufficient  or  erroneous  observation  ;  for  he  states  that 
the  crystals  are  always  found  investing  the  shell  of  the 
snail's  egg  after  the  animal  has  been  hatched.  As  has  just 
been  shown  here,  this  statement  is  at  variance  with  fact, 
in  so  far,  at  all  events,  as  Irish  eggs  are  concerned.  The 
gradual  disappearance  from  the  outer  egg-envelope  of  the 
carbonate  of  lime  crystals  pari  passu  with  the  growth  of 
the  shell  formed  of  the  same  substance  in  a  non-crystalline 
state,  seems  to  point  to  the  formation  of  the  shell  from  the 
crystals  by  the  action  of  those  vital  processes  of  which  we 
have  still  so  much  to  learn.  In  spite,  then,  of  M.  Turpin's 
opinion,  it  is  open  to  us  to  maintain  that  a  portion  of  the 
crystals  detached  from  the  outer  coating  of  the  egg  is  dis- 
solved and  utilized  as  shell  material  by  the  still  unhatched 
animal. 

1  Ann,  Sci.  Nat.,  vol.  xxv.,  pp.  426-453 — "  Analyse  microscopique 
de  I'oeuf  du  Limacon  des  Jardins  {Helix  aspersa  Linn.)  et  d  s  nombreux 
Cristaux  rhomboedres  de  carbonate  de  chaux  qui  se  forment  a  la  paroi 
interieure  de  I'enveloppe  exterieure  de  cet  oeuf,  enveloppe  qui  sert  aux 
cristaux  d'une  sorte  de  geode."  A  committee  of  eminent  chemists,  to 
whom  the  question  was  referred  by  the  Academy,  reported  in  favour 
of  M.  Turpin's  conclusion  that  the  crystals  were  carbonate  of  lime. 

A2 


i68  The  Irish  Naturalist.  December. 

On  the  nth  July,  fourteen  days  after  the  eggs  laid  in 
captivity  had  been  placed  in  the  petrie-dish,  the  dish  was 
examined.  Many  of  the  eggs  were  found  to  be  shrivelled 
up.  They  were  evidently  "  addled."  Others  were  still 
quite  plump,  and  one  of  these  being  carefully  opened  was 
found  to  contain  a  young  snail  enclosed  in  a  transparent, 
colourless  shell.  This  unhatched  juvenile  was  already  pro- 
vided with  a  distinct  radula  or  lingual  ribbon,  having  a 
total  of  240  teeth  ranged  in  25  rows,  varying  from  4  to  16 
teeth  in  the  row,  with  the  median  tooth  well  developed  in 
the  wider  rows.  In  a  well-grown  adult  H.  aspera  as  many 
as  15,000  teeth  have  been  counted  in  the  radula. 

Three  days  later,  on  the  14th  July,  another  plump  egg 
was  taken  from  the  mould  in  the  petrie  dish  and  for  facihty 
of  examination  was  fully  immersed  in  fresh  water  in  a  large 
watch-glass.  Soon  after  immersion  the  tip  of  the  foot  was 
extruded  from  the  e^^,  and  in  little  more  than  three  hours  the 
animal  had  completely  worked  its  way  out.  The  upper 
tentacles  w^ere  a  beautiful  pale  violet  colour,  and  the  beating 
of  the  heart  could  be  plainly  seen  through  the  transparent 
shell.  The  beats  varied  from  40  to  50  per  minute,  and  the 
young  snail  lived  fully  immersed  for  29  hours.  One  might 
be  tempted  to  find  in  this  sub-aqueous  vitality  of  a  juvenile 
pulmonate  or  air-breathing  mollusc  an  illustration  of  the 
recapitulation  theory,  in  which  the  early  stages  of  an 
organism  are  reminiscent  of  its  remote  ancestry  ;  for  it 
has  been  suggested  that  the  forefathers  of  the  land  snails 
are  to  be  found  in  the  marine  nudibranchs.  But  this  would 
be  too  daring  an  exercise  of  the  scientific  imagination,  all 
the  more  so  as  this  capacity  for  a  somewhat  lengthened  sub- 
aqueous existence  is  shared  by  the  adult. 

On  the  i6th  July,  just  eighteen  days  after  the  laying  of 
the  eggs,  25  young  snails  were  found  hatched  out  and 
buried  in  the  mould,  which  adhered  to  the  copious  mucus 
of  the  foot  so  as  to  make  it  by  no  means  easy  to  distinguish 
the  animal.  The  following  day  20  others  issued  from  the  egg, 
making  a  total  of  45  successfully  hatched  out  of  75  placed  in 
the  mould  in  the  petrie-dish  on  the  28th  June.  The  young 
snails  were  so  lively  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  keep 


i9i8.        CoLGAN. — Reproduction  of  the  Common  Snail.         169 

their  travelling  instinct  within  bounds  by  confining  them 
in  a  crystal  chamber  formed  of  two  large  watch  glasses 
placed  edge  to  edge  one  over  the  other.  A  second  brood 
hatched  out  with  me  under  similar  treatment  on  the  8th 
August,  after  18  days'  incubation,  as  in  the  case  of  the  first 
brood.  ^ 

The  shell  of  the  freshly  hatched  snail  had  a  diameter 
of  4  mm.  ;  it  was  almost  colourless,  faintl}^  tinged  with 
3/ellow,  but  showing  no  signs  of  the  characteristic  blotchings 
which  have  earned  for  the  species  the  name  aspersa.  In 
air,  the  heart  in  four  specimens  examined  was  found  to 
give  60  regular  beats  to  the  minute.  One  of  these  four 
immersed  in  water  had  its  heart-beats  soon  reduced  from 
60  to  45  per  minute,  showing  a  reduction  of  vitality  by 
change  of  element.  The  eyes,  so  obscure  in  the  dark  coloured 
adult,  were  most  conspicuous  in  the  juvenile  as  black  dots 
on  the  translucent  violet  tentacles.  The  otocysts,  or 
chambers  enclosing  the  otoliths  or  auditory  granules,  about 
20  in  number  in  each  cyst,  were  clearly  visible  under  a  one- 
sixth  inch  objective  when  the  head  of  the  animal  was  sub- 
jected to  gentle  pressure.  As  one  followed  with  fascinated 
gaze  the  rapid  tremulous  oscillations  of  these  ovate  granules, 
the  very  heart  of  the  mystery  of  molluscan  sensation  seemed 
to  be  laid  bare. 

As  soon  as  hatched  the  snails  began  to  feed.  The  young 
leaves  of  the  Everlasting  Pea  were  found  to  suit  their  taste 
admirably.  These  they  devoured  greedily,  though  at  long 
intervals,  stripping  off  the  tender  parenchyma  from  the 
leaves  until  a  band  of  green  appearing  through  the  trans- 
parent shell  showed  that  the  juvenile  w^as  gorged.  Growth 
was  on  the  whole  rapid  and  especially  so  in  that  important 
organ,  the  radula,  on  which  a  series  of  observations  was 
made  with  the  results  set  out  in  the  following  table  : — 


^  In  the  "  Cambridge  Natural  History,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  43,  the  Rev.  A.  H. 
Cooke  says  that  he  succeeded  in  hatching  out  eggs  of  Helix  aspersa,  during 
the  very  warm  summer  of  1893,  in  17  days.  It  seems  not  improbable 
that  under  conditions  of  steady  heat  and  moisture  the  incubation  period 
may  become  shortened  to  15  days. 


170 


The  Irish  Naturalist. 


December, 


Growth   of  the   Radula   before  and  after  hatching. 


Age  of  Snail. 

Number  of 

Estimated 

rows  in  radula. 

total  of  teeth.  ^ 

1 1  days  incubating 

16 

100 

14 

25 

240 

Just  hatched 

45 

975 

6  days  out    . . 

75 

2,600 

14          ,     „      .. 

90 

4.750 

6  weeks  ,, 

102 

5,750 

1  Adult  of  average  size  . . 

130 

11,500 

The  growth  of  the  shell  was  less  rapid.  Taking  its  longer 
diameter  as  the  standard,  the  juvenile  just  hatched  gave  a 
breadth  of  4  mm.,  at  the  age  of  9  days,  5  mm.  ;  of  21  days, 
6  mm.  ;  at  6  weeks,  8  mm.  ;  and  at  2  months,  9  mm., 
or  about  one-third  of  the  diameter  of  the  adult  shell.  As 
for  the  otoliths,  about  20  when  hatched,  they  increased  to 
100  after  6  days,  to  125  after  21  days,  to  175  after  6  weeks, 
and  to  250  after  10  weeks. 

The  characteristic  dark  brown  markings  of  the  shell  are 
of  slow  development.  In  specimens  6  days  hatched  dark 
brown  spots  and  blotches  were  quite  conspicuous,  but  on 
opening  the  transparent  shell  these  markings  were  found 
to  be  confined  to  the  mantle  of  the  animal.  K  specimen 
9  days  hatched  showed  the  first  sign  of  shell  marking  in 
the  form  of  a  single  pale  tawny  band  encircling  the  body 
whorl.  Another  individual,  six  weeks  old,  showed  five  tawny 
bands  on  the  shell,  the  innermost  and  the  third  from  the 
centre  being  twice  as  broad  as  the  remaining  three,  which 
were  thread-like.  With  these  bands  appeared  a  few  dark 
spots  and  blotches.  Finally,  in  a  snail  ten  weeks  hatched 
the  dark  spots  and  blotches  appeared  in  large  numbers, 
while  the  tawny  bands  on  the  body  whorl  were  now  reduced 
to  two,  the  first  and  third  from  the  centre,  both  of  these 
having  much  increased  in  breadth  and  in  depth  of  colour. 

Sandycove,  Co.  Dublin. 

1  Of  the  series  of  numbers  given  in  this  column,  the  first  and  second 
are  the  result  of  actual  counting  ;  the  remaining  five  are  estimated  by 
a  uniform  method  which  understates  rather  than  overstates  the  number. 


i9i8.  Irish  Societies.  171 


IRISH    SOCIETIES. 

DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB. 

October  9. — The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House,  the  President  in  the 
chair.  H.  A.  Lafferty  exhibited  preparations  of  myceHum  of  a  parasitic 
fungus  Colletotrichum  linicolum  in  the  epidermal  cells  of  the  testa  of  living 
flax  seed.  The  fungus,  which  has  been  described  as  a  new  species  in  the 
Set.  Proc.  Roy.  Dublin  Society,  vol.  xv.  (N.  S.),  No.  30,  Aug.,  1918,  causes 
a  leaf-spot  and  stem  lesion  disease  of  flax  seedlings  and  hibernates  in  the 
form  of  dormant  mycelium  in  the  testa  of  infected  seeds. 

Dr.  G.  H.  Pethybridge  exhibited  the  ascomycetous  fungus  Keithia 
thujina  Dur.  It  was  discovered  in  quantity  in  July,  1918,  on  the  leaves 
of  young  trees  of  Thuja  plicata  Don  in  a  nursery  at  the  forestry  station 
of  the  Irish  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Baunreagh,  in  the  Slieve  Bloom 
mountains,  Queen's  County,  where  it  was  responsible  for  the  death  of  many 
hundreds  of  three-year  old  trees.  It  was  also  found  on  an  older  tree  in 
one  of  the  plantations,  but  in  this  case  the  injury  done  was  not  so  serious. 
The  fungus  was  kindly  identified  by  Miss  E.  M.  Wakefield  of  the  Kew 
Herbarium.  This  species  of  Keiihia  was  first  observed  by  J.  J.  Davis 
in  1908,  in  Wisconsin,  U.S.A.,  on  Thuja  occidentalis,  and  was  described 
by  E.  J.  Durand  in  1913  {Mycologia,  v.,  p.  6).  In  1916  J.  R.  Weir 
called  attention  to  a  serious  disease  in  young  plants  of  T.  plicata 
Don  occurring  in  the  lake  region  of  northern  Idaho  {Phytopathology, 
vi.,  p.  360)  caused  by  the  same  fungus.  The  present  notice  is  the  first 
record  of  the  appearance  of  Keithia  thujina  outside  of  North  America. 

W.  F.  GuNN  showed  a  mounted  preparation  of  the  capillitium  and  spores 
of  the  myxomycete  Hemitrichia  Vesparium.  The  species  has  not  previously 
been  recorded  from  Ireland,  but  was  found  by  him  in  September  of  this 
year  growing  on  a  decaying  sawdust  heap  near  the  Glen  of  the  Downs. 

November  13. — The  Club  met  at  Leinster  House,  the  President 
in  the   Chair. 

H.  A.  Lafferty  exhibited  microscopic  preparations  of  Pestalozzia 
funerea  (Desm.).  The  fungus  was  found  growing  on  the  bark  of  Ciip- 
vessiis  Lawsoniana  twigs,  but  whether  as  a  parasite  or  saprophyte  was 
not  definitely  determined.  This  fungus  has  hitherto  been  unrecorded  for 
Ireland. 

Dr.  G.  H.  Pethybridge  exhibited  specimens  and  sections  illl^strating 
the  phenomenon  of  heterocarpism,  which,  as  he  had  recently  found, 
occurs  in  Helminthia  [Picris)  echioides,  the  Bristly  Ox-Tongue,  and  which 
does  not  appear  to  be  widely  known.  Two  quite  distinct  forms  of  fruits 
are  borne  by  each  head  of  this  plant.  About  sixty  or  so  are  golden-brown 
in  colour  with  wrinkled  skins,  while  from  three  to  five  more  or  less 
resemble  peeled  bananas.  Hetcrocarpy  in  this  plant  was  dealt  with  by 
Dclpino  in  Mem.  R.  Accad.  d.  Sci.  d.  Inst.  d.  Bologna  (5)  iv.,  1894,  p.  31. 


1/2  The  Irish  Naturalist.  December, 

NOTES. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Argynnis  asflaia  in  north-west  Wexford. 

On  July  31st  I  took  here  a  faded  specimen  of  the  Dark-green  Fritillary 
{Argynnis  aglaia),  which  had  evidently  flown  for  a  long  distance.  As  we 
are  eighteen  miles  from  the  sea,  the  occurrence  is  probably  a  sufficiently 
far  inland  one  to  be  worth  recording.  I  have  paid  attention  to  the  butter- 
flies of  this  neighbourhood,  without  once  meeting  aglaia,  for  forty-two 
years.  As  long  ago  as  1878  my  local  list  stood  at  twenty-three  species, 
and  it  is  only  in  19 18  that  a  twenty-fourth  has  turned  up  in  this  weather- 
beaten  straggler. 

C.  B.  Moffat. 
Ballyhyland,   Co,  Wexford. 

New  Locality  for  Thecla  betulae. 

On  August  13,  I  saw  (but  unluckily  did  not  capture)  a  fresh-looking 
female  specimen  of  the  Brown  Hairstreak  Butterfly  {Thecla  betulcs)  in  a 
bit  of  wooded  ground  in  the  Urrin  valley,  near  Kiltrea.  The  spot  is  only 
about  a  mile  from  the  present  bounds  of  old  Killoughram  Wood,  which 
has  long  been  known  to  me  as  a  haunt  of  this  rare  butterfly  ;  but  as 
the  character  of  the  vegetation  is  precisely  similar,  and  the  once  extensive 
forest  of  Killoughram  must  originally  have  embraced  the  whole  of  the 
Urrin  valley,  the  presence  of  the  Brown  Hairstreak  Butterfly — a  very 
sedentary  insect — at  Kiltrea  may  probably  be  a  case  of  survival.  I 
had  never  before  seen  the  insect  anywhere  outside  Killoughram  Wood, 
where  of  late  years,  from  unexplained  causes,  it  has  been  quite  scarce. 

C.  B.  Moffat. 
Ballyhyland,  Co.  Wexford. 

Abnormal  Caterpillar  of  Choerocampa. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  worth  recording  that  early  in  August  I  got  a 
caterpillar  of  the  Elephant  Hawk-Moth  {Choerocampa  elpenor),  remarkable 
in  having  three  pairs  of  well-defined  eye-markings,  showing  as  six  eyes 
when  the  sphynx  attitude  is  assumed,  and  remarkable  also  in  having  the 
caudal  horn  reduced  to  little  more  than  a  rvidiment.  A  few  days  later 
the  caterpillar  begin  to  spin  its  cocoon,  preparatory  to  pupation. 

W.  E.  Hart. 
Kilderry,  Co.   Donegal. 


i9i8.  Notes.  173 


Gonepteryx  rhamni  in  Co.  Fermanagh. 

I  saw  the  "  Brimstone  "  Butterfly  on  my  way  into  Pettigo  on  May 
lyth  ;    it  was  a   worn-out,   ragged  specimen. 

H.  B.  Rathborne. 

Dreenan,   Co.   Fermanagh. 


Return  of  the  Gold-crest. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  report  the  re-appearance  in  this  district  of  the 
Golden-crested  Wren  (one  of  the  five  species  locally  exterminated  by  the 
frost  and  snow  of  January,  1917),  having  seen  a  single  individual  near  this 
house  on  the  25th  of  October  last,  and  a  party  of  several  on  the  22nd  of 
November,  Two  of  the  exterminated  species — the  Grey  Wagtail  and 
Meadow  Pipit — had  already  re-established  themselves  in  some  numbers 
by  the  close  of  191 7.  In  the  November  of  that  year  I  also  saw  a  party 
of  Long-tailed  Titmice  in  the  valley  of  the  Urrin,  but  these  were  apparently 
performing  a  local  migration,  as  none  have  been  seen  since.  The  Stone- 
chat  is,  however,  the  only  bird  of  the  five  that  during  the  whole  of  the  past 
twenty-two  months  has  not  been  seen  at  all. 

C.  B.  Moffat 

Ballyhyland,  Co.  Wexford. 


A  few  Bird  Notes  from  Balbrig-g-an. 

Like  my  valued  friend  Mr.  Moftat,  I  have  noticed  the  absence  of  a  good 
many  birds  this  year.  Unlike  his,  our  birds  have  not  all  returned  yet. 
I  have  not  seen  or  heard  a  Stonechat  or  a  Gold-crest,  and  other  birds  are 
notably  fewer  this  year — such  as  Goldfinches  and  Mistle  Thrushes  ;  it 
may  be  that  the  aeroplanes  constantly  circling  over  this  district  have  driven 
them  away — and  indeed  no  wonder  when  what  seems  to  be  an  enormous 
eagle  with  outstretched  wings  and  an  awful  droning  seems  to  threaten 
their  destruction.  The  Crows  and  Jackdaws  in  wild  confusion  dash  in 
all  directions  to  escape.  On  the  other  hand  the  Chaffinch  "  pricks  " 
nonchalantly,  and  poor  Robin  sings  sweetly  as  before  ;  but  the  usual 
autumn  immigration  of  Skylarks  is  wanting  here,  nor  have  the  Siskins 
yet  appeared  off  the  shore.  However,  I  have  noted  fifteen  summer 
migrants  in  191 8,  but  none  of  our  four  "  rarae  aves,"  the  Blackcap,  the 
Quail,  the  Grasshopper  Warbler,  and  the  Turtle  Dove.  I  am  now  looking 
out  for  the  Snow  Bunting,  which  is  rare  here. 

Charles  W.  Benson. 
Bedford  House,  Balbriggan. 


174  ^^^  Irish  Naturalist,    '        December,  1918. 


A  Jay  in  Co.    Lon^^ford. 

During  over  thirty  years  of  careful  observation  of  bird  life  here,  never 
until  to-day  have  I  seen  a  Jay.  I  had  him  under  view  with  my  opera 
glasses  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  could  not  possibly  mistake 
his  brilliant  plumage.  Most  of  time  under  a  big  oak  tree,  apparently 
at  the  acorns.  I  hope  he  is  not  merely  a  passer  by.  Your  readers  will  be 
interested  in  this  incident. 

J-  Mackay  Wilson. 

Currygrane,  Co.   Longford. 


BOTANY. 

Irish  Myxomycetes. 

When  starting  on  a  "  Myxie  Hunt  "  one  cannot  always  count  with 
certainty  on  securing  specimens,  even  during  favourable  weather  con- 
ditions, but  there  is  still  in  many  parts  of  Ireland,  the  chance  of  finding 
something  which  is  new  to  the  district.  This  was  my  luck  on  a  visit 
paid  to  the  Glen  of  the  Downs  in  September  last,  when  the  solitary  find 
of  the  day  proved  to  be  Hemitvichia  Vaspanum  McBride.  It  was  found 
growing  on  an  old  heap  of  sawdust  in  a  sawmill  close  by  the  Delgany 
entrance  to  the  Glen,  and  is  the  first  record  from  Ireland  outside  Ulster. 
Miss  G.  Lister  has  been  good  enough  to  examine  the  specimen  and  confirm 
my  identification. 

On  the  24th  October  1  was  fortunate  enough  to  get  about  a  dozen 
sporangia  of  the  minute  but  very  beautiful  Comatricha  elegnns  Lister,  on 
dead  wood  at  Emo  Park,  Portarlington.  The  only  other  Irish  records 
for  this  are  Belvoir  Park,  Belfast  (M.  \V.  Rea)  and  Carngaver  woods 
(Stelfox). 

On  the  25th  October  my  boy  Stanley  observed  a  mass  of  wood-plas- 
modium  on  a  tree  trunk  near  the  Dodder  River  at  Rathfarnham.  He 
cut  off  a  portion  with  the  bark  on  which  it  was  creeping,  and  brought  it 
home  to  me.  It  was  placed  in  a  saucer  with  a  little  water,  and  in  about 
a  week  it  ripened  and  formed  a  round  oethalium  about  one  inch  in  diameter, 
which  on  microscopical  examination  proved  to  be  Brefeldio  maxima  Rost. 
The  only  other  Irish  record  of  this  scarce  species  which  I  can  trace  is 
that  of  Professor  Yapp,  who  found  it  at  Malone,  near  Belfast.  It  has 
also  been  recorded  from  England,  Prance,  Sweden,  Ciermany,  Switzerland, 
and  the  United  States. 

W.     I".    GUNN. 

Dublin. 


*«'. *     ■      <•    * 

■:-®v 

»•»«•     ».*^.«>» 

H        Vol.  XXVII. 
JANUARY, 

No.  1.       B 
1918. 

f'M 


/A 


a   fiDontbl?   3ournal         ^^^ 

ON  ^^O 

GENERAL  IRISH  NATURAL  HISTORY. 

ORGAN    OF    THE 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    OF    IRELAND, 

DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB, 

BELFAST  NATURAL  HISTORY  8c  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY, 

BELFAST    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB, 

DUBLIN     NATURALISTS'  FIELD    CLUB, 

CORK    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB, 

TYRONE    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB. 

EDITED    BY 

Prof.  GEORGE    H.  CARPENTER,  M.Sc,  M.R.I.A. 

AND 

R.    LLOYD    PRAEGER,    B.A.,    B.E.,    M.R.I.A. 


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DEPaKTMENT    of     Af^ilCULTUKE    ANJJ    TECHNICAL 
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LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1.  The  Warble  Fly. 

„     2  The     Use    and  Purchase  of   leeding 

Stuffs. 

,,     8.  Foot   Rot   in    Sheep. 

„     4.  The  Sale  of  Flax. 

„     5.  Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 

„     6.  Charlock  (or  Preshaugh)   Spraying. 

„     7.  Fluke  in  Sheep. 

„     8.  Timothy  Meadows. 

„     9.  The  Tiu-nip  Fly 

,,  10.  Wireworms. 

,.  '1  Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 

,,  12.  Liquid  Manure 

„  13.  Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 

„  14  Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 

,,  15.  Milk  Records. 

„  16.  Sheep  Scab. 

„  17.  The   Use  and  Purchase  of  Manures. 

,,  18.  Swine  Fever. 

,,  19.  Earlv  Potato  Growing. 

„  20.  Calf  Rearing 

„  21.  Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 

„  22.  Basic  Slag. 

„  23.  Dishorning  Calves. 

„  24.  Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls. 

„  25.  Fowl  Cholera. 

„  26.  Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 

„  27.  Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 

„  28.  Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 

„  29  Flax  Seed. 

„  30.  Poultry  Parasites— Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 

„  31.  Winter  Egg  Production. 

„  32.  Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Turkeys 

„  33.  Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 

„  34.  The  Revival  of  Tillage. 

„  35.  The  Liming  of  Land. 

„  36.  Field  Experiments — Barley. 
„  37.         ,,  „  Meadow  Hay 

„  38  „  „  Potatoes. 

„  39.         „  „  Mangels. 

„  40  „  ,.  Oats. 

„  41.         „  „  Turnips 

„  42.  Permanent  Pasture  Grisses 

,,  43.  The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

„  44.  "  Husk  "   or   "  Hoose  "   in   Calves 

„  45.  Eingworm  on  Cattle 

„  46  Haymaking 

„  47.  The  Black  Currant  Mite. 

„  48  Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 

„  49.  Poultry  Fattening. 

„  50  Portable  Poultry  Houses. 

„  51.  The  Leather-.Tarket  Grub. 

,  I  52.  Flax  Experiments 

,,  53.  The    Construction    of    a    Cowhouse. 

..  54.  Calf  Meals. 


lo. 

55. 

«• 

56. 

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57. 

ft 

58. 

19 

59. 

60. 

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61. 

62. 

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63. 

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65. 

>> 

66. 

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67. 

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70. 

71. 


fV 

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74. 

75 

76 

77. 

78 

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79. 

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80. 

81. 

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82. 

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84. 

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85 

86. 

87. 

88. 

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The  Apple. 

Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 

Marketing  of  Fruit. 

Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

Testing  of  Farm  Seeds. 

The  Packing  of  Butter. 

Field  Experiments — Wheat. 

The  Management  of  Dairv  Cows. 

"  Redwater  "   or   "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
Forestry  :     The  Planting  of  Waste 
Lands. 

Forestry  :      The  Proper  Method  of 
Planting  Forest  Trees 
Forestry :       Trees    for    Poles    and 
Timber. 

Forestry :  Trees  for  Shelter  and 
Ornan)ent. 

The  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in 
Cattle. 

Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
nnd      Preservation    of    Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timb  r. 
Forestry :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber. 
The  Planting  and  Management  of 
Hedges 

Some  Common  Parasites  of  the 
Sheep. 

Barley  Sowing 

American  Gooseberry  Mildew. 
Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
Home"  Buttermaking 
The   Cultivation   of   Small   Fruits 
Catch  Crops 

Potato   Cultm-e  on   Small   Farms. 
Cultivation  of  Main  Crop  Potatoes 
Cultivation  of  Osiers. 
Ensilage. 

Some    Injurious    Orchard    Insects. 
Dirty  Milk. 
Barlev  Threshing 
The  Home  Bottling  of  Fruit 
The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 
The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
Home  Preservation  of  Eggs. 
Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 
Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 
Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,   and 
Eggs. 

Packing  Eggs  for  Hatcliing 
Weeds 

Tuberculosis  in  Poultrv. 
Seaweed  in  Manure 


SPECIAL    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1.  Catch  Crops. 

„  2,  Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

,,  3.  Eggs  and  Poultry. 

,,  4.  The  War  and  Food  Production 

„  5.  The  Sowing  of  Spring  Wheat. 

„  6.  Winter  Manuring  (.rass  Lands. 

,,  7.  Feeding  of  Pigs — Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

.,  8.  Deslr'ution  o)  Farm  Pest. 

,,  9.  Grain  Crops. 

Copitt  of  the  above  Ua^lets  can  be  obtained  free  of  charge,  and  post  free,  on  application  to  the 
Secretary  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical  Instruction  for  Ireland,  Upper  Merrum  Street, 
Dvblin.     LetUra  of  application  ao  addresaed  need  riot  be  atamped. 


No.  10.     Pig    Feeding — The    need     for 

economy. 
„     11.     Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
„     12.     The   Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
„     13.     Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
,      14.     Flax-seed  for  1918  So\ung. 


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WILLIAM  EVANS,  F.R.S.E. 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union. 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW,  F.R.S.E.. 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


This  Magazine — founded  in  1871 — is  devoted  to  the  publication  of  Ori^nal  Matter  relating  to  the 
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Vol.  xxvii.,  No.   1., 


January,  1916. 


CONTENTS. 

I'orcellio   Rathkii,    ;i    Woodlouse   new  to   the'  Irish   Fauna — 

Walter  E.,  Colli nge,  D.Sc. 
Aculeate    I-lyriienoptera   from   the  Counties   of   Armagli   and 

Donegal  -Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson,  M.A.  •   .. 

Notes   on    Lepidoptera   fr6ni    East    Tyrone   in    1917 — 

Thomas  .Greer       ..  ..  .. 

1  lie    Giaiaceae    of    the    Rosses',    West    Donegal — 

Rev.  Canon  G.  k.  Bullock- Webster,  MA. 

Notes  : 

Th6  Purple  Sea  Urchin  at  Inishkeel,   Co.   Donegal — 

Rev.  W.   F.   Johnson,  M- A- 
Great  Increase  of  Butterflies  and  Moths  in  Ireland^W.  H.  Workman 
Irish  Psychid  Moths — Rev.  C.  R.  N.  Burrows 
■    Convulvulus  Hawk-Moth  in  Cos.  Antrim  and  Down — 

Rev.  W;  ;F.  Johnson,  M.A.      . .  . . 

A  Late  Wasp — Rev.  W,  F.  Johnson,  M.A.     .. 
Sphinx  con  vol  vu  Li  attacked  by  Larvae  of  .Dipteron — 

Rev.  W.  W.  Flemyng,  M.A.,  and  j;  ~  N.  Halbert 
Sunfish  at  Lame  Harbour — J:  A.  S.  Stendall 
Stray  Bird  Notes,  Autumn,  jqi'j — Rev.  C.  W.  Benson,  LL.D.      . 
Green  Sandpiper  in  King's  Co. — JVIrs.  Rait  Kerr 
Woodcock  marked  in  Ireland  and  recovered  in  Shetland — 

W.  Eagle  Clarke,  LL.D. 
Sandwich  Terns  breeding  in  Co.  Galway — Robert  F.  Ruttledge  . 
Owls  and  Sparrow-hawks  clapping  their  wings — G.  Bolam 

Irish  Societies  : 

Dublin  Microscopical  Club     . . 


PAGE 

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LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No 

1. 

»> 

2 

t» 

8. 

»f 

4. 

9t 

5. 

If 

6. 

ir 

7. 

•  • 

8. 

ft 

9. 

10. 

:.i 

12. 

It 

13. 

;» 

14 

15. 

»» 

16. 

17. 

18. 

if 

19. 

n 

20. 

*f 

21. 

»i 

22. 

9t 

23. 

>» 

24. 

tr 

25. 

26. 

27. 

11 

28. 

ft 

29 

ff 

30 

it 

31 

it 

32 

ft 

33 

ft 

34. 

ft 

S.'i 

ft 

36 

If 

37 

»f 

38 

If 

39 

40 

ft 

41 

tt 

42 

t . 

43 

44 

45 

It 

46 

11 

47 

ti 

48 

It 

49 

.  9 

50 

»t 

51 

t   1 

52 

II 

53 

54 

The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use     and  Purchase  of    Feeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot    Rot   in    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Cliarlock  (^or   Preshaugh)   Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timothv  Meadows. 
The  Turnip  Fly 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 
Liquid  Manure 

Contagious  .Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The   Use   and   Piu-chase  of  Manures. 
SwTne  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishornina:  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls. 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg,     Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Turkeys 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

,,  ,,  Meadow  Hay 

„  ,,  Potatoes 

,,  ,.  Mangels. 

Oats. 
Turnips 
Permanent  Pasture  Gr  sses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    oi 

Chickens 
"  Husk  "    or   "  HooFe  "   In   Calves 
Ringworm  on  Cattle 
Havmaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Houses. 
The  Leather-Jacket  Grub. 
riux  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    &    Cowhouse. 
Calf  MeaU. 


No. 


56. 

57 

58. 

59. 

60. 

61. 

62. 

63. 

64. 

65. 

66. 

67. 

68. 

69. 

70 

71. 

72. 
73 

74. 

75 

76 

77. 

78 

79. 

SO 

81. 

82. 

83. 

84. 

85 

86. 

87. 

88. 

89 

90 

91. 

92 

93. 

94. 

9.5. 

96. 
97. 
9'<. 
99 


Root   Crop. 


The   Proper 
Forest  Trees 
Trees    for 


Method   of 
Poles    and 


Trees    for    Shelter    and 


of  Tuberculosis  in 


The  Apple. 

Cultivation    of    the 

Marketing  oi  Fruit. 

Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

Testins  of  Farm  Seeds 

The  Packing  of  Butter 

Field  Experiments — Wheat 

The  Mana'jcmeut  of  Dair\   Cows. 

"  Redwater  "    or   "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
Forestry  :      The    Planting  of   Waste 
Lands. 
Forestry 
Planting 
Forestry  : 
Timber 
Forestry  : 
Ornament. 
The    Prevention 
Cattle. 

Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
ind      Preservation    of   bhelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timber. 
Forestry :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber 
The  Planting  and  Management  of 
Hedges 

Some  Common  Parasites  of  the 
Slieep 

Barley  Sowing 

American  Gooseberry  Mildew. 
Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle 
Home  Buttermaking 
The    Cultivation    of   Small 
Catch  Crop> 

Potato   Culture   on   Small 
Cultivation  of  Main  Crop 
Cultivation  of  Osiers. 
Ensilage. 

Some    Injurious    Orciiard 
Dirty  Milk 
Barlev  Thivshing 
The  Home  Bottling  of  Fruit 
The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 
Tlie  .\dvantagts  oi  Early  Ploughing 
Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
Home  i^reservatiOK  of  Eggs. 
Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 
Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 
Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,   and 
Eggs. 

Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 
Weeds 

Tuberculosis  in  Poultrv. 
Seaweed  in  Manure 


Fruits 

Farms. 
Potatoes 


Insects. 


SPECIAL    LEAFLETS. 


No. 


1. 
2. 
:V. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8 
9. 
10. 


Catch  Crop-. 

Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

Eggs  and  Poultry. 

The  War  and  iood  Production 

The  Sowing  of  Sining  Wheat. 

Winter  Mainiring  trass  Lands. 

Feeding  of  Pigs     Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

Destr'Ution  ol  Farm  Pest. 


o.   11. 

„     12. 

M     13. 

,       14. 

,,     15. 

„     16. 

..     17. 

Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The   Diguing  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
i'liix-Kced  for  19IS  Sowing. 
Pur<  base  of  B.i.-^ic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Siiperph'isphare. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fixtilisers. 


Grain  Crops.  j 

Pig  Feeding — The  need  for  economy,  i 

Copie$  o'  the  attom  Ua^ftt  can  he  obtained  free  of  charge,  and  post  free,  on  abdication  to  the 
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THE    SCOTTISH    NATURALIST 

A  MONTHLY  JMAGAZINi:, 

EDITED    BY 

WM    EAGLE  CLARKE.   F.R.S.E.,  F.L.S.. 
Keeper,  National  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum,  Edinburgh. 

WILLIAM  EVANS.  F.R.S.E 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union. 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW.  F.R.S.E., 

Natural  History  Department,  Royal  .Scottish  Museum. 


This  Magazine — founded  in  1871 — is  devoted  to  the  publication  of  Orio:inal  Matter  relating-,to  the 
Natural  History  of  Scotland,  and  includes  Pape^rs  contributing  to  the  elucidation  of  the  '  Fauna, 
Observations  on  Life  Histories,  etc.,  and  Notes  recording-  the  occurrence  of  uncommon  species  and 
other  useful  and  interesting  facts. 


Edinburgh  :    OLIVER    d,    BOYD,    Tweeddale    Court. 


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of  print),  50s. 

More.— Geographical  distribution  of  Plants  in  Ireland,  6s.  6d. 

Ward's  Life  Histories  of  Familiar  Plants,  86  plates,  3s. 

Birds  useful  and  harmful,   85  plates,   3s.      Postage    extra. 

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Vol.  xxvii.,  No.  2.  February,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Edward   Hull  (with   Portrait). — Prof.   Grenville   A.   J. 

Cole,  F.R.S.  ....         ,    ,.  ..  17 

Lnsitania  and  Kerry  :   a  Botanical   Parallol^-^NATfiANiEL 

COLGAN,    M.R.i.A.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  20 

Notes. on  Myriahoda,  Vlll.  Recent  Additions  to  tlie  Irish 
Fauna. — Hilda  K.  Brade-Birks,  M.Sa,  M.B.,  and 
Rrv.  S.  Graham  Brade-Birks,  M.Sc.         ..  ..  27 

Irish  Societies  : 

Royal  Zoological  Society/^  Dublin  IVIicroscopicnl  Club  .  .  29 

Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  ....  .  .  .  ,  30 

Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club         ,  .  .  .  ,  .  .  .  -t 

Notes  : 

Sedum  Drucei  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  31 

Notes  t)n  Birds  in 'Kiiig's  £p>^Mrs.  H.  M.  Rai^  .  .  31 

Migration  on  Lough  Mask. — Robert  F.   Ruttledge  .  .  32 

Review  : 

W.     Trelease's     "Plant    Materialsv ojE^JDecorative  Gardening " 

(R.  Ll.  p.)  *  "  .  .  .  .  ....  .  .  .  .  32 


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fl   fiDontbli?    3ournal 

ON 

GENERAL  IRISH  NATURAL  HISTORY. 

ORGAN    OF    THE 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    OF    IRELAND, 

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EDITED    BY 

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AND 

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A  Monthly  Illustrated  Journal  of 

NATURAL     HISTORY     FOR    THE     NORTH     OF     ENGLAND. 

EDITED  BY 

T.  SHEPPARD.  M.Sc,  F.G.S.,  F.R.G.S..  F.S.A.,  Scot. 

The  Museum,  Hull  ;  - 

AND 

T.  W.  WOODHEAD,  Ph.D.,  M.Sc,  F.L.S.,  Tech.  Coll., 

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This  Journal  is  one  of  the  oldest  .Scientific  Periodicals  in  the  British  Isles   dating  back  to  1833. 

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DEPARTMENT     OF    Af^lICULTURE    AND    TECHNICAL 
INSTRUCTION    FOR    IRELAND. 


LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1. 


»> 

3. 

»? 

4. 

>> 

5. 

6. 

>> 

7. 

91 

8. 

ft 

9. 

10. 

:i 

12. 

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13. 

19 

14 

15. 

16. 

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17. 

18 

19. 

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20. 

»» 

21. 

»» 

22. 

9* 

23. 

»» 

24. 

25. 

26. 

27. 

9) 

28. 

9» 

29 

•  9 

30. 

99 

31. 

»9 

32. 

99 

33. 

^» 

34. 

9J 

35. 

99 

36. 

M 

37. 

If 

38 

19 

39. 

40 

41. 

42. 

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44. 

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45. 

99 

46 

99 

47. 

99 

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99 

49. 

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91 

51. 

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52. 

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53. 

19 

54. 

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.  1. 

2. 

I> 

3. 

ft 

4. 

>> 

5. 

M 

6. 

It 

7. 

8. 

»  t 

9. 

1  » 

10. 

The  Warble  Ply. 

The     Use     and  Purchase  of    leeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot    Kot   in    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Charlock  Cor  Preshaugh)   Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Tiiuothv  Meadows 
The  Turnip  Fly 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 
Liciuid  Manure 

Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The    Use   and   Purchase  of  Manures. 
Swine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Turkeys 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

„  „  Meadow  Hay 

„  „  Potatoes 

„  ,.  Mangels. 

„  ,.  Oats. 

Turnips 
Permanent  Pasture  Grasses 
Thf    Rearing    and    Management    of 

"Husk"   or   "Hoose"   In   Calves 
Ringworm  on  Cattle 
Haymaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Houses. 
The  Leather-Jacket  Grub. 
Flax  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    &    Cowhouse. 
Calf  Mealfl. 


No.  55      The  Apple. 

56.  Cultivation    of    tlie    Root   Crop. 

57.  Marketing  of  Fruit. 

58.  Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

59.  Testing  of  Farm  Seeds 

60.  The  Packing  of  Butter. 

61.  Field  Experiments — Wheat 

62.  The  Manaizeraent  of  Dairv  Cows. 

63.  "  Redwater  "    or    "  Blood-Murrain  " 
in  Cattle. 

64.  Varieties  of  Fruit  Suitable  for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 

65.  Forestry  :  The  Planting  of  Waste 
Lands. 

66.  Forestry :  The  Proper  Method  of 
Planting  Forest  Trees 

67.  Forestry :  Trees  for  Poles  and 
Timber. 

68.  Forestry :  Trees  for  Shelter  and 
Ornament. 

69.  The  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in 
Cattle. 

70  Forestry :  Planting,  Management, 
ind  Preservation  of  Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timber. 

71.  Forestry :  The  Management  of 
Plantations 

72.  Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber. 
73      The    Planting   and   Management   of 

Hedges. 
74.     Some     Common     Parasites     of     the 
Sheep. 

75  Barley  Sowing 

76  American  Gooseberry  Mildew. 
77.     Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
78      Home  Buttermaking 

79.  The    Cultivation    of   Small   Fruits 

80.  Catch  Crop> 

81.  Potato   Culture  on   Small   Farms. 

82.  Cultivation  of  Main  Crop  Potatoes 

83.  Cultivation  of  Osiers. 

84.  Ensilage. 
85      Some    Injurious    Orchard    Insects. 

86.  Dirty  Milk. 

87.  Barlev  Threshing 

88.  The  Home  Bottling  of  Fruit 

89  The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 

90  The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
91.     Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
92      Home  Preservation  of  Eggs. 

93.  Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 

94.  Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 

95.  Store  Cattle  or  Butter,  Bacon,  and 
Eggs. 

96.  Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 

97.  Weeds, 

98.  Tuberculosis  in  Poultrv. 
99      Seaweed  in  Manure 


SPECIAL    LEAFLETS. 


Catch  Crop.^. 

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Eggs  and  Poultry. 

The  War  and  Food  Production 

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Winter  Maiiuring  (irass  Lands. 

FeediTig  of  Pigs— Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

Desi  ruction  ot  Farm  Pest. 

Grain  Crops. 

Pig  Feeding- -The  need  for  economy. 


No.  11. 

„  12. 

„  13. 

,  14. 

.,  15. 

„  16. 

,.  17. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The   Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
.I''lax-seed  for  1918  Sowing. 
Purchase  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Superphospiiate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers. 


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WILLIAM  EVANS,  F.R.S.E. 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists*  Union, 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW,  F.R.S.E., 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


This  Magazine — founded  in  1871 — is  devoted  to  the  publication  of  Original  Matter  relating  to  the? 
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Observations  on  Life  Histories,  etc.,  and  Notes  recording  the  occurrence  of  uncommon  species  and 
other  useful  and  interesting  facts. 


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Vol.  xxvii.,  No.  3.  March,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Recent  Extensions  of  the  Range  of  Pisidium  hibernicnm 

(Plates  I.,  II.)— R^A.  Phillips,  ^!|[.R,L4,  ajid  A.  W. 

Stelfox,  M.R.I.A.         ..  ..  .,  .            33 

Irish  Societies  : 

Belfast  Naturalists' Field  Club            ..  ..  ..  ..                 50 

Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club             ..  ..  ..  ..                  50 

Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club               ..  ..  ..  ..                  51 

Dublin  Microscopical  Club                     ..  ..  ..  ..                  51 


Notes 


Fuligo  septica  var.  Candida. — W.  F.  Gunn  . .  . .  52 

Abund^ance- of  Lepidoptera  in  1917. — T.  W.  L.  Keane  ..  52" 


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APRIL,    1918. 


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fl   flDontbl?   3ournal  m^". 


ON 


*# 


GENERAL  IRISH   NATURAL  HlSl^fefi^ 

ORGAN    OF    THE 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    OF     IRELAND, 

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BELFAST  NATURAL  HISTORY  &  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY, 

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EDITED    BY 

Prof.  GEORGE    H.  CARPENTER,  M.Sc,  M.R.I.A. 

AND 

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THE     NATURALIST. 

A  Monthly  Illustrated  Journal  of 

NATURAL     HESTORY     FOR    THE     NORTH     OF     ENGLAND. 

EDITED  BY 
T.  SHEPPARD,  M.Sc,  F.G.S.,  F.R.G.S..  F.S.A.,  Scot., 

The  Museum,  Hull  ; 

AND 

T.  W.  WOODHEAD,  Ph.D.,  M.Sc,  F.L.S.,  Tech.  Coll., 

HUDDERSFIELD. 
WITH  THE  ASSISTANCE  AS  REFEREES  IN  SPECIAL  DEPARTMENTS   OF 

J.  GILBERT  BAKER,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,         GEO.  T.  PORRITT,  F.L.S.,  F.E.S. 
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This  Journal  is  one  of  the  oldest  .Scientific  Periodicals  in  the  British  Isles  dating  back  to  1833. 

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Martin-st.,  London,  W.C. 


THE  ZOOLOGICAL  GARDENS 

OF  THti 

ROYAL     ZOOLOGICAL     SOCIETY     OF     IRELAND; 

PHOEI^IX    PARK,    DUBLIN. 

Open  daily  from  9  a.m.  {Sundays  from  12  noon) 

tifl  dusk. 

Admission,     Is.,     except    Wednesdays,     Saturdays,     and 

Holidays,    6d.,    and    Sunday    afternoons,    3d. 

Children,  always  Half-price. 

SPECIAL     RATES     FOR    SCHOOL     CHILDREN    AND 

EXCURSION  PARTIES. 

FINEST  COLLECTION  OF  LIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

BROW!^,  BLACK,  HIMALAYAN  AND  PCLAR  BEARS. 

TWO  CHIMPANZEES  AliE  NOW  IN  THE  APE-HIJUSE 


AJ^a) 


A    HOOLOCK    GIBBON. 

YOUNG      INDIAN       ELEPHANT. 

PAIR    OF   CANADIAN    BISON,    WITH    CALF. 

BORNEAN  ZEBUS,  WITH  CALF. 

YOUNG     BOAR     FROM     MUDROS 

(A  Warship  Pet). 

REFRESHMENT    ROOM     OPEN    ALL     THE     YEAR. 

Donations  of  Animals  (Irish  or  Foreign)  thankfully  received. 

Surplus  Stock  of  Beasts    and    Birds    for    Sale  or  Exchange 

For   particulars,    and    also    for   Terms  and    Privileges  of   Membership 
of  the  Society,  apply  to —  . 

Prof.  G.   H.  Carpenter, 

Hon.  Sec,  R.Z.S., 
Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 


depaetment   of  aoricultuee  and  technical 
instruction  for  ireland. 


LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1. 


II 

s. 

II 

4. 

II 

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tt 

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tt 

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lu. 

The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use    and  Purchase  of   Feeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot    Rot   in    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celerj-    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Charlock  (or  Preshaugh)   Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timothy  Meadows. 
The  Tiurnip  Fly 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  In  Calves 
Liquid  Manure 

Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The   Use  and  Purchase  of  Manures. 
Swine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Turkeys 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

„  „  Meadow  Hay 

„  „  Potatoes. 

„  „  Mangels. 

„  „  Oats. 

Turnips 
Permanent  Pasture  Grasses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

Chickens 
"  Husk  "   or   "  Hoose  "   in   Calves 
Ringworm  on  Cattle 
Haymaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Houses. 
The  Leather-Jacket  Grub. 
Flax  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    a    Cowhouse. 
Calf  Mealii. 


fo. 

55. 

II 

56. 

9t 

57. 

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58. 

II 

59. 

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61. 

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62. 

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The  Apple. 

Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 

Marketing  of  Fruit. 

Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

Testing  of  Farm  Seeds. 

The  Packing  of  Butter. 

Field  Experiments — Wheat. 

The  Management  of  Dairv  Cows. 

"  Redwater  "   or   "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
Forestry  :     The  Planting  of  Waste 
Lands. 

Forestry :      The  Proper  Method   of 
Planting  Forest  Trees 
Forestry :        Trees    for    Poles    and 
Timber. 

Forestry :  Trees  for  Shelter  and 
Ornament. 

The  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in 
Cattle. 

Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
and      Preservation    of    Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Tlmb  r. 
Forestry :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber 
The  Planting  and  Management  of 
Hedges. 

Some  Common  Parasites  of  the 
Sheep. 

Barley  Sowing 

American  Gooseberry  Mildew. 
Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
Home  Buttermaking 
The    Cultivation    of   Small   Fruits 
Catch  Crops 

Potato  Culture  on  SmaU  Farms. 
Cultivation  of  Main  Crop  Potatoes 
Cultivation  of  Osiers. 
Ensilage. 

Some    Injurious    Orchard    Insects. 
Dirty  Milk. 
Barlev  Threshing 
The  Home  Botthng  of  Fruit 
The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 
The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
Home  Preservation  of  Eggs. 
Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 
Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 
Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,   and 
Eggs. 

Packing  Eggs  lor  Hatching 
Weeds. 

Tuberculosis  in  Poultry, 
Seaweed  in  Manure, 


SPECIAL   LEAFLETS. 


Catch  Crops. 

Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

Eggs  and  Poultry. 

The  War  and  Food  Production 

The  Sowing  of  Spring  Wheat. 

Winter  Manuring  Grass  Lands. 

Feeding  of  Pigs-  Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

Desi r'ution  oi  Farm  Pest. 

Grain  Crops. 

Pig  Feeding- -The  need  for  economy. 

Copiti  of  the  above  Uaflets  can  be  obtained  fref, 
Secretary  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical 
Dublin.     Letlert  of  application  to  addreaised  need 


No.  11. 

11  12. 

„  13. 

,  14. 

,,  lo. 

„  16. 

,.  17. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The   Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Suli>hate  of  Ammonia. 
Max-seed  for  1918  Somng. 
Purchase  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Superphosphate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers. 


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Inntruction  for  Ireland,  Upper  Merrxon  Street, 
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THE    SCOTTISH    NATURALIST. 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE, 

EDITED    BY 

WM.   EAGLE  CLARKE.  F.R.S.E.,  F.L.S., 
Keeper,  National  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum,  Edinburgh. 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  F.R.S.E. 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union. 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW,  F.R.S.E., 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


This  Magazine — founded  in  1871 — is  devoted  to  the  publication  of  Orig^inal  Matter  relating  to  the 
Natural  History  of  ^^cotland,  and  includes  Papers  contributing  to  the  elucidation  of  the  Fauna, 
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April,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 

The  Development  and  Decay  of  the  Irish  Sea  Glacier .- 
J.  DE   \y.   HlXCH  . .  .... 


PAOE 


53 


Notes  : 


Some  Cork  AliJsiis'.- — M.    Holland    .  . 

Possible  Hunting  Grounds  for  the  Characeae.— A.  W.   Stelfox, 
.MR.I.A.        ..  ..  ..  .. 

Notodonta  bicoloria  in  Co.  Kerry. — Thomas  Greer 

Lepidoptera'of  Lambay. — Hon.  Cecil  Baring 

Pigeons." in  Belfast. — F.  J.   Bigger,  M.R.I. A.  ..  .  . 


^3 
64 

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LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1. 
..     2 


t» 

3. 

tl 

4. 

ft 

5. 

6. 

7. 

tl 

8. 

ft 

9. 

10. 

f  • 

:.i 

t  ( 

12. 

»» 

13. 

tf 

14 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18 

it 

19. 

M 

20. 

*l 

21. 

»l 

22. 

If 

23. 

>l 

24. 

f  f 

2.5. 

26. 

91 

27. 

»l 

28. 

29 

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30. 

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31. 

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32. 

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f  f 

34. 

35. 

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39. 

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41. 

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52. 

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.   1. 

If 

2. 

l> 

3. 

4. 

II 

5 

II 

6. 

II 

7. 

8. 

1  ( 

9. 

10. 

The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use    and  Purchase  of   Feeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot    Rot   in    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Charlock  (or  Preshaugh)   Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timothy  Meadows 
The  Tiu-nip  Fly 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Soour  in  Calves 
Liquid  Manure 

Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The   Use   and   Purchase   of   Manures. 
Swine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Tm-keya- 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

,,  „  Meadow  Hay. 

„  „  Potatoes. 

Mangels. 
Oats. 
Turnips. 
Permanent  Pasture  Grasses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

Cliickena 
"  Husk  "   or   "  Hooge  "   in   Calves 
Bingworm  on  Cattle 
Haymaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Houses. 
The  Leather-.facket  Grub. 
Max  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    &    Cowhouse. 
Calf  MeaU. 


No. 

55 

56 

ty 

57 

91 

58 

ft 

59 

19 

60 

4  ) 

61 

9  ) 

62 

•  9 

63 

64. 
65. 


>> 

66. 

>> 

67. 

t> 

68. 

>» 

69. 

>l 

70 

f 

71. 

l» 

72. 

»> 

73 

.. 

74. 

» 

75 

tt 

76 

ft 

77. 

>» 

78 

tf 

79. 

>9 

80 

f: 

81. 

ft 

82. 

tt 

83. 

it 

84 

5> 

85 

tt 

86 

87 

9* 

88 

tt 

89 

1* 

90 

It 

91 

99 

92 

tt 

93 

l> 

94 

•1 

95 

tt 

96 

n 

97 

98 

■  f 

99 

The  Apple. 

Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 

Marketing  of  Fruit. 

Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

Testing  of  Farm  Seeds. 

The  Packing  of  Butter. 

Field  Experiments — Wheat. 

The  Management  of  Dairv  Cows. 

"  Redwater  "    or    "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
Forestry  :     The  Planting  of  Waste 
Lands. 

Forestry :      The  Proper  Method  of 
Planting  Forest  Trees. 
Forestry :        Trees    for    Poles    and 
Timber. 

Forestry :  Trees  for  Shelter  and 
Ornament. 

The  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in 
Cattle. 

Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
and     Preservation    of   Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timber 
Forestry :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber 
The  Planting  and  Management  of 
Hedges. 

Some  Common  Parasites  of  the 
Sheep. 

Barley  Sowing 

American  Gooseberry  Mildew. 
Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
Home  Buttermaking 
The   Cultivation   of   Small   Fruits 
Catch  Crops 

Potato  Culture  on  Small  Farms. 
Cultivation  of  Main  Crop  Potatoes 
Cultivation  of  Osiers. 
Ensilage. 

Some    Injurious    Orchard    Insects. 
Dirty  MUk. 
Barley  Threshing 
The  Home  Bottling  of  Fruit 
The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 
The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
Home  Preservation  of  Eggs. 
Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 
Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 
Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,  and 
Eggs. 

Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 
Weeds. 

Tuberculosis  in  Poultrv. 
Seaweed  in  Manure 


SPECIAL   LEAFLETS. 


Catch  Crops. 

Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

Eggs  and  Poultry. 

The  War  and  Food  Production 

The  Sowing  of  Spring  Wheat. 

Winter  Manuring  (Jrass  Lands. 

Feeding  of  Pigs — Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

DeslTMction  of  Farm  Pest. 

Grain  Crops. 

Pig  Feeding — The  need  for  economy. 

Copitt  of  the  above  Uafiets  can  be  obtained  free 
Secretary  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical 
Dtiblin.     LetUrt  of  application  mo  addrested  need 


No.  11. 
..     12. 


13. 

14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The   Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
Flax-seed  for  1918  Sowing. 
Purchase  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Superphosphate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers. 


of  charge,  and  port  free,  on  application  to  the 
Inrtructxon  for  Ireland,  Upper  Merrum  Street, 
not  be    rtamped. 


TO  SUBSCRIBERS  6s.  6d.  PER  ANNUM,  POST  FREiB. 


THE    SCOTTISH    NATURALIST. 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE, 

EDITED    BY 

WM.    EAGLE  CLARKE,  F.R.S.E.,  F.L.S., 
Keeper,  National  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum.  Edinburgh 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  F.R.S.E. 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union. 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW.   F.R.S.E., 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


I      i!    '      I 


This  Mag-azine — founded  ^n  1 87  1 — is  devoted  to  the  publication  of  Original  Matter  relating  to  the 
Natural  History  of  .*<cotland,  and  includes  Papers  contributing  to  the  elucidation  of  the  Fauna, 
Observations  on  Life  Histories,  etc.,  and  Notes  recording  the  occurrence  of  uncommon  species  and 
other  useful  and  interesting  facts. 


Edinburgh  :    OLIVER    &.     BOYD,    Tweeddale    Court. 


Vol.  xxvii.,  No.  6.  May,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Irish  Fossil  Molliisks — R.  Lloyd  Praeger        . .  . .  69 

Irish  Societies  : 

Royal  Zoological  Society — Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  ..  74 

Dublin  Microscopical  Club  . .  . .  . .  . .  75 

Cosmos  Club  , . '         '    . .  . .  . .  . .  . .  76 

Obituary  : 

William  Hugh  Patterson      ,  .  . .  .  .  . .  . .  76 

Limnaea  glabra  in  Ireland — J.  Wilfred  Jackson,  F'.g.s. 

— With  Note  by  R.  A.  Phillips  . .  . .  77 

Notes  : 

Natural     History    /Societies      in'    Deiry    and      Cork — R!     Ll. 

Praeger  .  .  ,  .  .  .  . .  . .  . .  79 

Scarcity  of  the  Fieldfare  and  Redwing^ — W.  M.  Abbott  .  .  79 

Woodchat-Shrike    on     Migration    obtained     at    Tuskar    Rock — 

Professor  C.  J.  Patten,  m.d.         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  79 

Meaning  of  "  Swiney  "  and  "  Thriceeock  " — J.  H.  Gurney      .  .  80 


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LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1. 


>f 

3. 

»r 

4. 

tt 

5. 

ff 

6. 

tf 

7. 

•  • 

8. 

91 

9. 

tf 

10. 

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12. 

99 

13. 

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14 

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15. 

99 

16. 

t* 

17. 

99 

18 

19. 

20. 

21. 

99 

22. 

23. 

91 

24. 

»9 

25. 

t 

26. 

99 

27. 

99 

28. 

99 

29 

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30. 

81. 

32. 

33. 

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85. 

99 

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37. 

99 

38 

99 

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41. 

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42. 

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43. 

44. 

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46 

47. 

48 

49. 

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51. 

62. 

99 

53. 

99 

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.   1. 

M 

2. 

tt 

3. 

4. 

9» 

5 

ft 

6. 

It 

/. 

•I 

8 

l» 

9. 

It 

10. 

The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use    and  Purchase  of   Feeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot   Rot   In    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Charlock  (or  Preshaugh)   Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timothy  Meadows. 
The  Turnip  Fly 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 
Liquid  Manure 

Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The   Use   and   Purchase  of  Manures. 
Swine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing. 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapea 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls. 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mltea,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Bearing  and  Fattening  of  Turkeys- 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

„  „  Meadow  Hay 

„  „  Potatoes 

„  „  Mangels. 

„  „  Oats. 

Turnips. 
Permanent  Pasture  Grisses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

Chickens 
"  Husk  "   or   "  Hoose  "   in   Calves 
Bingworm  on  Cattle 
Haymaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Houses. 
The  Leather-Jacket  Grub. 
Flax  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    a    Cowhouse. 
Calf  Meals. 


No.  55. 
56. 


57 

58 

59 

60 

61 

62 

63 

„  64. 

„  65. 

„  66. 

„  67. 

M  68. 

»  69. 

.,  70. 

..  71. 


99 

72 

tf 

73 

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74 

99 

75 

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76 

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79 

99 

80 

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81 

82 

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90 

99 

91 

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92 

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95 

99 

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99 

The  Apple. 

Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 

Marketing  of  Fruit. 

Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

Testing  of  Farm  Seeds. 

The  Packing  of  Butter. 

Field  Experiments — Wheat. 

The  Management  of  Dairv  Cows. 

"  Redwater  "   or   "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 


Forestry 
Lands. 

Forestry 


The  Planting  of  Waste 


Poles    and 


Trees    for   Shelter   and 


The  Proper  Method  of 
Planting  Forest  Trees 
Forestry  :        Trees    for 
Timber. 
Forestry  : 
Ornament. 

The  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in 
Cattle. 

Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
ind      Preservation    of   Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timbtr. 
Forestry :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber. 
The  Planting  and  Management  of 
Hedges. 

Some  Common  Parasites  of  the 
Sheep. 

Barley  Sowing 

American  Goose oerry  Mildew. 
Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
Home  Buttermaking 
The   Cultivation    of   Small   Fruits 
Catch  Crops 

Potato   Culture  on   Small 
Cultivation  of  Main  Crop  Potatoes 
Cultivation  of  Osiers. 
Ensilage. 

Some    InjiU"iou8    Orchard 
Dirty  Milk. 
Barley  Threshing 
The  Home  BottUng  of  Fruit 
The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 
The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
Home  Preservation  of  Eggs. 
Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 
Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 
Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,   and 
Eggs. 

Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 
Weeds. 

Tuberculosis  in  Poultrv. 
Seaweed  in  Manure 


Farms. 


Insects. 


SPECIAL   LEAFLETS. 


Catch  Crops. 

Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

Eggs  and  Poultry. 

Tlie  War  and  Food  Production 

The  Sowing  of  Spring  Wiieat. 

Winter  Manuring  (irass  Lands. 

Feeding  of  Pigs     Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

Deslr'iction  ol  Farm  Pest. 

Grain  Crops. 

Pig  Feeding — The  need  for  economy. 

Copiet  o/  the  above  Uaffeit  can  be  obtained  free 
Secretary  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical 
Dublin.     Letteri  of  application  io  addressed  need 


No.  11. 
..     12. 


13. 

14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The  Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
Flax-seed  for  1918  Sowing. 
Purvhase  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Superphosphate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers. 


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¥ol.  xxvii.,  NOr  6.  June,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 


P^^E 


The  Convolvulus  Hawk-Moth  in  Ireland — J.  N.  Halbert, 

iVl>xv>l.<A*                  ••                     ••  ..                     •«                     ,,  oX 

Notes  on  Some  Alien  Plants  of  Co.  -Dublin — N;  Colgan, 

M.R.I.A.             . .               . .  .-'.                ....  86 

Irish  Societies  : 

Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Cliib  .  .              . .              . .              . .  go 

Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club  . .              . .              . .              . ,  go 

Dublin  Microscopical  Ciub  .  .              , .              . ,              , ,  gi 

The  Migration  of  Woodcock— W.  H.  Workman,,  f.z.s.  . .  92 


NoTKS  : 


Cardamine  amara  in  East  Tyrone — Sylvanus  Wear  ., 
Arenaria  ciliata    .  . 

Karly  Arrival  of  Spring  Migrants — Nevin  H.  Foster,  f.r.s. 
A  Magpie's  Flight—Rev.  W.  W.  Flemyng,- m.a.  .  . 

Corncrake  in  Trinity  College  Park — J.  Mackay  Wilson  '^ 


95 
9.5 
96 
96 
96 


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Vol.  XXVII.     No.  7. 
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Vi 


a   flDontbl?   Journal 

ON 

GENERAL  IRISH  NATURAL  HISTORY. 

ORGAN    OF    THE 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    OF    IRELAND, 

DUBLIN     MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB, 

BELFAST  NATURAL  HISTORY  8c  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY, 

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EDITED    BY 

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AND 

R.    LLOYD    PRAEGER,    B.A.,    B.E.,    M.R.l.A. 


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Children,  always  Half-price. 

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EXCURSION  PARTIES, 

FINEST  COLLECTION  OF  LIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

BROWN,  BLACK,   HIMALAYAN  AND   POLAR    BEARS. 

TWO  CHIMPANZEES  ARE  NOW  IN  THE  APE-HOUSE 


AND 


A    HOOLOCK    GIBBON. 

YOUNG      INDIAN      ELEPHANT. 

PAIR    OF   CANADIAN    BISON,    WITH    CALF. 

BORNEAN  ZEBUS,  WITH  CALF. 

YOUNG     BOAR     FROM     MUDROS 

(A  Warship  Pet). 

REFRESHMENT     ROOM     OPEN    ALL     THE     YEAR, 

Conations  of  Animals  (Irish  or  Foreign)  thankfully  received. 

Surplus  Stock  of  Beasts    and    Birds    for    Sale  or  Exchange 

For    particulars,    and    also    for    Terms   and    Privileges  of    Membership 
of  the  Society,  apply  to — 

Prof,  G.   H.  Carpenter, 

Hon.  Sec,  R.Z.S., 
Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 


DEPAllTMENT    OF    AORICULTUEE    AND    TECHNICAL 
INSTRUCTION    FOR    IRELAND. 


LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No 

.     1. 

O 

»» 

f> 

3 

t> 

4 

i> 

5 

>i 

6. 

i> 

7 

>• 

8 

19 

9 

» 

10 

f  • 

11 

9t 

12 

»> 

13 

;■ 

14 

t* 

15 

ft 

16 

tt 

17 

>» 

18 

19 

»l 

20 

21 

II 

22 

II 

23 

II 

24. 

»> 

25 

26 

>l 

27. 

II 

28. 

II 

29 

tl 

30 

II 

31. 

II 

32. 

II 

33. 

34. 

II 

35. 

If 

36 

II 

37. 

II 

38 

11 

39. 

If 

40 

II 

41. 

1) 

42 

43. 

44 

)i   *^- 

I,  45. 

II  46 

.1  47. 

„  48 

I,  49. 

.,  50 

;,  51. 

„  52. 
I,  53. 
..  54. 


The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use     and  Purchase  of    Peeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot   Rot   in    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Charlock  (or  Preshaugh)  Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timothy  Meadows. 
The  Turnip  Fly. 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 
Liquid  Manure 

Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Bhght. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The   Use  and   Purchase  of  Manures. 
S\\ine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing. 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls. 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pig.s. 
Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Tiu-keyS' 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

,,  „  Meadow  Hay 

,,  „  Potatoes. 

„  ,.  Mangels. 

,,  ,,  Oats. 

,,  „  Turnips. 

Permanent  Pasture  Grisses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

Cliickena 
•  Husk  "   or   "  Hoose  "   in   Calves 
Ringworm  on  Cattle 
Haymaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Hou-ses. 
The  Leather-Jacket  Grub. 
Flax  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    &    Cowhouse. 
Calf  Meals. 


II 

91 


No.  55.     The  Apple. 
„     56.     Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 
„     57.     Marketing  of  Fruit 

58.  Sproiiting  Seed  Potatoes. 

59.  Testing  of  Farm  Seeds, 

60.  The  Packing  of  Butter. 

,,     61.     Field  Experiments — Wheat. 
I     ,,     62.     The  Management  oi  Dairv  Cows. 
„     63.     "  Redwater  "   or    "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
„     64.     Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 

Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
„     65.     Forestry :     The  Planting  of  Waste 
Lands. 
I     „     66.     Forestry :      The   Proper   Method   of 
Planting  Forest  Trees 
„     67.     Forestry  :        Trees    for    Poles    and 
'  Timber. 

„     68.     Forestry :      Trees   for   Shelter   and 
Ornament. 
69.     The   Prevention   of   Tuberculosis   in 

Cattle. 
70      Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
ind      Preservation    of    Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timb  i 

71.  Forestry  :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

72.  Forestry  :  FeUing  and  Selling  Timber 
73      The    Planting   and    Management   of 

Hedges. 
74.     Some     Common     Parasites     of     the 
Sheep. 

75  Barley  Sowing 

76  American  Gooseuerry  Mildew. 
77.     Scorn:  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle 
78      Home  Buttermaking 

79.  The   Cultivation    of   Small    Fruit^t 

80.  Catch  Crop- 

81.  Potato   Culture   on   Small    Farms. 

82.  Cultivation  of  Main   Crop  Potatoe.<5 

83.  Cultivation  of  Osiers. 

84.  Ensilage. 
85      Some    Injiu-ious    Orchard    Insects. 

86.  Du-tv  Milk. 

87.  Barley  Threshing 

88.  The  Home  Bottling  of  Friiit 

89  The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 

90  The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
91.     Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
92      Home  Preservation  of  Eggs. 

93.  Marketing  of  Wild  Fruit.£. 

94.  Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 

95.  Store  Cattle  or  Butter,    Bacon,   and 
Eggs. 

96.  Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 

97.  Weeds. 

9^.     Tuberculosis  in  Poultry. 
99      Seaweed  in  Manure 


19 
91 


SPECIAL    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1.  Catch  Crops.                                              i  No.  11. 

,,     2.  Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

„     3.  Eggs  and  Poultry.  „     12. 

„     4.  Tlie  War  and  Food  Production 

„     5.  The  Sowing  of  Spring  Wheat.  ,,     13. 

,,     6.  Winter  Manuring  (irass  Lands.  ,      14. 

„    7.  Feeding  of  Pigs — Use  of  Boiled  Swedes.  ,,     15. 

,     8.  Destruction  of  Farm  Pest.  ,,     16. 

,,     9.  Grain  Crops.  ,,     17. 

„  10.  Pig  Feeding — The  need  for  economy. 

Copies  of  the  above  Ita^ds  can  be  obtained  free  of  charge,  and  post  free,  on  application  to  the 
Secretary   Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical  I nstruction  for  Ireland.  Upper  Merrxon  Street, 

Dublin.  Letters  of  application  so  addressed  need  not  be    stamped. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The   Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
Ihix-seed  for  1918  Sowing. 
Purchase  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Siii)erphosphate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers. 


TO  SUBSCRIBERS  6s.  6d.  PER  ANNUM,  POST  FREE. 


THE    SCOTTISH    NATURALIST 

A   MONTHLY   MAGAZINE, 

EDITED   BY  ' 

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Keeper,  National  History  Department,  Royal  Sconish  Museum,  Edinburgh. 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  F.R.S.E. 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union. 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW,  F.R.S.E.,     ' 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


This  Magazine — founded  in  1871 — is  devoted  to  the  publication  of  Original  Matter  relating  to  the 
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Observations  on  Life  Histories,  etc.,  and  Notes  recording  the  occurrence  of  uncommon  species  and 
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CONTRIBUTIONS  (Articles  or  Notes)  on  all  branches  of  Irish  Natural  History 
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Vol.  xxvii.,  No.  7.  July,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


William  Francis  de  Visnies  Kane — Prof.   Geo.   H^  Car- 
penter,   (with    Bibliography  compiled    by   J.' N. 

Halbert,  and  Portrait)              . .             . .             . .  97 

Botanical  Notes  from  Iniskioge — R.  Lloyd  Praeger     . .  103 

Some  more  Irish  Ichneumonidae  and  Braconidae— Rev. 

W.  F.  Johnson,  m.a.                . .            . .            . .  106 

Irish  Societies  : 

Royal  Zoological  Society     .  .              .  .              .  .              .  .              . .  no 

Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Cub          . .               . .                . .              . .  no 

Notes: 

A    New  Station    for   Lathraea   squamaria   in  Co.  Dublin — J.  P.  no 

Brunker       .  ,              .  .               . .               .  .              . .              . .  I  10 

Draba  muralis  in  Co.  Longford — N.  H.  Foster              ..              ..  no 

Bird  Life  at  Currygrane,  Co.  Longford— J.  Mackey  Wilson,  d.l.  in 

Green  Sandpiper  in  Co.  Westmeath — Lt.  Fred.  S.  Beveridge  112 

Snow  Geese  at  Mutton  Island,  Go.  Galway — William  Ruxledge  112 

Incubation  Period  of  Birds — Mrs:  Rait  Kerr              ..    "           .  .  112 


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ALEX.  THOM  AND  CO.,  LIMITED,  DUBLIN. 


Vol.  XXVII.    Nos.  8,  9. 
AUG.-SEPT..    1918. 


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ON 


GENERAL  IRISH  NATURAL  HISTi 


kfh\h^ 


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ORGAN    O-    THE 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    OF    IRELAND, 

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EDITED    BY 

Prof.  GEOR^GE    H.  CARPENTER,  D.Sc,    M.R.I.A. 


AND 


R.    LLOYD    PRAEGER,    B.A.,    B.E.,    M.R.I.A. 


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till  dusk. 

Admission,     Is.,     except    Wednesdays,    Saturdays,    and 

Holidays,    6d.,    and    Sunday    afternoons,    3d. 

Children,  always  Half-price. 

SPECIAL     RATES     FOR    SCHOOL     CHILDREN     AND 

EXCURSION  PARTIES. 

FINEST  COLLECTION  OF  LIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

BROWN,  BLACK,   HEMALAYAI^  AND   POLAR    BEARS. 

TWO  CHIMPHNZEES  ARE  NOW  IN  THE  APE-HOUSE. 

YOUNG      INDIAN      ELEPHANT. 
ANGLO-NUBIAN  GOAT. 

PAIR    OF   CANADIAN    BISON,    WITH    CALF. 

ZEBiJS,  WITH  CALF. 


YOUNG     BOAR     FROM     MUDROS 

(A  Warship  Pet). 

RBFRESHMENT     ROOM     OPEN    ALL     THE     YEAR. 

Donations  of  Animals  (Irish  op  Foreign)  thankfully  received. 

Surplus  Stock  of  Beasts   and    Birds    for    Sale  or  Exchange 

For   particulars,    and    also    for   Terms   and    Privileges  of   Membership 
of  the  Society,  apply  to — 

Prop,  G.   H.  Carpenter, 

Hon.  Sec,  R.Z.S., 
Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 


DEPARTMENT    OF    AGRICULTURE    AND    TECHNICAL 
INSTRUCTION    FOR    IRELAND. 


LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1. 


S. 
4. 
5. 

0. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 

;.i 

12 

18. 

U 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 


„  25 

,  26. 
„  27. 
„  28. 

..  29 
.,  3C. 

„  31 

1»  •'^- 

„  S3. 

,.  34. 

„  35. 

„  36 

„  37. 

„  38 

„  39. 

..  *o 

„  41. 
..  42. 

„  4i. 

»  44. 
M  45. 

»  46 
,.  47. 
..  48 
..  49 
..  50 
„  51. 
„  52 
..  58. 


The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use     and  Purchaie  of    Feeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot    Rot   in    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    I-eaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Charlock  (or   Preshaugh)   Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timotliv  Meadows. 
The  Turnip  Fly 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 
Lit)  (lid  Manure 

CoMtatnous  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk   Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The    Use   and    Purchase  of  Manurea. 
Swine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Hulls 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg.     Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Wi!>+er  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and   Fattening  of  Turkeys- 
Protitahle  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Fitli  Experiments — Barley. 

,,  „  Meadow  Hay 

„  „  Potatoes. 

„  M  Mangels. 

„  „  Oats. 

Turnips. 
Permanent  Pasture  Grasses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

Cliickens 
"Husk"   or   "Hoose"   in   Calves 
Ringworm  on  Cattle 
Haymaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Houses. 
The  Leather- Jacket  Grub. 
Hax  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    a    Cowhouse. 
Calf  Meals. 


No.  55.     The  Apple 
„     56.     Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 
„     57.     Marketing  of  Fruit 
„     ^8.     Sprouting  Seed   Potatoes. 
„     59.     Testing  of  Farm  Seeds 
.,     60.     The  Packing  of  Butter 
,,     61.     Field  Experiments — Wheat. 
,,     62.     The  Management  of  Dairv  Cows 
„     63.     "  Redwater  "    or    "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
„     64.     Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 

Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
„     65.     Forestry :      The  Planting  of  Waste 

Lands. 
„     66.     Forestry :      The   Proper   Method   of 

Planting  Forest  Trees 
„     67.     Forestry  ;        Trees    for    Poles    and 

Timber. 
„     68.     Forestry  :       Trees    for    Shelter    and 

Ornament. 
„     69.     The    Prevention   of   Tuberculosis   in 

Cattle. 
,,     70.     Forestry  :     Planting,    Management, 

nnd      Preservation    of    Shelter- Belt 

and  Hedgerow  Timb  r 
,     71.     Forestry  :      The      Management     of 

Plantations 
72.     Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber 
73      The    Planting   and    Management   of 

Hedges 
74,     Some     Common     Parasites     of     the 

Sheep 

75  Barley  Sowing 

76  American  Gooseuerry  Mildew. 
77.     Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
78      Home  Buttermaking 
79.     The   Cultivation    of   SmaU    Fruits 
8U.     Catch  Crop> 

81.  Potato   Ciilture  on   Small    Farms 

82.  Cultivation  of  Main  Crop   Potatoes 

83.  Cultivation  of  Osiers. 

84.  Ensilage. 
86      Some    Injurious    Orchard    Insects. 

86.  Dirtv  MUk. 

87.  Barlev  Threshing 

88.  The  Home  Bottling  of  Fruit 

89  The   Construction  of  Piggeries. 

90  The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
91.     Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
92      Home  Preservation  of  Eggs. 

93.  Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 

94.  Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 

95.  Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,  and 
Eggs. 

96.  Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 

97.  Weeds 

9*^.     Tuberculosis  in  Poultry. 
99     Seaweed  in  Manure 


SPECIAL    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1.  Catch  Crops. 

,,     2.  Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

„     3.  Eggs  and  Poultry. 

,.     4.  The  War  and  Food  Production 

,,     5.  Tlie  Sowing  of  Spring  Wheat. 

,,     6.  Winter  Manuring  (irass  Lands. 

„     7.  Feeding  of  Pigs  —Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

.,     8.  Destr'iction  oi  Faira  Pest. 

,,     9.  Grain  Crops. 

,,  10.  Pig  Feeding — The  need  for  economy. 

Copiet  0/  the  above  Uaffets  can  be  obtained  free 
Seerttary   Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical 

Dublin.  Letter*  of  application  $o  addreJtted  need 


No.  11. 

a,  J   •J. 


13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The   Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
Flax-seed  for  1918  Sowing. 
Purcha-e  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Superpiiosphate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers. 


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Instruction  for  Ireland.  Upper  Merrwn  Street, 
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THE    SCOTTISH    NATURALIST. 

A   MONTHLY   MAGAZINE, 

EDITED    BY 

WM.  EAGLE  CLARKE,  F.R.S.E.,  F.L.S.. 
'Keeper,  National  History  Department,  Royal  Scouish  Museum,  Edinburgh. 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  F.R.S.E. 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union. 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW,  F.R.S.E.. 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


;X...'  ■■-  >    .-ri  '  :'':  ' 

*  *  . 

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libyal  College  of  Science-y  Dublin. 

H.    LiA)^  I)    Pkaeger,, 

N'aiional  Library,  Dublin. 


Vol.  xxvii.,  Rot.  8,  9.  Aug.-Sept.,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Reappearance  of  Lathyrus  maritimus  in  Kerry — Reginald 

W.   Scully,  f.l.s.       . .  . .  . .  . .  113 

Some  Co.  Down  Plants— R.  Lloyd  Praeger  . .  116 

The  Limnaeae    of   the   Alpine   Lakes    in   the  Glenga:rriff 

District,  West  Cork  -  H.  C.  Huggins    .' .  ..  119 

Obituary  : 

Robert  O.  Cunningham     .  .  ..  ..  ..  .,  128 

James  Napier  Miln6-^A.  W.   Stelfox  .  .  . .  . ,  129 


Notes  : 

Chiysomyxa  abietis  in  IrelandT— ^G*-  H.  Pethybridge,  b.sc. 

Poisonous -Ptpperties  of  Oenanthe  crocata  ..  • 

Black  Terns  on  Lough  Carra,  Co.  Mayo — W.    Ruttledge 

Jays  feeding  on  Wheat — ^W.   'SI.   Abbott        .  .  . . ' 

Scarcity  of  the   Fieldfare.        Owls  clapping    their  Wings- — C.  B 
Moffat,  m.r.i.a. 


130 

130 
130 

132 


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LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No.  1. 


f» 

s. 

ir 

4. 

99 

5. 

»» 

e. 

»» 

7. 

ft 

8. 

i> 

9. 

9t 

10. 

9* 

11 

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12. 

f» 

13. 

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14 

tf 

15. 

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16. 

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18 

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20. 

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99 

24. 

9f 

25. 

26. 

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27. 

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30. 

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31. 

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32. 

t* 

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1 1 

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tt 

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99 

36 

tt 

37. 

38 

99 

39. 

40 

99 

41. 

42. 

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48. 

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44. 

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45. 

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47. 

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48 

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49. 

50 

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51. 

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.   1. 

1 1 

2. 

»» 

3. 

4. 

»l 

5. 

>9 

6. 

t» 

7. 

8. 

»> 

9. 

II 

10. 

The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use    and  Purchase  of   Feeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot   Rot   in    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight 
Charlock  (or  Preshaugh)  Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timothy  Meadows. 
The  Turnip  Fly 
Wireworms. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 
Liquid  Manure 

Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The   Use  and   Purchase  of  Manures. 
Swine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing. 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls. 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue    \ 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Turkeys- 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

,,  „  Meadow  Hay 

„  „  Potatoes. 

„  ,.  Mangels. 

„  „  Oats. 

Turnips. 
Permanent  Pasture  Grasses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

Chickens 


"  Husk 


Hooee  "   in   Calves 


Eingv/orm  on  Cattle 

Havmaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mit«. 

Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 

Poultry  Fattening. 

Portable  Poultry  Houses. 

The  Leather-.Tacket  Grub. 

Flax  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    a    Cowhouse. 

Calf  Meals. 


No. 

55 

» 

56 

tt 

57 

» 

58 

>> 

59 

«> 

60 

»f 

61. 

t» 

62 

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63 

»» 

64 

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65 

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66 

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67 

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68 

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69 

93 

70 

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s» 

72 

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73 

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74 

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75 

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77 

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96 

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II 

99 

The  Apple. 

Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 

Marketing  of  Fruit. 

Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

Testing  of  Farm  Seeds. 

The  Packing  of  Butter. 

Field  Experiments — Wheat. 

The  Management  of  Dairv  Cows. 

"Eedwater"   or   "Blood-Murrain" 

in  Cattle. 
Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
Forestry  :     The  Planting  of  Waste 
Lands. 

Forestry :      The  Proper  Method   of 
Planting  Forest  Trees. 
Forestry :        Trees    for    Poles    and 
Timber. 

Forestry :  Trees  for  Shelter  and 
Ornament. 

The  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in 
Cattle. 

Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
find      Preservation    of   Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timb.r. 
Forestry :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber 
The  Planting  and  Management  of 
Hedges. 

Some  Common  Parasites  of  the 
Sheep. 

Barley  Sowing 

American  Goose oerry  Mildew. 
Scovu"  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
Home  Buttermaking 
The   Cultivation    of   Small    Fruits 
Catch  Crops 

Potato   Culture  on   Small   Farms 
Cultivation  of  Main  Crop  Potatoes 
Cultivation  of  Osiers. 
Ensilage. 

Some    Injiu*iou8    Orchard    Insects. 
Du-ty  Milk. 
Barlev  Threshing 
The  Home  Bottling  of  Fruit 
Tl:e   Construction   of   Piggeries. 
The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
Home  Preservatiop  of  Eggs. 
Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 
Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 
Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,   and 
Eggs. 

Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 
Weeds. 

Tuberculosis  in  Poultry. 
Seaweed  in  Manure 


SPECIAL   LEAFLETS. 


Catch  Crops. 

Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

Eggs  and  Poultry. 

The  War  and  Food  Prodtiction 

The  Sowing  of  Spring  Wheat. 

Winter  Manuring  Grass  Lands. 

Feeding  of  Pigs — Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

Destr'Jction  of  Farm  Pest. 

Grain  Crops. 

Pig  Feeding — The  need  for  economy. 


No.  11. 
..     12. 


13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The  Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
Flax-seed  for  1918  Sowing. 
Purchase  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Superphosphate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers. 


Copiti  o/  the  above  Ita^ets  can  be  obtained  free  of  charge,  and  post  free,  on  application  to  the 
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THE    SCOTTISH    NATURALIST. 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE, 

EDITED    BY 

WM.  EAGLE  CLARKE.   F.R.S.E.,  F.L.S., 

Keeper.  National  History  Department,  Royal  Sco^Jsh  Museum,  Edinburgh. 

WILLIAM  EVANS,   F.R.S.E. 
Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union. 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW.  F.R.S.E., 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


This  Mag-azine — founded  in  1871 — is  devoted  to  the  publication  of  Original  Matter  relating  to  the 
Natural  History  of  i^cotland,  and  includes  Papers  contributing  to  the  elucidation  of  the  Fauna, 
Observations  on  Life  Histories,  etc.,  and  Notes  recording;  the   occurrence   of  uncommon  species  and 

other  useful  and  interesting:  facts.  ' 


Edinburgh  .*    OLIVER    &    BOYD,    Tweeddale    Coirrt. 


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6  pp.  ...  ...         8     0 

8  pp.  ...  ...         9     0 


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CONTRIBUTIONS  (Articles  or  Notes)  on  all  branches  of  Irish  Natural  History 
are  invited.  Articles  must  reach  the  Editors,  on  or  before  the  10th  of  the  Month, 
for  insertion  in  the  succeeding  number."  Short  Notes  will  be  inserted,  if  space 
permit,  if  received  before  the  15th  of  the  Month.  Please  address  to  one  of  the 
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Natural  History  Specimens  sent  to  the  Editors  will  be  referred  to  authorities 
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G.    H.    Carpentejr, 

Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 

R.    LiiOYD    Praeoer, 

National  Library,  Dublin. 


Vol.  xxvii.,  No8.  10,  11.  Oct-Nov.,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 

•  PAGE 

The  Irish  Red  Deer— R.  F.  Scharff,  b.sc,  m.r.i.a.      . .  133 
Some  Notes  on  Birds,  especially  the  Whitethroat — J.  P. 

BURKITT           . .              . .              . .              . .            . .  140 

Derc-Ferna  :  The  Cave  of  Dunmore— R.  Lloyd  Praeger  148 

Irish  Societies  : 

Royal  Zoological  Society  .  .              .  .              .  .              ,  ,              , ,  i^g 

Belfast  Naturalists    Field  Club       .  .              .  .               . .              . .  159 

Dublin  Natnralists'  Field  Club         . .               . .               ,  .              . .  160 

Obituary  :  • 

Alice  Scharff          .  .               . ,              .  .                .  .               .  .                •  •  162 

Arthur  B.  E.  Hillas            .  .              . .               .  ,              .  .               .  .  162 

Notes  : 

W.   H.  Harvey  and  Charles  DarAvin— R.  Lloyd  Praeger          .  .  I62 
3piranthes    Romanzoffiana    in   Co,    Armagh — Xevin    H.   Foster, 

F.L.s  — R.    Lloyd  Praeger        .  .              .  .              .  .              .  .  163 

Galium  sylvestre  in  Co.  Antrim — ^W.  R.  Megaw           ,  .              ,  .  164 

Whales  and  Dolphins  stranded  in   Ireland       .  .              .  .              .  .  164 


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Vol.  XXVII.    No.    12. 
DECEMBER,    1918. 


&4<ci>;!i<« 


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H   fiDontbl?    3ournal  f^-:(4K 


ON 


GENERAL  IRISH  NATURAL  HIS 


ORGAN    OF    THE 

ROYAL    ZOOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    OF    IRELAND, 

DUBLIN    MICROSCOPICAL    CLUB, 

BELFAST  NATURAL  HISTORY  &  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY, 

BELFAST    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB, 

DUBLIN     NATURALISTS'  FIELD    CLUB, 

CORK    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB, 

TYRONE    NATURALISTS'    FIELD    CLUB. 

EDITED    BY 

Prof.  GEORGE   H.  CARPENTER,  D.Sc,   M.R.I.A. 

AND 

R.    LLOYD    PRAEGER,    B.A.,    B.E.,    M.R.I.A. 


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THE     NATURALIST. 

A   Monthly  Illustrated  Journal  of 

NATURAL     HISTORY     FOR     THE     NORTH     OF     ENGLAND. 

EDITED  BY 
T.  SHEPPARD,  M.Sc,  F.G.S..  F.R.G.S.,  F.S.A.,  Scot., 

The  Museum,  Hull  ;  - 

AND 

T.  W.  WOODHEAD,  Ph.D.,  M.Sa.  F.L.S.,  Tkch.  Coll., 

HUDDERSFIELD. 
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T.  H.  NELSON,  M.Sc,  M.B.O.U.,  RILEY  FORTUNE,  F.Z.S. 

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NATURE, 


WEEKLY      ILLUSTRATED     JOURNAL     OF     SCIENCE. 

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DEPAKTMENT     OF    AGKICULTUEE    AND    TECHNICAL 
INSTRUCTION    FOR    IRELAND. 


LIST    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT'S    LEAFLETS. 


No 

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10. 

The  Warble  Fly. 

The     Use     and  Purchase  of    Feeding 

Stuffs. 
Foot   Rot   In    Sheep. 
The  Sale  of  Flax. 

Celery    Leaf-Spot    Disease    or    Blight. 
Charlock  (or  Pre.shaugh)  Spraying. 
Fluke  in  Sheep. 
Timothy  Meadows. 
The  Turnip  Fly. 
Wireworins. 

Prevention  of  White  Scour  in  Calves 
Liquid  Manure 

Contagious  Abortion  in  Cattle. 
Prevention  of  Potato  Blight. 
Milk  Records. 
Sheep  Scab. 

The  Use  and  Purchase  of  Manures. 
Swine  Fever. 
Early  Potato  Growing. 
Calf  Rearing. 

Diseases  of  Poultry  : — Gapes 
Basic  Slag. 
Dishorning  Calves. 
Care    and    Treatment    of    Premium 

Bulls. 
Fowl  Cholera. 

Winter  Fattening  of  Cattle. 
Breeding  and  Feeding  of  Pigs. 
Blackleg,    Black    Quarter,    or    Blue 

Quarter 
Flax  Seed. 
Poultry  Parasites — Fleas,  Mites,  and 

Lice. 
Winter  Egg  Production. 
Rearing  and  Fattening  of  Turkeys- 
Profitable  Breeds  of  Poultry. 
The  Revival  of  Tillage. 
The  Liming  of  Land. 
Field  Experiments — Barley. 

„  „  Meadow  Hay 

„  „  Potatoes. 

„  „  Mangels. 

„  „  Oats. 

„  I,  Turnips, 

Permanent  Pasture  Grasses 
The    Rearing    and    Management    of 

"Husk"   or   ••  Hoose "  in   Calves 
Ringworm  on  Cattle 
Haymaking 

The  Black  Currant  Mite. 
Foul  Brood  or  Bee  Pest. 
Poultry  Fattening. 
Portable  Poultry  Houses. 
The  Leather-.!  acket  Grub. 
Flax  Experiments 

The    Construction    of    a    Cowhouse. 
Calf  MealB. 


No. 

55 

II 

56 

II 

57 

11 

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99 

The  Apple. 

Cultivation    of    the    Root   Crop. 

Marketing  of  Fruit 

Sprouting  Seed  Potatoes. 

Testing  of  Farm  Seeds. 

The  Packing  of  Butter. 

Field  Experiments — Wheat. 

The  Management  of  Dairy  Cows. 

"  Redwater  "   or   "  Blood-Murrain  " 

in  Cattle. 
Varieties     of     Fruit     Suitable     for 
Cultivation  in  Ireland. 
Forestry :      The  Planting  of  Waste 
Lands. 

Forestry :      The  Proper  Method   of 
Planting  Forest  Trees. 
Forestry :       Trees    for    Poles    and 
Timber. 

Forestry :  Trees  for  Shelter  and 
Ornament. 

The  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in 
Cattle. 

Forestry :     Planting,    Management, 
and      Preservation    of   Shelter-Belt 
and  Hedgerow  Timber. 
Forestry :      The      Management     of 
Plantations 

Forestry  :  Felling  and  Selling  Timber 
The  Planting  and  Management  of 
Hedges. 

Some  Common  Parasites  of  the 
Sheep. 

Barley  Sowing 

American  Goose uerry  Mildew. 
Scour  and  Wasting  in  Young  Cattle. 
Home  Butteruiaking. 
The    Cultivation    of   Small   Fruita 
Catch  Crop> 

Potato   Culture   on   Small   Farms 
Cultivation  of  Main  Crop  Potatoes 
Cultivation  of  Osiers. 
Ensilage. 

Some    Injurious    Orchard    Insects. 
Dirty  Milk. 
Barlev  Threshing 
The  Home  Bottling  of  Fruit 
The   Construction   of   Piggeries. 
The  Advantages  of  Early  Ploughing 
Black  Scab  in  Potatoes 
Home  Preservatior  of  Eggs. 
Marketing  of  Wild  Fruits. 
Cost  of  Forest  Planting. 
Store  Cattle  or  Butter,   Bacon,   and 
Eggs. 

Packing  Eggs  for  Hatching 
Weeds. 

Tuberculosis  in  Poultry. 
Seaweed  in  Manure 


7PECIAL    LEAFLETS. 


Catch  Crops. 

Autumn  Sownn  Cereals. 

Eggs  and  Poultry. 

Tlie  War  and  Food  Production 

The  Sowing  of  Spring  Wheat. 

Winter  Manuring  iirass  Lands. 

Feeding  of  Pigs  -Use  of  Boiled  Swedes. 

DestrMction  of  Farm  Pest. 

Grain  Crops. 

Pig  Feeding — The  need  for  economy. 


No.  11. 

..  12. 

I,  13. 

.  14. 

„  15. 

I,  16. 

..  17. 


Poultry  Feeding — The  need  for 

economy. 
The   Digging  and    Storing    of 

Potatoes. 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 
I'lax-seed  for  1918  Sowing. 
Purchase  of  Basic  Slag. 
Prices  of  Superphosphate. 
Prices  of  Compound  Fertilisers 


Copit»  of  the  above  Uaj\ett  can  be  obtained  free  of  charge,  o  xd  post  free,  on  a/)/>lieation  to  thf 
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THE    SCOTTISH    NATURALIST. 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE, 

EDITED   BY 

WM.  EAGLE  CLARKE,  F.R.S.E.,  F.L.S., 
Keeper,  National  History  Department,  Royal  Scoi*ish  Museum,  Edinburgh. 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  F.R.S.E. 

Member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'   Union, 

PERCY  H.  GRIMSHAW.  F.R.S.E.. 
Natural  History  Department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum. 


This  Mag'azine — founded  in  1871 — is  deroted  to  the  publication  of  Orig^inal  Matter  relating' to  tne 
Natural  History  of  Scotland,  and  includes  Papers  contributing  to  the  elucidation  of  the  Fauna, 
Observations  on  Life  Histories,  etc.,  and  Notes  recording  the  occurrence  of  uncommon  species  and 
other  useful  and  interesting  facts. 


Edinburgh  :    OLIVER    &    BOYD,    Tweeddale    Court. 


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are  invited.  Articles  must  reach  the  Editors,  on  or  before  the  10th  of  the  Month, 
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Vol.  xxvil.,  Ho.  12.  ^  December,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


On  the  Reproduction  of  the  Common  Garden  Snail,  Helix 

aspersa— Nathaniel  CoLGAN,  M.R.I. A.  ..             ..  165 

Irish  Societies.:  ' 

Dublin  Microscopical  Club                  ..              ..              ..              ..  171 

Notes  : 

Argynnis  aglaia  in  north-west  Wexford — C.  B.  Moffat,  m.r.i.a.  172 

New  locality  for  Thecla  betulae— Ci-B.  Moffat         .  .             . ,  172 

Abnormal  Caterpillar  of  Ghoerocampa — ^W.  E.  PLart  ...              .,  172 

Go;iepteryx  rhamni  .|n\  Co.  Fermanagh — H;  B.-^RatJiborne    ..  173 

Return  of  the  Gold-crest— C,  B.  Moffat    . .              .  ,             , ,  173 

A  few  Bird  Notes  from  Balbriggan — Rev.  G.  W.  Benson,  ll.d.  173 

A  Jay  in  Co.  Longford — J.  Mackay  Wilson                . .              , ,  174 

Irish  Myxomycetes— W.   F.  Gunn                   .  .              .  .              , ,  174 


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