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THE IRISH NATURALIST

5V ijfctcmtliUr gottt'ttrtl

OF

GENERAL IRISH NATURAL HISTORY,

the; official organ of

The Royal Zoological Society of Ireland ; The Dublin Microscopical Club ,

The Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society ;

The Belfast Naturalists' Field Club ; The Dublin Naturalists' Field Club ;

The Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society ;

The Cork Naturalists' Field Club ; The Limerick and Clare Field Club.

EDITED BY

GEORGE H. CARPENTER, B.Sc, Eond.

AND

R. EEOYD PRAEGER, B.A., B.K., M.R.I.A.

VOL. VIII.

DUBLIN : EASON & SON, Limited,
85 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET, and 40 LOWER SACKVILLE STREET.

BELFAST : 17 DONEGALL STREET.
LONDON : SIMPKIN MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & Co., Ltd.

1899.

Printed by Alex. Thom & Co. (Limited), 87. 83, & 89, abbey street, Dublin.

s

S*X

CONTRIBUTORS

TO THE PRESENT VOLUME

:o:-

John Adams, Antrim,

N. H. Alcock, m.d., Trinity College, Dublin.
Prop. R. J. Anderson, m.d., Queen's College, Gal way.
G. B. H. Barrett-Hamilton, b.a., F.z.s., Kilnianock, Arthurs-
town, Water ford.
R. M. Barrington, ll.b., F i, s., Fassaroe, Bray.
Alfred Bell, Guildford, Surrey.

Sir Edmund T. Bewley, Bart, Ballytrent, Co. Wexford.
L. H. Bonaparte-Wyse, Paris.

C. W. Buckle, L/ondonderry.

D. C. Campbell, L/ondonderry.

George H. Carpenter, b.sc, F.E.S., Science and Art Museum,

Dublin.
Charles Chilton, d.sc, f.l-S., University College, Dundee.
Prof. GrenvillE A. J. Cole, f.g.s., Royal College of Science,

Dublin.
N. Colgan, m.r.i.a., Rathmines, Dublin.
T. A. Coward, Bowdon, Cheshire.
H. G. CuTHBERT, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
REV. Chas. F. D'Arcy, Ballymena.
J. H. Davies, Lisburn.
G. ClaridgE Druce, m.a., F.L.S., Oxford,
G. P. Farran, b.a., Templeogue, Co. Dublin.
REV. W. W. FlEMYNG, m.a., Coolfin, Co. Waterford.
A. H. Foord, PH.D., F.G.S. , Royal Dublin Society
Prof. M. FosliE, Trondhjem, Norway.
D. Freeman, m.a., m.b., Dublin.
REV. Hilderic Friend, Chichester, Sussex.
R. M. GilmorE, Galway.
Michael Gleeson, Nenagh.
A. M. Greenwood, Waterford.

H. Hanna, m.a., b.sc, Royal College of Science, Dublin.
H. C Hart, b.a., F-l-S., Carrablagh, Co. Donegal.
C. L,. HETT, Springfield, Brigg, Lincolnshire.
James HigGinbotham, Bull Rock Lighthouse, Garnish.
Prof. T. Johnson, d.sc, F.L.S., Royal College of Science, Dublin.
Rev. W. F.Johnson, m.a., F.E.S., Acton, Poyntzpass.
Margaret E- Joyce, St. Cleran's, Craughwell, Co. Galway.
W. F. de V. Kane, m.a , F.E-S., Drumreaske, Monaghan.

A 2

iv List of Contributors.

G. H. Kinahan, m.r.i.a., Fairview, Dublin.

G. W. Kirkaedy, F.ES., Wimbledon, Surrey.

W. J. Knowi.ES, m.r.i.a., Ballymena.

Aeice C. Lewi-v, Castlegrove, Tuani.

E. M'Carron, Dublin.

Rev. E. S. Marshaee, m.a., f.e.S., Godalming, Surrey.

Annie L. Massy, Malahide, Co. Dublin.

C. B. Moffat, Ballyhyland. Co. Wexford.
H. L. Orr, Belfast.

D. R. Pack-BerESFORd, Bagenalstown.

C J. Patten, m.d., Trinity College, Dublin.

R. Leoyd Patterson, j p., f.e.S., Holywood, Co. Down.

R. A. Phieeips, Ashburton, Cork.

Greenwood Pim, m.a., F.e.S., Monkstown, Co. Dublin.

R Leoyd Praeger, b.a., m.r.i.a.. National Library, Dublin

Harriett E. Reyneee, Killynon, Co. Westmeath.

Hon. N. C. Rothschied, Tring, Herts.

R. F. Scharff, phd., b.sc., F.zs., Science and Art Museum,

Dublin.
R. W. SCUEEY, E.R.C.P., F E.S., Dublin
S. A. Stewart, f.b.s. Ed., Museum, Belfast.
R. A. Stoney, Sandymount, Co. Dublin.
Emiey M. Tateow, Dundrum, Co. Dublin.
K. Thompson, Convoy, Co. Donegal.
Sydney M. Thompson, Belfast
J. Trumbuee, E.R.C.S., Malahide, Co. Dublin.
R.J. Ussher, j.p., Cappagh, Co. Waterford.
REV. C. H. Waddeee, b.d., Saintfield, Co. Down.
R. Warren, Moyview, Ballina.
R. Weech, Lonsdale Street, Belfast.

E. Wieeiams, Dame Street, Dublin.
J. J. Woefe, Skibbereen.

I N DEX.

O

Acanthouautilus bispinosus, 84.

Adams, J — Hordeum sylvaticum,
&c, in Ireland, 58.

Aedon galactodes, 52.

Alca impennis, 1, 4.

Alcock, N. H.— Natural History of
Irish Bats, 29, 53, 169; Long-
eared Bat in Co. Waterford, 52 ;
Capture of Live Bats. 165.

Algae from Antrim Coast, 155.

Allium Schoenoprasum, 182.

Allman, G. J. (Obituary), 104.

Ambasia Danielsseni, 60.

Anderson, R. J. — Natural History
Museum, Queen's College, Gal-
way, 125.

Argyroneta aquatica, 52.

Auk, Great, 1, 4.

Awdry's Early Chapters in Science
(reviewed), 118.

Badger, 252.

Balaenoptera rostrata, 27, 28, 210.

Bar-tailed Godwit, 187.

Barrett-Hamilton, G. B H.— Bird-
bones from Irish Caves, 17 ;
Lesser Rorqual off Co. Cork, 27 ;
Introduction of BlackGrouse,&c,
into Ireland, 37, 230; Abundance
of Herrings in Suir and Barrow,
165 ; Supposed occurrence of
Lesser Rorqual, 210; Coliasedusa
in Co. Wexford, 229; Golden
Oriole and Night Heron in Co.
Wexford, 230 ; Wood-pigeon coo-
ing by moonlight. 232.

Barrington, R. M. — Notes on
Razorbills, 132 ; Records of
Gonnemara Ferns, 142.

Bats, Irish, 29, 52, 53, 61, 124, 169.

Bats, capture of, 144, 165.

Bazzania triangularis, 20.

Belfast Natural History and Philo-
sophical Society, 22, 45, 106, 120.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, 22,
45, 65, 106, 121, 138, 166, 188, 211,
247, 262.

Bell, A. — Pleistocene Fossils from
Co. Antrim, 210.

Bembidium paludosum, 207.

Bewley, E. T.— Colias edusa in Co.
Wexford, 229.

Bird-bones from Irish Caves, 17.

Birds, Maternal affection of, 267.

Black-fish at Lough Swilly, 26.

Black Grouse, 17, 37.

Black Scoter, 187.

Blasia pusilla, 44.

Bonaparte-Wyse, L- H. — Colias
edusa in Cos. Waterford and
Cork, 228; Macroglossa stella-
tarum, in Co. Down, 250.

Botany of Central Plain, 87 ; of
E. Galway, 181 ; of N.E- Ulster,
198.

Brachiopoda and Mollusca of Car-
boniferous rocks, 68.

British Association, 227.

Buckle, C. W — Vespa austriaca in
Derry and Donegal, 163.

Butterflies in S.W. Cork, 218.

Call-notes of Birds, 183.

Callitriche obtusangula, 113.

Campbell, D. C. — Eider-duck in
Inishowen, 27; Iceland Gulls at
Londonderry, 144; Rose-coloured
Pastor at Inch, 1S6.

Carboniferous Brachiopoda and
Mollusca, 68.

Carex punctata in East Cork, 51.

Carpenter, G. H. — Animals from
MacGillicuddy'sReeks,2i3; Note-
worthy Irish Orthoptera, 249.

Carpenter on Insects (reviewed),
202.

Carrantuohill, 216.

Carrington on Farmers and Birds
(reviewed), 18

Caves, Bird-bones from, 17; Ex-
ploration of, 205.

Centrolophus pompilus, 26.

Ceramium Derbesii, 156.

Cercospora resedse, 45.

Chaetomorpha crassa, 51.

Characeae, Irish, 145.

Chicory in Co. Mayo. 228

Chilton, C. — Land Isopods from
Co. Galway, 115.

Circus Montagui, 232.

7?6i

VI

bidex.

Cole, G. A. J. — Geology of Kerry,

62.
Coleoptera, 25, 207, 21S.
Colgan, N. — Notes on Cybele

Hibernica, 50 ; Records of Con-

netrjara Ferns. 142 ; Matricaria

discoidea in W Ireland, 221 ;

Poa compressa, 226
Colias ednsa, 208, 21S, 228. 229.
Copeman, J. L -Colias edusa in

Co. Cork, 228.
Cordyceps militaris, 24.
Cork Naturalists' Field Club, 10S,

139, 264.
Cork (W.) Plants, r8i.
Cormorants breeding in trees, 186.
Coward, T. A.— Natural History of

Bats, 124.
Crustacea from VS W. Coast, 60 ;

Irish, 162.
Curtilla gryllotalpa, 249.
Cuthbert, H. G. — Macroglossa

stellatarum in Co Dublin, 163 ;

Vespa rufa in Co. Clare, 163.
Cybele Hibernica, Notes on, 7, 50.

160, 206.
Cystopteris fragilis, 228.

D'Arcy, C. F— Cystopteris fragilis

in Wicklow, 228.
Davies, J. H. — Melilotus parviflora

in Co. Antrim, 5r : Teesdalia

nudicaulis in Co. Down, 161 ;

Isoetes lacustris at Lough Neagh,

206; Poa compressa as an Irish

plant, 224.
Dispersal of Molluscs, 250.
Druce, G. C. — Flora of Counties

Armagh, Down, Antrim, and

Derry, 198.
Dowling, J. J. (Obituary), 104.
Dublin Microscopical Club, 20, 44,

63. 105, 119. 136.
Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, 23,

47, 67, 122, 137, 16S, 249, 263.

Eason, C (Obituary Notice), 265.
Economic Zoology, 18.
Eider-duck, 27.
Elachistea Areschougii, 105
Entomological Notes: 25, 257.
Eskers of Ireland, 6.
European Fauna, 239, 265, 266.
Eurvdice elegantula, 60.
Ewart, L. M. (Obituary), 43.
Ewarfs Penycuick Experiments
(reviewed), 116.

Farran, G. P. — Land Mollusca of
Narin, 184; Quail in Co. Dublin,
186.

Ferns, of Connemara, 142.

Field Club News, 36, 59, 103, 205.

Fitzgerald on Eskers of Ireland
(reviewed), 6.

Fleas, 266.

Fleming on Mutilation (reviewed),

Flemyng, W. W — Long-eared Bat
in Co. Waterford. 61 ; Colias
edusa in Co Waterford, 208.

Flora, arrangement of, 123.

Foord, A H — Brachiopoda and
Mollusca of Irish Carboniferous
Rocks, 68

Foslie, M.— Visit to Roundstone in
April, 175.

Freeman, D. W. — Freshwater Mites
from Co. Dublin, 157.

Friend, H.— Irish Worms, 162.

Galway, Land Isopods, 1 15 ; Queen's
College Museum, 125 ; Botanical
Notes, 181.

Gannets on Bull Rock, 251.

Geological Structure of Kenmare
District, 28 ; 62,

Geranium pyrenaicum, 206 ; rotui:-
difolium, 161.

Gilmore, R.M.— Pine Marten and
Badger in Co. Galway, 252.

Glacial climate, 242.

Glacial Geology of Kern-, 61.

Gleesom M. — Phenological Notes
from Co. Tipperary, 161 ; Notes
on Lepidoptera, 250 ; Bird
Records, 267.

Golden Oriole in Co. Wexford, 230.

Granites of Tyrone and Derry, 232.

Greenwood, A, M.— Late Wild-
flowers, 25.

Grey Phalarope, 251.

Hairy-armed Bat, 169 ; Fleas from,

266.
Hanna, H — Chsetomorpha crassa

at Achill, 51; Algae from the

Antrim Coast. J55.
Hart, H. C— Black-fish at Lough

Swilh', 26; Lesser Rorqual at

Lough S willy, 28
Hawfinch, 27.

Hedgehog and its food, 268.
Herrings in Suir and Barrow, 165.
Heteromeyenia Ryderi, 217.
Hett, C. L. — Animal Photography,

131 ; Capture of Live Bats. 144 ;

Calls of Owls, 231.

hidex.

VI 1

Hett's Glossary of Local Bird-

nanies (reviewed), 201.
Higginbotham, J. — Gannets on

Bull Rock, 251.
Hordeum sylvaticuin, 58.
Hydrachnidae, 157.
Hj^popterygium flavescens, 120.

Iceland Gull, 144.
Introduction of Black Grouse, 37.
Ireland and Kamchatka, 206.
Isoetes lacustris, 206.
Isopods from Co. Galway, 115.

Jauiropsis breviremis, 60.

Johnson, T. — Irish Characese, 145.

Johnson, W. F. — Cordyceps
militaris on a beetle, 24; Ento-
mological notes from Pointzpass,
25 ; Macroglossa stellatarum and
bombyliformis at Poyntzpass,
vSpring migrants, 185; Bembidium
paludosumat Lough Neagh, 207;
Entomological Notes fromUlster,

257-
Joyce, M. E. — Neotinea intacta in

Co. Galway, 143 ; Botanical

Notes from E. Galway, 181 ;

Geranium pyrenaicum in S.E-

Galway, 206.
Juncus obtusiflorus, 25.

Kane, W. F. de V.— Notes of recent
captures, 52; Noteworthy Lepi-
doptera, 207.

Kerry, geology of, 28, 61, 62.

Kinahan, G. H. — Geological struc-
ture of Kenmare District, 28.

Kirkaldy, G. W. — Review of
Carpentei's "Insects," 202.

Kitchen-middens, 1,4.

Knowles, W. J.— Remains of Great
Auk from Whitepark Bay. Co.
Antrim, 4.

Lagopus mutus, 17.
Lejeunea Rosettiana, 261.
Lepidoptera, Notes on, 25, 52, 163,

185, 207, 225, 229, 250, 257.
Lewin, A. C.--Chicorriu Co. Mayo,

228.
Limax marginatus var. niger, 214.
Limerick Field Club, 48.
Limosa lapponica, 187.
Lithothamnion, 175.
Locusta cinerascens, 249.
Long-eared Bat, 52, 61.
Long-tailed Duck, 27.

MacGillicuddy's Reeks, Fauna of,
213.

M'Carron, E.— Notes on the Razor-
bill, 132.

M'Coy, Sir F. (Obituary), 197.

Macroglossa bombyliformis, 185.

Macroglossa stellatarum, 163 185,
250.

Marchantia polymorpha, 44.

Marine Shells of Donegal, 235.

Marshall E. S.— Allium Schceno-
prasum in Ireland, 182.

Massy A. L.— Land Shells from Co.
Limerick, 143.

Matricaria discoidea, 221.

Melilotus parviflora, 51.

Meles taxus, 252.

Merulius lachrymans, 20.

Migrants (Birds), 161, 185.

Migratory Butterflies, 218.

Mites (Freshwater) of Co. Dublin,
157-

Moffat, C. B.— Woodcock as an
Irish Breeding bird, 109 ; Macro-
glossa stellatarum, 185 ; Wasps in
Co. Wexford, 208 ; Little Tern in
Dublin Bay, 252.

Mole-cricket, 249.

Mollusca, Carboniferous, 68 : of
Clonbrock, T43 ; of Co. Limerick,
143 ; of Narin, 184 ; of S.W.
Donegal, 235 ; Dispersal of, 250.

Montagu's Harrier in Co. Wexford,
232.

Motacilla alba, 186, 229.

Museum of Queen's College, Gal-
way, 125.

Mustela martes, 252.

Myosotis collina, 51.

Myotis mj'stacinus, 53.

Neotinea intacta, 143.

Nests of Little Tern, 189.

Nightingale, 52.

Night Heron, in Co. Wexford, 230.

Nycticorax griseus, 230.

Obituary — L- M. Ewart, 43; G. J.
-Allman, J04; J.J. Dowling, 104;
W. Frazer, 141 ; F. M'Coy, 197 ;
C. Eason, 265.

CEdemia nigra, 187.

Oriolus galbula, 230.

Ormerod on Injurious Insects
(Reviewed), 19, 168.

Orr, H. L- — Dispersal of Molluscs,
250 ; Maternal affection of Birds,
and vitality of eggs, 267 ; Hedge-
hog and its food, 268.

Owls, Calls of, 231.

Vlll

Index.

Pack - Beresford, D. R. —Wasp
Notes, 209.

Parvipalpus capillacea, 60.

Pastor roseus, 1S6, 230.

Patten, C J.— Nest of Little Tern,
189; Sea-fowl of Dublin Coast,
253.

Patterson, R. LI.— Irish Bats, 61.

Phalaropus fulicarius, 251.

Phillips, R. A — Carex punctata in
E. Cork ; Myosotis collina in Co.
Waterford, 51 ; Geranium rotun-
di folium in Co. Wexford, 161.

Photography of Animals, 131.

Phragmiclium tormentillae, 21,

Pirn, G. — Obituary notice of W.
Frazer, 141.

Pine Marten, 252.

Pipistrellus Leisleri, 169.

Plants, Irish, 142.

Plecotus auritus, 52, 61.

Pleistocene Fossils, 210.

Poa nemoralis and compressa, 113,
142, 224.

Polysiphonia divaricata, 156.

Porcellio dilatatus, 60.

Praeger, R. LI.— Notes on Cybele
Hibernica, 7, 50 ; Juncus obtusi-
fiorus in Aran, 25 ; Botanist m
the Central Plain, 87; Arrange-
ment of a Flora, 123; Marine
Shells from Kenmare River, 164 ;
Matricaria discoidea in W. Ire-
land, 223.

Ptarmigan, 17.

Puccinia poarum, 44, 105.

Quail in Co. Dublin, 186.

Radula Carringtoni and aquilegia,
20.

Razorbill, 132.

Reed-Warbler, 161, 185, 267.

Reviews— FitzGerald : Eskers of
Ireland, 6; Ormerod : Injurious
Insects, 18, 168 ; Carrington :
Farmer and Birds, 19 ; Fleming :
Wanton Mutilation of Animals,
19; Ewart: Penycuick Experi-
ments, 116; Gill: Naturalists'
Directory, 118; Awdry : Early
Chapters in Science, 118 ;
Witchell: Call-notes of Birds,
183 ; Hett: Glossary of Local, &c.
Names of Birds, 201 ; Carpenter :
Insects, 202 ; Scharff : History of
European Fauna, 239.

Reynell, H. E. — Colias edusa in Co.

Westmeath, 228.
Riccia sorocarpa, 119.
Rorqual (Lesser), 27, 28, 210.
Rose-coloured Pastor, 186, 230.
Rothschild, N. C— Irish Fleas, 266.
Roundstone in April, 175.
Royal Zoological Society, 20, 44,

63, 105, 119, 136, 166, 188, 211, 232,

247, 261.
Rufous Warbler, 52.

St. Doulagh's, Fossils of, 137.

Sandwich Terns, 144.

Scharff, R. F.— Porcellio dilatatus
at Dundrum, 60 ; Animals from
MacGillicuddy's Reeks, 213;
European Fauna, 266.

Scharff on European Fauna
(reviewed), 239, 265.

Scoter (Black), 187.

Scully, R. W.— Notes on Cybele
Hibernica, 50; Records of Conne-
mara Ferns, 142 ; West Cork
Plants, 181 ; Note on Poa com-
pressa, 224.

Sea-fowl of Dublin Coast, 253

Shells from Clonbrock, 143 ; from
Limerick, 143 ; from Kenmare
River, 164; from S.W. Donegal,

235-
Sociable Plover in Ireland, 233.

Somateria mollissima, 27.

Sponges (freshwater) 217.

Sterna minuta, 189, 252.

Stewart, S. A. — Poa nemoralis, &c,

in N. Ireland, 113; Arrangement

of a Flora, 123.
Stoney, R. A.— Little Tern in

Dublin Bay, 252.

Tatlow, E. M.— Marine Shells from
S.W. Donegal, 235.

Teesdalia nudicaulis, 161.

Tern (Little), Nest of, 189, 252.

Tern (Sandwich), 144.

Tetrao tetrix, 17, 37.

Thompson, K. — Colias edusa in Co.
Donegal, 208.

Thompson, S. M.— Glacial Geology
of Kerry, 6.

Tipperary, Notes from, 161, 185,267.

Totanus glareola, 23 1.

Trumbull, J.— Hawfinch and Long-
tailed Duck in Co. Dublin, 27.

Index.

IX

Ussher, R, J.- -The Great Auk,
once an Irish Bird, i ; Rufous
Warbler, 52 ; Green Woodpecker
in Ireland, 144; Cormorants
breeding in trees, 186 ; Gannets
on the Bull Rock, 251.

Vanellus gregarius, 233.

Venturia bryophila, 21.

Vespa rufa and austriaca, 163-4,

208.
Vespertilio mystacinus, 53.
Vesperugo Leisleri, 169.

Waddell, C. H. — Poa nemoralis in
Co. Down, 142.

Warren, R. — Sandwich Terns at
Killala, 144 ; Bird Records in Co.
Tipperary, 185 ; White Wagtails
at Bartragh, 186 ; Bar-tailed God-
wits and Black Scoter in Moy
Estuary, 187.

Wasps, 163, 164, 208, 209, 260.

Welch, R. — Land and freshwater
Mollusca of Clonbrock, 143.

Whiskered Bat, 53.

White Wagtails, 186, 229.

Williams, E. — Rose - coloured
Pastor in Donegal, 230; Wood
Sandpiper in Co. Waterford, 231 ;
Montagu's Harrier in Co. Wex-
ford, 232 ; Sociable Plover in
Ireland, 233.

Wild-flowers, late, 25.

Witchell on Call-notes of Birds
(reviewed), 183.

Wolfe, J. J. — Migratory Butterflies
in S.W. Cork, 218.

Woodcock as an Irish breeding-
bird, 109.

Woodlice from Co. Galway, 115.

Woodpecker (Green), 144.

Wood-Pigeon cooing by moonlight,

23J •
Wood Sandpiper in Co Waterford,

231.

O
LI ; Y ' —

30

'

PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

Bones of Great Auk from Co. Waterford (Plate i),

Bones of Great Auk from Co. Antrim (Plate 2),

The Whiskered Bat {Vespertilio mystacinns) (Plate 3),

Feet of Whiskered and Hairy Armed Bats,

Ears of Whiskered and Daubenton's Bats, .

Distribution of Whiskered Bat, (Plate 4), .

Acanthonautilus bispinosus (Plate 5),

Case of Coelenterata in Queen's College Museum ,Galway

The Hairy-armed Bat ( Vesperugo Leisleri) (Plate 7), .

Distribution of Hairy-armed Bat (Plate 8),

Plan of Roundstone Bay,

Nest and Eggs of Little Tern (Plate 9),

Section of unfinished Nest of Tern, .

Section of finished Nest of Tern,

The Sociable Plover {Vanelhts gregarhis) Plate 10),

. To face

1

. To face p.

4

To face p.

53

. p.

53

. p.

54

. To face p.

57

. To face p.

84

.(Plate 6), p.

125

. To face p.

169

. To face p.

174

. To face p.

177

. To face p.

189

. p.

192

. p.

194

. To face p.

233

W

RISK Natikai.ist. Vol.. VIII.

PLATE i.

h- K-nar*r£t\

Bones of Great Auk prom Kitchen-middens on the Coast

of Co. Waterford.

Natural size.
To J [•]

®ije |irt#ij Jlaturali^t.

VOLUME VIM.

THE GREAT AUK, ONCE AN IRISH BIRD.

BY R. J. USSHKR.

[Plate i.]

Since my notice in the Irish Naturalist (1897, p. 20S), I have
made other visits to the same kitchen-middens, resulting in
additions to my former finds of Great Auks' bones. These
were all found strewn about on or near the old surface where
this cropped up, among the bones of domestic animals and
fowls and of Red Deer, of which many pieces of the antlers
were also obtained. There were numerous burned stones,
and charcoal in layers, and great quantities of shells of edible
species, often very large, limpets, oysters, mussels, cockles, &c.
I have now seventeen bones of A lea impennis, which have either
been determined by Dr. Gadow or correspond, with specimens
that he has pronounced upon — eight coracoids which he
assigns to six individuals, five humeri, belonging to three
individuals, one tibia, right and left metatarsals and a portion
of the pelvis. Aright and a left humerus were fo:ind close
together. In some of the bones the outer surface is well
preserved, but in others it is much worn down, and the bones
split from time and exposure. That my superficial searches
among the sandhills, where but little of the old surface is now
exposed, should have resulted in finding the remains of at least
six Great Auks strewn about, suggests that these birds must
have been used for food in somenumbers. To obtain them access
was probably available to some breeding-place of the species
on the neighbouring coast ; so that when Professor Newton
remarked that the Great Auk obtained near Waterford Harbour
in 1834 may have been revisiting the home of its forefathers,
he possibly described what took place.

A

2 The Irish Naturalist. [January,

That the Great Auk was not equally common on all parts
of the Irish coast became evident to me recently, when I
visited the kitchen- middens of the extensive sand-hills at the
mouth of Wexford Harbour without finding any relics of the
bird.

I am indebted to Lady Blake for a copy of her article on the
Great Auk in the Victoria Quarterly for August, 1889. In this
she quotes from the unpublished journal of Aaron Thomas of
His Majesty's ship " Boston," 1794, which came into her hands
in Newfoundland. It speaks thus of the " Penguins" (Great
Auks) on Funk Island — "The quantity of birds which resort
this island is beyond . . belief . . . As soon as you put your
foot on shore you meet with such thousands of them that you
cannot find a place for your feet, and they are so lazy that they
will not attempt to move out of your way. If you come for
their feathers you do not give yourself the trouble of killing
them, but lay hold of one and pluck the best of the feathers ;
you turn the poor penguin adrift, with his skin half naked and
torn off, to perish at his leisure. This is not a very humane
method, but it is the common practice.

" If you go to the Funks for eggs, to be certain of getting
them fresh, you pursue the following rule : — you drive, knock,
and shove the poor penguins in heaps ! youthen scrape all the
eggs in lumps, in the same manner as you would heaps of
apples in an orchard ; numbers of these eggs being dropped
some time, are stale and useless. But you have cleared a space
of ground . . . you retire for a day or two ... at the end of
which time you will find plenty of eggs, fresh for certain, on
the place which you before had cleared.

Fig. 9. Left-sided view of pelvis of Aka impennis, half natural size Shows
by dotted lines the missing portions in Fig. 8 as kindly supplied by Dr.
Gadow.

" While you abide on this island you are in the constant
practice of horrid cruelties, for you not only skin them alive,
but burn them alive also to cook their own bodies with ! you
take a kettle with you, into which you put a penguin or two,

t899- J Usshkr. — The Great Auk, once an Irish Bird. 3

you kuidle a fire under it, and this fire is absolutely made of
the unfortunate penguins themselves. Their bodies being
oily soon produce a flame ; there is no wood on the island, . .

"This skinning and taking the eggs from the Funks,"
continues Mr. Thomas "is now prohibited, and they are
allowed to take the birds only for bait to catch fish with.
But the Funks, being such a distance from laud, such a number
of sunken rocks about ; and in every other particular except
the birds, so uninviting and desolate, that they are but seldom
visited unless by pirates and robbers, to steal the feathers and
eggs.

"About three 3Tears ago some fellows were detected in this
kind of plunder ; they were brought to St. John's and flogged
at a cart's tail. But I am told there are quantities of feathers
purloined from these islands every year."

The latter part of this statement shows that the previous
account of revolting cruelties described past times, within the
writer's recollection. Still it implies that Great Auks were
still numerous on the Funk Islands in 1794, a much more
recent date than has been supposed.

Elsewhere, however, this species was not finally exterminated
until fifty years later, e.g., on the Iceland coasts.

Explanation of Pi^atf, i.

Bones of Great Auk from kitchen-middens on the coast of Co. Waterford.

Fig. 1. View of posterior surface of left humerus.
,, 2. View of anterior surface of left humerus.
,, 3 and 4. Two views of left coracoid.
,, 5. Side view of right tibia.
„ 6 and 7. Two views of right metatarsal.
„ 8. Left side view of pelvis, imperfect.

All natural size.

Cappagh, Co. Waterford.

A 2

4 The Irish Naturalist. [January,

REMAINS OF THE GREAT AUK FROM WHITEPARK

BAY, COUNTY ANTRIM.

BY W. J. KNOWLES, M.R.I. A.

[Plate 2.]

Several notices of finds of Great Ank bones at Whitepark
Bay have already appeared1 and it is only necessary for me
now to join Mr. Ussher in bringing the information on the
subject up to date. He describes in the present number his
finds in the South of Ireland, and the following is a complete
list of bones obtained by me at Whitepark Bay in the North,
viz. : —

Humeri — 4 right and 6 left, 3 of them imperfect. A side

view of one is shown, PI. 2, fig. 1.
Ulnae— 2 right and 1 left, one broken and mended, but they
are all otherwise perfect. Two views of one are
shown, PI. 2, figs. 2 and 3.
Radius — 1 specimen (left) shown, PI. 2, fig. 4.
Metacarpal bone — 1 specimen, left, slightly imperfect. See

PI. 2, fig. 5.
Phalanges — 2 small bones. See PI. 2, figs. 6 and 7.
Coracoids — 2 perfect specimens, both left. For side view

see PI. 2, fig. 9.
Scapulae — 3 specimens, 1 right and 2 left, one of them

imperfect. A perfect example shown, PI. 2, fig. 8.
Tibia — 1 perfect specimen (right) shown, PI. 2, fig. 10.
Femur- -1 imperfect specimen (right) upper portion only
shown, PI. 2, fig. 11.

In all 24 bones. I gave either two or three humeri to the
Royal Irish Academy along with other animal remains dug up
at the same time. Though doubtful as to three I am certain I
gave two bones to the Academy, and this number only have I
included in the above total. I took no note as to whether
they were right or left, but I have supposed there was one of
each kind. With these exceptions the list is complete. All

1 Pro ft' lings Royal Irish Academy (3), vol i, no. 5 p. 625. Id. vol. Hi,
no. 4, p- 654. G. E H. Barrett-Hamilton in Iiish A'a/ura/is', vol. v. p. 121.
Symington Gree.ve, Trans. Edinburgh Field Nat. and Micros. Soi., July, 1S97,
p. 257. Id. July, 1898, p. 332.

Irish Naturalist, Vol. VII I. ]

[Plate 2.

m

n

Bones of Great Auk prom White park Bay, Co. Antrim.

Natural size.]
To /aw p. 4. J

1S99-] Knowxes. — Great Auk, \V hit cp ark Bay, Co. Antrim. 5

the bones, except the four humeri first obtained, were
determined by Professor Newton and Dr. Gadow, of the
Museum of Zoology, Cambridge.

The first remains of Great Auk from Whitepark Bay were
obtained during a careful excavation of a portion. of the black
layer. Remains of Bos longifrons, Cervus claplms, Sheep or Goat,
Susscrofa, Fox, small form of Goose, small Gull, and a vertebra
of Cod were found with them. These were determined b>
Mr. E. T. Newton, of London, Palaeontologist to the Geological
Survey. Among other bones since determined by Prof.
Newton and Dr. Gadow were remains of Gannet, Falco, Dog
or Wolf, Hare, and Little Auk. There were also associated
with these remains flint-flakes, cores, hammer-stones, and flint
scrapers, together with edible molluscs. On another occasion
I found a humerus, ulna, radius, metacarpus, and two phalanges,
which had just dropped from the old surface. At the time I
could only identify a humerus, but from finding.all the bones so
close together, though not attached, I suspected that they be-
longed to the same wing, and on submitting them to Professor
Newton my suspicion was justified, as they were all found to
be Great Auk's bones. The scapula shown as fig. 8, PI. 2
was observed protruding from the old surface, and putting in
my trowel carefully I brought out along with it an imperfect
humerus. A number of the bones were found lying exposed
on the surface, some greatly weathered, and others com-
paratively sound. Like other bone-remains they harden after
a little drying and exposure. I believe that they and all those
obtained directly from the old surface are of the same age as
the flint implements which were found associated with them.
I have not found Great Auk remains in any of the other pre-
historic sites along the coast of Ireland which I have examined.
Whether the bird had breeding-places near WThitepark Bay or
any other parts of the Irish coast in prehistoric times or was
only a seasonal visitor I cannot give a decided opinion.
Professor Newton, in a pamphlet he has sent me, supports the
belief that there was a breeding-place in the Orkneys.1

Mr. F. C. Lucas in his " Animals recently Extinct or
threatened with Extinction " (1891), says that the Great Auk
was confined to the North Atlantic, ranging on the*European

1 On the Orcadian home of the Garefowl {Ale* imptnnis). From The
Ibis for October, 1898.

6 The Irish Naturalist. [January,

side from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay, and on the American
side from Greenland to Virginia. He says further that the
positively known breeding-places are few in number, those
where the bird bred abundantly being the Garefowl Skerries
off the coast of Iceland and Funk Island, on the Newfound-
land coast To use the words of Mr. Lucas, the Great Auk
was " slaughtered out of existence " in the cruel way described
in Mr. Ussher's quotation from Lady Blake's paper; and it is
now believed to be extinct, the extinction taking place about
1840, almost coincidenth in Europe and America. Mr.
Symmington Grieve gives a summary of existing remains of
the Great Auk or Garefowl. 1

Skins, . . . . . 80 or 82

Skeletons, more or less complete, . 23 ,, 24

Detached bones, . 862 ,, 874

Physiological preparations, . . 2 „ 3

Eggs, . . . . 71 „ 72

Ballyinena.

THE ESKERS OF IRELAND.

In Natural Science for September and October, 1898, there appears a
well-written contribution on the subject of Irish Eskers from the pen
of Dr. Thomas Fitzpatrick, of St. Ignatius' College, Galway. The paper
consists chiefly of an account of the various theories put forward to
explain the formation and distribution of these puzzling deposits ; but
the writer has personal acquaintance with many of our best examples of
eskers, and his comments on the statements and suggestions of Jukes
and Kinaban in Ireland, Geikie and Ramsay in Great Britain, and
Hummel and Hoist in Scandinavia, have therefore a value of their own.
Dr. Fitzpatrick distinctly leans towards Hum in el's glacier-tunnel theory ;
but he considers that the fact of the distribution of eskers in Ireland
being almost restricted to the Central Plain is a point in favour of
Kinahan's Esker-sea hypothesis. Curiously enough, no reference is
made throughout the paper to the work of Winchell, Warren, Upham,
Stone, Carvill Lewis, G. F. Wright, J. C. Russell, and other American
geologists who have thrown so much light on the subject ; and a more
unnatural omission is found as regards Prof. Sollas' important Paper
and map showing the distribution of eskers in Ireland'-— the most sug-
gestive contribution to the literature of the subject which has yet
e.nanated from this country.

1 Additional Notes on the Great Auk or Garefowl. Transactivtis Edinburgh
Field A a uraliit and Microscopical Society, July, 1898
2 Sci. Tians. K.D.S. (2) v., 110. 13, 1896.

iS99.]

NOTES ON " CYBELE HIBERNICA."

BY R. 1,1,0yd PRAEGER, E.E.

I. Some Additional District-records.
Now that Cybele Hibernica has appeared, it has been possible
to compare the distribution of plants in the twelve botanical
districts as given in that work with the unpublished matter
which I have been gathering together for the purposes of an
Irish Topographical Botany. Let me at once say that all the
material which I have was freely at the disposal of the Editors
of Cybele, and that much of it was used in that work. But a
good deal remains behind, and as a consequence I can fill,
now that a comparison is possible, a number of blanks in the
table ol distribution, A large number of new records for
counties might also be given in the case of those rarer plants,
the distribution of which is shown in Cybele in detail ; but the
publication of these would make the present paper so
voluminous that it seems belter to reserve them for Topo-
graphical Botany, and to publish at present only those
localities which constitute new district-records. The plants
were collected by myself during the last three seasons, except
where otherwise stated. These notes are by no means com-
plete, as many plants are at present in the hands of specialists,
and as time did not permit of my going through a large
accumulation of unclassified records from various parts of
the country.

Ranunculus heterophyllus, Fries.

IV. Wexford— about Gorey, Rosslare, and Wexford, E- S. Marshall,
1897.
R. Lcnormandl, F. Schultz.

III. Kilkenny- Brandon Hill. Cardow— On Mount Leinster and

by the Pollmounty River.
VIII. Mayo, W.— Several places on Achill
Papaver Rhaeas, L,.

IX. Roscommon — about Athlone.
Fumarla Borsei, Jord.

IV. Wexford — Gore}', Macmins, Wexford, Rosslare Harbour, F.

S- Marshall, 1897.
*Draba muralis, L,.

III. Kilkenny— abundant on an old building among fi Ids east of
Kilkenny.

8 The Irish Naturalist. \ January,

Viola canlna, L.

III. Kiekenny — near Johnstown. Careow— boggy ground south
of Carlow.
V. tricolor, L.

VIII. Gaeway, W— Clonbur neighbourhood, E. S. Marshall, 1895.
Cerastiimi tetrandrutn, Curtis.

VII. Tipperary. N.— tDerelict railway at rortumna. King's—
trailway north of Bauagher.
Elatlne hexandra, L.

X.Armagh — Mullaghmore Lough, I.N. ii , 215 (1893). An
omission in Cybele.

iYTalva moschata, L.

IX. Roscommon— t Mount Talbot. Seigo— {Lough Arrow, and
JKnocknarea glen. Mayo, E — near Coug, E. S.Marshall,
1895
Erodlum moschatum, L'H6ritier.

VII. King's— JKilleigh.
TrlfoIIum medium, L.

VII. Tipperary, N.— Thurles, and Portumna.

T. fragriferum, L-

III. Kilkenny— abundant by the Suir above Granny. Careow—
by the Barrow below St. Mullin's, and in a pasture at
Leighlinbridge.

T. flllforme, L.

III. QUEENS— edge of the Erkina marshes near Grantstown.

VIcIaangustifolia, L.

III. KiEKENNY-near Kilkenny. Careow— Bagenalstown.
VII. Longford— near Longford, and on Cam Clonhugh-

{Primus insititia, Linn.
IX. Seigo — near Sligo.

{P. Cerasus, L.

IV. Wexford— about Gorey, Wexford, and Rosslare Harbour, E.

S. Marshall, 1896-97
IX. Roscommon— near Athlone, and by Lough Arrow. Seigo —
Lough Arrow. LEiTRiM— by the coast.

P. Padus, L.

III. Queen's— large wood at Maryborough ; tMountrath, fAbbey-

leix.
Rubus ( •Meatus, Wh and N

IV, Wexford- Macmine Junction, E. S. Marshall, 1S97.

R. hlrtt follus, Maell. and Wirt. var. danicus(Focke).

IV. Wexford- Wexford and Rosslare Harbour, E S. Marshall,
1897.
Agrimonia odorata, Mill.
IX. Seigo— Strandhill.

1899.1 PrABGER.— Notes on " Cybele Hibemica? 9

Rosa mollis, Smith.

V. Louth— Castlebellingham.
R. rubiglnosa, Linn.

II. Tipperary, S.— rough ground south of Thurles.
III. Queen's — near Maryborough.
V. Meath— Laytown. Louth— Togher and Killencoole.
Saxif raga stellarls, L.

III. Careow — eastern face of Mount Leinster. The plant grows in
some quantity at about 2,000 feet, extending into Co.
Wexford.
Scclum Telephlum, L.

III. Queen's— Mountrath and Cullenagh.
*S. album, L-

III. Kilkenny — about Kilkenny. Careow — Bagenalstown.

Queen's— very abundant about Mountmellick.

V. Louth — Drogheda.
Myrlophyllum altcrnlflorum, DC:

V. Kiedare— Nurney. Louth— Ardee Bog.
Callltrlche vernails, Koch.

IV. Wexford— Wexford district, E. S. Marshall, 1897.
Aplum nodlflorum, Reichb. fil. var. ocreatum, Bab.

IV. Wexford— near Wexford, B. S. Marshall, 1896.
V. Dublin — by a spring on Ireland's Kye.
Peucedanum sativum, Benth.

IX. Roscommon — abundant on esker west of Athlone.
Caucalls nodosa, Scop.

III. Careow— Killedmond, Borris, Leighlinbridge.
[Galium ercctum, Huds.

VII. WestmeaTh— meadow near Coosan Lough.
C. uliginosum, L.

III. Careow — near Milford and Carlow.

IV. Wickeow — two miles north of Blessington.
JValerlanella Auricula, DC.

III. Kilkenny — Inistioge and Thomastown.
Fllago minima, Fries.

III. Careow— St. Mullin's.
BIdens tripartita, L.

VII. King's— Shannon Harbour.
Matricaria Chamomllla, L.

IV. Wexford— *Enniscorthy, casual only.
IX. Roscommon— tgravel-pit near Athlone.

•Petasltes fragrans, Presl.

IX. Roscommon— Mote Park, and Boyle.

X. Cavan — near Cavan town.

Seneclo Jacobaea, L. var. flosculosus (Jord.)

IX. Seigo— Sand-dunes at Strandhill.
Arctium ncmorosum, Lej.
IX. Seigo— near Sligo town.

A3

io The /risk Naturalist. [January,

Crepls taraxacifolia, Thuill.

VII. Tipperary, N.— Thurles. Westmeath— Athloue, and near
Coosan Lough, Killinure Lough, and Twy Lough.

Leontoclon hispidus, L,

VI. Galway, vS E. — Portumna.

Vaccinium Oxycoccus, L-

III. Kilkenny— bog at Urlingford. Carlow— marsh near St.
Mullin's. Queen's— Maryborough, and east of Boleybeg
Bridge.

Andromeda Polifolia, L,.

II. Tipperary, S. — bogs at Ballinure.

Statlce rariflora, Drej.

IX. Sligo — southern shore of Sligo Bay, Aug., 1897, G. P. Farran,
spec !

IYIyosotis repens, G. Don.

III. Kilkenny— Barleeagh Wood.

VII. Tipperary, N. — Templemore and Devil's Bit. Longford —
Cam Clonhugh.

*Llnaria Cymbalaria, Mill.

III. Kilkenny — Thouiastowu and Kilkenny. Carlow — Borris,

Carlow, and Bagenalstowji. Queen's — Maryborough and
Mountrath.

Utricularia intermedia, Hayne.

II. Tipperary, S. — marsh between Cashel and Fethard.

Mentha piperata, L.

III. Kilkenny— fThomastown. Queen's— {Maryborough, fCul-
lenagh. and JMouutrath.

Lamium album, L.

VI. Galway, S.B. — Portumna.

Littorella iacustris, L.

III. Kilkenny -Lough Cuilen. Queen's — near Maryborough.
V. Kildare — near Kildare. Meath — Lough Sheelin.

Polygonum maculatum, Trinien and Dyer.

IV. Wexford— *One plant on quay at Wexford, H. S. Marshall,

1896.

Euphorbia portlandica, L.

VIII. Galway, W. — rocks near Slyne Head.

Betula verrucosa, Khrh.

III. Carlow— marsh at .St. Mullin's. Queen's— edges of bog tt
Abbey le.'x.
V. Kildare — bogs between Thomastown and Kdenderry. Meath
—bogs and shores of Lough Sheelin.
VIII. Galway, W.— Clonbur neighbourhood, E. S. Marshall, 1895.
X. Cavan — marshes round Farnham Lake, and south end of Lough
Oughter.

i899-] PrAKGKR. — Notes on liCybele Hibemica?1 n

Betula pu'oesccns, Ehrh.

III. Kilkenny — Tliomastown. and high up on Braudon Hill
Car i,ow — marsh at St. Mullin's. Queen's — bogs at Abbey-
leix and Maryborough.
VII. Tipperary, N. — Lough Derg shores near Portumua ; Barra-
curragh bog near Thurles ; hill west of Devil's Bit. King's
— bogs at Geashill. mountain glens of Slieve Bloom, marshes
of Lough Goura. WkstmeaTh — natural scrub, Coosan
Lough and Twy Lougli.

Salix triandra, L.

III. Kilkenny— Thomastown. Carlow— swamp by the Barrow
below vSt. Mullin's.
tS. pentandra, L.

V. Kildare— near Kildare, and in large marsh north of the
Curragh. Meath— Enfield.
S. cuspid at a, Schultz=5. pentandra X fragilis.

V. Kildare — by the Liffey, near Kilcullen. Apparently not
hitherto recorded from Ireland, though Mr. E. F. Linton
writes me that he has seen it among Mr. Marshall's Irish
gatherings.
S. Smith iana, Willd., aggr.

III. Queen's— Boleybeg Bridge near Abbeyleix.
tS. purpurea, L.

V. Kildare— near Leixlip. Meath — near Boyne monument, and
at Enfield.
VI. Galway, N.E.— Clonbrock.

Populus trcmula, L

III. Carlow— appears native at St. Mullin's. Queen's— wild
ground at Maryborough and Enio.
Taxus baccata, L.

VII. King's — Clonad wood, probably native.

LIstera cordata, R. Br.

VII. King's — near summit of Arderin.

Habenaria albida, R. Br.

VII. Tipperary, N.— slopes west of Devil's Bit.

Luzula vernalis, DC.

VI. Galway, S E— Dalystown. The first station west of the
Shannon.

Typha angustifolia, L-

III. Kilkenny— plentiful in Lough Cullen.
Sparganium ramosum, Iluds. var. microcarpum, Neum.
VIII. Galway, W.— Clonbur neighbourhood, E. S. Marshall, 1S95.
IX. Mayo, E.— Cong neighbourhood, E. S. Marshall, 1895.
XII. Down— Lou ghinisland, Waddell (JSuppl. Flor. N.E.I)

Lemna polyrhlza, L.

III. Carlow— ditch by the Barrow below Graigueuamauagh,

i'2 The I thh Naturalist. Januar}'

Potamogeton ZIzl!, Roth.

III. Kilkenny— in the Nore at Thomastown.

P. obtuslfollus, Mert. and Koch.

III. Kilkenny— Lough Cullen, and Johnstown.
VII. WestmeaTH— near Athlone.

Zannlchelllapedunculata, Reichb.l

IV. Wicklow— brackish pools north of Wicklow.

Eleocharls multlcaulis, Smith.
VII. KiNG's-Geashill.

Scirpus pauclflorus, Lightf.

II. Tipperary, S — Farraualeen and Fethard.

III. KiXKENNY-Thomastowu, Urlingford, Johnstown. CarloW —
below St. Mullin's. Queen's — Rathdowney and Grantstown.

S. Tabernaemontanl, Gmel.

IX. Sligo— Rosses Point
Erlophorum latifolium, Hoppe.

V. KilDare— large marsh north of the Curragh.

fihynchospora alba, Vahl.

III. Kilkenny— Urlingford. Carlow- -marsh near St. Mullin's.

Queen's— in a number of stations.
R. f usca, R & S.

VII. Tipperary, N.— bog at Barracurragh near Thurles. King's
—bogs east of Banagher. WesTmeaTh— bog near Twy
Lough, west of Athlone.

Carex teretluscula, Good.

II. Tipperary, S.— lallinure, and between Cashel and Fethard.
III. Kilkenny— Johnstown. Queen's— Abbeyleix, Rathdowney,
Portarlington

IV. Wexford— near Wexford, B. S. Marshall, 1897.
C. muricata, L.

IX. Sligo — Rosses Point.
C. curta, Good.

VII. Longford— north of Cam Clonhugh.
IX. Roscommon — by Lough Arrow.
C. acuta, L.

IX. RoscoMMON--Lough Key.
C. pallescens, L.

VII. King's -base of Slieve Bloom. Longford— Longford, and
Cam Clonhugh.

C. dlstans, L

III. Kilkenny— by the Suir at Granny.
C. xanthocarpa, Degl.

X. Armagh— boggy shores of Derryadd Lough (/.//., ii., 18/).

An omission in Cybde, where it is recorded from Cork only.
IVimum cffusum, L.

VI. Galway, S.E.— Dalystown.

1899.I Prakger.— Notes on "Cybele Hibcrnicar 13

*Bromus secalinus, L-.

IV. Wexford — on walls at Enniscorthy.
Lepturus fillformis, Trin.

III. Kilkenny— by the Suir above Granny.
Equisetum Ilmosum, L.,var. fluviatile, L,.

II. Cos. Waterford and Tipperary, S.
III. Cos. Careow and Queens

IV. Co. Wexford.

V. Cos. Kiedare, Dublin, MeaTh, and Louth.
VI. Co. Gaeway, S.E. and NE.

VII. Cos. King's and Westmeath.

IX. Cos. Roscommon and Seigo.

X. Cos. Armagh {I.N. ii 61), and Cavan.
Equisetum hyemalc, L.

VI. Gaeway, S.E.— Dalystown

Chara fragills, Desv., var. barbata, Gant.

V. Kiedare— bog south of Kildare. Meath— Ardee Bog.
C. hispida, L., var. rudls, Braun.

II. Tipperary, S.— near Clonniel.
C. vulgaris, L , var. Iongibracleata, Kuetz.
III. Queen's— Mountrath.

var. papillata, Wallr.
VI Gaeway, S.E.— near Portumna.

II. Miscellaneous Comments.

Out of a variety of notes jolted down at different times when
dipping into the new Cybele, I venture to publish the following,
hoping that they may be of use to Irish botanists. I have listed
above any new district-records which, were in my possession,
and in my review of Cybele (Irish Nat., vol. vii., pp. 273-285),
have commented on one or two particular plants and their
recorded stations. The following notes conclude my remarks
on the excellent book which the labours of Mr. Colgan and
Dr. Scully have given to us.

Any additional stations which I give below are of pre-
Cybelian date. But it is worth noting that already a good
deal of further botanical material has appeared. Mr. Hart's
Flora of Donegal — published, most unfortunately, just too late
to be utilized by the editors of Cybele — contains much addi-
tional information on Donegal plants; and the botanist must

M

14 The Irish Naturalist. [January,.

also consult the Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field
Club, the Journal of Bo tanj', and the pages of this Journal since
almost the beginning of 1898, if he wishes to make his
information on Irish plant-distribution, up to the date of
publication of Cybcle, complete.

The following notes have been cut down as much as possible,
and as they partake of the nature of comments on the text,
the}* must, to be understood, be read with an open Cybele at
one's elbow. Additional stations mentioned are from my own
notes of the last three years except where otherwise stated.

p. xxiii. Corry's Clare paper was published in Proc. Belfast ATat.
Hist, ami Phil. Soc, 1879-80. — This would be a better reference than
that to the reprint which is given.

p. lx " The summits [of Mount Leiuster and Blackstairs] belong to
. . . Wexford." — In part to Wexford and in part to Carlow would be
more correct.

p. lxvi. District X. . . . " inland, except for a few miles of salt
marsh along the estuary of the Newry River." There are also the salt
marshes of the Foyle in Tyrone, the home of Cochlearia anglica.

Ranunculus Baudotii, Godr. — V. Dubinin — also at Portmarnock
("typical"— H. J. Groves).

Subularia aquatica, L. — XII. Derry — can hardly be said to
" now survive" on west side of Lough Beg; Mr. Stewart and I
sought it in vain in 1886, and it has not been seen anywhere in Dis-
trict XII. since 1S70.

Lychnis Githago, L.— X. " No locality available "—it is listed as one
of the common plants of Co. Armagh (I.Ar., ii., 60).

Cerastium tetrandrum, Curtis. — IX. Sugo — summits of Knock-
narea (1,048 feet) and Keishcorran (1,163 feet).

Hypericum hirsutum, L. — V. Also in MeaTh — near Navan.

Vicla angustifolia, L. — Occurs inland at other places besides the

Lough Neagh shores, as II. about Clonmel and Fethard ; III.

Bagenalstown and Kilkenny ; VII. Longford ; and X. Slieve Glah,

Cavan.

Prunus Insltltla, L. — V. MeaTh— in fine fruit in rough hedges

near Gormanstown.
Alchemilla vulgaris, L.— The following is a contribution to the
distribution of Alchemilla segregates in Ireland; the determina-
tions are all due to the kindness of Rev. E. F. Linton ; —
Ai vulgaris, L-, sensu restricto=A. pratensis, Schmidt.

V. Meath— Oldcastle. VII. Westmeath— Coosan Lough. Long-
ford — Killashee. IX. Roscommon — Lough Key. X*
Cavan — Lough Sheelin. Tyrone — Lough Muck, Miss
M. C. Knowles. XII. Down— Holy wood. Antrim— Dunboy
and White Park Bay.

1899.] Praeger.— Notes on " Cybele Hibemica." 15

A. alpestris, Schmidt.

VIII. Gaeway, W.— Recess. IX. Seigo — Keishcorran. X. Tyrone
— Omagh, Miss M. C. Knowles. XII. Antrim — Dunseverick.
A. filicaulls, Buser.

II. Tipperary, S.— Fethard. III. Queen's— Arderin and Grants-
town. V. Louth — By the Dee at Kearney's Cross. VI.
Gaeway, S.F.— Woodford. VII. Tipperary, N.— By the
Shannon above Portumna. King's — Shannon Harbour.
Longford— Longford. IX. Roscommon— Mote Park. X.
Tyrone— Omagh, Miss M. G. Knowles. XII. Antrim—
Knockagh.
Sedum anglicum, Huds., and S. acre L. — In the central counties
both of these, the latter especially, are frequently deliberately
planted on walls and housetops, apparently with an idea that they
bring luck, as in the case of Sempervivum tectortim.
Slum Iatifolium, L.— XII. Antrim. — Dickie's Glenarm Park record

is certainly erroneous, and might with advantage be abandoned.
Picris hieracioides, L. — By no means extinct in Ireland. Grows in
profusion on railway banks east of Portarlington, and again north
of Athy ; in the former station it has been abundant for the last five
years.
Lobeiia Dortmanna, L-— XII. Not to sea-level in Antrim. Lough

Neagh is about 50 feet above O.S. datum.
Vaccinium Oxycoccus, L. — V. The only record in Cybele is a vague
one of the year 1772 ; a few recent ones may be welcome : — Kiedare
— Nurney and Carbury. Meath— Lough Sheelin, and four miles
E.N.F. of Athy. Louth— Ardee Bog.
Hottonia palustris, L.— XII. Whitla's Downpatrick record should
not be ignored. The plant extends here over a wider area than at
Crossgar, and is more firmly established.
Solarium Dulcamara, L— VII. "No locality available ";— Long-
ford— thickets by canal near Woodlawn.
Calami ntha officinalis, L- XII— Was never in Glendun. A speci-
men of the original gathering, sent me by Rev. S. A. Brenan, is
Stachys arvensis.
Stachys Betonica, Benth.— X. These notes are misleading. I
never found the plant in Armagh, though I searched for it carefully.
See /.A7., ii., 156.

Plantago media, L Has been recorded from XII. Antrim— At

Lisburn and Larne (I.N., v., 31 1) ; Derry— Magilligan {Proc. B.N.F. C,
1897-8, p. 437).
Atriplex portulacoides, L.— X. Need hardly be bracketed, as it
grows in enormous profusion all along the opposite side of the
river, and no doubt further plants would turn up on the Armagh
bank if looked for.
Sallx IYIoorei, H. C. Watson.— " = S. herbacea x nigricans ? " The latest
critical opinion on this willow, founded on a study of the living plant
as well as dried specimens, places it under herbacea x phylicifolia.
(Linton, Journ. Bot. xxxiv. 471, 1896).

1 6 The Irish Naturalist. [January,

Spiranthes Romanzoffiana, Cham. — XII. Derry— I saw nearer
40 plants when I visited the Kilrea station in 1894, and the greater
part of the field in which it grew had been ploughed up a few months
before

Orchis Iatifolia, L.— Can this be any longer excluded from the Irish
list ? H. C. Levinge, E. S. Marshall, and others have deliberately
recorded the segregate species Referring to its exclusion from
Cybele, Mr. Marshall writes under date 24; 11 : 98, "I have gathered
Orchis Iatifolia (seg.) in Co. Wexford, and have marked it as observed
in District VIII. of Cybele It is very unlikely to be rare, in reality."

Potamogeton plantaglneus, Ducr.—XII. Why is this erroneous
record resurrected ? Stewart and Corry rightly placed it in their
"excluded" list. Another record of Moore's which is repeated*
"Common in ditches on the bogs among the Dublin mountains"
appears equally unworthy of a place. The plant is lowland, with
calcicole proclivities. There can be little doubt that both records
refer to poly go >iif alius forms.

P. flabellatus, Bab.— VII. King's -Grand Canal, a mile south of
Fdenderry (I.N., vi., 98). Omitted in Cybele.

Ruppla spiralis, Hartin.— XII. Is much commoner in this district
than R. rostdlata — see Flor. N.E.I . and Suppl. The editors need not
have mistrusted these records.

Scirpus rufus, Schrad — XII. All the Derry and Antrim stations
are quoted, but only one of the Down localities.

Cladlum IYIarlscus, R.Br. — XII. Down — The record of lake near
Strangford {I.N., vi., 219), the only station in east Ireland where
the plant grows abundantly, is omitted.

Carex filiform Is, L. — XII. Should not be bracketed — see I.N., vi.,
219, where the plant is recorded as growing abundantly in a lake
near Strangford, Co. Down.

Calamagrostis Epigeios, Roth. — XII. Derry— refound at For-
moyle Hill by Miss Knowles and myself, growing very sparingly, in

1895-
Festuca IVIyuros, L. - III. Only one station (Ferrybank) given in

Cybele. I have it from a large number of stations in Kilkenny and

Carlow, and from two in Queen's County.
Osmunda regal is, L. — V. Louth — the earliest publication of the

well-known Castlebellingham station appears to be I.N., iv., 294

(1895), but the fine tufts of the Royal Fern which stud the bog have
. been familiar to botanical travellers on the G. X. Railway for many

years.
Equlsetum variegatum, Schleich. var. majus, Syme. — VI. The

Aran record {I.N. iv.. 252) is omitted.

National Librarv. Dublin.

i899-] 17

NOTES ON BIRD BONES FROM IRISH CAVES.

BY G. E. H. BARRETT- HAMILTON, B.A., F.Z.S.

Through the kindness of my friend Dr. R. F. Scharff, I have
been permitted to examine some bird bones from the Bally-
namintra and Shandon caves, in the Dublin Museum. These
bones had been identified as those of the Ptarmigan and
Black Grouse, neither of which species is known to have
occurred in Ireland in recent times. The following is the
account given of the bones in Mr. Lydekker's Catalogue.

(I.) " Tetrao ietrix, Iyinn , Syst Nat. ed. 12, vol. i., p. 274 (1766). (<?.) The
right humerus, wanting the distal extremity ; from the Ballynamintra
Cave, Co. Waterford. This specimen agrees in all respects with the cor-
responding bone of a recent skeleton of the Black Grouse, and is very
important, as proving the former existence of that species in Ireland, of
which there has hitherto been no evidence ; -see Yarrell's British Birds,
4th ed., vol. iii., pp. 62, 63 (1884). Presented by R. /. Ussher, Esq."

(II.) Lagopus mutus (Montin). " (a.) The right humerus and three speci-
mens of the coracoid; from Shandon Cave, Co. Waterford. These
specimens are noticed in the Trans. R. I. Acad.,1 vol. xxvi., p. 229,
where it is suggested that they may belong to females of L. scoticus.
Their small size shows, however, that they indicate the former ex-
istence of the Ptarmigan in Ireland. Presented by E. Brenan, Esq.

(III.) (V.) " The imperfect mandible and a femur ; from the Ballyna-
mintra Cave, Co, Waterford. Presented by R. /. Ussher, Esq."

I have, fortunately, been able not only myself to give these
bones a very careful examination and comparison with recent
skeletons, but also to avail myself of the advice of my friends,
Messrs. E. T. Newton and W. P. Pycraft, with a result that
there can be no reasonable doubt whatever that all the above
bones, with one exception, have been correctly identified.
The exception is the imperfect mandible from Ballyna-
mintra Cave ; and that gave a considerable amount of trouble
before it could be properly named. It would probably
astonish those who have not worked for themselves at bird-
bones, and who may not, therefore, appreciate the difficulty
in naming such specimens, if I were to give here a list of the
species with which this refractory bone at first sight appeared
to bear resemblance. To Mr. Pycraft, however, belongs the
credit of having finally identified it as the mandible, not of
any species of game bird, but of a Common Kestrel (Falco
tinnunculus, Linn.)— a species which has, I believe, not
hitherto been included in our Irish cave-fauna*

1 8 The Irish Naturalist. January,

In addition to the above, the Museum possesses bones of
several other species of birds from the same caves, the identi-
fication of which I take from Mr. R. Lydekker1 ; we have
then the following species of birds from the two caves : —
Shandon-. Baua'x am intra

Lagopu% muftis, "Lagopus mutus.

Corvus corax. * Tetrao letrix.

Anser segetum. Fulica atra.

(/) Bernicla leucopsis. Falco tinnunculus.

Somateria mollissima.
Colj •minis septentrional is.
(Au asterisk is prefixed to the names of species now extinct in Ireland).

The former existence of two northern species such as the
Ptarmigan and Black Grouse in the south-east of Ireland,
together with that of the Great Auk2 {Alca impcnnis) in the
same count)', is of high importance for the light it throws on
former climatic conditions in Ireland.

Kilmanock, Co. Wexford.

ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY.

Handbook of Insects injurious to Orchard and Bush
Fruits, with means of Prevention and Remedy. By

Eeeanor A. Ormerod. Pp. xi, -f 286, with portrait of the author
and numerous figures in text. London : Simpkin, Marshall,
Hamilton, Kent and Co., Ltd., 1898.

In this handy volume, Miss Ormerod has summarised the researches of
many years 011 the important subject of insect-depredatious to fruit
trees and bushes. The insects described are grouped under the particular
plants which they injure, and the plants are arranged alphabetically,
thus ensuring ease of reference for the practical fruit-grower. The life-
history of each insect is described in sufficient detail, and the means for
checking its ravages carefully discussed. The outcome of many years'
experience of fruit farmers all over the country, who have been in
correspondence with the authoress, will be found condensed for the
benefit of the reader. It may be taken for granted, therefore, that the
remedies which have been found of most practical use are brought most
prominently forward. The only subject which might perhaps have been
advantageously dealt with at greater length is the influence of ichneumon
and other parasitic flies in keeping the noxious insects in check. The
book is admirably illustrated, many of the figures being new.

Cr. H. C.

1 " Fossil Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Amphibians in the Science
and Art Museum " (Dublin) (1891).

5 See Irish Naturalist, vol. v., p. 121 ; also pp. 1-3 of this number.

1899.] Economic Zoology 19

The Farmer and the Birds. By Edith Carrington, with Preface
by Canon Tristram, F.R.S. London : George Bell and Sons, York-
street, Covent Garden, 1S98.
Miss Carrington writes as an avowed advocate on behalf of the birds,
but her very attractive little volume is, on the whole, remarkably free
from foolish exaggeration or rhodomontade, and may cordially be
wished a wide circulation. Discarding appeals to sentiment, the
authoress confines herself to indicating the practical value of birds to
the agriculturist, which in many instances is done by means of a
"balance sheet," showing in opposite columns the services and dis-
services of particular species of birds, such as the Blue Titmouse, Rook,
Robin, Yellow-hammer, Barn Owl, Lapwing, and Corncrake. We need
scarcely add that in every case the meritorious deeds are found in the
longer column. The authoress does not shrink from defending the
Magpie, Wood-pigeon, Sparrow-Hawk, and Sparrow, and her vindication
of each is backed by copious extracts giving the " Opinions of
Authorities." We will not say that in every instance the case made out
is altogether convincing. The list of " foods by consuming which a bird
benefits man " is frequently enlarged by such items as shrews, frogs,
earth-worms, humble-bees, and dragon-flies, which are all, to some
extent (and some of them in a very high degree), excellent friends to the
farmer ; and if the Sparrow-Hawk is to be preserved for his services in
"thinning" Sparrows, it is a little difficult to understand why the
agriculturist is dissuaded from thinning them himself. To Irish farmers
the question of the Redstart's food is of little moment, but it would be
of great interest to know whether Miss Carrington has any grounds for
including the larva of the Magpie Moth (pp. 29-31) under this heading,
the generally received opinion being that Abraxas grossulariata is rejected
by birds in all its stages. The abbreviation "Blackstart" for ''Black
Redstart " is a disfigurement which occurs, we think, only once, but
must nevertheless be protested against : a name which, etymologically,
means " black-tail," should on no account be applied to a bird whose
tail is fiery red. On the whole, however, Miss Carrington has produced
an excellent little book, and Canon Tristram's short but thoughtful
preface should more than suffice to bespeak for it an attentive reading.

C. B. M.

The Wanton Mutilation of Animals. By George Feeming,

C.B., LL.D., F.R.C.V.S. 4to; 24 pp. and ten figures. London;

G. Bell and Sons, 1898.

This is a reprint of Dr. Fleming's vigorous article in the Nineteenth

Century, March, 1895, against the barbarous practice of docking horses'

tails. Its force is greatly increased by the illustrations which have been

added, and one would think that a comparison of figs. 7 and 9 with 10

would convert the most hardened advocate of mutilation to Dr.

Fleming's views.

20 The Irish Naturalist. [January,

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royae Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a Seal from Sergeant J. M'Goldrick, a White
Blackbird from the Lord Lieutenant, an African Dove from Dr. Garland,
a Peacock from Mr. J. Hogg, and a Woodcock fiom Mr. J. C. Smith.
A litter of Hunting-puppies and a Pigmy Calf have been born in the
Gardens. A Black Ape and a Spider-monkey have been bought.

4,326 persons visited the Gardens in November.

Dublin Microscopical Club.

October 20. — The Club met at Leinster House.

Mr. Henry J. Seymour showed a thin section of a Hornblende
granulite from Parry Sound, Lake Huron, Canada, which was collected
by Mr. Ramage on the occasion of the visit of the British Association to
Toronto last year. The rock consists mainly of dark-green hornblende
crystals, usually with rounded outlines. Centric structure is well
developed. Each of the aggregates is composed of a pink garnet
forming a central core, round which is developed a zone of plagioclase
felspars with a very little quartz. Sphene, ilmenite leucoxene, and
zircons occur abundantly in the section. The sphene is present mainly
in the hornblende areas, while the zircons, which are very minute in
size, occur chiefly in the plagioclase zone around the garnets. Some
very small granules of another, not yet determined, mineral also occur in
the section.

Prof. T. Johnson showed a preparation of the mycelium of the dry-rot
fungus, Merulius lachrymans, as seen in the tracheidal elements of a plank
which had formed part of a flooring in an unfinished part of the Science
and Art Museum. A very characteristic specimen of the fruit (hymena-
phore) of this highly destructive fungus was also shown. Moist still air
helps and dry currents of air hinder the growth of the fungus.

Mr. M'ArdlE exhibited the following rare liverworts : —

Radida Carringtoni, Jack, with ripe capsule burst, showing spores and
elaters, from Anniscaul, Co. Kerry, where it was collected on wet rocks
in the mountain stream by the Rev. H. W. Lett and himself in June last,
a new station.

Radida aqiulcgia, Tayl., showing male and female fruit ; this species is
remarkable in having the leaves cup-shaped at the base, hence the name
agui/egia, "water holder"; it is rarely seen in fruit collected in the
same locality as the previous species.

Bazzaiii: triangularis, Schl., var. innovans, Nees, Carrington and Pearson
Exs. No. 124. Found on a damp bank on Mount Eagle, Co. Kerry, in
June last. A remarkable compact form more gracile than the type, with
heterophyllous leaves, tridentate or plane at the apex, with a series of
slender innovations and flagellar interposed. This form is new to the
Irish flora.

1 899-] Proceedings of Iiish Societies. 21

November 17. — The Club met at Leinster House.

Mr. Henry J. Seymour showed a specimen of the mineral Thorite
from near Arendal, Norway. The mineral contains about 60 per cent, of
Thorium, and forms the chief source of supply of this element, which is
largely used in the manufacture of incandescent gas mantles. The
specimen was given to him by a mining engineer who brought it, with
a number of other minerals, from the same locality, to Mr. Seymour for
identification.

Prof. T. Johnson showed a preparation of Cladostephus verticillatus, a
common brown seaweed. The specimen was of interest in that it
showed the transition from the clothed summer sterile to the naked
winter fertile state. A branchlet of a sorus showed both unilocular and
plurilocular sporangia.

Mr. Greenwood Pim exhibited Phragmidium (Aregma) tonncntilhc,
found at Ovoca during the visit of the British Mycological Society, and
an addition to the Irish flora. This fungus is very distinct from Phrag-
midium obtusatum, which occurs on another plant, Potentilla fragiriastium,
while P. tormentillcB occurs on Potentilla tormentilla.

Canon RUSSEEI, exhibited sections of the petiole of the leaf of Rhus
typhina at the point of junction with the stem, showing the partial
inclosure of the bud within the swollen base of the petiole. The bud
appears to be really axillary ; but, as Professor Miall, to whom Canon
Russell sent some specimens, observes, " over-arched to a singular
extent by the old petiole. The narrow air passage, as shown in the
section, is defended by a crowd of hairs which would be an effective
protection against the entry of water." The cavity in which the bud is
formed is also fringed with hairs, which, by the time the leaf falls off,
completely envelopes the bud itself as a winter covering. Professor
Miall" states that he sees that there is every degree of inclusion from
buds which are not sheltered at all to those of the Rhus typhina, which
is an extreme case of protection. He says— "The buds of Robinia
pseudaeacia are borne upon the scar usually flanked by two spines, They
are so effectively protected they are rather hard to see."

Mr. M'Ardee exhibited Venturia bryophila, Fuuck, Sacc. Syll. Fung,
vol. i., page 395, a curious fungus which he found on the leaves of
Scapania czquiloba, one of the Hepaticae which he collected at Anniscaul,
Co. Kerry, in 1894-98. The perithicia are minute, of a dull brown colour,
beset with stiff bristles arranged on the ostiolum, not unlike the spokes
of a wheel. Asci minute clavate, eight-spored in two rows, spores
elliptic, oblong, uniseptate, hyaline. Paraphyses none.

This species, which was identified by Mr. Massee, of the Kew
Herbarium, is a native of Germany and France, and has not been
reported previously in Great Britain or Ireland. Saccardo, in his grand
work, places it in the section with those which are found on Monocoty-
ledons and Acotyledons, and add that it is found in above-mentioned
countries on the leaves of [linger mania, Po'ytrichum, and Diphyscium.

22 The Irish Naturalist. [January,

Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.

November 8. — The President of the Society, Thomas Workman, J.P.,
opened the Session with an Inaugural Address, his subject being
" Incentives to the Study of Natural History.1" A vote of thanks was
passed to the President. Some recent valuable donations were on
exhibition.

December 6. — A meeting was held in the Museum, when a paper was
read by Walter Chambers, C E. Subject — •■ Refuse Disposal and
Sewage Purification." The paper was illustrated by diagrams, etc ,
and was followed by a discussion.

December 13.— A special meeting was held when a paper was read by
Arthur J. Martin, Assoc. M. Inst. CE. (one of the Managing Directors
of the Septic Tank Syndicate, Ltd., Exeter), on :'The Purification of
Sewage by Bacteria," illustrated by limelight views. A discussion
followed

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

November 15. — The President, Rev. C. H. Waddell, B.D., delivered
his inaugural address on " Plant Societies, and the Distribution of Plants
in N.E. Ireland." The lecturer said the social aspect of the life of
plants is an interesting study and aid to understanding the way in
which the genera and species are distributed. There is a striking
parallel between the process by which the races and societies of plants
have spread over the earth and the history of the races of men. An
account was then given of what may be called the ethnography of
plants. The flora of Ireland is mixed, not a pure race indigenous to the
soil. The main stock is British, but Ireland possesses in the South-west
a small but interesting group called the Cantabrians, whose headquarters
is in the Pyrenees. By means of a map, which showed how Europe
formerly extended its coast line north-west, and included the British
Isles, it was pointed out that in this way these Spanish plants reached
Ireland. A still smaller group of American plants, which include the
" Blue-eyed Grass," Pipe wort, and others, probably reached Ireland from
the west b}' way of Greenland and the Faroes. The main progress of
plants, however, as of animals, is westwards, and it was shown how the
British flora, like the nation, consists of a mixed race of immigrants
from various parts of Europe, which have now settled down into a
natural plant-society. The Canadian Weed was mentioned as an instance
of a colonist. A natural plant-society is one which can maintain itself.
Such a community as springs up on a garden plot or along a newly
made railway is unnatural, in the sense of not being a well-proportioned
and self-supporting community. In a short time the weeds and casuals
will take their departure if left to nature, and a natural and well-
balanced community will take its place, such as we find on undisturbed
ground, or in an old meadow. Environment has, of course, much to do
w.th the character of the plant-society of a place. The bog, the wood,
the mountain, have special plants of their own which we find associated.
The rocks have an important influencs on the flora, and North-east

1 899.] Proceedings of Irish Societies, 23

Ireland has a most interesting community of plants for this reason, that
it contains such a variety of rocks. Mosses are an even better guide
than seed-plants to the kind of rock on which they grow, and a
bryologist ought to be able to tell the kind of rock from the mosses
which grow on it. There is a striking difference between the basaltic
and limestone flora of County Antrim, and the Silurian or granite flora
of County Down. At the close of the lecture Mr. J. H. Davies called
attention to the chief features of the new Cybele Hibernica, an important
addition to Irish botanical literature, and said that the authors are to be
heartily congratulated on their successful achievement on having
produced a work of great excellence, in which is set forth with care and
accuracy the present state of our knowledge of Irish topographical
botany. Mr. S. A. Stewart said that the very thoughtful and instructive
address to which they had just listened was a type of what the address
of the President of a Naturalists* Field Club should be. He was glad to
see that so much interest was now evinced in the flora of the North of
Ireland, and that many young and capable hands were coming forward
to carry on the work of botanical research in our district.

November 19. — The first meeting of the Botanical section was held
and was very well attended. The evening was devoted to a general
introduction to the study of the grasses, the subject chosen for special
study by the section this winter.

Dubein Naturaeists1 Fieed Ceub.
November 8. — Dr. N. H. Aecock in the chair. Forty members were
present. Dr. T. Johnson, F.LS , gave an account of the Irish
Characese— a group of green algse well represented in the Irish flora.
The paper was illustrated by fresh and herbarium specimens, by lantern
and microscope. The group is of some economic interest owing to the
chalk incrustations of some species. It has also considerable biological
interest, and was recommended as an excellent hobby for a field
naturalist. We understand the paper will appear in detail in an early
mimber of the Irish Naturalist. This paper was followed by a valuable
discussion of the recently published second edition of the Cybele
Hibernica. Members generally expressed their high appreciation of the
value of the work, and of the painstaking care and skill with which
Messrs. Cokra:i and Scullv had edited the second edition, as left to their
charge with his manuscript notes by the late A. G. More. The meeting
gave fitting expression to its views in the following resolution
unanimously adopted: — The Dublin Naturalists' Field Club con-
gratulates the Editors, Messrs. Colgan and Scully, two of its oldest
members, on their successful completion of the second edition of the
Cybele Hibernica, and is convinced that this edition will have the same
stimulating effect on Irish field botany as the first edition, of which the
authors were the late Dr. D. Moore and Mr- A. G. More.

Mr. F W. Moore. M R.I. A., in proposing this resolution, said he had
only one fault to find with the work, and that was the unfortunate, but
he believed unintentional, omission from the title-page of the name of
one of the authors of the first edition— his father, the late Dr. D. Moore.

24 The Irish Naturalist. [January,

It was gratifying to find how little of the conscientious work of the first
edition had been discarded in the second, and how stimulating its
influence had been on Irish field botany, as indicated by the increased
records. He was convinced that could the authors of the first edition
give an opinion they would say the work was a worthy successor to the
first.

Mr. R. M Barrington, F.D.S., seconded the resolution, heartily
endorsing all that Mr. Moore had said. He thought the editors
attributed too much to the Gulf Stream. It wTas, he thought, the
prevalence of S.W. winds, due to the permanent Atlantic depression
and the island character of Ireland, which accounted for its mild
humidity. After spending some forty years in the study of field botany.
Mr. Barrington could recommend it to all as a source of constant and
permanent pleasure in every journey. He urged members, however, if
they were to get full pleasure from the study, to work out themselves
the identifications of the plants found.

Mr. T. Chandi.EE, in strongly supporting the resolution, said he had
only seen one slight typographical error. Dr. Johnson thought they
would not have long to wait for a third edition if the teaching of botany
in the primary and secondary schools received due encouragement.
The following were duly elected members '. — J. Bowker, S. H. Douglas,
Mrs. Espinasse, Miss Ladd, Miss E. M'Intosh, F. O'Brien, Miss Patten
Rev. C. K. Pooler, Miss E. M. Rhodes, Miss K. Scott, W. A. Varian,
Four nominations were received. Mr. T. Chaudlee showed a living
specimen of a pretty white variety of the Herb-Robert.

NOTES.

BOTANY.

FUNGI.

Cordyceps militaris, Fr., on a beetle.

Early in September Miss A. E. Alexander brought me some specimens
of Necropho) us ruspator, Er., which she had found on a dead hen. I put
them into a cyanide bottle to kill them, and a day or two afterwards
proceeded to set them. While doing so I noticed a growth from the
right front leg of one of the beetles. At first I thought I had got a
monstrosity, but a closer examination showed me that whatever the
growth was it was something external. Suspecting that it was of the
nature of a fungus, I submitted it to my friend, the Rev. H. W. Lett,
M A., of Loughbrickland. He pronounced it to be a fungus of some
kind, but was not sure of the species. He therefore forwarded it to the
Royal Gardens, Kew. The Director replied that the fungus was the
corridial condition of Cordyceps militaris, Fr., which used to be called /sarin
farinosa, Fr. I understand that the occurrence of this fungus on a living
insect is remarkable. Dr. Cooke says that " it is found on the dead
pupae of various L,epidoptera. "

Poyntzpass. W. F. Johnson.

1899.] Notes. 25

PHANEROGAMS.

~ Late Wild-flowers.

Each one of the wild-flowers in the following list has been found
fairly out in blossom between October 22nd and November 22nd- All
these flowers were found within a few miles of the city of Waterford,
and are very common in this district, excepting Viola aivensis, Anagallis
ccerulea, and Merairialis annua : —

Ranunculus repens, Papaver Rh&as, Brassica Sinapis, Viola arvensis, Polygala
vulgaris, Ceraslium vulgatum, Malva sylvestris, Linum cathariicum, Geranium
molle, G. Robertianum, Ulex europaius, U. Galiii, Medicago lupulina, Trifolium
procumbens, Rubus fruticoszis, Fragaria vesca, Polentilla Tormcntilla, P. reptans,
Daucus Carota, Conopodiwn denudatum, Hedera Helix, Lonicera Peticlymenum,
Sherardia arvensis, Aster Tripolium, Scabiosa arvensis, Bellis perennis,
Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, Alatricaria inodora, Senecio vulgaris, S.
Jacobcea, Sonchus arvensis, S. oleraceus, Centaurea nigra, Hypocharis radicata,
Crepis virens, Taraxacum officinale, Ei-ica cinere'a, Calluna vulgaris, Anagallis
arvensis, A. ccerulea, Chlora perfoliata, Erythraa Centaurium, Symphytum
officinale, Alyosotis arvensis, Lin aria Cymbalaria, L. Elatine, Veronica agrestis,
V. Buxbaumii, V. arvensis, V. Chanuedrys, Brunella vulgaris, Stachys sylvatica,
S. palustris, S. arvensis, Lamium purpureum, Euphorbia Peplus, E. exigua,
Capsella Bursa-pastoris, Convolvulus sepium, Sagina procumbens, A/ercurialis
annua, Lapsana communis, Trifolium pratcnse, Sisymbrium officinale, Viola
tricolor, Achillea Millefolium, Cnicus arvensis, Geum urbanum, Heracleum
Sphondyliiun.

Waterford. A. M. Greenwood.

Juncus obtusiflorus In the Aran Islands.

In looking over plants collected during the Galway Field Club
Conference in 1895, I find Juncus obtusiforus from Inishmore. This Rush
does not appear to have been recorded from Aran in any previous
list.

R. LlvOYD Praeger.

ZOOLOGY.

INSECTS.

Entomological Notes from Poyntzpass, &c.

Since my last notes {I.Nat., vii., p. 168) I have not done very much
entomological work. At the end of June I took Cleora lichenaria and
Eupithecia castigata at Scarva, Co Down.

When walking to Tanderagee early in July I noticed the web of some
gregarious larva on the hedge. I searched, but failed to get anything
except a couple of pupa-cases, and from thess emerged Hypjnomeuta
cognatella Shortly after this I went over to Loughgilly Rectory to pay a
visit to my friend, the Rev. H. S. M. Harpur. In the garden I noticed
some plants of Scrophularia nodosa, and recollecting Mr, H. L. Jameson's
capture of a Cionus on Scrophularia nodosa at Loughgilly some years ago,

26 The Irish Natutalist. [January,

I proceeded to search for the beetle. No beetles were present, but a
curious-looking larva and some pupa-cases. I took all I could find and
forwarded the larvae to Mr. G. H. Carpenter at the Science and Art
Museum. In due time the pupae emerged and proved to be Cionus
hortulanus, Marsh. The larva is of very curious form; at first glance it
looks more like a small slug than the grub of an insect. The pupa-cases
are smooth, semi-transparent, and not unlike the large seed of the Scrophu-
laria. In August I met with some more beetle larvae and pupae, this time
in my own fields. On thistles I found both larvae and pupae of Cassu ia
viridis, F. They are very curious in appearance, both being fringed with
spines, which give them a thorny look. The larvae seem to carry their
excrementa on their backs, perhaps as a protection, for there was no
attempt at concealment, nor any protective resemblance. In the second
case I only succeeded in getting the pupae— these were of Hypcra
rumicis, L. I found them on a Dock plant, clustered together on the stem ;
the pupa-cases are of a rough kind of network and reddish in colour,
assimilating very closely to the colour of the stem and seeds of the
plant, and no doubt deriving protection from attack by this means.

Wasps began to be very plentiful in August, and I took Vespa rufa, L,.
and V. syvestris, Scop.

Bombus smithianus, White, was present but I did not take any of the
nests. Bombus vcnustus, Smith, is there also, for I took a $ in one of my
fields on Aug, 25.

Sirex gigas has made its appearance in widely separated localities. I

received three specimens all £, the first was captured at Acton House,

the next came from Loughgall, and the third from Downpatrick.

Evidently this undesirable addition to our insect fauna is making every

effort to establish itself in this country. I should think the Royal

Irish Constabulary might be now armed with butterfly nets for the

capture of Sirex as well as lassoes for rabid dogs. The chase of Sirex

would be quite as exciting and much less dangerous than that of

Canisfureus.

W. F.Johnson.
Poyntzpass.

FISHES.

Black Fish at Lough Swilly.

On November 6, as I was leaving Ballymastocker strand a man (who
had been kindly directed to do so by Colonel Barton) ran after me with
a " strange fish." It was three feet long, black, and with a peculiar
dog-like snout and remarkable fins. Never having seen one like it I
brought it to book — that is to say, to " Yarrell," where it proved to be
the Black Fish (Centrolophus pompilus). This is a very rare fish, and its
great size for the species (it was perfectly fresh) is remarkable. " Couch
obtained specimens thirty-two inches long, but its size is generally
smaller " (CassclPs Nat. Hist.} I sent it immediately to the National
Museum, and Dr. Scharff, who has some smaller specimens from the

1899O ATotcs* 27

West Coast, agreed w'.th my' identification. In iSSi Frank Buckland
wrote :— "The Black Fish, an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, has been
only four or five times seen on our coast." Generally it was captured
on the Cornish coast. The appearance of this specimen within a few
days of the Lesser Rorqual on the same strand is most interesting.
One is typically northern in its home, and the other is typically southern.
Their presence is a good illustration of the character of the fauna and
flora of Donegal, combining as it does, species reaching their northern
limits from the south around the west coast, and others of a high
northern character.

Carrablagh, Co. Donegal.

H. C. Hart.

BfKDS.

Hawfinch and Long-tailed Duck in north Co. Dublin.

On the 13th February last a mature male Hawfinch (Coccothraastes
vulgaris, Pallas), was obtained at the Grange, Portmarnock. I have not
previously heard of it been taken in this district. Mr. John Wellington,
a local fowler, has kindly given me an immafure female Long-tailed Duck
{Harelda glacialis, Linn.), which he shot on the Malahide estuary on 19th
October. This is the only occurrence that has come under my notice
during the last ten years.

Malahide. J. Trumbuu,.

Eider Duck in Innishowen.

On 2nd November I examined a female Eider Duck [Smnateria
mollissima), shot near Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, a few days before. This
is the first time the species has come under my notice here.

Londonderry. D. C. Campbeu,.

MAMMALS.

Lesser Rorqual on the Coast of Co. Cork.

During the early part of Maj- (189S), the carcase of a Lesser Rorqual
(Bala.noptera rostrata) was found by some fishermen floating in the Bay of
Clonakilty. Though in a very decomposed condition, it was towed to
shore, but was found to be of 110 value, and, after having lain for four or
five days on the beach, was again taken out to sea by order of the local
coast-guards. Late in the same month the carcase was again washed
ashore at a distance of about a mile from the Coast-guard Station at
Ring Bar, Clonakilty. Mr. David Stewart, the Station Officer at Ring
Bar, was good enough to visit the carcase on my behalf, and states that
the total length was 14 feet 4 inches, and the depth 3 feet 10 inches.
The extreme length of the flippers was 2 feet, and the colour of the body
black above and white beneath. Mr. Stewart was also good enough to
send me the jaw-bones of the animal to London, so that there can be no
doubt as to the identification of the specimen. I recorded the stranding'
of another specimen of the same species on the coast of Co. Cork in
October, 1891 {Zoologist, February, 1892, p. 75).

Kilmanock, Co. Wexford. G. E. H. Barrett-Hamii/Ton.

28 The Zris/i Naturalist. [January, 1899.

Lesser Rorqual In the SwlIIy.

On October 16, after a prolonged spell of heavy weather, I found a
young whale on Ballymastocker strand, near high-water mark. I heard
subsequently he had been there for several days. The specimen was
considerably decayed, but still quite entire, and struck me as something
quite unknown to me. Its comparatively small size (six feet in total
length) was especially noticeable for a " monster of the deep." Having
taken down measurements and prominent characteristics, I consulted
" Bell's British Quadrupeds," and concluded it must be an infant " little
finner" or " Lesser Rorqual" {Balanoptera rosttata), an Arctic cetacean of
migratory habits. I have taken means to preserve the skeleton for the
National Museum in Dublin, according to the instructions sent me by
the Director, to whom I wired immediately. This animal appears but
rarely on the British coasts, and I have no recent record of its appearance.
The above identification, most probably correct, must be taken as pro-
visional until the specimen is in the hands of a specialist.

H. C. Hart.
Carrablagh, Co. Donegal.

GEOLOGY.

The Geological Structure of the Kenmare District.

In the Irish Naturalist for September, 1898, there is the statement that
the structure of this disirict " is similar to that of the whole of the South
of Ireland, and presents little apparent complication." Now as far at
my experience goes this is far from being the case. In the first place on
the Bantry Bay side of the anticlinal the synclinal is occupied by
Carboniferous slate, while in the Kenmare synclinal the representatives
of the normal Lower Carboniferous rocks are Lower Limestone Shale and
limestone. How is this sudden change to be accounted for ? Secondly,
at the south of the Kenmare basin there is a regular sequence — yellow
sandstone, two lower limestone shale and three limestone ; but on the
north side of the basin there is Old Red Sandstone (Lower Devonian),
lying on the Carboniferous limestone, as indicated in the horizontal
section, p. 228, Irish Naturalist. The overlie, however, ought to be even
more than represented in the section, as has been proved in the mines.

It is now known that the major portion of S.W. Cork and Kerry, south
of the great fault from Dingle Bay to Dungarvan, has been more or less
over-tlirusted from the south south-eastward, placing the older rocks on
the younger; indeed in places north of the great fault there has also
been over-thrusting as in the Limerick and Cork coal-fields. But
here at Kenmare it is the reverse; as the old rocks (Lower Devonian)
are now upthrust on to the Carboniferous limestone.

Who will explain these two phenomena ? The sudden change from
Carboniferous slate to limestone, and the upthrust of the Old Red Sand-
stone on the northern margin of the Carboniferous limestone.

G. H. KlNAHAN.

Fairview, Dublin.

February, 1899.] 29

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IRISH BATS.

BY N. H. ALCOCK, M.D.

Preface.

An attempt to give a connected account of the natural history
of the bats of Ireland is fraught with many difficulties. Not
only are the facts in the life-history of this most interesting
group of mammals difficult to observe, but the observers have
been few and far between ; and so, although the accounts given
by Kinahan (xi.) in 1859, and Jameson (x.) in 1897, contain
many valuable and interesting facts, and the masterly
" Catalogue of Chiroptera " by Dobson (iv.)in 1878 is a mode
of all that a systematic treatise ought to be, the sum total of
our information in this branch of zoology is lamentably small
and deficient. So much is this the case, that it is scarcely
possible to make any broad general statements about the Irish
bats with any degree of accuracy. Further, although there is a
certain degree of probability that most of these various species
do not differ widely in their structure and habits from each
other, yet it is more philosophical to ascertain the facts about
each separately, rather than infer, with more or less certainty,
that what is true of one is true of all, which, unfortunately, is
our only resource in many cases.

It is not practicable, therefore, to give a full and complete
account of all the Irish species of bats at the present time.
But as many interesting observations are scattered widely
throughout various books and magazines on natural history,
a collection of these will at least show what remains to be
done, and may possibly stimulate our Irish naturalists to fill
up the gaps in our present knowledge*

It has seemed desirable to write a short general introduction,
in order to answer briefly the many questions that one is
immediately asked about the structure, classification, and
habits of these animals. But, for the reasons given above,
many of the statements made, though probable enough, rest
on somewhat slender foundation, and must be regarded rather
as hints to the observer than as dogmatic statements of
ascertained facts. The various beautifully mythical tales that

A

3<d Ihc Irish Naturalist. [February,

enrich the literature of the subject are omitted, as they are
familiar to every one.

A list of references will be found at the end of each paper,
to which the Roman numerals apply.

Introduction.

The Order of Chiroptera, belonging to the class Mammalia
is divided into two sub-orders, Megachiroptera and Micro-
chiroptera (Dobson iv.)

The Megachiroptera are tropical or sub-tropical Bats,
exclusively confined to the eastern hemisphere, feeding on
fruit, and with teeth and digestive system modified accordingly.
As a rule they are of considerable size. As none of the Irish
bats belong to this sub-order, this account will here suffice.

The Microchiroptera are usually much smaller, and
generally insectivorous. Their teeth commonly have acutely
pointed cusps, and their stomachs are simple or have a cardiac
pouch. Special sense organs are found in many genera, with
other modifications of the cutaneous system. Members of the
sub-order are distributed throughout the world.

The seven species at present recognised as occurring in
Ireland represent two families of the Microchiroptera,
Rhinolophidce and Vespertilionidcc. Rhinolophus hipposideros,
Blasius, the Cesser Horseshoe Bat, is the only member of the
former family, while the remaining genera Plccotus, Vespemgo,
and Vespcrtilio1, comprising the rest of the species, belong to
the latter.

The anatomy of the bats presents many interesting
features which can only be briefly touched on here. The
most noticeable of these is the modification of the fore-
limbs to form wings. This is effected, not by any new
structures being added, but by the alteration of those already
present, and on examining the wing closely, the same bones
may be identified that we are familiar with in ourselves. The
humerus, though proportionately larger, does not differ much
from the human type, but in the fore-arm wTe note that one
bone, the radius, is very much elongated and strengthened,
while the other, the ulna, is quite rudimentary. The wrist
bones are few and short, and the metacarpal bones and those

1 On the subject of nomenclature see Miller (xiv.), and Thomas (xvi.)

i899-] Ai,cock. — The Natural History of Irish Bats. 31

forming the fingers are enormously lengthened. The whole
arm thus forms a light and strong frame- work over which the
skin of the body is prolonged to form the wing-membrane.

On the trunk are found powerful muscles to work the wings,
and within are the large lungs and heart, to furnish a
sufficient supply of pure blood over this large area.

The hind limbs are comparatively small and weak, and the
knee is directed backwards, the only instance of this position
in the Mammalia. The tail is of considerable length, and
included in the well-developed interfemoral membrane ; the
tip is often free, and used in climbing.

The digestive system follows the usual mammalian type, and
the points to be here noted are few. The intestinal canal is
short, as a rule, and the stomach capacious. There are well-
marked intestinal villi. The liver is much divided into lobes ;
the microscopic structure of both it and the spleen presents
nothing unusual.

The nervous system and the organs of special sense will be
considered later, along with some interesting questions
connected with them.

The habits of these seven species are not known with
accuracy in all cases.

All, as a rule, sleep during the day and come out in the
evening, the. time of flight varying with the species and the
time of sunset, possibly also with the weather and the place.
Accurate figures have usually not been given ; as a mean of a
few observations made in September, 1898, at Bray, Co.
Wicklow, it would seem that the Hairy- armed Bat appears
about 26 minutes after sunset,1 the Pipistrelle 33 minutes,
and Daubenton's Bat 54 minutes, the time being that at
which the first bat was seen in the open. T. A. Coward (iii.)
gives 70 minutes after sunset for DaUbenton's Bat in Cheshire,
this being the time when the first bat flew along the water-
not necessarily the time of flight, as he remarks. Borrer (ii.)
states that at Ulleswater and Grasmere this species flies by
night over the lakes, and by day in the boat-houses, so
burning the caudle at both ends !

1 The local time of sunset must be taken in each case. See C.V.

Boys C.T.C. Gazette, November, 1898, or Whitaker's Almanac, for the

necessary calculations.

A 2

32 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

The Noctule, which is not usually considered to be an
Irish species, has been observed by G. Dowker (v.) to leave
its residence in the roof of his house between 8 and 8.30 p.m.,
and to return about 9, the time of flight being therefore
scarcely an hour. This is evidently a more accurate method
of observation than the foregoing.

J. K. Harting (ix.) states that he has seen Natterer's Bat
hunting some time before sunset, and that it appears before
the other local species. The Horseshoe Bats seem to fly
much later, but here again no times are recorded— perhaps
some of our friends who walk by the light of Freedom's L,amp
in Co. Clare can assist us ?

Prof. J. R. Kinahan (xi.) in 1853 made some interesting
observations on Daubenton's Bat and the Pipistrelle. He
watched them as they left their home, a hole in Tankards-
town Bridge, on June 23, 24, 25, and 27. He says "the bats
began scrambling and fighting among themselves audibly in
the hole at about 8.30 p.m., they did not begin to fly till an
hour later : between 9.30 and 10.30 we counted 41 bats coming
out of the hole, but in spite of the number abroad the noise
inside seemed just as great as ever. The following evening
we counted 29 coming out of the hole, the weather was harsh
and cloudy, and growing gradually more and more tem-
pestuous, the bats began to retire to their den about
10 o'clock."

It is plain that these various observations are too few in
number to warrant any general statement on the subject.

How long in these countries any of these bats remain on
the wing is not very clear, though from the accounts just
quoted certain inferences ma}- be drawn. The point is well
worth accurate investigation. The fruit-eating bats in hot
climates often feed all night, and return home in the early
dawn. All the Irish species, at any rate, would seem to retire
long before this, as no one I have met will admit having seen
any bats at this time. During my own observations, which
were very few, the sight of an occasional belated Pipistrelle
emphasized the absence of the other species.

All these bats are supposed to hibernate during the winter
months, but the exact date for each species, at which this
function begins or ends, is in most cases still to be determined.

1899.] Ai,cock. — The Natural History of Irish Bats, 33

As a rule, members of the genus Vespertilio are said to
retire sooner and come out later than members of the genus
Vespcnigo.

Thus, the Pipistrelle (in England) comes out in March,
and retires in November or December (Tomes, xvii.), the
Whiskered Bat appears in April and retires about September
or October.

The Noctule appears on March 12 (Tomes), May 1st
(Borrer) ; it retires on September 18 (Tomes) ; September 18,
in Cheshire, September 22, in Devonshire, October 1st, in
Surrey (Coward).

The time is apparently not always the same in England
and Ireland, for instance Mr. Coward has not observed
Daubenton's Bat in Cheshire after August 17 ; in Co, Wicklow
I have seen this species as late as September 26, and Mr.
E. B. Knox has seen it in Co. Cavan on September 23rd.

Many researches have been made into the cause of hiber-
nation, and though this is still a debated point much infor-
mation has been gathered. Hibernation is found among
isolated members of such different groups as Mammalia,
Reptilia, Insecta, and Mollusca, Aves forming a remarkable
exception.

When one of these animals, a bat for instance, intends to
hibernate, the following phenomena are observed. The
animal retires to a secluded spot, hangs itself up, and
gradually becomes motionless. Its temperature falls to
within a few degrees of the surrounding air, and its breathing
becomes shallow and irregular — " Cheyne Stokes" in type.
If accurate measurements are taken, it is noticed that much
more oxygen is absorbed than is accounted for by the
carbonic acid given out, so that the animal actually gains in
weight. The heart beats more slowly and less forcibly, and
the activity of the nervous system is much reduced.

On awakening from this condition in the spring, these
phenomena are reversed. The animal's temperature rises,
sometimes as much as 310 in 15 minutes. The muscles
shudder convulsively, the heart beats more strongly, and the
skin, before pale, assumes a rosy blush. Respiration becomes
more rapid, and there is a great discharge of carbonic acid
from the lungs.

34

The Irish Naturalist. [ February,

The cause of hibernation has been said to be due to the
cold, to a limited supply of air, to want of food, to an auto-
narcosis with carbonic acid, or to changes in the processes of
the cells of the brain ; the question is still undecided.

Some hibernating animals, such as the Squirrel, lay up a
store of nuts and other edible substances for the winter, which
they consume at intervals. Many bats, though they store
their food internally, wake up occasionally and eat whatever
is to be found. Kinahan noticed this in the case of the
Lesser Horseshoe Bat ; I have seen it also in the Whiskered
and IyOng-eared species; these, however, were in captivity.
The sexes would appear to hibernate apart.

A certain amount of evidence has been adduced to prove
the migration of bats. Kinahan (xii.) showed in the case of
the Lesser Horseshoe Bat that the caves in which it passed
the winter were deserted in the summer, and Mr. G. Dowker
(v.) observed that the Noctule which inhabited his roof during
the winter flew elsewhere in the months of July and August

Dr. C. H. Merriam (xiii.) claims migratory habits for
Atalaphe cinerea and Vesperugo ?ioelivagans. Mr. R. M.
Barrington (quoted by H. I,. Jameson, x.) finds that some
species — amongst them the Pipistrelle — occur at lightships
on the Irish coast. Mr. S. Grieve (vii.) suggests that
Daubenton's Bat is migratory in Scotland. Other more
ancient authorities are quoted by Mr. J. E. Harting (viii.).
While fully recognizing the value of the evidence thus
brought forward— which indeed my own observations support,
as far as they extend— more light on the subject is very
necessary, and it would be interesting to learn how far a bat
travels when it shifts its quarters, and where it goes to ; it
might be that its habits were rather " nomadic " than
migratory in the strict sense of the word.

The food of our native bats has been the subject of many
curious fables, some of which have been collected by Mr. E.
Newman in the Field for 1874. It would seem that all are
insectivorous when in a wild state, apparently exclusively so.
Various species of insects are laid under contribution, and
bats have repeatedly been seen feeding on the wing, close to
the observer. In some cases the actual species is recorded :
thus the Noctule is said to specially prefer the little hairy

1 899-] Ai^COCK. — The Natural History of Irish Bats. 35

cockchafer, Rhizophagus solsiitialis (Harting, viii.) ; the
common chafer, Melolontha vulgaris, and the Watchman beetle,
Geotrupes stercor&rius (Patterson, xv.).

The Eong-eared Bat has been observed to feed on species of

Tamiocampa (Harting, ix.) ; and wings of various moths, such

as the Yellow Underwing Triphccna, the Silver Y Plusia

gamma, and the Buff Ermine, Spilosoma lubricipcda have been

found under its haunts (Aplin, i.).

Mr. G. H. Carpenter, by adopting a different manoeuvre,
has ascertained accurately in at least one case the food of the
Hairy-armed Bat. He examined the contents of the stomach
of a .specimen of this species, which was placed in spirit
shortly after the animal was shot. He says in a letter, dated
November 16, 1898, " All the insect fragments are undoubtedly
referable to Diptera, and I have found a piece of wing, a foot,
and an antenna, which I can refer with confidence to Scato-
phaga stercoraria, the yellow-haired fly which one commonly
finds around heaps of dung." The importance of this method
is evident, and Mr. Carpenter's further researches in this
direction will be awaited with interest.

It seems probable that all the bats in the British Isles
breed but once in the year, and have only one young one at a
time, born some time in the summer. It would follow logically
that the average life of an individual bat must be over two
years, otherwise the race would become extinct. Dr. G. K.
Dobson states that two young at a birth is the most that he
has ever observed in any species of the Chiroptera.

Authors quoted.
I. Apun. O. V. (Food of Plecolus auritus). Zoologist (3), xhi., p.
382.
II. BorrER, W. (Habits of Vespertilio Daubentonii). Zoologist^
1S74, pp. 4127, 4T2S.
III. Coward, T. A., and Oudham, C. The Mammalian Fauna of
Cheshire. Zoologist (3), xix., pp. i6r, 212, 247

IV. Dobson, G. E. Catalogue of Chiroptera in the British Museum.

London, 1878.

V. Dowkkr, G. (Habits of Noctule). Zoologist (3), xv., p. 305.

VI. Evans, W. The Whiskered Bat in Scotland. Amu Scot. Nat. Hist.
1893, p. 146.
VII. Grieve, S. (Haunts of Daubentou's Bat) t.c., 1S96. p. 57.
VIII. Harting, J. E. The Whiskered Bat. Zoologist (3), xii., pp. 161
and 441.

36 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

IX. HarTING, J. E. Natterer's Bat. Zoologist (3), xiii., p. 241.

X. JAMESON. H. L. Irish Bats. Irish Naturalist, vi., p. 37 et seq.
XI. Kinahan, J. H. Mammalogia Hibernica. Proc. Ditbl. Nat. Hist.

Soc, ii., p. 154.
XII. Kinahan, J. H. Three days amongst the bats of Clare.
Zoologist, xix., 1861, 7617.

XIII. MERRIAM, C. H. Do any of our American Bats migrate ?

Evidence in the affirmative. Proc. Amcr. Assoc, xxxv , p. 269.

XIV. Mii^er, G. S. Revision of N. American Yespertilionidae. N.

American Fauna, No. 13. Washington 1S97.
XV. PATTERSON, A. Mammalia of Yarmouth. Zoologist (4), ii.,

p. 302

XVI. Thomas, O. Nomenclature of British Mammals. Zoologist (4), ii.,
pp. 97-103.
XVII. Tomes, F. " Bell's British Quadrupeds," 2nd ed. Lond.. 1S74.

Merrion, Co. Dublin.

FIELD CLUB NEWS.

The above paper is the first of a series on the Natural History of Irish
Bats, which Dr. Alcock hopes to contribute to our pages during the
year. An illustrated article on the Whiskered Bat will appear next
month.

The Limerick Field Club is to be heartily congratulated on the success
which attended its annual meeting and conversazione on January 10.
The proceedings were varied and interesting, and the report submitted
by the Committee spoke well for the future prosperity of the Club.
The attendance of members and friends was a thing to be envied by the
Clubs of Dublin and Belfast at their Annual Meetings.

The mid-winter excursion of the Belfast Club, which is now becoming
a recognised institution, took place, as usual, on Boxing Day. Our
naturalists are too inclined to consider that excursions can be pleasant
and interesting only in summer time. The experience of the Belfast
members who have devoted the day succeeding Christmas for the last
three years to a long day in the open, is certainly quite the reverse.

One of the last acts of the late Lavens M. Ewart, of Belfast, was to
present the Editors of the Irish Naturalist with a set of photo-zinco
blocks for the production of a stamped design for the covers of bound
volumes of this Journal, similar to that which distinguishes the covers
of our monthly numbers. Orders for binding according to this new
design will be received by Messrs. Eason.

i«99-] 37

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BLACK GROUSE
AND OF SOME OTHER BIRDS INTO IRELAND.

BY G. E. H. BARRETT-HAMII/TON, B.A., F.Z.S.

In a recent number of the Irish Naturalist (March, 1898,
pp. 69 to 76), I published some remarks on the introduction
of the Brown or English Hare into Ireland. It may now,
perhaps, be of interest for purposes of comparison to collect
and summarise some notes on the attempted introduction of
black game and of other birds into the country. It will, how-
ever, be well to first briefly indicate the grounds on which
are based the claims of this bird to be included in the fauna
of Ireland.

The existence of black game as an indigenous species in
Ireland at any time has always been regarded as " at least
doubtful," the only evidence on the subject being that collected
by Thompson.1 This consists solely of the statement of
Charles Smith2 that "It is uncertain if we have not the
Urogallus mi?wr, Raii, viz., the heath-cock or grouse of
Willoughby, which I take to be the black game of England " :
and a statement by the same author in another place3 that "this
species is frequent and needs no particular description,"
is followed by a description of the bird and of its haunts, which
would be decisive enough, had it not been borrowed from the
work of Willoughby ! Templeton informed Thompson that
he had heard, on good authority, that " black game is
mentioned in some of the old leases of the county of Down,"
while Pennant wrote in 18124 that " some have been shot in
Ireland, in the county of Sligo, where the breed was formerly
introduced out of Scotland, but I believe is at present
extirpated." Were the claim of the Black Grouse to in-
clusion in the list of birds which have formerly inhabited
Ireland to rest solely on the above statements, it would have
been indeed a shabby one, but the somewhat meagre evidence
of its former existence in Ireland which I have quoted above

*Nat. Hist, of Ireland, vol. II., p. 34.

a " History of Waterford " (1745), p. 336.

8 " History of Cork " ,1750), vol. II., p. 329.

*" British Zoology," 4th ed. (1812), vol. I., p. 353.

A 3

38 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

gains undoubted weight from the discovery by Mr. R.
Lydekker in the Dublin Museum of Science and Art of
two bones which he identified as belonging to this species,
and which were obtained from Ballynamintra cave in the
county Waterford1. These bones (through the kindness of
Dr. R. F. Scharff), I have myself examined and carefully com-
pared with recent specimens. (See p. 17 of this volume).

In view then of the above discovery, the statements as to
the former occurrence of black game in Ireland undoubtedly
gain a weight to which in themselves they were not entitled,
and we can have no doubt as to the former occurrence of this
bird in Ireland, together with other northern species, such as
the Great Auk,2 the Ptarmigan, and possibly the Eider Duck.

It is no modern ambition of sportsmen in Ireland to add
the Black Grouse to the list of game-birds of the country, for
so long ago as 17523 Pocock, in describing his visit to the
county Antrim, wrote that "They often go over (to Scotland)
for game : where there is a great plenty of what is called the
black grouse, which Lord Antrim has brought over more
than once, but could never get them to breed, or keep
them long, so that probably they returned back."3

Seventy years later we have the statement of Pennant, as
quoted above, that ''the breed was formerly introduced out of
Scotland into the county of Sligo," but, as in the last case,
without any permanent success.

Later attempts to introduce the species appear to have been
equally unsuccessful, but the details of some of them have
been recorded at some length by Thompson,4 and repeated in
an article on " Sport in Ireland," contributed by Mr. J. K.
Harting5 to the Field newspaper some twenty-three years ago.
Thus we read that in 1829 four brace of black game were
turned out by Lord O'Neill, at Claggan, Co. Antrim, but died
off, and so far as could be ascertained without having bred, a
fate which also befell a further clutch of nine brought over
from Scotland in 1832. In 1839, Mr. M'Donnell, of Glenarm
Park, in the same county, sent twice to Scotland for live black

1 " British Fos5.1l Birds," Ibis, 1S91, p. 392.

a See " Catalogue of Fossil Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Amphibians
in the Dublin Science and Art Museum," by R. Lydekker (1891).

3 ■' Pocock's Tour in Ireland in 1752," ed. G. T. Stokes, 1891, page 29'.

* Natural History of Ireland, vol. ii., pp. 35 to 37.

• Field, March 13 1S75, p. 258.

1899.] Barrett-Hamilton. — hitroduction of Black Grouse^ c. 39

game, and turned out (in August, 1839) first nine young birds,
which were never seen afterwards, and then (in November)
six brace of full-grown birds, which eventually disappeared,
although some of them kept about the neighbourhood for
nearly a 3rear.

The present Lord O'Neill knows nothing about this attempt
to introduce black game at Claggan, and has been informed
by Major McClintock (who, it is stated, " probably would know
more about it than any one else now living") " that there
never were any black game at Claggan,, but that an attempt
was once made to introduce them at Gleuarm, which entirely
failed." (In letters of June 2 and 7, 1898).

With regard to a later introduction at Glenarm, Lord
Antrim has been good enough to-inform me1 that in the year
1880 he " turned out 19 half-grown black game in the
Deerpark . . . from Douglas Castle, Lanarkshire, N.B."
These birds were seen flying about in the following autumn,
and a hen which was shot by mistake in a potato field in
October, proved to be in excellent condition. Lord Antrim
thinks that there " is no possible doubt that black game
would do here very well, but it is impossible to preserve them,
as they always comedown to the fields at certain times of the
year ; the fields are so small that men with guns are able
always to command any place where black game may be in a
field from some part of the wall surrounding it." Lord Antrim
believes that all the 19 black game which he turned down
were thus destroyed, and he heard of one having been sold in
Glenarm for sixpence !

Another northern and equally unsuccessful introduction
took place, according to information given to Thompson
{pp. cit., p. 37) by John Inglis, gamekeeper at Glenarm Park,
at Tollymore Park, Co. Down, some time previously to 1841.
" In April, 1846, there was still a fine gray hen there, but no
male bird."

According to the same informant it was about the same
time (i.e., in the winter of 1839-40), that six brace of Black
Grouse were brought from Douglas Castle, Scotland, to the
estates of the Earl of Courtovvn, south of Dublin.

1 In lit. of 6th June, 1898.

40 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

In 1875, Mr. Walter Raleigh Trevelyan, of the Junior
Carlton Club, IyOndon,1 wrote that some years previously black
game had been "introduced into Co. Wicklow from Scotland,
and that they crossed over the mountains intervening between
Lord Powerscourt's and the Marquis of Downshire's estates,
and settled in the large plantation of firs, which runs along
the road from Sally Gap to Kilbride. They there seem to
have made themselves at home, although there is no birch in
the coverts, and to have subsisted on the heath, berries, &c,
which abound there." Mr. Trevelyan also stated that two
very fine specimens of black game obtained in that locality
were in the possession of Mr. Owen, of Blessington, who
believed " that if the birds had been let alone, and not shot,
they would have flourished and increased now as they did at
the time of which I am now writing."

In a letter, dated June 9, 1898, Mr. W. R. Trevelyan was
good enough to confirm the above statements, and to add that
the introduction in question, which he characterises as success-
ful, took place on the shootings of the Marquis of Downshire
on the Wicklow Hills at Ballylaw, near Blessington. The
chicks were brought out under Dorking hens, and successfully
reared, but were all shot " by accident," either by searchers after
"queer specimens of the grouse tribe," or by poachers when
straying on to adjoining estates.

Mr. A» L,. Owen has also been good enough to inform me
that the two Wicklow-shot specimens alluded to as having
been in his possession were finally destroyed by moths. He
adds, that before the Black Grouse were exterminated in the
country, a few of them had " nested and produced and hatched
eggs.4'

Yet another attempt to introduce the Black Grouse into the
Co. Wicklow, was that of L,ord Powerscourt, who informs me,2
that about the year 1868 or 1869 he obtained the per-
mission of the Duke of Roxburghe to send his gamekeeper,
Mr. James Anton (still gamekeeper at Powerscourt), to Floor's
Castle, Roxburghshire, with the object of bringing over some
eggs of the black game to Ireland. Although twenty-five
eggs were brought over, only six hatched out, and four of these

1 The Fields of Feb. 6, 1875, p. 125, quoted without acknowledgment
in the Irish Field of Feb. 1. 1896, at p. 211.

2 In lit. of June 2, 1898.

iS99-l Barrett-Hamilton. — Introduction of Black Grouse,&c. 41

were cocks. The six birds were turned out in the Deer Park
at Powerscourt, and Lord Powerscourt writes that he re-
members that " they were often seen flying over the hills for
a few years after, but there being so many cocks, they did not
increase, and I am afraid they must have been shot."

Again, in 1875, Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier1 stated, that, having in
the early spring of 1875 been consulted by a correspondent of
the Field newspaper as to the best possible means of intro-
ducing black game into the South-wTest of Ireland, he recom-
mended the importation of fresh eggs from Scotland, and the
hatching of them in the nests of common wild Pheasants.
Accordingly, several settings of eggs were obtained from
Scotland, one of which was placed under a hen Pheasant,
then at liberty, although she had been reared in confinement.
These eggs were hatched, and the young, to the number of
seven, successfully reared. They thrived and grew to their full
size. " The seven kept together, and were daily observed for
a great part of the winter. Suddenly the whole escaped
observation," and were found to have left the pheasant coverts
where the)7 were reared, and to have betaken themselves to the
top of one of the heather-covered Limerick hills, where a cock
and two hens were repeatedly observed up to April, 1876.

I am indebted to Mr. J. E- Harting for the information that
attempted introductions of black game at Markree Castle, in
the Co. Sligo, have likewise been a failure, in regard to which
Colonel Cooper2 has been good enough to inform me that
more than thirty years ago he " turned down a considerable
number of black game for two, if not three years in succession,
but they all disappeared the following spring. A good many
years afterwards, Colonel Cooper imported a good many black
game from Norway " (the birds previously imported had come
from Scotland) ; some of these Norwegian birds remained
about Markree Castle for several years, but they were never
known to have bred, and they eventually died out.

Lastly, I was informed by Mr. Irvine, that the late Duke of
Abercorn introduced this species into the heathy mountains
of mid-Tyrone, but in a few years after wandering into the
neighbouring heaths it became extinct — a statement which is
confirmed by Mr. J. M. Farlane, agent to the Duke of
Abercorn.

1 Field, of August 7, 1875, p. 158 ; and April 22, 1876, p. 464.
' In lit. of 19th Sept., 1898.

42 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

Thus, as in the case of the English Hare, I have been able
to give notes of a series of attempts to introduce the black
game, which took place in widely separated parts of Ireland,
which met with similarly varied success, but which, unlike
the case of the hare, have in no case had any lasting effect.
As in the case of the hare, no unimportant factor in the
extermination of the introduced eggs or birds has probably
been want of care in conveying the former from Scotland, and
the evil influence of poachers on the birds, even when safely
reared. And it is well to note that there are no cases in which
the birds, after having first obtained a secure footing amidst
their new surroundings, become extinct, in which their
extinction is not directly attributed to the hostile hand of
man, to which their own wandering habits rendered them
peculiarly vulnerable. I then fail to see why the black game
should not thrive in Ireland, provided its introduction be
carefulty carried out and the birds properly protected in their
new homes.

In connection with this subject I have brought together a
few records of the introduction of other species into Ireland.
These may be useful for comparison with the notes on the
hare and black game, but must not be regarded (nor are they
intended to be) in any sense complete.

Of game birds the Red-legged Partridge has probably been
introduced as in England on many occasions, but I am not
aware that any such introductions have been successful, nor
have I been able to add to the matter published by Thompson
{op. cit., vol. ii., pp. 65 & 66), except that1 Professor A. Newton
informs me that he thinks he remembers the sending of eggs
of the Red-legged Partridge from Suffolk to Ireland (? Dartrey,
Co. Monaghan), but he never heard whether the result was
successful or not.

Mr. H. C. Hart2 has recorded an unsuccessful attempt to
introduce the Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) into Co. Donegal.
Mr. John Olphert3 has turned down Scotch Grouse (L. scoticus)
near Letterkenny in the same county about the year 1889
" with very good results," but the attempted establishment of
Partridges in the same locality has been a failure, as has also

1 In lit. of 20th March, 1898.
1 Zoologist, 1 89 1, p. 379-
3 In lit. of 5th Nov., 1895.

i899-] Barrett •Hamilton. — Introduction of Black Grouse,&c. 43

been the case in my own county Wexford. Finally, attempts
to reintroduce the Capercailzie in Lord Bantry's woods at
Glengariffe,1 and in those of Colonel Cooper at Markree Castle
have met with no success,2 and in the latter locality the
introduction of seven or eight brace of Heather Grouse in
the severe winter of 1879-80 was equally unsuccessful.

Colonel Cooper3 has indeed met with an extraordinary run of
ill-luck in his attempted introductions'of numerous species at
Markree Castle, such as Hawfinches, Nuthatches, and
Reeve's Pheasants. In the case of Crossbills, of which he
also turned down a good many, it is possible that he has
met with more success, they having " increased considerably,"
but it is not unlikely that this increase may have been
unconnected with the introduced birds, since Crossbills have
of late years become more numerous all over Ireland.

Lastly, I am informed by Lord Powerscourt that a few
Nightingales were turned out by him a few years ago in
his woods at Powerscourt, but none have been seen there
since.

Kilmanock, Co. Wexford.

OBITUARY.

I,. M. EWART, J. P., M.R.I.A.

Laveiis M. Ewart died on December 13th, aged 53 years, and by his
decease Belfast lost one of its most familiar figures. Apart from the
great linen business with which the name of Ewart is associated, and
the prominent part which the deceased gentleman took in municipal
affairs, he was best known as an antiquary and collector, particularly in
the domain of local maps and books, of which he got together an almost
unique collection. Mr. Ewart was Vice-President of the Belfast
Naturalists' Field Club in 1894 and 1895, and President during the
years 1896 and 1897. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy
and Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and was one of those to
whom the re-starting of the Lister Journal of A nhcrology is due.

1 Yarrell's " British Birds," ed. IV., vol. III., p. 51.

2 Thompson, op. cil., vol. II., p. 32.

3 Letter of 19th Sept., 1898, wherein Colonel Cooper informs me that
in addition to the birds, he has on several occasions turned down a good
many Minnows and Gudgeons, and that both these fish are now to be
found in the rivers of his neighbourhood.

44 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a number of Rudd from Mr. F. Godden, a Great
Northern Diver from Mr. R. Warren, a Pheasant from Dr. A, Traill, and
a Royal Python from Captain J. R. D. Robertson. Two Seals have been
acquired by purchase.

4,447 persons visited the Gardens during December.

Dublin Microscopical Club.

December 15. — The Club met at Leinster House.

Mr. H.H. DlXON showed intracellular rhizoids of Marchantia polymorpha.
Transverse sections of the thallus of this liverwort show intracellular
rhizoids similar to those found by the exhibitor in Lumilaria cruciata. These
are formed by the ingrowth of the cells surrounding the base of the original
rhizoids into the lumen of the latter. The ingrowing cells take on the
form of rhizoids and are long and tubular. They may begin their de-
velopment while the original rhizoids still possess protoplasmic contents.
As many as four intracellular rhizoids have been found contained in one
original rhizoid. When the latter is furnished with tuberculate thicken-
ngs on the cell wall the ingrowing intracellular rhizoid accommodates
itself to the sinuous lumen and assumes a peculiarly irregular contour.

Mr. Dixon also showed preparations exhibiting the tetrad develop-
ment of iecidiospores. Sections passing through the aecidium of ruccinia
poamm and stained with Delafield's haematoxylin exhibit, on the lower
side of each aecidiospore and in contact with it, a small lenticular cell
containing two nuclei. This cell apparently corresponds with the " in-
termediate" cellin Chrysomyxa rhododtndri described by De Bary. Often
in Puccinia it is divided into two wedge-shaped cells, each with one
nucleus. The mother-cell of the aecidiospore is formed by the cutting
off of the terminal portion of the supporting hypha. It contains two
nuclei lying side by side. These nuclei soon divide and give rise to four
nuclei in the cell. The poles of this division usually lie in an oblique
plane in the cell. The two lower nuclei are cut off in a small lenticular
portion of the cell, and often another cell-division occurs which then con-
fines each of these latter nuclei in a single minute cell. These nuclei as
the cells are shoved up in the spore-filament soon lose their staining
properties, and the cells containing them, and they themselves disappear.
The two upper nuclei are enclosed in the spore. They increase rapidly
in size. Somewhat above the level in the spore-filament of disappear-
ance of the two smaller nuclei, the spore-nuclei unite.

This tetrad development of the aecidiospores, connected as it probably
is with a reduction in the number of chromosomes of the nuclei, and the
subsequent fusion of the spore-nuclei, seems to be of great interest,

Mr. M'Ardle exhibited Blasia pusilla, L,., which was collected last
November in the Mourne Mountains, Co. Down, by the Rev. H. W.
J^ett, M.A. The specimens shown bore young fruit, and the curious flask-

i899-] Proceedings of Iiish Societies. 45

shaped receptacles which contain the gemmae, some of which were forced
with the mucus in which they float, through the tube of the " flask,"
and on each of them a well-marked root-hair was developed. Under
favourable circumstances the)' are capable of producing perfect plants.
This is one of the most remarkable instances of a sexual reproduction
known among this curious family of plants.

Mr. Greenwood Pim exhibited Cercospora reseda (Fckl.), a fungus
which attacks Mignonette, and sometimes causes great injury to it. The
mycelium ramifies through the leaf and produces outside numbers of
large cylindrical, many-septate conidia, exceedingly like those of some
species of Hclmiuthosporium, but Helminthosporia are usually saprophytic
on decaying wood, leaves, &c, while Cercospora is a true parasite, attack,
ing and destroying the living leaves.

Dr. N. H. Aecock exhibited the retina of the bat Vesperugo pijtistrellus^
Schreb., showing details in the structure of the rods and rod nuclei, with
the absence of cones from the portion exhibited.

Dr. Alcock showed also a section through the cardiac glands of the
Dog's stomach, stained by Heidenbain's method, showing portions of the
ducts of the parietal cells.

Mr. Moore showed Xyleborus morigerus, an insect which has been
known in gardens in Britain for about seven years. It is known to
gardeners as the " Dendrobe Beetle," and is most destructive to orchids,
[t is a very minute beetle and attacks orchids by burrowing into the
stem to lay its eggs. The larvae feed on the inside of the pseudo-bulbs,
leaving only the hard outer cortex, and so kill the shoot. It has been
found in orchids coming from East Indies, South America, and the
Papuan regions. Being very minute it easily escapes detection, and in-
creases very rapidly.

Belfast Naturae History and Philosophical Society.
January 10. — A meeting was held in the Museum, when a paper was
read by Mr. John Brown-, subject — The viagraph, a new instrument for
testing road surfaces. The paper was illustrated by diagrams, and by
an exhibition of the viagraph. A discussion followed.

Beefast Naturaeists' Field Ceub.
December 20. — The second meeting of the winter session was held,
when three papers were read. Mr. W. Gray, M.R.I.A., occupied the
chair. Before proceeding to the business of the evening, reference was
made to the loss the Club had sustained in the death of Mr. Lavens
Ewart, the late President. Several members spoke, and it was resolved
to send a letter of sympathy to Mr. Ewart's family, expressing the
esteem in which Mr. Ewart was held, and deeply regretting his loss.
Mr. James St. J. Philips (Hon. Sec.) then read some notes on the
geological features of Kerry, as observed on the Irish Field Club Union's
excursion. The coastline of Kerry, deeply indented by long inlets,
was compared with the comparatively unbroken lines of the Antrim and
Down coasts. Reference was made to the geological formations repre-
sented in a section between Bantry Bay, Kenmare, and Killarney, and

46 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

the physical geology of these traced. After the Old Red Sandstone and
Carboniferous limestone had been laid down and consolidated, a series of
strains in the crust of the earth passed over the South of Ireland and
certain parts of the Continent. These strains left their evidences in
the immense number of folds that are now found in the rocks. The two
great folds between Kenmare and Glengariff on the one side, and Ken-
mare and Killarney on the other, were described. Detailed reference
was made to the igneous rocks of the district near Killarney, and their
nature, age, and occurrence explained and contrasted with the igneous
rocks of Antrim. The district is of interest to the glaciologist, as many
of the roadside features and much of the scenery are due to glacial action.
Characteristic lantern slides were used to illustrate these.

In some Notes on the fauna of Co. Kerry. Mr. R. Weech confined him-
self to those species collected during the Kenmare excursion, of rather
special interest from the limited range in Ireland, or from the fact that
they are found nowhere else in the British Isles but in Co. Kerry or the
south-west corner of Co. Cork. Among these were — Limnaa involute:,
Thomp,, a little fresh-water shell, only found in one little mountain
tarn on Cromaglan Mountain ; Succinea oblonga, one of the species of
amber shells, and an excessively rare species in Britain, of which nine-
teen living specimens were found by the excursion party last July ;
Geomalacus maciilosus, the spotted slug of Kerry, first found there in 1842,
but now known to occur also in Co. Cork and in Portugal. Slides of
these and several insects were shown, including the great wolf spider
(Dolomcdes fimbriatus\ the wolf spider {Pisaura mirabilis), making a nest for
its young; the wood ant {Formica rufa), and its nest of pine needles and
bits of grass ; with the holly-boring weevil, RJiopalomcsitcs Tardyi, Pyrop-
terus affinis, and some other species. In some cases specimens of the
insects were shown instead of slides, specimens of the more interesting
shells collected were also exhibited. The next paper was read by Mr.
F.J. Bigger, M.R.I.A., dealing with the antiquities of Kerry generally,
more especially the ancient church of the O'Sullivans and Killmakillogue
and the O'Shea church at Feaghna. The patron held at the holy lake
at the former place was graphically described, and a full history of it
given. The stations and remarkable bullan stone at Feaghna were also
the subject of illustration. The other places noted wereArdea castle,
Ardfert abbeys, Gallerus Celtic church, Kilmalkedar abbey and church,
and Aghadoe abbey and round tower. The different places mentioned
were illustrated and explained by a series of beautiful slides taken on the
Club excursion by Dr. Fogerty, of Limerick, and Messrs- Fenuell
Phillips, and Welch, of Belfast.

Botanicae. Section, December 17.— A large number of members
were present, and the study of British Grasses was continued. Mr.
Waddell recommended Hutchinson's Hand-book as the best cheap intro-
duction to this group. Specimens of Hordeuin sylvaticum and Poa ncmoraiis
collected in the district were exhibited by members, and a number of
rare grasses were presented to the Club Herbarium.

1:899- J Proceedings of Irish Societies. 47

Dubinin NaTuraeisTj'Fieed Ceub.

December 13.— The President, R, LE- Praeger, B.A., B.E., in the
chair. Eighty-nine members and friends were present. Dr. A. H.
Foord, F.G.S., read a paper on Irish fossil shells and their modern repre-
sentatives, which will be published in our next issue. The author des-
cribed a series of slides, some of which had been kindly lent to him by
Prof. Grenville Cole, of the Royal College of Science. These consisted
of characteristic fossils of the Carboniferous Limestone of Ireland, and
Cephalopods of the existing seas. They included also reproductions of
some of the beautiful pictures illustrating the admirable memoir on the
embr3'onic shells of the fossil Brachiopoda, by Mr. C. E. Beecher, of
Albany, in the State of New York.

Dr. C. J. Patten gave an account of habits of our common sea-gulls,
with special reference to their variation of plumage according to age
and season. Gulls were described as being widely distributed, but little
affected by weather and able to fly straight into the very teeth of the
storm. They are extremely uniform in structure, and admirably
adapted for the capricious weather to which they are subjected. In
this respect they differ from such sea-birds as Cormorants and divers,
which are obliged to take refuge from high seas and furious gales.
They will eat anythiug and deserve their name of " sea scavengers."
The Common Gull is a breeder in Ireland only in small colonies of a
few pairs. The nestlings are first covered with down and may not
assume perfect adult plumage for some years. Dr. Patten then described
the variations of plumage, and the habits of the different kinds of gulls.
The lecture was illustrated by numerous lantern-slides and mounted
specimens. The Vice-President, Mr. J. E. Paemer, and Dr. N. H.
Aecock spoke on the paper, and congratulated Dr. Patten on his
interesting communication. The following exhibits were shown : —
Miss L- ShackeeTon, Spanish Chestnut in fruit ; Miss R. Hensman
peculiar marked birch bark ; Dr. Johnson, Hon. Sec, a collection of
fungi presented to the Science and Art Museum, by Dr. C. B. Plowright.
The following were elected members : — R. Bryers, Mrs. James Crawford,
Mrs. Robert Crawford, H. Bantry White, M.A., M.E. Five nominations
for membership were made- The Officers and Committee for 1899 were
nominated. Mr. H. K. G. Cuthbert (Hon. Treas.) gave notice of the
following proposal, Rule V : —

" That the annual subscription be five shillings with an Entrance
Fee of five shillings ; all subscriptions shall be payable in advance,
shall become due on the 1st of January, and must be paid within three
months of that date, failing which the member's name shall be removed
from the list. Provided always that it shall be open to the Committee
to reinstate any member (upon payment) whose subscription shall be
overdue for unavoidable reasons ; and provided that members proposed
at or after the October meeting in each year shall not be liable for the
subscription of that year. Members who have formally resigned, should
their subscription be not in arrear at the date of resignation, may be
fe-elected without payment of a second Entrance Fee."

48 The Irish Naturalist. [February,

Limerick Field Club.

Annual MEETING.— January io.— The sixth Annual Meeting and
Conversazione was held in the Athenaeum. There was a large attendance
of members and their friends during the evening. Dr. W. A. Fogerty,
M.A., M.D., President of the Club, occupied the chair.

A selection of lantern slides executed by the Rev. T. F. Abbott, B D. ;
Mr. F. Angley, Mr. B. Barrington, Rev. II. T. Benson, M.A. ; Miss Kbrill,
Miss Evans, Dr. G. F. Fogerty, R.X. ; Mr. Jackson Harris, Mr. R.
Welch (Belfast Field Club), were shown. Around the walls were
arranged a large number of photographs, chiefly of local places,
and also preserved specimens of local plants. Mr. Windle exhibited
cases containing geological specimens. Mr. G. Scott's case of
historic medals and antique silver objects was much admired. Mr. Neale
contributed butterflies and moths. Mr. Charles Jefcoat exhibited
physical and chemical apparatus, including the spectroscope and
revolving vacuum tubes. The phonograph, lent by Mr. A. W. Shaw, and
under the direction of Mr. J. G. Robinson, was kept in constant
requisition. On the table in front of the platform was a collection ot
photographic apparatus of the newest description. An electric motor
and a gas engine were also to be seen working during the evening.

The President (Dr. W. A. FOGERTY), in opening the proceedings,
welcomed those present to the exhibition, which he said showed a
marked advance on the exhibition of last year. In the report of the past
year they would see what the Committee had done. Tt was a great
privilege for them to have such a Club, and a great privilege to have such
a place to come to week after week. Though they had such a privilege
the members did rot sufficiently recognise it. They had arranged for
regular meetings for the entire winter season, and the Committee had
arranged a programme which would be of interest to the members.
They had difficulty in getting local people to come forward
to help them in their endeavours. The Club had now a member-
ship of about 300, and the Committee should have less difficulties in their
way in future.

Mr. NEALE read the Annual Report of the Committee, of which the fol-
lowing is an abstract :— It is again the pleasant duty of your Committee to
report that the Club continues to be in a flourishing condition, as far at
least as membership is concerned ; also that the interest in its meetings
and excursions has very decidedly increased during the year. The
scarcity of working members continues to be a matter for regret
Botanical and entomological research continue to occupy the positions
held by these subjects six years ago. Many additional specimens have
been placed in the Club herbarium during the year, in addition to which
a private collection has been made, chiefly representing .some of the more
peculiar forms occurring in County Kerry, where several members spent
some time during the past summer. To the fauna of the district has
been added a rather remarkable beetle— Silph '--a quadrifutictat*— two

1899] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 49

examples of which fell into the hands of one of the Club members on
Whit Monday, 30th May, in Cratloe Wood. The Irish Burnet Moth
(Zygana pzloselhc), was taken in abundance beside Killone Lake, Count)'
Clare, on June 23 last, which date an excursion took place to New Hall
and Killone Abbey. The Photographic section of the Club have done
good work during the year, as will be shown here this evening in the
lantern and on the walls. It has, however, undertaken one most useful
piece of organised work— viz., to illustrate two lectures by Rev. James
Dowd, B.A., on ' Historic Limerick,' for one of which, already delivered —
on 'St. Mary's Cathedral'-about 70 lantern slides have been specially made,
adding much to the interest of the subject handled. During the year
archaeology has continued to provide interesting papers for the winter
meetings. Much useful work should be done by the Club in encouraging
the study of history and archaeology, and it is particularly desirable that
members should note any items of local tradition, folk-lore, &c, which
may come to their kuowledge,with a view to having them recorded in the
Club journal, and to save them from complete oblivion. The Committee
have to express regret for the loss of the services of Mr. J. Grene Barry,
J. P., during the greater portion of the year as Hon. Sec. of the section. It
affords your Committee much pleasure to report the successful delivery
of a course of geological lectures during November and December last
by Mr. J. Fitzgerald Windle, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.. a Vice-President of the
Club. About forty members entered for the course, the attendance
throughout being very good, averaging well over thirty. The thanks of
the Club are due to Professor G. A.J. Cole, of Dublin, and to Mr. R. Welch
of Belfast, for their kind interest in the Club as a whole, and for their
assistance in giving and lending lantern-slides specially intended to
illustrate these geological lectures. During the summer, excursions
took place as follows :— Thursday, May 5, Quin Abbe}' ; Thursday, May
19, Sixmilebridge; Thursday, June 9, Cahercon, Kildysart ; Thursday,
June 23, New Hall, Ennis ; Wednesday, July 6, Foynes ; Thursday, July 21,
Curragh Chase; Thursday, July 7 to Wednesday, July 13, Kenmare and
district, Count}- Kerry, under the auspices of the Irish Field Club Union.
It is a matter for some congratulation that the programme of meetings
(14 in all) for winter session of 1897-98, was carried out in full, and that
of the eight excursions arranged for the summer of 1898, only one failed
— to Killaloe on Easter Monday, the day being extremely inclement
Financially, the Club is in a fair way, as maybe gathered from the state-
ment prepared by your very excellent Hon. Treasurer. The Committee
are, however, practically unanimous in opinion that the best interests
of the Club will be served by increasing the annual subscription from
2s. 6d. to 5$. The membership of the Club was given as 214 011 the 30th
September, 1897, and as 240 on 31st December, 1897. It now stands at
276. The rules of the Club have not been issued for some years, and as
slight revisions appear desirable a new draft will be submitted for
adoption by this meeting.

On the proposition of Mr. Neale, seconded by Dr. Frost, the report was
adopted.

50 The Irish Naturalist. I.February,

The Mayor presided at the election of officers and committee, who
were unanimously elected as follows:— President, W. A. Fogerty, M.A.,
M.D. ; Vice-Presidents, Miss Ebrill, J. F. G. Windle, C.S. ; Hon. Sec,
Mr. Francis Neale ; Committee, Miss Alice Doyle, Mrs. Robert Gibson,
Mr. B. Barrington, Rev. W. E. Bentley, M.A. ; Mr. W. Ebrill, Rev.
Timothy Lee, Adm ; Mr. R. D. O'Brien, Hon. Sec. Photographic
section, Dr. George J. Fogerty; Hon. Sec. Archaeological section, Mr.
P. P. Lynch, M.R.I. A.

A vote of thanks to the officers for the preceding year was unanimously
passed on the proposition of Mr. P. J. Lynch, seconded by Mr. \V.
De Courcey.

N OTES

BOTANY.
" Notes on Cybele Hibernica."— A Correction.

As a certain passage in Mr. Praeger's " Notes on Cybele Hibernica "
published in last month's Jriih Naturalist appears to us to be likely to
lead to misapprehension, we have asked the editors to give us space
here for a few words of correction. The passage in question occurs on
p. 7, where a length)- list of district-records additional to those brought
together in the 2nd edition of Cybele is prefaced by these words: — "Let
me at once say that all the material which I have was freely placed at
the disposal of the editors, and that much of it was used in that work."
We think that the only conclusion to be drawn from these words is this,
that having had in our possession all the material from which these
additional records are drawn, we capriciously declined to make use of a
large portion of it. The fact is that we were quite ignorant of the
existence of these additional records. Mr. Praeger informed us, indeed,
that he had in his hands a large mass of botanical matter collected with
a view to the preparation of a Topographical Botany of Ireland, and
likely to contain some items of interest for the 2nd edition of Cybele ; but
that this material, which we were free to make use of, was in such a form
that it could not be readily consulted. The only part of the material,
which at any time came into our possession, was that extracted for us by
Mr. Praeger himself, which, Ave need hardly say, we gladly made use of.

Nathaniel Coegan.
Dublin. Reginald W. Scuij,y.

I gladly do my share in securing immediate publication for the above*
though I do not appiehend that an)7 one will place that uncompli-
mentary construction on the passage quoted which the writers fear.
It was not possible for the editors of Cybele to know what particular
records lay in my hands, nor could I tell of what particular notes they
stood in need. I wrote this last sentence in my paper in last month's
Irish Naturalist immediately after the words they take exception to, but
cut it out as superfluous. So far as lay in my power, I gave the editors

1 899.] Note st 51

all the information they aske I for, or hinted might be useful ; and I
intimated more than once that more remained behind, in case I could be
of any further assistance. Had they desired it, the whole of the material
would have been placed in their hands. The sentence which they quote
was penned merely with the object of showing that inter-communication
existed between us, as I thought that possibly the appearance of so long
a list of additional district-records might suggest that the material had
been withheld from those engaged on the new Cybele. An accusation of
caprice in the case ot the preparation of that work would be absurd.

R. Leoyd Praeger.

ALG^E.

Chaetomorpha crassa at Achill.

While collecting algae at Achill Island in April, 189S, I found growing

in some abundance the rare alga, Chatomorpha crassa, Kiitz., which was

kindly identified for me by Mr. K- M. Holmes. The only locality

hitherto known for this plant is North Wall, Dublin. That it should

flourish there, and on the west coast of Ireland, and nowhere else in the

British Isles, shows how complex are the conditions determining the

distribution of seaweeds.

Henry Hanna.
Dublin.

PHANEROGAMS.

Carex punctata, Gaud., in East Cork.

On September 1st, 189S, I discovered a luxuriant patch of this very

rare and interesting sedge by the side of a field overlooking the sea

between Power Head and Ballycottin. This record extends the known

range of the plant in Ireland eastward by about fifteen miles, and brings

it into District II. of Cybele Hibemica.

R. A, Phieeips.
Cork.

IYlyosotis colllna, Hoffm., in Co. Waterford.

This plant, which seems to be sparingly distributed in Ireland, occurs
plentifully on the sandhills at Tramore, where I found it last summer,
thus adding another species to the flora of District II.

R. A. Phieeips.
Cork.

Melilotus parviflora in Co. Antrim.

An alien, first noticed in Ireland in 18S7, in Co. Down (Praeger), there

are in all four localities for this plant recorded in the new Cybele

Hibemica. To these may now be added another, namely, Grove Green,

L,isburn, Co. Antrim, where it occurs in ground now waste, and where,

in December (189s). it was still i-i flower.

J. II. Davies.
Lisburn.

52 The Irish Naturalist. [February, 1899.

ZOOLOGY.

ARTHROPODS.

Notes of recent Captures.

I hear that Sphinx convolvuli has been commonly seen at Valentia
Island, Co. Kerry, where members of the Rev. H. Delap's family have
captured four specimens at the flowers of QLnothera.

The Water-spider [Argyroheta aqualica) has occured in my lake at

Drumreaske. I have also to record the capture in Lough Gill, Sligo, of

Leptodora hyalina, Lilleg. ; this species has been found by Dr. Creighton in

Upper Lough Erne, and near Gal way.

W. F. DE V. Kane.
Drumreaske, Monaghan.

BIRDS.
The Rufous Warbler, a bird new to Ireland.

I am happy to announce that the Rufous Warbler, Acdon galactodes, has been

added to the Irish list. The specimen has been the supposed Nightingale,

preserved for twenty years in the Museum of Queen's College, Cork, and

now faded. It was shot by Mr. F. R. Rohu, at the Old Head of Kinsale, in

September, 1876, and subsequently presented by him to the above

Museum. Struck by the pallour of its colouring, and knowing so many

rarities to have occurred at light-stations round Ireland, I suggested to

Professor Hartog to take it to London for determination, and on his

doing so Mr. Howard Saunders immediately pronounced it to be a

Rufous Warbler. This species has now been obtained in the British

Islands on four occasions. One on the 16th September, 1854, near

Brighton ; a second on 25th September, 1859, at the Start in Devonshire,

is now in the British Museum. The Kinsale specimen was the third, and

the fourth was obtained the following mouth on 12th October, 1S76, at

Slapton, in Devonshire. This last was probably driven to the British

shores by the same wind or other circumstances to which we owe the

Cork specimen. Mr. Saunders is to be congratulated on having within

a few weeks determined two birds new to Ireland, the Woodchat Shrike,

Lanius pomeranus (Barrington in Ibis, 1899, p. 158), and now Aedon

gaiactodes.

R. J. USSHER.

Cappagh, Co. Waterford.

MAMMALS.
The Long-Eared Bat In Co. Waterford.

A fine specimen of this bat {Pleiotus auritus, Geoff.) was sent to me
by Mrs. E. A. Gibbon, on November 6th. It arrived quite uninjured,
having evidently hibernated during its journey — a method of travel-
ling much to be envied ! Although this species is widely distributed
throughout Ireland, it has not been previously recorded from Co.
Waterford. Its habits in captivity have been often noted.

Dublin. N. H. Ai,cock.

Irish Naturalist, Vol- VIII.]

[Plate 3.

The Whiskered Bat {Vespertilio Mystacinus^ Leisler).
1 & 2. Adult. 3. Voung. 4. Very young.

To face p. 53.]

March, 1899.]

53

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IRISH BATS.

BY N. H. AI,COCK, M.D.

The Whiskered Bat,

Vespertilio (Myotis) mystacinus, I^eisler.

[Plates 3 and 4.]

Up to the present time this little bat has been found in

only four counties in Ireland, so that it may rank as the

most uncommon of our native species. Belonging to the

genus Vespertilio, it presents the characteristics of the group,

the most easily recognisable of which are the narrow muzzle

and the absence (fig. 1) of the post- calcaneal lobule (fig. 2, 2),

on the tail-membrane. Two other bats of this genus occur

with us, Vespertilio Nattereri (Kuhl.), Natterer's Bat, and

Vespertilio Daubentonii (Leisler), DaUbenton's Bat.

Fig. r.
Foot of the Whiskered
Bat. 1. — Calcaneum.

Fig. 2.

Foot of the Hairy-armed Bat.

1. — Calcaneum. 2. — Post-calcaneal lobule.

From the first, which it much resembles, it may be dis-
tinguished as lacking the fringe of stiff hairs along the side of
the tail, so characteristic of Natterer's Bat, and from the
second by the smaller size of the present species, its compara-
tively smaller feet, the wings arising from the base of the
toes, and by the inner margin of the ear-conch (fig. 3), which
is at first convex, and then straight, while in Daubenton's Bat
this margin is convex throughout (fig. 4.)

54

The Irish Naturalist.

[ March,

This is not at all as easy to observe in the living animal as
might be supposed, and the "whiskers," the fringe of stiff
hairs around the muzzle, from which the specific name is
derived, are even more difficult to see, though obvious in the
dead specimen.

Fig. 3.
Ear of Whiskered Bat.
1. — Inner margin of conch.
2.— Tragus.

Fig. 4.
Ear of Daubenton's Bat.
1. — Inner margin of conch.
2. — Tragus.

The colour of the fur, though more variable than the other
characteristics, is still a useful guide. The three species of
Vespertilio agree in having fur of a rich dark brown above
with light tips below, all appearing, therefore, when on the
wing, to sport a " white waistcoat," Natterer's Bat having the
lightest colour of the three.

The Pipistrelle and the Hairy-armed Bat, both belonging
to the genus Vespertigo, have fur of a more or less dark
brown colour both above and below, while the Lesser
Horseshoe Bat, with its brownish-buff coat, is unmistakable.

The Long-eared Bat has the longest fur of all, lighter below
than above, but the enormous ears of this species render it
the most easily recognized of all our bats.

This outline sketch will serve to distinguish the Whiskered
Bat irom the other Irish species in the field, but a much more
elaborate scheme is required if scientific accuracy is aimed at ;
this will be found in Dobson's Catalogue, pp. 284-289, and
3H, 315-

The size of this bat is typically as follows : —

Length,

Tail. Head. Ear.

Head and
Body.

I""5

Tragus. Forearm. Thumb.

1 "'4
3rd Finger.

2"'I

°"-55

o"55

o''-3

5th Finger,
i -6

Tibia.
o''55

i'"25

Foot.
o"-28

o"-25

i899-] Alcock. — The Whiskered Bat 55

The two upper photographs in Plate 3, were taken from the
Co. Dublin specimen referred to later on, and show the
attitude assumed when walking. They were taken shortly
after its untimely death, the photographs taken during life
being unfortunately much less successful.

As might be anticipated, the Irish observations on the habits
of the Whiskered Bat are of the most meagre description. In
some parts of England, however, this bat is much more
frequently met with, and from the admirable accounts of
Tomes (xvii.), Harting (ix.), and the able paper of Coward
and Oldham (iii.), on the Mammals of Cheshire, many in-
teresting facts may be learned.

In the daytime the Whiskered Bat lives in caverns, old
quarries, roofs of houses, cracks in walls, and many places of
this kind, apparently avoiding trees- as a resting-place, only
one specimen having been captured in this situation.

It is solitary in its habits, and even when many individuals
frequent the same place they keep carefully apart, forming
thus a complete contrast to some other species, for example
the Noctule.

The earliest date in the spring that this bat has been
observed, as far as I am aware, is April 15 (Hart). Tomes
observed it first on April 16, and Coward on April 26, curiously
enough at noon on all three occasions ! No one mentions the
date of retreat in the autumn ; my own specimen, when in
captivity, began to hibernate on October 7 \ this is probably
later than would have been the case out of doors.

In the summer this bat comes out earlier in the evening than
Daubenton's Bat, sometimes in broad daylight, as in the cases
mentioned, when it has been observed hawking for insects, the
species of which do not seem to have been recorded. It is
said (Caton Haigh and Coward, contra Tomes) to fly in a
more sustained and less irregular manner than the Pipistrelle,
and to frequent the sheltered side of a belt of trees or tall
hedge rather than the open spaces near. Whether the
Whiskered Bat flies silently, or screaming as other species often
do, is not stated. In captivity the voice of the Whiskered
Bat is remarkably low in pitch, considerably less than 8,000
vibrations per second, as measured by Mr. Galton's whistle.
What time this bat retires for the night does not appear to
have been determined.

A 2

56 The Irish Naturalist. [ March,

While this paper is in the press, Mr. C. Oldham (xxiv.),
publishes a very interesting account of a Whiskered Bat which
he kept for five weeks in captivity.

On September 30 of last year I came across a male specimen
of this species in a chink between two huge stones (/. Nat.,
p. 272, 1898), and conveyed it to Merrion, where it lived till
November 1. As this is unusually long for the Whiskered
Bat to survive in captivity, some details may be of interest,
though it must be admitted that the habits of bats under
these circumstances afford very slight indications of what
happens in more natural conditions of life.

The cage in which it was kept had two compartments, a
large and a small, the former with cress wires for the bat to
hang from. This it never did — unlike the Long-eared Bat
subsequently — but walked about this compartment when
awake, preferring to sleep in the smaller, though this was
barely 1 inch in width.

At first this bat was pretty lively, and exhibited an
excusably bad temper, biting at everything and everybody.
Raw meat it bit at and then rejected, but masticated and
swallowed little morsels of raw fish. Later on it ate flies, one
day it despatched two blue-bottles and sixteen other flies of
various kinds, and still seemed hungry. Its method of feeding
was entertaining in the extreme. It would solemnly stalk the
fly round the cage, always unsuccessfully, until at length my
patience would be exhausted, and I held the fly for it. It then
made a frantic grab at the fly, sometimes falling over in its
eagerness, and ate it openly — wings, legs, and all.

On October 7 the bat became quiet and sleepy, in the
course of the next day or two passing into a very typical state
of hibernation, the respirations falling from 120 per minute to
10 in 7 minutes. In hibernation as in sleep it preferred the
smaller compartment as a resting-place, clinging close to the
side of the cage, the tail partly drawn over the abdomen,
the knees pointing forward, and the wings folded up by
the side. It moved its place occasionally, and twice was
aroused by the process of being photographed, waking up
in the manner already described.

I had hoped to be able to keep it alive during the winter,
but it was found dead on the floor of the cage on November
1st.

Irish Naturalist, Vol. VIII.]

[Plate; 4.

IKBL&ICB*

Divided iwto Countika avd Vice CouNTiea.

R LLOTD riUEilBR, *t Jaounry ISM.

^\'rm /iWj »hv*n eoii*fy OovnJarie* , dvtlml
iiue$ vice county bwiH&inrUi,

Distribution of thk Whiskered Bat in Ireland.

To face /. 57.]

t899-] Axcock. — The Whiskered Bat. 57

In England the Whiskered Bat is said by Mr. Tomes to
produce one young one at a birth at the end of June or
beginning of July, the exact time depending on the earliness
or lateness of the season. Photographs of two very young
bats are shown in the lower part of Plate 3 ; these were sent
to me by Mr. H. Charbonnier, of Bristol.

The distribution of this bat in Ireland is shown in Plate 4,
which has been kindly lent by Mr. Praeger; the shaded
areas indicate the counties in which it has been found. The
references for Counties Clare, I,outh, and Fermanagh are
from Mr. H. L. Jameson's paper (xi.) ; for Co. Dublin from
notes by Mr. Welland (xxiii.) and myself. It is a curious fact
that in all except Clare this bat has occurred more than once
in the same county, though so seldom in Ireland generally.

In England, Mr. J. E- Harting (ix.) has collected records
from Cambridgeshire, Northampton, Essex, Kent, Warwick,
Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Stafford, Worcester,
Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Durham. Since the date of his
paper records have been published for Derbyshire, Lancashire,
and Shropshire, by Mr. C. Oldham (xix., xx.), and for
Cumberland by Mr. E- Tandy (xxii.), besides many additional
localities for the counties already mentioned.

In Scotland this bat has been found twice, once at Rannoch,
and once near Dunbar. See Evans (vi.).

In Wales the records are for Merionethshire (Caton Haigh,
xviii.), and Carnarvonshire (Oldham, xxi.).

Authors quoted. (See also pp. 35-6 above.)

XVIII. CaTon-Haigh, H. The Whiskered Bat iu Merionethshire).
Zoologist (3), xi., 1887, p. 297.
XIX. Oldham, C. (The Whiskered Bat in Shropshire and Lan-
cashire). Zoologist (3), xiv., 1890, p. 349.
XX. Derbyshire (Id. (3), xix., 1895, p. 347).
XXI. Carnarvonshire (Id. (3), xx., 1896, p. 255).

XXII. Tandy, E. (The Whiskered Bat in Cumberland). Id. (3), xiv.,
1890, p. 99.

XXIII. Weuand, J. (The Whiskered Bat in Co. Dublin). Irish

Naturalist^ vii., 1897, p. 272.

XXIV. Oldham, C. The Whiskered Bat in Captivity. Zoologist (^ iii.,

1899, pp. 49-53.

58 The'Irish Naturalist [March,

HORDEUM SYLVATICUM IN IRELAND.

With Notes on other Co. Antrim Plants.

by john adams.

East July I was staying at Carnlough, and in company with
some friends went for a ramble up one of the glens which
abound in that neighbourhood. Noticing a grass which
seemed new to me, I pulled a tuft and put it into my pocket,
but did not find time to examine it for a day or two. On
making a thorough examination, I came to the conclusion
that it was Hordeum sylvaticiim. The place where I found it
agrees with the habitat as given by Hooker, namely, " copses
and woods in chalky soil." I was surprised to find that the
only Irish locality mentioned by Hooker was a place near
Dublin, where it was not indigenous. In the new edition of
the Cybele Hibernica, it is mentioned as occurring on the
terrace at Mount Merrion, but is described as " an alien, grow-
ing in some quantity, and still persisting in the above localitj',
to which it was no doubt introduced." During the past few
weeks my identification has been confirmed by that of Rev-
C. H. Waddell and Mr. S. A. Stewart, and through the kind-
ness of the former, I have been enabled to compare my plant
with a specimen of Hordeum sylvaticum in his herbarium. I
had also collected specimens of H. pratense and H. murinum
in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and have seen specimens
of H. maritimum in the herbarium there, and as these are all
the other British species, I think there is no doubt about the
identity of the plant. It is a well-marked grass, with broad
leaves about half an inch wide, and with reflexed hairs on the
leaf sheaths. It would seem to be indigenous in the place
where I found it, but its distribution is very limited. I went
back to the same place a few days later, and did not see more
than about five or six tufts altogether. It grows on wet
slippery rocks overhanging the river, so as to be almost
inaccessible, and this is probably the reason why it has never
been discovered in this locality.

In this connection, a few new localities in Co. Antrim for
rare plants, may be mentioned.

i«99-J Adams. — Hordeum sylvaticum, &c, in Irela?id. 59

I found Carex pauciflora near a lakelet in the mountains
above Carnlough. This little sedge was first discovered in
Ireland by Mr. L,ett a few years ago on the mountains above
Glenariff.

Poterium officinale occurs very abundantly in a meadow at
Ardclinis, about a mile north of Carnlough. This is probably
not a new locality, but I mention it because it is more definite
than the somewhat vague statement " near Carnlough."

Sedum rupestre occurs on the face of a rock overhanging the
Glenariff river.

Galium Mollugo occurs in two places on the lawn at the
Manse, Antrim.

There is an extensive bog north-east of Randalstown called
Sluggan Bog (at least the name is so pronounced by the people
in the neighbourhood), lying between the River Main and the
Belfast and Northern Counties Railway. Here I found
Vacci?iium Oxycoccos and V. Vitis-idcea growing side by side in
one particular spot in the bog called " The Island."

NOTES.

The Belfast Club is to be congratulated on the success of its Hon.
Secretary's " Introductory talks on Geology." We are glad to learn that
nineteen members turned up at Mr. Phillips' first evening, and several
others at the second "Talk," some of whom joined the Club for the
express purpose of studying geology under Mr. Phillips' friendly
guidance.

The summer excursions of the Dublin Club have been arranged as
follows : — April 29, St. Doolaghs ; May 27, Ireland's Eye; June 27 to 29,
three days on the Shannon (Athlone as- centre) ; July 22, though Bray,
August 19, Kilcool ; September 30, Dunran (fungus foray). The " long
excursion" offers particular attractions. With the aid of the new.Shannon
steamers, Lough Ree and a considerable portion of the Shannon will
be easily explored — a district full of interest to the naturalist, and very
imperfectly known.

Through the agency of the Field Club Union, members of the northern
and southern Clubs have supplied Professor Conwentz, Director of the
Provinzial-Museum, Danzig, with specimens of subfossil woods from

60 The Irish Naturalist. [ March,

Magilligan and Youghal. Professor Conwentz is especially interested in
the history of the Yew, and recently visited Ireland to investigate the
past and present distribution of that plant in this country. Further
specimens of subfossil Yew are earnestly desired.

Professor Coi,E lectured in Belfast on February 9 on the subject of " The
Volcanic North; how Ireland became an Island." There was a large
attendance. The lecture was arranged for by the Geological Section of
the Belfast Club. Mr. Praeger lectured on the same evening in Cork at
a combined meeting of the Literary and Scientific Society and Naturalists'
Field Club on the subject of the Kenmare Field Club Conference.

We deeply regret to record the death of an old and valued member
of the Dublin Field Club — Mr. J. J. Downing, which took place at
Foxrock, on February 2nd. An obituary notice wil appear in our next
issue.

ZOOLOGY.

CRUSTACEA.

Crustacea from the South-west Coast of Ireland.

In a recent paper in the Trans. Lpool. Biol. Soc. (vol. xii., pp. 159-172),
Mr. A. O. Walker gives a list of the Malacostraca collected by him at
Valencia Island, Co. Kerry, in the summer of 1896, and of certain
specimens preserved in the Dublin Museum. Four species — /aniropsis
breviremis, Sars., Eurydice elegantula, Hansen, Ambasia Danielsseni, Boeck
and Parvipalpus capillacea, Chevreux — are recorded from British waters
for the first time.

Porcelllo dllatatus, Brandt, at Dundrutn, Co. Dublin.

When I wrote my paper on the Irish Woodlice in 1894 {Irish Naturalist,
vol. iii), I stated that so far I had not seen any Irish specimens of
Porcellio dilatatus except those obtained by the late Professor Kinahan in
Dublin. For the past five years I have searched in vain for this rare
Woodlouse in various parts of Ireland, but have recently discovered it in
company with Porcellio Icevis (which it greatly resembles) along the foot of
an old wall in my garden at Dundrum, Co. Dublin.

Since 1894 the Rev. Mr. Kibbing also discovered it in England, viz.,
in the Isle of Wight and in Surrey.

R. F. SCHARPF.

Dublin.

1 899-] Notes, 61

MAMMALS.

Irish Bats.

Having just read Dr. Alcock's paper on Bats in the current number of
the Irish naturalist, I turned up some random notes as to the dates of
their appearance here after hibernation and at other times. In 1884 I
saw one for the first time on 7th April ; in 1885 on 3rd April ; and in 1888
three or four on 14th April ; in 1896 I saw two on 5th February ; and in
1897 one on 19th February. In the latter year, 1897, I saw what I have
noted as a " very large one " on 1st November; two or three on iSth
December ; and one on Christmas Day.

I have not any notes since ; and in none of the above instances was
there any attempt to record the species.

Holywood, Co. Down. R. Lxoyd Patterson.

Long-Eared Bat In Co. Waterford.

With reference to Dr. Alcock's note {ante p. 52), I write to say that the
Ivong-eared Bat is common about here. A good many fly into my study
during summer nights, when I have the windows open to attract moths.
I have caught them repeatedly in my butterfly net, but liberated all with
the exception of one, which was preserved and mounted for use by Mr.
Williams. The length of the ears in this species is marvellous. No other
mammal I believe can compare with it in this respect. They must be
seen to be believed.

Coolfin, Co. Waterford. Wh,uam W. FeEmyinG.

GEOLOGY.
Glacial Geology of Kerry.

During the Field Club Union visit to Kerry last July a most interesting
day was spent in the district affected by the bog-burst of 1896, which lies
to the north and north-west of Rathmore station. The celebrated
quarry still shows a dark stain left by the peaty flood which surged
against the precipitous face of Carboniferous limestone, subsiding to a
lower level, and choking up the quarry, which was subsequently cleaned
after much expense and trouble. The limestone is covered by a deposit
of boulder clay about 12 feet deep, resting on a deeply water-worn surface. I
would be glad to know if this is usual in the limestone districts in
Ireland, as in our north-eastern district we invariably find glaciated
rock underneath our boulder-clays. The short time available only
permitted a very cursory examination of the deposit, and the collection
of a few boulders from the face of the section. Amongst these are some
specimens identified by Mr. Phillips as the rhyolite-andesite of Crohane
Mountain and Loo Bridge, obtained by him in situ on the same day on
which we found it as an erratic at the quarry some twenty miles N.N.E.
of the parent locality. This is an interesting corroboration of Mr.
Maxwell Close's observation (" General Glaciation of Ireland," in Journ.
R.G.S.L, i., 226, 1867), that the striae of the Kenmare district indicate
two separate ice-flows, one passing down the Kenmare Valley, the other
up the Roughty Valley by Kilgarvan and Headford towards Killarney.

Belfast. Sydney M. Thompson.

A 3

62 The Irish Naturalist. [March,

The Geological Structure of the Kenmare District.

In the Irish Naturalist for January, 1899, Mr. G. H. Kinahan comments
on my statement that the structure of the Kenmare district " presents
little apparent complication." The word " apparent " was intentionally
introduced, to cover the possibility of faults and thrust-planes parallel
to the axes of folding, such as one sometimes hears of in conversation
with the field surveyors who have revised the older mapping.

The region must surely remain, however, an example of classically
simple folding. The faults in certain places produce a repetition of
features ; but the broad structure is for the most part one of anticlinal
ridges and synclinal hollows ; the frequent overfolds cannot be said to
complicate this structure. The overfolds are again and again indicated
by the dips recorded on the Survey maps, but were often disregarded in
the published sections. I have recently had occasion to call attention
{Knowledge, vol. xxi., p. 77) to the inversion of strata that has taken
place.

I do not understand the words " at Kenmare it is the reverse," in Mr.
Kinahan's second paragraph, since the older rocks are said to be thrust
over younger ones in both the cases cited. Is there really an overthrust
in the Kenmare synclinal, or merely an unbroken overfold ? Mr.
Kinahan's statement as to the absence of the Yellow Sandstone series
and the Lower Limestone shale on the north side is usefully suggestive
of a thrust-plane.

The question of the substitution of Carboniferous Slate for the more
normal Carboniferous series north of it must have depended on original
conditions of deposition, and does not complicate the structure of the dis-
trict. It may be conceived that the passage from the one type of deposit
to the other occurred in the lost beds that have been denuded from the
anticlinal mass between Kenmare and Glengariff. On the original sea-
floor, there were at least fifteen miles in which the change of deposit
could have occurred. Professor Barrois, in his recent study of the
deposits at the mouths of the Vilaine and the Loire (" Sur les phdnomenes
littoraux actuels du Morbihan," Ann. de la Soc. geoL du Nord, tome xxiv.,
p. 182), has shown how the most diverse sediments may accumulate side
by side on the same coast. In his special localit}-, the muds gather near
the shore, and escape further distribution, where the water is land-locked,
or where the sea-floor falls steeply from the coast. The Carboniferous
Slate seems to require a land-ridge or coastline somewhere to the south ;
but this is a question on which I cannot speak with confidence.

Grenyii^k A. J. Coi,E.
Dublin.

1899.] 63

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a Marmoset from Mr. E. C. Murphy, four Doves
from Mr. M. W. Despard, a Badger from Mr. G. Hunter, and a Cassowary
from the Hon. Walter Rothschild. A Caracal has been bought.

4,250 persons visited the Gardens in January.

Dublin Microscopical Club.

January 19.— The Annual Meeting was held at Leinster House.
The Vice-President, Arthur Andrews, J.P„ in the chair.

A cordial vote of sympathy with the President, Wm, Frazer, Esq.,
F.R.C.S.I., in his present illness, was passed. The Officers for 1899 were
re-elected, as follows : — President, Wm. Frazer, F.R.CS.I. ; Vice-
President, Arthur Andrews, Esq., J. P. ; Hon. Secretary, Greenwood
Pirn, Esq., M.A. ; Hon. Treasurer, F. W. Moore, Esq., A-L-.S.

The Treasurer stated that financially the Club was in a satisfactory
position ; £<\ 8s. 2d. remaining in his hands after discharging all liabilities
for the past year.

It was unanimously resolved that a donation of £$ 3*. be given to the
Irish Naturalist for 1899, and that the Editor be requested to furnish to
the Secretary reprints of the Proceedings of the Club for distribution
amongst the members.

Mr. W. N. Allen exhibited some beautiful photo-micrographs
recently published by E. and H. Spitta, in the Pharmaceutical /ournal.

Dr. H. H. Dixon showed a preparation illustrating the colour reactions
of nuclei. Sections of the embryonic tissue at the apex of the stem of
Ranunculus repens, are composed of cells containing nuclei which are
very sensitive to colour reactions. Very good preparations are obtained
by staining with safranine dissolved in anilin-water, washing in acid
alcohol and alcohol, and staining again in anilin blue dissolved in water.
Sections so treated when mounted in balsam show the nucleolus of
resting nuclei stained a brilliant ruby, while the chromatin substance is
a vivid blue. Where karyokinetic figures are to be seen it is easy to
observe that with the disappearance of the nucleoli, the chromatin
elements — the chromosomes — become affected by the red stain, so that
the nuclear plate and the diaster are invariably stained red. As has
been before suggested this colour change offers evidence that the
substance of the nucleoli pass into the chromosomes during karyo-
kinesis.

Dr. Dixon also showed sescospores of Tuber aestivum. The nuclei of
the young asci lie in the central vacuolate portion of the protoplasm.
The outer zone of protoplasm is denser, more finely granular, and
contains glycogen. These nuclei are large, and are composed of a fine
ground substance, in which are embedded a number (about four or five)
nucleoli. Round four or five of the nuclei in each ascus, cell-walls are
developed. These latter lie very close to the periphery of the nucleus

64 The Irish Naturalist [March,

or in contact with it ; so that the nucleus completely fills the young
ascospore. During the development of the wall the nucleoli divide, as
far as could be made out, by simple bipartition, so that there come to be
from six to ten in each spore ; their colour-reaction changes from being
erythrophil to cyanophil, and they assume the appearance of nuclei,
[n this manner each ascospore comes to possess a number (about eight)
nuclei derived from the nucleoli of its original nucleus.

Mr. Greenwood Pim showed Zygodestnus fuscus, a curious reddish-
brown mould found on decaying wood at Ovoca, Co. Wicklow. The
mycelium is thick and interlacing, provided with a curious form of
" clamp cells " at the septa. The conidia are borne singly, rather large
and echinulate, and orange-brown.

Prof. G. Coi^e exhibited, on behalf of Mr. A. Vaughan Jennings,
F.G.S., a specimen from a vein cutting the dolerite of Portrush, collected
by Mr. Jennings in 1898. The microscopic section shows that the
pyroxene is a variety rich in soda, approaching aegirine ; the abundant
zeolites, already noticed in these veins by Portlock, seem to be derived
from the felspars. The rock, which is coarse in grain, seems as yet
unique in Ireland ; but it may be found to have some relationship to the
more highly siliceous diorite described by Prof. Judd, from Rockall.

Mr. G. H. Carpenter showed fragments of insects from the stomach
of a Hairy-armed Bat {Vespertilio Leisleri), which he had received from Dr.
N. H. Alcock for examination. All the fragments seemed clearly refer-
able to Diptera, and a foot and a portion of a wing were shown by
comparison to belong to the well-known yellow-haired dungfly, Scato-
phaga stercoraria. It would appear, therefore, that the fly must rise to
some height in the air after dark, in order to fall a prey to the bat. The
specimens are mentioned by Dr. Alcock, in his recent paper on the
Natural History of Irish Bats (p. 35 of this volume).

Mr. H. Hanna showed specimens of the seaweed Rivularia Biasolettiana,
Menegh., collected in Ireland for the first time on rocks, near high-water
mark, at Tor Head, Co. Antrim, where it grows exposed to the dripping
of fresh water. He was indebted to Mr. E. M. Holmes for kindly
identifying the plant. This species is figured and described by Harvey
in Phycologia Britannica, as Schizosiphon Warrenia, Harv., pi. 316.

Rev. H. W. LETT exhibited a hepatic closely resembling Lophocolea
minor, var. atspidata, Nees. ab. E. This interesting plant was found
creeping amongst Frullania germana, var. flabellata, Spruce, on trunks of
trees, in Hickson's Wood, near Aniscaul, Co. Kerry, by the exhibitor,
and Mr. D. M'Ardle, in June, 1898. It has the appearance of a miniature
L. bidentata, Nees. ab. E., being not a third the size of that plant, the
stems being only 10-15 mm- long ; the leaf-cells are about half as large
as those of L. kidentata, while the leaves are more distantly placed on the
stem, and have their points wider apart and not so long. The under-
leaf is awl-shaped, very slender, pressed to the stem, and divided into
two awl-shaped segments. It is identical with specimens of L. minor,

1899] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 65

var. erosa> Nees. ab. E-, collected in Antrim, except that the points of
the leaves of erosa are blunt and look as if they had been worn away. So
far no fructification has been found on the Co. Kerry plants, and further
researches are desirable to establish the record of this plant, which
seems to be new to the United Kingdom.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

January 17.— The President (Rev. C. H. Waddell, B.D.) in the Chair.
Rev. W. F.Johnson, M.A., read a paper on " Irish Butterflies," in which
he stated that forty-one species have been found in Ireland out of a total
list of sixty-seven species for the British Islands. He then gave a concise
account of the common species, detailing their distinguishing features,
colour of their larvae, &c, and stating when and where they are com-
monly found. The paper concluded with a tabulated list of Irish
Butterflies.

Mr. George Donaldson, one of the original members of the Club,
who has been absent in Massachusetts for three years, gave an interesting
paper on the Butterflies of North America. In commencing he told how
on leaving Belfast, he had resolved to abandon natural history pursuits,
a resolution which was only in force for half a day, when he encountered
the butterfly known in North America as the Monarch {Anosia archippus).
He described this beautiful insect and its life -history in some detail.
The larva feeds on plants of Asclepias or Milkweed, which is common
everywhere in the Northern States. The eggs are laid on leaves of the
food-plant. They hatch in about four or five days, and the caterpillars
commence to feed. They eat voraciously and mature rapidly, becoming
often full grown in two weeks. The Danaid in question is one of the
most widespread butterflies of America, being found over almost the
entire continent, from Canada to Patagonia, and from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. It has extraordinary powers of flight, and in autumn, when
abundant, collects in vast flocks of hundreds of thousands and migrates
southwards. They return north in the spring, not in crowds, but singly,
the females laying their eggs wherever they may chance to be, many of
the young butterflies proceeding further north as soon as they emerge.
Within the last thirty years this insect is said to have spread all over the
islands of the Pacific, and even to Australia and Java. In 1877 it made
its way to the Atlantic coast of France, and several instances of its cap-
ture in England have since been recorded. Its occurrence in Ireland
may well be expected. The reader met with one of our Red Admiral
(Pyrameis atalantd) in great abundance, and one of the rarest British
species, the Camberwell Beauty ( Vanessa antiopd) he found in profusion
in New England. Many interesting facts were mentioned concerning
the various families of North American butterflies and macrolepidop-
tera. These details were from his own personal observation, and were
illustrated by abundant and beautiful specimens of the species referred
to

66 The Irish Naturalist. [March,

Botanical and Geological Sections.— 2 ist January.— A joint
meeting of the two sections was held, with an interval for tea and
conversation between. Mr. R. Ll. PRAEGER, Presidentof the Dublin
Club, read a paper on Missing Plants of the North-eastern Flora.
He reviewed the species, some fifty in number, which in Flora of the
North-east of Ireland (1888) were "reported missing" — i.e., had not been
seen in the district recently, many of them not for half a century. A
fair proportion of these, he pointed out, had been since refound by the
labours of local botanists, but many still remained to be re -discovered.
Some of them, possibly, were gone for ever, owing to drainage and
reclamation. The species referred to were as follows : — Lough Neagh
plants — Lathyrus pahtstris, Carex elongata, C. Buxbaumii, *C. filiformis,
Calamagrostis stricta, Tolypella nidifica. Plants chiefly of the Lough Neagh
basin — Subidaria, Rhamnus catharticus, *R. frangula, Stum latifolium,
*Cladium, * Carex stricta, Lastrea Thelypteris, Pilularia globulifera. Marsh and
lake plants — *Elatine Hydropiper, Epipactis palnstris, Cephalanthera ensifolia,
Potamogeton plantagineus,*Eleocharis uniglumis, * Carex teretiuscula, * C. limosa.
Peat-bog plants — *Drosera intermedia, Andromeda, * Vaccinium Oxy coccus,
*Utricularia intermedia, Eriphorum latifolium, * Lastrea spinulosa. Mountain
plants — Pyrus Aria, Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Pyrola secunda, Taxus, *Festuca
sylvatica, Polypodium Dryopteris. Meadow plants — *Leontodon hirtus, L.
hispidus, Gentiana Amarella, * Orchis pyramidalis. Wood and hedgerow
plants — * Hypericum hirsutum, Adoxa, * Calamagrostis Epigejos, %Poa nemoralis.
Seaside plants — Geranium sanguineum, Trifolium striatum, Chenopodium
rubrum. Those marked with an asterisk have been refound in the dis-
trict since Flora N. E. I. was published. Specimens of the plants were
shown, and their characters and likely localities for their re-discovery
pointed out.

Later in the evening Miss S. M. Thompson read a paper on glacial
geology, with special reference to recent work in Spitzbergen, and Mr.
Praeger contributed a paper on glacial fossils, pointing out what we
may learn concerning the conditions prevailing during the Ice Age from
the character, distribution, and condition of the molluscan remains
found in the deposits.

Dubinin Naturalists' Field Club.
January 10. — Annual General Meeting. The President, R. Lloyd
Praeger, B.A., B.E-, in the chair. The reports of the secretaries and
treasurer for 1898 were adopted on the motion of Dr. A. H. Foord,
seconded by Mr. L. Shackleton. The officers and committee for 1899
were elected as follows: — President, R. LI. Praeger, B.A., B.E. ;
Vice-President, J. F. Palmer; Hon. Secretaries, Prof. T. Johnson,
D.Sc, F.L.S., and Dr. N. H. Alcock ; Hon. Treasurer, H. K. Gore
Guthbert ; Committee, G. H. Carpenter, B.Sc, Prof. G. A. J. Cole,
F.G.S., G. P. Farran, Miss Hensman, J. N. Halbert, H. Hanna, M.A.,
Miss Mahaffy, Dr. C. J. Patten, H. J. Seymour, B A., Miss Singleton,
Mrs. Tatlow, Miss M'Intosh, B.A.

1899O Proceedings of Irish Societies, 67

Votes of thanks were unanimously passed to the Royal Irish Academy
for the use of the house for the meetings of the Club, to Lord Powers-
court, K.P., Lord Annesley, Lord Howth, and others, for permission to
explore their demesnes, and to the Dublin Press, on the motion of
H. G. Cuthbert, seconded by J. E. Palmer, Vice-President. The follow-
ing were elected members:— J. Curran, B. Edwards, G. Fay, Miss Foddy,
Miss Massy, and one candidate for membership was proposed. A new
rule as to subscriptions was adopted, on the proposal of H. K. G. Cuth-
bert, seconded by Prof. Cole, F.G.S.

At the close of the formal business, Mr. G. Coffey, M.R.I. A., read a
most interesting paper, entitled " Some neglected Fields in Irish Natural
History work." He referred more particularly to the Palaeolithic and
Neolithic remains found in French and English cave-deposits and river
gravels, along with bones of the cave bear, sabre-toothed tiger, and
woolly rhinoceros, and dwelt on the possibility of similar discoveries in
Irish caves, pointing out the vast field of work that lay open to Irish
naturalists in this neglected field of research. Lantern slides of the bone
and ivory carvings and flint instruments, found in caves, accompanied
the paper.

February 14— The President, R. LI- Praeger, B.A., B.E.— later, Mr.
Greenwood Pim, M.A., in the chair. Fifty to sixty members and their
friends were present. After the signing of the minutes of the last meet-
ing, Mr. H. K. G. CuTHBERT read a letter from a continental expert
bearing on Mr. Coffey's paper on the investigation of Irish caves, in
which the writer, for reasons given, expressed the opinion that
Palaeolithic man could never have existed in Ireland. Mr. Praeger
contributed a paper entitled " A Botanist in the Central Plain," which
will appear in our next issue. The paper was fully illustrated by
specimens collected by the author, and several geological maps and
sections lent by Professor Cole, from the Royal College of Science, who,
with Mr. Greenwood Pim, discussed the paper. Dr. T. Johnson ex-
pressed the belief, that in a few years time, such was the importance now
being attached to the introduction of science into the schools, Mr.
Praeger would find correspondents in every direction prepared and able
to help him in his topographical botany work.

Dr. T. Johnson, F.L-S. (Hon. Sec), next gave an account of "The
Highland type plants of the new Cybele Hibemica." The paper was illus-
trated by specimens and lantern slides^ An account of the characters of
alpine plants, and of the explanations of their presence in the mountains
of Ireland, was given. It was stated that the set of plants shown, and
others of other types of Irish plants, were being prepared for exhibition
in the Botanical rooms of the Science and Art Museum, and would be
very useful to teachers of botany and their classes.

Mr. Pim then showed a fine series of lantern slides of various natural
history objects; Mr. Henry J. Seymour, B. A., showed several geological
maps, and stated that new " Solid Geology" and drift maps would shortly
be published by the Geological Survey. Miss A. Marks was elected a
member.

68 The Irish Naturalist, [March,

THE BRACHIOPODA AND MOLLUSCA
OF THE CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS OF IRELAND.

Irish Fossil Sheiks and their Modern
Representatives.

by arthur h. foord, ph.d., f.g.s.

(Plate 5).
(Read before the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, December 13, 1898).

Underlying the more superficial deposits of clay, sand,
gravel, or peat, is an immense area, about one-half of that
of the whole of Ireland, occupied by the sedimentary and
other rocks belonging to the Carboniferous system, which
represents, together with the Permian, the uppermost division
of the great Palaeozoic group.

I may shortly explain that the sedimentary or aqueous
rocks were derived from the waste of the land, that is of older
rocks, and were laid down in the sea as sediments, the agents
in this process being the waves, rivers, frost, and other dis-
integrating forces, operating through incalculable periods of
time.

The chief distribution of the Carboniferous system in
Ireland is in the great central plain, the rocks there being
mostly limestone, but the system extends also to the coasts
both south and west, and, in a more limited degree, north and
east.

Three divisions are generally recognized in it, the upper-
most of which is termed the Coal-measures, and consists of
sandstones, shales, and coal seams. The lowest is the
Carboniferous Limestone, in England called the Mountain
limestone. The middle division, a coarse sandstone, is
known as the Millstone Grit ; this last forms the frowning
cliffs of the rock-bound coast of Clare, of which county it
occupies a considerable area, extending also into Limerick,
Kerry, and Cork. The Coal-measures in Ireland are un-
fortunately represented by only a few isolated patches in
Tyrone, Tipperary, and Kilkenny, any extension of these, if
such existed, having been completely denuded away. These
different types of rock, when their derivation is considered,
throw much light upon the geographical conditions of the

1899O FoORD.^- Carboniferous Brachiopoda and Mollusca. 69

period in which they originated. Thus, the limestone repre-
sents the sediments, almost wholly organic, deposited in a
great open sea, like a Mediterranean, bordered by the older
Palaeozoic rocks and extending from the west of Ireland,
through England, the north of France and Belgium to
Westphalia. This Carboniferous sea covered large areas in
Russia also, and, going outside Europe, in Africa, North
America, China, and Australia.

Subsequently, during the latter part of the Carboniferous
Period (I am here referring to the whole system) new
physical conditions set in, the sea became shallower, and
sandy and muddy deposits were accumulated by the waste of
the neighbouring land ; lagoons were formed in the more
contracted area, and, under favourable climatic conditions,
a luxuriant marsh vegetation sprang up upon the newly
elevated land. Then there came a subsidence of the land,
the forests were submerged and sandy detritus spread over
them, and this process of elevation and subsidence was
repeated again and again till immense thicknesses of alternat-
ing beds of sandstones, shales, and coal seams were formed.
These events required of course a vast period of time for their
accomplishment. In endeavouring to account for such a
great thickness of sedimentary rock as that of the Carboni-
ferous Limestone, we must again invoke earth-movements on
a large scale ; its accumulation (it exceeds 3,000 ft. in thick-
ness in the south-west of Ireland) can only be explained on
the assumption that the oceanic area in which it was
deposited was a gradually and slowly subsiding one, and that
the process of subsidence was greatly prolonged, since other-
wise so considerable a thickness of homogeneous rock could
not have been deposited. Movements involving the sub-
sidence and elevation of the land are attributed to different
events, all having their origin in the constitution of the
interior of the earth. One of these is the secular contraction
of the earth's crust in the process of cooling from its primitive
molten state, another is that the weight of a vast quantity of
sediment derived from the waste of the land may have caused
a sinking of the area to which it was conveyed, while a
corresponding elevation would take place in the one from
which it was removed. Proofs of earth-movements are to be

70 The Irish Naturalist. [ March,

discovered in the tilting-up of the older stratified rocks, and
in their frequently folded and contorted condition, though
they were, naturally, as sediments, laid down horizontally.

Evidence of such oscillations of level is of world-wide
occurrence. Upheaval is shown in the fossil remains of
marine animals found in rocks, now far from the sea, such as
those under our feet, and in the more superficial layers of clay
or sand, often at great heights above the sea-level, these
layers sometimes containing the remains of animals belonging
to species still existing in the neighbouring ocean. Sub-
sidence may be caused either by secular movements of the
crust, as aforesaid, or by volcanic disturbance. Proofs of
depression are to be found in the fjords on the coasts of
Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, and other countries, which are
nothing more than submerged valleys or glens ; and that the
west coast of Greenland is also sinking is shown by the sea
having risen over ancient buildings and islets within historic
times. As an instance of elevation and depression of limited
extent the area on which the Temple of Jupiter Serapis stands
at Pozzuoli in the Bay of Naples, is one of the best known.
The columns of this ruin, at a height of iofeet 5 inches above
the base, show perforations made in the marble by boring
Molluscs (Lithodomus, &c), whose shells have been extracted
from the cavities they made, proving that the temple had
sunk down below the level of the sea. Inscriptions show that
it was in existence in the year 194 a.d. It was ascertained to
be slowly sinking again in the early part of the present
century.1

We may now ask how fossils became embedded in the
rocks. The prolonged and gradual subsidence of the sea-
bottom during the earlier part of the Carboniferous Period
resulted, as we have shown, in the accumulation of a great
thickness of sediment, in the piling-up of which the shells of
molluscs, and brachiopods, and the calcareous plates of

1 Those who wish for more detailed information concerning this
remarkable ruin, interesting alike to the archaeologist and to the
geologist, should consult the following:— "Observations on the Temple
of Serapis," by C. Babbage Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. iii., 1847, p.
186. " Principles of Geology," Lyell. Geological Magazine, June, 1892,
p. 282 . J. E. H. Thomson, in a letter to the editor on " The Temple of
Jupiter Serapis in Puteoli (Pozzuoli)."

1899] Foord. — Carboniferous Brachiopoda and Mollusca. 71

crinoids or sea-lilies, as well as the hard parts of corals and
foraminifera, played a most important part. It was this sedi-
ment, ultimately raised above the sea and gradually con-
solidated and altered, partly by the pressure of its own weight
and partly by chemical and other agencies, that was trans-
formed into the hard and compact limestone as we now see it
in quarries or other rock-cuttings.

Fossils have been compared with the covers of books that
have had their leaves torn out, but, as with books, there is
generally sufficient in the title on the cover to guide us as to
their contents ; so with fossils, the shell, though devoid of its
constructor, often contains marks by which we may trace its
life-history, and it is here that zoology and palaeontology go
hand in hand ; we compare the extinct with the existing type,
and we are often surprised to find how little they differ from
each other. Thus, if a Lingula from the Silurian rocks be
compared with one from the shores of New Caledonia, there
is nothing to distinguish them externally save their colour.

The principal structures in the Mollusca, both internal and
external, will now be treated of, and the comparative method
adopted, thereby avoiding some repetition, as many parts
correspond more or less in the different members of the
group. I shall lay particular stress upon those which are
important in discriminating fossil shells.

Moixusca.
The Mollusca, or soft-bodied animals are divided into four
classes — the Lamellibranchiata, or Acephala {i.e., headless
molluscs),1 the Scaphopoda, the Gastropoda, and the Cephalo-
poda. The name of the first is taken from the prevailing
form of the gill-filaments, which grow together into lamellar,
or plate-like organs ; the others derive their names from the
contractile, muscular disc, known as the foot, which serves as
a locomotor organ in the Lamellibranchiata and Gastropoda,
and probably as a burrowing, or digging organ in the
Scaphopoda. In the Cephalopoda it is represented by the
" funnel."

1 Called also Pelecypoda by some, thus bringing the nomenclature of
the group into harmony.

72 The Irish Naturalist. [ March,

The Mollusca belong to a pretty high type of animal
organization, and some naturalists still bring them close up
to the Vertebrata in the scheme of classification, which is
doubtless raising them too high, and I am sure Sir John
Lubbock does not approve of their taking precedence of his
wonderful socialistic communities of wasps, bees, and ants.
The Mollusca are bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented
animals, i.e., they are without jointed appendages such as the
Crustacea and Insects have. The body is covered with a soft,
slimy skin which in the Lamellibranchiata and Gastropoda is
protected by a shell, the tougher integument of the Cephalo-
poda, preserved even in fossils, not requiring this. The
Mollusca are mostly aquatic, especially marine animals,
though many (Gastropoda) are terrestrial, but even these
generally seek damp situations. Breathing is effected in the
aquatic kinds by gills, the water entering the mantle-cavity
by a small orifice, the edge of which may be drawn out into a
tube or siphon, hence called the respiratory siphon — this is
obviously useful in the burrowing Molluscs. The second
siphon has excretory functions. In the pulmonate Gastropods
as the name implies, respiration is carried on by the mantle
cavity, acting as a lung. The habits of life of the Mollusca
are various ; they may be fixed by their shell-substance to
foreign bodies or other shells, as the Oyster, or by silky
threads — the byssus — as the Common Mussel, or they may be
pelagic i.e., free-swimming in the open sea, as the Cuttle-
fishes, or creeping as most Gastropods, or again burrowing
in sand or mud, or even boring in rock and wood. Among
the latter is the well-known ship-worm Teredo nava/is, which
bores into ship's bottoms, wharves, and other submerged
wood-work. As to feeding, the Lamellibranchs, sedentary or
sluggish as they generally are, must have their food brought
to them, it is therefore mostly in the shape of microscopic
organisms and particles drawn into the mouth by currents
set up by the rapidly moving hair-like cilia of the gills. The
Gastropoda, especially those with a respiratory siphon and
notch forits passage, are carnivorous, as theWhelk (Buccinum) ;
others, as the Periwinkle (Littorina), are sea- weed eaters.
The Cuttlefishes are well known as animal feeders, their long
tentacles, armed with suckers, enabling them easily to capture

1899. 1 Foord. — Carboniferous Brachiopoda and Molhisca. 73

their prey, consisting of fishes and Crustacea whose shells they
crush with their powerful, parrot-like beaks. The foot, I
have already referred to. Another important organ is the
mantle, or pallium, which secretes the calcareous .shell, when
present, and encloses the viscera ; the mark left by this organ,
hence called the pallial-line, seen on the inside of many
L,amellibranch shells, is of importance, as its outline when
stretching without interruption from one muscular impression
to another indicates that the animal inhabiting the shell was
not possessed of respiratory siphons, while if it is interrupted
by a sinus or indentation, these siphons were present. As
the pallial line is often preserved in fossil shells, it is thus of
some assistance in classification. The shell, almost the only
part of these animals preserved in the rocks, varies, as might
be expected, greatly in shape. Jn the I,amellibranchs it
consists of two pieces or valves, round or oval in shape, and
held together by the elastic " ligament " which may be internal
or external. Where the semicircular or concentric lines on
the surface are smallest there is a more or less prominent
hump ; this is called the beak or umbo, and represents the
oldest part of the shell ; beneath this, inside the shell,
there is a shelly plate bearing prominences called teeth with
corresponding depressions into which they fit in the opposite
valve ; the whole is called the dental plate or hinge. When
closed the valves completely enwrap the animal ; in those
forms, however, which are siphonate, the valves often " gape"
at one end, the posterior, or that farthest from the umbones.
This is especially the case with the burrowing tribes, in which
the siphons are often extended far beyond the shell. The
substance of the shell itself is made up of three layers, the
internal, laminated layer, called the nacreous or mother-of-
pearl layer ; the middle or prismatic layer, and the outer or
horny layer — periostracum — which protects the shell from the
dissolving action of water. The first is secreted by the
surface of the mantle, the other two by its free edge, which
produces all the various kinds of ornamentation, ribs, nodules,
striations, spines, &c, upon the surface of the shell, to effect
which its outline undergoes changes of a like protean
character.

The shell in the Scaphopods is shaped like an elephant's

74 7 he Irish Naturalist. [ March,

tusk {Dentalitim, e.g.), and is open at both ends. Deiitalhtm is a
tolerably common fossil in the Carboniferous limestone, but
it is difficult to extract it from the rock except in fragments.

The shell in the Gastropods is typically conical in outline,
consisting of a spirally coiled, expanding tube, or simply of a
more or less elevated cone, as in the full-grown limpet ; the
young has a spiral shell. Perforations, or slits in the shell, of
classificatory importance both in recent and fossil shells,
indicate corresponding structures in the mantle-fold. These
are met with in Pleurotomaria, Haliotis (the common " ear-
shell "), and in Fissurella, the " key-hole " limpet.

A notable exception to the ordinary plan of the Gastropod
shell is encountered in the Chiton (" coat-of-mail " shell)
whose shell consists of eight flattened and slightly arched
transversely oblong valves, partly or entirely embedded in
the mantle. Fossil Chitons are found in the Carboniferous
Limestone of Belgium and Ireland.

Lastry, in the Cephalopoda there is only one living member
of the class, that is Nautilus, that has a complete external
shell, secreted by the mantle. An imperfect form of this
kind of shell, consisting only of the pearly layer, exists in
a small dibranchiate cuttle-fish called Spirilla ; but in this
the shell is practically internal.

The structure of the shell in Nautilus (a tetrabranchiate or
four-gilled Cephalopod) merits a little more explanation, as it
elucidates that of a very large group of fossil Cephalopods
which includes the Ammonites of the Mesozoic rocks and
their predecessors, and the Goniatites of the Devonian and the
Carboniferous rocks. In the latter the Goniatites are common
in Ireland. The shell of Natitilus is a rapidly expanding
cone, spirally coiled, with the coils touching one another, all
but the outer coil being generally hidden by the succeeding
ones. There is a minute perforation at the commencement,
where the first turn took place, which, however, in some fossil
forms is very large owing to the wider curve described by the
first whorl and the slight amount of overlapping of the
succeeding ones. Stretching across the shell at frequent
intervals is a series of arched transverse partitions or septa,
dividing the shell into chambers, of which the last and
largest is occupied by the animal, and is hence called the

1899.] Foord. — Carboniferous Brachiopoda and Mollusca. 75

body-chamber. Through these chambers by means of a
central, or nearly central perforation there passes a delicate,
tubular, cord-like process, the siphon or siphuncle, which
proceeds from the dorsal end of the body. The functions of
this tube are unknown, but it is a distinguishing feature in all
Cephalopod shells.

Thus is built up a structure which is matchless for strength
and lightness and beauty of form. L,et us close this descrip-
tion of the shell of the Nautilus with the well-known lines of
the poet-philosopher : —

" Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil ;
Still as the spiral grew
He left the last year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door

Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no
more."

The siphuncle is very large in some of the straight-shelled
Cephalopods of Palaeozoic times, as in Acti?ioceras, a gigantic
species of which is found in the Carboniferous Limestone of
Ireland, the largest coming from Castle Espie (Comber),
County of Down.

The coiled shells of the fossil Cephalopods, though varying
greatly in detail, are constructed upon the same general plan as
the shell of Nautilus. In the Goniatites, another extinct type
of Cephalopods, having close-coiled shells, the edges of the
septa, as seen in casts from which the shell is removed, are of
a zig-zag form and a very definite pattern which has been
relied upon in dividing this group into genera and other
larger divisions.

And now a few words as to those internal organs not yet
dealt with.

In most of the Mollusca (except the Iyamellibranchs) there
is on the floor of the mouth an organ called the radula or
lingual ribbon, on which are rows of innumerable, delicate,
chitinous teeth whose points project backwards, its function
being to break up the food as it passes over it into the gullet.
The vascular system is generally well developed, although the
blood flows partly through spaces among the organs. The
heart consists of one, or of two auricles (in Nautilus four,

y6 The Irish Naturalist. [ March, 1899.

corresponding to the four gills), into which the blood flows
from the gills (or the pulmonary chamber in the air-breathing
Gastropods), and a ventricle which receives it from the
auricles and drives it into the body. The venous blood
collects in one or more large spaces which supply the
respiratory apparatus.

The nervous system consists of a number of nerve-centres
or ganglia joined together by bands and sending out threads
to the different organs ; thus there are the cerebral, or else
buccal, pedal, and pleural nerve-centres. In the Cephalopods,
the highest member of the molluscan group, there is a con-
centration of these nerve-centres approaching a veritable
brain.

The eyes of the Mollusca vary greatly, ranging from the
simple, pigmented spot with optic nerve, merely susceptible
to the impression of light and darkness, to one in which a
lens is developed, as in the Dibranchiates, or cuttles. The
Gastropoda have usually, and the Cephalopoda invariably,
two eyes upon the head, or the head region, but in the first of
these groups Chiton has eyes curiously scattered over the
surface of the shell,1 sometimes promiscuously, sometimes in
regular rows. Among the Lamellibranchs Pecten has eyes
disposed at regular intervals on the two edges of the mantle.

A curious organ in the Dibranchiates, of protective function,
is the ink-sac ; it is connected with the excretory parts and
emits a dark fluid which discolours the water and thus
enables the animal to escape from its pursuers. The ink-sac,
still distended with its desiccated contents, is often found
preserved in a fossil state in the Lias (Mesozoic era) of Lyme
Regis, Dorsetshire. Dean Buckland,2 the famous geologist,
had a drawing made from this fossil pigment, which an artist
to whom it was shown supposed had been executed in sepia
obtained from an artist's colourman.

Lastly, the Scaphopoda are an aberrant group of simple
structure, having neither head nor eyes. Their nervous
system is fairly developed, but there is no heart, the blood
circulating in the spaces contained in the body-cavity.

1 This brilliant and interesting discovery was made by the late
Professor H. N. Moseley, of Oxford. {Quart, fourn. Micro. Sci.% vol.
xxv., 1885, p. 37, with plates).

• Bridgewater Treatises, VI.

April, 1899. j Foord. — Carboniferous Brachiopoda and Mollusca. JJ

Brachiopoda.

I have associated the Brachiopoda with the Mollusca, not
because there is any connection between the two groups,
which are widely separated zoologically, but because they are,
like the Molluscs, of great importance as fossils, and well re-
presented in the Carboniferous fauna.

To the naturalist the Brachiopoda have an archaic and quaint
air about them which, I think, gives them a peculiar interest.
They have hitherto foiled all attempts to ascertain their exact
position in the animal kingdom, but this mystery as to their
origin does not rob them of their attractiveness. They
were called " lamp-shells " by the old naturalists of about a
hundred years ago, on account of a fancied resemblance in
their shells, when lying on the larger valve with the beak
upwards, to an antique lamp.

The Brachiopoda constitute an isolated tribe or phylum of
the animal kingdom having no affinities with the Mollusca,
which they simulate in their bivalved shell, and with which
they were originally united by Cuvier. One or two striking
differences may be pointed out between the two groups ; there
is nothing comparable in the Mollusca with the tentaculated
"buccal groove," forming the characteristic " spiral arms" of
the Brachiopoda, whose calcareous supports are sometimes
preserved in the fossil state. Moreover, the shell is dorsal
and ventral to the animal's axes in the Brachiopoda, left and
right in the Lamellibranchiata, the group they most resemble
externally. Nor is there any relationship between the
Brachiopoda and the Polyzoa (or Bryozoa — " moss-animals,"
whose remains are found abundantly in the Carboniferous
Limestone) from which they differ in having a vascular
system, setae (bristle-like organs) embedded in the skin, a
bivalved shell, and in being of a solitary habit, instead of
forming aggregations or colonies like the Polyzoa. On the
other hand, recent researches point to the relationship of the
Brachiopoda to the Annelida, but to discuss the ground for
this connection would lead us beyond the scope of the present
communication. Like many other classes of invertebrate
animals, the Brachiopoda existed in the very earliest age of
animal life known to the geologist, that is, the Cambrian, and
they flourish still, though in much diminished numbers.

A

j 8 The Irish Natuialist. [April,

It is a fact to be carefully noted that the most ancient types
of these fossils bear the impress of an organization as high as
that of their descendants now living. It has been remarked
in particular that the specialisation of the muscles, as indi-
cated by their scars in the shells of the earliest genera —
Lingula <?.£.— points to a remote ancestry in pre-Cambrian
times of which no traces have been, or, it may be added, are
ever likely to be found.

The Brachiopoda reached the acme of their numerical
development in the Ordovician and Silurian seas, and after
that they gradually declined, though in the Carboniferous
period they were still fairly numerous. At present there are
very few species, and these are distributed in all seas, tropical,
temperate, and arctic. I have myself dredged the Parrot's-
bill Rhynchonella (R. psittacca), an arctic species, in the Gulf
of St. Lawrence.

There are two divisions of the Brachiopoda — those having
hinged valves, or Testicardinate Brachiopoda. as Rhynchonella,
and those having hingeless valves, or Ecardinate, as Lingula.
A few words as to the animal. The body, which is bilaterally
symmetrical, is comparatively small ; two folds or flaps, con-
stituting the mantle, spring from it ; chitinous bristles (setae)
are often implanted in its thickened edge, and from the pos-
terior end (the narrow end in the shell) the stalk or peduncle
arises by which the animal attaches itself to rocks or other
hard substances on the sea-bottom ; and in the case of Lingula,
this organ is used to draw the animal by its sudden contrac-
tion rapidly into its burrow when disturbed. The animal has
well- developed muscular, nervous, and vascular systems, but
sight is wanting, except in the larva, which has "eye spots."
But that these animals are sensitive to light is shown by what
Lacaze-Duthiers has related of them. He w7as watching a
vessel containing Thccidium (Testicardinates) when, as his
shadow fell upon them, they all closed their valves, which had
before been gaping open. The shell, calcareous in the hinged
Brachiopods, chitinous in some of the hingeless ones, consists
in the former of two pieces or valves which are symmetrical
in themselves, but one (the ventral) is usually larger than the
other (the dorsal), behind which it projects with its pointed or
beak-like apex, The beak is perforated, or there is in any

1899] VooRT>.—Carbo?iiferous Brachiopoda and Mollusca. 79

case an aperture above the hinge through which the short
stalk or peduncle passes. Internally the hinge at the hinder
end of the ventral valve consists of two teeth which fit into
corresponding sockets in the smaller valve, and enable the
animal to open its shell to a limited extent. Attached to the
dorsal valve is a beautiful apparatus consisting of thin calcified
"processes," which support the tentaculated and ciliated food-
procuring " arms." These arms may be flattened parts of the
general body-wall, or the outgrowths of it in the shape of
long processes which are coiled or twisted in a remarkable
way in different genera, and rest upon their calcified supports.
In Lingula and Rhynchonella the animal can protrude its arms
from the shell. The supports or processes generally form a
complicated loop, folded back upon itself, as in the existing
Waldheimia (Testicardinate). The loop is reduced to a much
more simple form in Rhynchonella, in which the upper part or
crura only is developed. In fossil Brachiopods these loops
are of great service in classification, but they are often difficult
of development. In Spirifcra and other genera common in
the Carboniferous limestone, the brachial apparatus reaches a
highly complicated form of structure, known as the " spiral-
cone type." A brachial apparatus does not exist in the hinge-
less section of the Brachiopods (Lingula, Disci?ia, &c.)

There are several pairs of muscles in a Brachiopod serving to
open and close the valves and to control the movements of the
spiral arms. As they leave more or less distinct impressions
upon the interior surface of the valves they are of importance
to the palaeontologist ; they are distinguished by names sugges-
tive of their functions ; adductors for closing the valves, divari-
cators for opening them, and so on. Vascular markings are
also often seen on casts of shells which are suitably preserved.
Davidson figures all these structural marks in his splendid
work on the British Fossil Brachiop'oda,1 indispensable to all
students of this group. As to their habits, the Brachiopoda
are all stationary when adult, but while some attach them-
selves, as I have said, others, as Li?igula, form burrows in the
sand. Their food consists of minute fragments of animal and
vegetable matter, but chiefly diatoms.

1 Palaecmtographical Society, 1851-1886.

A 2

80 The Irish Naturalist. [April,

The range of depth of some, species is extraordinary, that
of Tercbratula vitrca (Testicardinate), which has an almost
cosmopolitan distribution, being from 5 to 1,450 fathoms.
This great vertical range may perhaps be accounted for on
the assumption that it was brought about gradually ; in some
cases perhaps, in slowly sinking areas of the ocean bed,
so that the organism had time to accommodate itself to an
abyssmal habitat. The Brachiopods are abundant to a depth
of about 500 fathoms, beyond this they become scarce, but it
must be borne in mind that the amount of the sea-bed explored
by the dredge is infinitesimal compared with its whole area.

Among Carboniferous Brachiopods the following are im-
portant and characteristic : — Productus, Spirifcr, Athyris,
Terebratula, Rhynchonclla. First of these in the number and
variety of its species is Productus, which is an invariable
accompaniment of the Carboniferous Limestone wherever this
rock may be found. So abundant is it in some beds as to
give its name to them ; the " Productus Limestone " of the
Salt Range of the Punjab is a case in point, though it should
be stated that this particular deposit forms part of a system of
rocks — the Permian — which was laid down subsequently to the
Carboniferous, containing, however, fossils (Productus amongst
them), which are clearly the descendants of Carboniferous
species.

The great local accumulation of one kind of shell in the
case referred to, and it is not an isolated one, indicates a
condition of things not dissimilar from that which is met
with at the present day in the vast oyster and mussel beds of
our shores.

In the species Productus giganteus we have the largest
known Brachiopod, some individuals measuring as much as
eight inches across. Productus scmircticulatus is the com-
monest species, and is easily picked out from among its
fellows by means of the beautiful system of thread-like lines
covering the surface of the shell and forming a net-work on
the upper half (hence the name), where the lines radiating
from the beak are crossed by those added to the margin of the
shell as it grew, called the " lines of growth." The larger
(ventral) valve is convex, the smaller (dorsal) valve concave,
leaving apparently very little space for the animal between

iSgg.] Eoord. — Carboniferous Brachiopoda and Mollusca. 8i

them. In Spirifcr the most striking feature is undoubtedly
the spiral cones, already referred to, attached to the smaller
valve. These are but rarely seen, though they may sometimes
be developed by the rough and ready method of filing away
the shell of the larger valve. Only shells filled with crystalline
calcite will yield good results, to attain which both patience
and skill are required.1 Externally Spirifers are generally
radiatingly ribbed, but there are also smooth species. The
large valve has a median depression, and there is a corres-
ding elevation in the small one. This is a feature common
to many Brachiopod shells. Athyris, like Spirifer, is a "spire-
bearer," and its spiral cones are similarly constructed, except
as to certain details of their loop-like supports. None of
the three genera — Productics, Spirifer, Athyris — now exist.
1 ' ercbratula and Rhynchonella, however, are represented,
though perhaps sparingly, in modern seas ; the ancient shells
differ but little from their modern descendants. In both
these genera the brachial supports are of more simple con-
struction than in Spirifer and Athyris, consisting only of the
loop-like structures.

To geologists the Brachiopods are of great importance, as
they not only indicate the marine origin of the beds in which
they are found, but also by the persistence of certain species
in similar beds enable widely separated deposits to be
correlated. The Stringocephalus Limestone (Devonian) of the
Eifel, for example, derives its name from a Brachiopod which
is found in great abundance in it, and by means of which this
deposit may be recognized wherever it occurs.

Passing now to the Mollusca, some of the most prevalent
genera of L,amellibranchs in the Carboniferous Limestone
are Pecten, Aviculopecten, Cardiomorpha, Conocardium, and
Edmojidia. The first of these has retained its distinguishing
features from its early appearance in the Devonian seas to the
present day, and is familiarly known as the " comb-shell" or

1 An elaborate method of developing the brachial apparatus of Brachi-
opods was invented and practised with much success by the late Rev.
Norman Glass, in which a file, a knife, and some dilute acid were the
agents employed. The process is described in the Memoirs of the
Paheontographical vSociety, vol. xxxvi., 1882, Foss. Brach., Suppl.
vol. v., part I. ; copiously illustrated.

82 The Irish Naturalist . [April,

"scallop." Its symmetrical form and beautiful fan-shaped
markings led to its use in decorative art from an earl}- period,
and it served in the middle ages as a badge for pilgrims to the
Holy Land, whence originated Pecten Jacobceus, "St. James's
shell." The hinge-line extends beyond the beaks on either
side, forming the so-called "ears," one of which is generally
notched beneath for the passage of the byssus. Aviculopccten,
whose dual name implies resemblance on the one hand to the
earlier form, Aviaila, and on the other to Pecte?i, belongs to a
large group of smooth, or elegantly ornamented shells, the
latter generally having radiate sculpture as in the modern
shell. Colour-bands are sometimes preserved in these
shells, such markings being met with more frequently among
fossil shells than is probably commonly supposed. Avicnlo-
pccteu is tolerably abundant in the Carboniferous Limestone
of this country.

Cardiomorpha and Cc?wcardiuvi have both a certain likeness
to the cockle-shell of our shores, hence the word Cardium
("heart," or "cockle-shell") appropriately enters into the
structure of their names. In the first of these the position of
the beaks, almost overhanging the anterior end of the shell is
a characteristic feature. It is a common shell in the lime-
stone quarries. Conocardium is distinguished by a long,
shell}7, spine-like process, said to have served as a sheath for
the siphons, projecting from the posterior end of the shell, or
what is, on this hypothesis, held to be such. Without much
care the spine gets broken off and left in the rock, from which
it is difficult to extract it. The shell is often beautifully and
delicately sculptured. Very large specimens have been
obtained, usually much crushed, in the rock ledges on the
shore between Malahide and Portmarnock in the County of
Dublin. The best preserved specimens have been collected
in the County of Limerick ; a fine series of them is to be seen
in the Museum of Science and Art, Dublin.

Among the Gastropoda Euomphalus is very characteristic,
abundant, and usually well preserved, its arched construction
and rather thick and smooth shell greatly favouring the
operation of removing the rock from it. Its neatly coiled
shell recalls Planorbis, the "pond-snail," but its whorls have
angular, not rounded, margins, and they form on the under
side of the spire an unusually deep, funnel-shaped cavity, the

i899- Foord.- — Carboniferous Brachiopoda and Moltusca. 83

" umbilicus/' caused by the spiral growth of the shell coupled
with the very slight overlapping of the lateral portions of the
whorls. This construction is well exemplified in a recent
shell, well known to conchologists — the Solarium of the
eastern seas.

In Pleurotomaria we have a survivor from the earliest
marine fauna long supposed to be extinct till some years ago
it was dredged alive off Tobago and in the Japanese seas.1
This shell has an elegant, conical spire, and there is always a
deep notch, or slit in the margin of the aperture corresponding
with a band (the filling up of the notch) which encircles each
whorl, and is a useful distinguishing mark in the fossil shells.
Naticopsis, a shell, as the name implies, something like the
Natica of the present oceans, is often met with in the Car-
boniferous Iyimestone. The spire is proportionately very small,
and the body-whorl very large and of a rotund form. The
shell is generally thick, and is often extracted from the rock
intact and showing the most delicate surface markings, as if
the shell had just been taken out of the sea. In Loxonema
the shell has many whorls, very gradually increasing in size,
thus giving it a steeple-like aspect. Most of the species have
distinct S-shaped lines of growth crossing the whorls
obliquely. These suggested the generic name.

The fossil Cephalopod shells that we are concerned with
may be roughly divided into the u?icoiled, including straight
and curved ones, and the coiled. Among the former Ortho-
ceras is characteristic ; its type of structure is essentially that
of the Nautilus shell, which, if it could be uncoiled and
straightened out would match very well the more bulky
conical forms of Orthoeeras. Hence, shells of the class under
discussion are called natitiloid, and they belong to a great
group or sub-order called the Nautiloidea. The salient feature
in this group is the simplicity of the " suture-lines," that is,
the edges of the septa where they abut against the walls of the
shell. These lines, as seen on a cast from which the shell has
been removed, maybe more or less distinctly curved, but they
never form zigzags, or foliations, as in the group of the
Ammonoidca, or Ammonite-like shells, presently to be re-
ferred to.

1 A fine specimen of this shell from Japan was exhibited about twelve
years ago at the British Museum.

84 The Irish Naturalist, [April.

Scarcely less abundant than Ortlwccras in the Palaeozoic
seas, and as ancient in its origin was Cyrloccras, whose shell
has always some degree of curvature, especially in the younger
or apical part of it, and generally expands more rapidly than
that of Orthoceras. The siphuncle too, instead of forming a
simple tube from septum to septum, as in the latter, swells out
between them, looking like a string of large beads.

Of the coiled shells there are some that closely resemble
the Nautilus, with which they were until recently classed.
They are now separated under various names which need not
be enumerated here. One of them,, however, is so interesting
and remarkable that an exception must be made in its favour.
Let the reader suppose that he has before him the familiar
form of the Nautilus shell, and that it belongs to the species
in which the inner whorls are not quite covered by the outer
ones, and hence form a deep cavity on each side of the shell
already described as the umbilicus. Let him further suppose
that the outer margin of this cavity has a thickened rim, and
that this rim is prolonged at the lower edge of the aperture
on each side of the shell into a strong flattened spine which
juls out at right angles to the shell, giving it quite a for-
midable aspect. This then with some divergences would
stand very well as a picture of our shell which I have called
in another place Aca?itho?iautihcs bispbiosus1 in allusion to its
spines. The photographs (Plate 5) will give, however, abetter
idea of the shell than any description can do. They were taken
from the original, which is contained in the Museum of
Science and Art, Kildare-street (Annex Room III.) I was
under the impression at the time I wrote my description
of it that the specimen found at Clane was unique, but it
afterwards transpired that the discovery of it in Ireland had
been anticipated by several years by a Russian palaeontologist
who found a similar one in the Carboniferous rocks of the
neighbourhood of Moscow, but belonging, as I considered, to
a different species from the Irish one. This was a little dis-
appointing, but it added greatly to the interest of the discovery

1 Geological Magazine, Decade 4, vol. iv , April, 189}, p. 147, "On anew
genus and species of Nautilus-like shell [Acanthonautilus uispiiiosus), from
the Carboniferous Limestone of Ireland." For the loan of the figures
(Plate 5), I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Dr. H. Woodward,
F. r.s., Keeper of Geology in the British Museum [Nat. History.')

Irish Naturalist, Voiy. VIH.]

[Plate 5.

ACANTHONAUTlI,US BISPINOSUS, Foord.
Carboniferous Limestone of Claue, Co. Kildare.

To face page 84. ]

1 899 J F o O R d . — Carbon ifcrous Bra ch iopoda and Mo llusca . 8 5

in extending the geographical range of this peculiar Nautiloid
and in linking together, as it were, the two most widely
separated members of the Carboniferous rocks of Europe.

A variety of coiled shells, some disc-shaped, such as
Discites, others of an inflated form, such as Ccelonautilus,
accompany those above described, and testify to the rich-
ness of the Cephalopod fauna in the Carboniferous seas of the
European area, and this holds good also for the American.

Though beginning in the period preceding that of the
Carboniferous, viz., the Devonian, the Goniatites are well
represented also in the former, and the Irish rocks of this
date have a fair share of them. They died out in the Permian
period.

The Goniatites are all closely coiled shells of varying form,
but essentially disc-like. They possess the zigzag (not simple)
suture-line which is one of the distinguishing marks of the
Ami}io?widea, to which great group they belong. The chief
interest in them from the palaeontological point of view
centres in the well founded assumption that they were the
precursors, through intermediate types, of the Ammonites
which nourished in such vast numbers in the Mesozoic era.

The preceding brief account of some of the commoner
types of Brachiopoda and Mollusca found in the Carboniferous
Limestone will, it is hoped, lead to a reawakened interest in a
branch of science the pursuit of which in this country has
been long neglected. There is no part of the United Kingdom
which gives better promise of important palaeontological
results than does Ireland, if the limestone quarries so thickly
dotted over the country were duly laid under contribution by
local workers and their treasures thoroughly investigated.
What has been done in past years may easily be observed by
paying a visit to the Museum of Science and Art, in which the
Geological Survey, " Griffith," and other collections of Irish
Carboniferous fossils are displayed and stored. These repre-
sent gatherings from all parts of the country, as a glance at
the localities on the labels will show. Valuable additions may
be made to these collections by those who will take up the
subject and work at it con a?nore. There are several groups
that need revision ; among them I may mention the Polyzoa,
a difficult but very interesting group, and one that will repay

A 3

86 The Jrisk Naturalist. [April,

the labour bestowed upon it. There is a certain zest en-
gendered in the hunt for fossils hardly to be realized by those
who have not taken part in it. There is the ever present
expectation of some new and interesting form being dis-
covered which may open up fresh channels of enquiry relating
to the fauna of the district or may even have a relevancy
reaching far beyond it. Considerable practice with hand and
eye, and some book knowledge are among the most essential
equipments of the successful collector. As to books, M'Coy
is indispensable ; his " Synopsis of the Carboniferous Fossils
of Ireland," though defective through the lapse of time, is a
storehouse of information, and has become a classic in its
way. Published in 1844 under Sir Richard Griffith's inspira-
tion and guidance it reflects the utmost credit upon patron
and author. Phillip's " Illustrations of the Geology of
Yorkshire, Part II. — The Mountain Limestone" (1836), also
contains descriptions of many Irish species. Among foreign
works De Koninck's splendid monograph upon the fossils of
the Carboniferous Limestone of Belgium1 must be constantly
in the student's hands, as it contains many species found in
Ireland, and is admirably illustrated. But to enumerate even
the most important works and papers at any length would
occupy far too much space.

It will doubtless interest the members of this Club to learn
that some progress is being made towards monographing
Irish Carboniferous fossils anew. I have myself undertaken
the Cephalopoda, by way of making a beginning, and my
work is being published by the Palaeontographical Society of
London, which devotes itself to the publication, with ample
illustrations, of the fossils of the British Isles.

1 Faune du Calcaire Carbonifere de la Belgique, 1880-1885. {Annates du
Musee cTHist. Nat. de Belgique, torn, ii , v., vi., viii., xi.)

I899-] 87

A BOTANIST IN THE CKNTRAL PLAIN :

being Notes on Field-work in 1897-98.

by r. eeoyd praeger, b.e-

(Read before the Dubliu Naturalists' Field Club, February 14th, 1899),

During the two past summers I have been able to carry out
a good deal of the botanical exploration required for the
projected Irish Topographical Botany, and this portion of the
scheme is now within measurable distance of conclusion.
Two more seasons of work, with a continuation of the generous
assistance which I have received from various quarters, will,
I trust, sufficiently advance the completeness of the county-
lists to warrant publication. Meanwhile I would again remind
my fellow- botanists that any one of. them can render most
useful service by sending me definite records of any plants
from any count}7, with localities, finder's name, and as recent
a date as possible. Perhaps a brief account of my last two
seasons' work may be of interest to readers of the Irish
Naturalist. Portion of the results, so far as they affect the
question of plant-distribution in the twelve Districts of Cybele
Hiber?iica, has already appeared in these pages (ante, pp. 7-13).
If some of these records are repeated below, it is with the
object of emphasizing the features of the flora of the districts
traversed, and of conveying an idea of the fortunes that attend
the botanist in those regions. My object was to obtain, with
the smallest possible expenditure of time, a comprehensive
list of the flora of each county or vice-county. Every kind of
ground, therefore, which was to be found in each division —
wood, pasture, bog, gravel, swamp, mountain, river, cliff, or
lake — had to be sampled. Promising ground, needing careful
working, had often to be passed over with merely a preliminary
examination. The result was (as indeed was required) long
lists of plants, but including few rarities.

• 1897.

The season of 1897 opened with a preliminary visit in May to
Carlow and Kilkenny, a day being spent in the granite country
at Bagenalstown, and a day on the limestone at Kilkenny.

A4

88 The Irish Naturalist. [April,

Vicia angustifolia, very rarely seen away from the sea,
turned up at Bagenalstown, and near Kilkenny Draba muralis,
growing luxuriantly on a ruin in the middle of a pasture field.
A ramble by the Nore below the town showed Ca?'ex pendula
and C. paludosa growing very tall, Ranunculus pscudo-fluitans
in the river, and Campanula Trachelium under thickets of
Dogwood, which looks quite wild here, growing among Hazel,
Guelder-rose, and Spindle-tree. The season was too early
for the making of long lists, and the result of the two days
was 232 species for CarlowT and 225 for Kilkenny. A couple
of days were next spent in the Clonmel neighbourhood, to
check off the spring plants of Waterford and South Tipperary.
Working from Clonmel towards Fethard, Linum anguslifolium
and Geranium columbinum were seen on limestone rocks, and
Potamogeton coloratus in pools. At the picturesque little town
of Fethard the var. crenatum of the Scale Fern was particularly
fine ; To? His nodosa grew by roadsides, and the pastures were
purple with the immense profusion of Orchis Morio, which
occurred in every tint from deep purple to white, the pale
pink forms with light green veins being particularly beautiful.
From this pretty and interesting limestone country I passed
next day into the Old Red Sandstone hills of Waterford, on
the opposite side of the Suir. The flora here was much poorer,
and my list smaller by a hundred species than that made
the previous day.

June 5 found me at Lough rea, where Cystoptcris fiagilis
grew by the roadside, and Chara polyaca?itha in the lime-
saturated waters of the lake. The woods of Dalystown were
explored in company with the Hon. R. E. Dillon, and yielded
among other things, Festuea sylvatica and Luzula vemalis,
both new to District VI., also Habenaria albida, and Eqtiisetum
variegatum var. ??iajus. The lake near Marble Hill, where wTe

stayed, was fringed with Cladium and Carex filiformis

characteristic plants of the Central Plain swamps.

Three June days were passed at Mountrath, working the
southern slopes of Slieve Bloom. The first, spent along the
fertile banks of the Nore, yielded little that was uncommon.
The second, a day of storm, mist, and rain, was devoted to a
35-mile tramp across the range into King's County and back.
Entering the mountains by the Killeen River, the influence

t899-] Praegkr. — A Botanist in the Central Plain. 89

of the hills soon made itself felt in the appearance of Lastrea
Oreopteris, L. <zmula, Habe7iaria albida, Botrychium Lu?iaria —
also in torrents of rain. The valley narrows in the upper
part, forming a fine mountain glen, with steep sides scored
by ravines. Here several welcome mountain plants turned
up — the Welsh Poppy, in profuse flower, the Beech Fern, and
Wilson's Filmy Fern, the second new to District III. The
ascent of Arderin (1,733 feet), the highest point of Slieve
Bloom, was made in dense mist and driving rain. Listera
cordata was found in both Queen's and King's Counties, being
an addition to the flora of VII. I was glad to get down into
the glens on the King's County side, where Betula glutinosa,
unrecorded for VII., grew native. Thence a stream was
followed down to L,ongford, and I went along the northern
base of the mountains (noting Equisetum hyemale on the way)
to Kinnity, where a remarkably picturesque road led steeply
upward into the hills again, and back across the wide moors
of Slieve Bloom to Mountrath. The third day was spent
northward of Mountrath, where some interesting Cardmts
hybrids turned up, and E. hyemale again ; also Fcstuca Myuros
growing abundantly on a wall on the outskirts of the
town.

Three days later I took up my head-quarters at Boyle, to
explore the group of lakes — L^ougli Key, I^ough Arrow, and
I/OUgh Gara— which lie around that town,. in the counties of
Roscommon and Sligo. This was done at Mr. Colgan's
suggestion, in answer to a question as to what region I could
most usefully examine for the purposes of the new Cybele.
My especial enquiry was directed towards the possible
occurrence in these head-waters of the Shannon of any of the
remarkable plants which characterize its lower course —
Inula salicina, Teucrium Scordium, Chara lomenlosa, &c I
may say at once not one of these was seen. The first day was
spent in a circumambulation of the lovely I^ough Key. The
best ground found was a mixture of swamp and wood at the
northern end, where grew Thalictrum flavum, Latliyrus
palustris, Myriophyllum verticil latum, Valeriana Mikanii,
Utricularia intermedia, Cladinm, Car ex acuta (new to IX.), C.
Jiliformis, and C. paludosa. Next day an early train was taken

90 The Irish Naturalist. [ April,

to Ballymote, and I turned my steps towards where Keishcorran
(1,163 feet) towered over the plain. Limestone cliffs on the
ascent yielded Cornus sanguinea, unrecorded from District IX.
Nearer the summit were Asplcnium viride and Cystopteris
fragitis, and on the crowning earn grew Draba i?icana,
Geum vivale, and Saxifraga hypnoides. Most of these were
seen on Keishcorran by F. J. Foot some forty years ago.
I pushed on over the most interesting mountain of Carrowkee
(1,062 feet), intersected as it is with huge parallel cliff-walled
ravines, and every eminence crowned with a chambered earn.
Here most of the above-named plants turned up again.
Thence down steeply to Lough Arrow, which lay spread like
a map below ; but its western shores yielded little, and I
crossed the boggy Curlew Mountains and descended into
Boyle with its rushing river and beautiful abbey. A long day
was next spent round Lough Arrow, with no startling results.
Carex curia was added to the flora of District IX. Lough
Arrow is a lovely lake, with exquisite surroundings and water
of wonderful clearness. Finally I tramped down the western
side of Lough Gara, a desolate sheet of water, bordered with
poor arable land and with vast bogs, where Ca?rex limosa and
Cranberries grew. Galium borealc was the only interesting
lake-side plant. The lake is curiously shallow, though ex-
tensive, and the water impure. Crossing a little corner of
B- Mayo, a very primitive ferry took me over the Lung
River into Roscommon, where a deserted road led across a
vast bog — a green line through the brown wilderness, with a
rank luxuriant fringe of Carex teretiuscula filling the drain on
each side. I found shelter that night under the hospitable
roof of Dr. Douglas Hyde, and next day worked back along
the eastern or Roscommon shore to Boyle.

On July 18-19 I worked at my Kildare list, the district
visited being the neighbourhood of Kildare itself— not an
inviting country, yet it proved distinctly interesting. Walking
southward from Kildare I entered a region of flat swampy
ground, with a peculiar flora. Orchids were present in
enormous profusion — sheets of Habc?iaria co?wpsea and Orchis
macutaia, filling the air with their perfume, and less abundantly
O. incamata, O. pyra?nidalis, H. bifolia, H. viridis, and Epipactis

l899-l Praeger. — A Botanist in the Central Plain. 91

palustris. Jtmcus obtusiflorus was also present in immense
quantity, and the pools in which it grew harboured Utrmdaria
intermedia (a good addition to District V., being very rare so far
east in Ireland), Ranunculus Godro?iii, and Chara polyacantha.
Further south, near Nurney, Rhamnus catharticus, Trifolium
medium, and Ranunculus Drouetii were gathered, and as I
approached Athy in the evening Stachys ambigna, Potamogeton
densus, and Chczivphyllum temulum. After a night spent in
one of the worst hotels I ever came across in Ireland, I took
an early train to Kildare, and walked over the Curragh — a
barren place for the botanist, but on the race-course near the
grand stand Trifolium filiforme was detected growing in the
short turf, and Cerastium tetrandrum in gravelly places. I
made for the great gravel-pit through which the main line of
the G. S. W. Railway runs, and here an interesting lot of
colonists and casuals awaited me. Among them were Are?iaria
tenuifolia in abundance, not previously found in Ireland ;
Orobanche minor, Linaria viscida, Calamintka Acinos,
Coro7iopus Rtiellii, Alyssum calycinum. After an hour spent
under a railway w7agon owing to a torrent of rain, I went on
to explore the extensive marsh that lies to the north of the
gravel-pit. I had often looked at this from the train, and
wondered what gave it its dark brown colour. Great was my
surprise to find that this was caused by hundreds of fruit-
stems of Cladium, which grew in a forest, five feet or more
high over an area of half a square mile— a larger quantity of
it than I have ever seen in the west, where it is common,
whereas so far east as Kildare it is very rare. With it and
equally abundant was /uncus obtusiflorus, and among the
undergrowth Galium uliginosum, also very rare so far east,
Epipactis palustris, and the rare Eriophorum latifolium, new
to District V.

The following week-end was spent at Ardee, working up
the Louth flora. One day was devoted to Ardee bog, and one
to the bog at Braganstown. Walking from Castlebellingham
station southward, Orobanche minor and Diplotaxis muralis
were seen by the railway-line. Braganstown bog, well known
as sheltering the largest colony of the Royal Fern to be found
on the eastern side of Ireland, proved rather poor. Pota?nogeto?i
coloratus, rare off the limestone, and here near the northern

92 The Irish Naturalist. ' [April,

limit of its range, was noted, and Carex paludosa, with many
commoner plants ; Valerianella Aiiriada grew in cultivated
land hard by. By the River Dee at Kearney's Cross a group
of marsh plants included Stcllaria palust?is, GEnanthe fislulosa,
and Lysimachia vulgaris. Ardee was reached late in the
evening. Ardee Bog, visited next day, used to be very
extensive, but much of it is now cut away. An arm of it
extends into Meath, and here Cladium turned up. On the
L,outh side grew Carex teretiusaila, rare in east Ireland, and in
the numerous drains P. coloratus, Myriophyllum verticillatum,
CE?ia?ithe fishdosa, and quantities of the Frog-bit in full
flower. Louth is essentially the head-quarters of that plant
in Ireland. A patch of limestone close to Ardee betrayed its
presence by Ccntaiwea Scabiosa and Orchis pyramidalis, the
former here reaching its northern limit in Ireland.

August i saw me tramping southward from Maryborough
towards Culleuagh, the highest (1,045 feet) of the hills of
southern Queen's County. Eleocharis achularis and Drosera
intermedia turned up on the way, the latter an addition to the
flora of District III. A wooded glen on the northern slope
yielded Festuca sylvatica, another addition to the flora, and the
only plant of interest on the hill. I descended into the quaint
village of Timahoe, with its esker- ridges and round tower, and
north of it found Cynoglossum in a gravel-pit — a plant w7hich
very seldom appears inland in Ireland. Stradbally furnished
me with excellent quarters for the night. Next morning I
worked north-east, struck the Barrow canal near Ballymanus,
and followed it northward. Near Grattan aqueduct Carex
CEderi and Potamogcton de?isus grew, the former a new record
for III. The weather was stiflingly hot, and at Monasterevan
the temptation to botanize in the clear waters of the canal
was irresistible. Thence I followed the canal westward
towards Portarlington, getting the usual bog and canal flora
of the Central Plain. A detour was made to the G. S. W. R.
line to gather a Hawkweed-like plant that I had observed on
more than one occasion growing in abundance on the banks
and cuttings, and it was a surprise to discover that this was
Picris hieracioides, a plant not seen in Ireland for many years,
and hitherto occurring only as a casual.. It grows in profusion
here for a distance of two miles along the railway.

i899-]T PRAEGKR.— A Botanist in the Central Plain. 93

An odd day a week later was spent in the extreme north of
Meath, between Nobber and Kilmainham. Valerianella
Auricula and. Galeopsis versicolor grew in cultivated land, at
Cruicetown ; these, with Sparganium affi?ie and Lysimachia
vulgaris at Whitewood Lough, were the only noteworthy
plants observed.

On August 14 I went to Sligo, and had several very
pleasant days botanizing along the coast, the flora of which
was but little known. What remained of the day of my
arrival was spent in working from Sligo to Rosses Point,
with fair results, Arcthim ?iemoros2im, Scirpus Tabernce-
mo?ita?ii, and Carex nmricata being found for the first time
in District IX. On the 15th I cycled to Bundoran, and
returning carefully listed the maritime plants of Leitrim,
which has a coast line of just three miles. The dunes and.
salt-marshy meadows at Mullaghmore added a good many
species to my Sligo list, and a halt at Drumcliff in the dusk
added Trifolium fragiferum to the flora of IX. Next day the
falls of Ballysadare were visited, and a course made along the
salt-marshes that surround the muddy head of Ballysadare
Bay. Working along the northern shore, the flora included
GL?ianthe Lachenalii, /uncus obtusiflorus, Scirpus rufas, Pota-
mogeton flabellatus, and Ruppia rostellata, the last two being
additions to the flora of IX. Ruppia grew not only in
brackish pools, but out on the fore-shore, where it covered
several acres of tidal mud-flats — an unusual habitat. Further
wTest, on an ivy-covered rock that rose on the edge of the
beach, Orobanche Hederce was flourishing. Pushing on between
the towering cliffs of Knocknarea and the sea, Fesluca rott-
bozllioides was noted on a wall near Culleenamore House, and
a couple of hours were spent on the desolate sand-hills, not
much brightened by the rayless variety of the Ragweed,
which face the Atlantic belo\v Strandhill. There is a
striking difference between the maritime flora of the east and
west coasts. Here in Sligo we find no Sea Holly, Sea Bind-
weed, Horned Poppy, or Sea Spurge. No Viper's Bugloss
brightens the dunes with its brilliant blue ; no Hounds-
tongue fruit seeks the friendly .shelter of one's stockings.
The despondency consequent on absence of plants and the

94 The Irish Naturalist. [April,

presence of heavy rain drifting in off the Atlantic was
lightened by the arrival of Mr. G. P. Farran, in whose
company I came back through Strandhill — gathering Agri-
mo?iia odorata. new to IX. — and climbed the northern cliffs of
Knocknarea ; and after a brief losing of bearings on the flat
summit, owing to heavy mist, we duly arrived at the
stupendous earn. Sesleria cceridea was abundant on the way
up, and on the earn grew Drab a i?ica?ia, Cerastium tetrandrum,
Geum rivale, Saxifraga hirta, the last-named being new to
District IX. Mr. Farran subsequently sent me Apleiiium
viride from the mountain. Being now both of us well
drenched, I willingly accepted my companion's proffered
hospitality, and passed the night at Culleenamore. Next
morning I visited the remarkable limestone fissure S.E. of
Knocknarea, where Festuca sylvalica, new to IX., grew among
groves of Hart's-tongues three to four feet in height. A
second ascent of the mountain yielded nothing of special
note, and an afternoon train was taken for Dublin.

The botanizing season was now nearly over. A day spent
at Wicklow yielded Zawiichellia pedu?iailata, previously known
in Kerry alone, and Potentilla proctimbcns, new to Wicklow ;
and a few days at Dunmore in Waterford brought wrork to a
close.

1898.

A stormy Easter spent on Achill Island enabled me to list
1 20 species for West Mayo, including Ranmiculus Lejionnandi,
new to the province of Connaught, and three days in May
spent in arranging the Field Club Conference excursions at
Kenmare supplied a list for South Kerry. On the evening of
June 11 I went to L,ongford, and next day covered twenty-five
miles to the north of the town, including a visit to Cam
Clonhugh (912 feet) the highest hill of this flat and uninteresting
county. Botrychium and Lycopodium clavatum were the only
uncommon upland plants observed ; Myosotis repe?is, Carex
ac7tta, and C. pallcsce?is, all additions to District VII., grew
near its base. Crepis bie?i?iis was perhaps the rarest lowland
species. Next day I worked southward along the canal, and
back across an extensive bog at Trilliekacurry. Sagittaria

i899-J PRAEGKR. — A Botanist in the Central Plain. 95

was in the canal, and in marshes near by a good characteristic
flora, including Carex terethiscula, paniculata, stricta, laevigata,
and paludosa. The bog yielded its unvarying complement—
Drosera a?iglica, Vacci?iium Oxycoccus, Andromeda, and Rhyn
chospora alba. As regards the formation of a county-list — my
sole object — the trip was not unfruitful. 294 species were
listed on the first day, and 42 additional on the second,
which, adding plants brought home for examination, gave a
list of about 350 species for two days' work. I doubt if
100 species are definitely on record for the county as I write.

On June 18 I opened a pleasant and interesting ten-days'

work in the Shannon basin. The first day was spent west and

north-west of Athlone, in Roscommon. There is a good deal of

gravel here, which yielded such plants as Papaver Ai'gemone,

Arabis hirsuta, Ce?aslium teirandtum, Arenaria tenuifolia,

Matricaria Chamomilla, Cardials pycnocephalus, Crepis taraxaci-

folia, and Linaria viscida. On a small bog near by Rhyii-

chospora fusca was abundant, and on bog- margins Op/irys

apifera, Cladhim, Carexte retiuscula, and C Pseudo-cyperus. I

struck the Shannon just where it widens into Lough Ree, and

here came immediately on the characteristic flora of that

great river — Lathyrus pahistris in beautiful flower and

great abundance, Lastrea T/ielypteris (not included in

Barrington and Vowell's Report on Lough Ree), Galium

boreale, Epipactis pahistris, Tcucrium Scordium, Carex filifor-

mis, C. st?icta, C. vesicaria, Chara tomentosa, &c Next day I

took the Westmeath side, and wyorked along the margins of

Coosan Lough and Killinure Lough, both being arms of Lough

Ree, Lathyrus pahistris turned up again a little above

Athlone, and in fields Lithospermum arvense and Galium

erectum (new to VII.). The shores of Coosan Lough yielded

very fine Lastrea Thelypteris, Galium uliginos7i?n, Hydrochaiis,

Ciiuta, Chai'a io7nentosa, and. many other good plants.

Killinure Lough proved less attractive, but here again were

quantities of Lastrea Thelypteris, and all the other plants of

Coosan Lough. I came back by an inland road, and on a bog

near Twy Lough got plenty of Rhynchospora fusca, a valuable

addition to the flora of District VII. This day supplied a list

of 350 species for Westmeath. Next morning I joined Mr.

96 The Irish Naturalist. I April,

Kane and Mr. Dillon at Attymon, and we went to I,oughrea,
but a day round the lake there was much interfered with by
rain. The evening found us in the gamekeeper's lodge at
Dalystown, six miles to the southward. The 21st was devoted
to the Dalystown woods, visited last year. Some additional
plants were obtained, including Milium and Equisetum hyemale,
neither previously known in District VI., and Thalictrum
colli?ium. Early next morning I drove to Woodford, and
started down the river towards L,ough Derg. Sisyrinchium
aiigustifolium put in an appearance almost immediately, and
further on whole meadows were painted with its blue starry
blossoms and yellow-green foliage. The L,ough Derg shores
were worked from the mouth of the Woodford River to the
north-western corner, where a large and sluggish stream flowrs
in. The flora was interesting and characteristic. Thalictrum
collimim, Divsera anglica and intermedia, Rhamnus catharticus,
Galium bo?~eale and ziliginosum, Myn'iophylhim verticillahwi,
Inula salicina, Utricularia intei'media, Juniperus communis,
Ophrys apifera, Epipactis palustris, Rhynchospora fusca, Ca?"ex
filifonnis, Cladium, Sesleria, Chara toynentosa, and so on. Coming
back, Rhamnus F?'angula and P?runus Padus occurred in a wet
wood a couple of miles east of Woodford. Pushing on to
Portumna, next day was spent on the Galway bank of the
Shannon above the town. Here grew Lathy?'tis palustris,
Stellaria palustris, Slum latij'olium (common all along the
Shannon), Galium uliginosum, Leontodoii hispidus (new
to VI.), Ophrys apifc7'a, Hydrocharis, and many other
characteristic plants. On the following morning I broke
ground for the first time in North Tipperary. Crossing the
Shannon, the terminus of the derelict railway was passed,
where Arenaria tenuifolia and Li?iaria viscida were flourishing.
The river-bank along by Portland House yielded the usual
flora, and a double to the south brought me to Friar's
IvOUgh, where Rhamnus Frangula grew in profusion, also
Ophrys apifera, Tragopogon pratense (rare so far west), and
other plants. Reaching L,ough Derg near Ballyeiragh, the
full lake-shore flora at once appeared, including Geranium
sa?igui?ieu?n, Inula salicina, and Sesleria. On June 25 I took
steamer to Banagher, and started eastward for L,ough Goura,

1899- 1 Pkaeger. —A Botanist in the Central Plain. 97

King's County. On the way Linaria viscida and Erysimum
cheiranthoides were noted by the roadside, and Rhynchospora
fusca turned up again in abundance. Lough Goura proved to
be an extensive and promising swamp, which I waded slowly
across, adding many plants to my King's County list, such as
Galium uliginosum, Epipactis palustris, Cladium, Utricularia
intermedia, Carex limosa, C. fit if or mis, C. strict a. Next day I
worked northward along by Shannon Harbour. Arena? ia
te?iuifolia grew on the railway line, Rhynchospora fusca on the
bogs, Stellaria palustris, Galium uliginosum, Bidens tripartita
(new to VIL), Carex Pscudo-cyperus, &c, &c., in the swamps,
Eleocharis acicularis and Tolypella glomerata in the canal. The
morning of the 27th brought me home again. My impressions
of the Shannon valley were very pleasant. The great expanse
of country, with a distant rim of hills — the broad slow river
with its high fringe of reeds — the rich flat meadows, tinted with
Purple and Yellow Loosestrife, and Meadow-Sweet and
Meadow-Rue — the great brown bogs, where Curlews and
Plovers called incessantly — the grand lake-like expanses of
Ree and Derg, with their stony limestone shores decked
with rare plants — all combined with cool weather, and
summer showers hanging like grey curtains in the bright sky,
formed memories that will not be easily effaced.

On the morning of July 3 I went to Ballybrophy, to finish
my survey of Queen's County by walking fifty miles eastward
across the southern portion of the county. Passing Rath-
downey, Equisctum hyemale was the only uncommon plant
observed till I reached the extensive marshes of the Erkina
River above Durrow. There I waded and floundered for some
time, but with unexpectedly poor results, and the best plant
was Trifoli7cm filiforme, found as I sat on the edge of the
marshes wringing the water out of my clothes. Passing a
mile north of Durrow, FcstucaJMyuros was found growing
abundantly on a roadside wall, and a tramp in the dusk
brought me to the comfortable inn in the pretty village of
Abbeyleix. A pre-prandial stroll next morning revealed
Ophrys apife?'a, Filago germanica, and Linaria viscida in the
neighbourhood, the last named on railway ballast, as usual.
My route on this day lay over the high cultivated Coal-

98 The Irish Naturalist. [April,

measure country to Carlow — a striking change to the extensive
woods and marshes of the Brkina valley, traversed the day
before. The Coal-measure flora proved exceedingly poor, as
was expected ; but Salix Smithiana was an addition to District
III., and several calcifuge species were noted that filled blanks
in my county list. The descent from the Coal- measure
plateau into the rich valley of the Barrow, with the Wicklow
mountains beyond, offers one of the loveliest prospects in
Ireland. I arrived at Carlow in time to complete a thirty-
mile da>- by pushing northward along the Queen's County
bank of the Barrow, where Ch cej ophyllum temulum, not pre-
viously in my list, grew in wonderful profusion mile after
mile, and Rhamnus catharticus was noted in the hedges. At
Maganey I caught the evening train to town.

The arranging and carrying out of the Field Club Conference
at Kenmare now made a serious interruption in botanical
work, but on July 16 I got away, and did a long tramp through
the central part of Kildare, by Rathangan and Robertstown —
not an interesting countr)\ Ranunculus circinatus, Myrio-
phyllum verticillatum, Galium uliginosum, Potamogcton densus,
and Tolvpella glomcrata were the best plants found.

On July 17 I took up quarters at Thurles for a brief survey
of both divisions of Tipperary. The first day was spent in
working some marshes and bogs lying north of the town, in
lightning and awful downpours of rain, which did much
damage in the district. The usual Central Plain marsh flora
turned up, and on a bog at Barracurragh Rhynchospora fusca.
Next morning I took train to Goold's Cross, and went S.E.
towards Fethard. Galium uliginosum and Myriophyllum
verticillatum were seen as I crossed the Suir ; and then, through
Cashel, with its famous ruins, and for many miles beyond, the
route lay through country tilled beyond all hope for the
botanist, so that a small marsh near the road was eagerly
pounced upon. It yielded Utriculaiia intermedia and Ca)rx
tcrctiuscula, both new to District II., Chara polyacantha, and
many other additions to my South Tipperary list. The
picturesque little town of Fethard was reached as darkness
fell. Next day I went north, getting very fine Potamogeto?i
densus by the railway, and a pass led through swelling hills
out into a vast stretch of bog country, where my list was

:899-] PRAKGER. — A Botanist in the Central Plain. 99

speedily reinforced by the full bog-flora, including Andromeda,
new to District II. Erysimum cheiranthoides, growing by the
roadside far out in the bog, was an unexpected addition. As I
pushed on, the country assumed by degrees a sylvan aspect,
and Thurles came again in view. Sparganium affine was
gathered in the river close to the town. The fourth day I
worked from Templemore over the Devil's Bit and Knockanora
— ribs of Old Red Sandstone that break through the crust of
Carboniferous rocks. The cliffs and slopes yielded a calcifuge
flora of ordinary type, with a few upland species, such as
Habenaria albida (new to District VII.) and Laslrea Orcopteris.
Next I turned my attention to the fair county of Kilkenny,
and chose Thorn astown as a centre — a quaint and interesting
place, situated on a pretty bend of the Nore. The flora here,
where the Nore winds through undulating limestone and slate
county, was clearly richer than that of the Central Plain. I
was in the home of Campanula Trachelium, which lightened
the copses by the river. Verbena, Staehys aivensis, Erigeron
acre, Malva moschata, Allium vineale, Orobanche minor, Counts
sanguinea, Euphorbia exigua, Potamogcton dens?ts, now put in
an appearance, many of them in abundance. The first day
was spent within a few miles of Thomastown. Polamogeto?i
Zizii, Valcrianel 'la Auricula, Salix triandra, Scirpus pauciflotus
represented additions to the flora of District III. The woods
on the steep river-banks yielded Orobanche Hcdercs and Milium.
Festuca Myuros was abundant on every old wall. On the
second day I took train to Mullinavat, and made for Lough
Cullen, apparently the only lake in the county. I was well
rewarded by a large access of plants to the Kilkenny list,
including Typha angustifolia, which had no station south of
Co. Down, though it formerly grew near Dublin. Nastwtium
palustre, Apium inundatum, Bidens ccniua, B. tripartita,
Sparganhim simplex and minimum, Potamogeton obtusifolius,
Scutellaria minor, Pinguicula lusitanica, represent the flora of
the marshes and ditches around the lake. Then I cut across
for the River Suir, and worked its banks for a few miles above
Granny. A full salt-marsh flora was listed, including Coch-
learia anglica, CEnanthe Lachenalii, Apium graveolans, Tri-
folium fragiferum, Carcx distans, Lepturus filiformis, the last
three additions to District III. Dipsacus was abundant on

ioo The Irish Naturalist. [April,

dry banks, and Calamintha officinalis on a limestone bluff.
Next day I went through oak woods down the lovely Nore
valley to below Inistioge, and then across an upland slate
country to the granite mass of Brandon (1,694 feet), the highest
hill in Kilkenny. On the ascent Hypericum elodes, Jasione,
Scutellaria minor, Eleocharis nmlticaulis, Osnnmda, were noted,
and higher up Ranunculus Lenormandi, new to District III.
The summit yielded nothing of interest — except a view of wide
and varied beauty — and I descended to Graiguenamanagh.
Recrossing the range of hills to Thomastown, Afyosotis repcns
(new to III.), Lastrca Oreopteris, and L. cemula were noted at
Barleeagh Wood. Next day I went by train and car to
Urlingford, in the extreme north-west corner of the county,
for there alone, maps told me, did bog occur. South of
Urlingford are wide marshes, northward extensive bogs.
Both yielded their quota of plants ; the former (adding some
boggy ground near Johnstown subsequently explored) Viola
canina (new to III.), My?iophyllum vaticillatum, Epipactis
palustris, Juncus obtusifloius, Carex tcretiusctda (new to III.),
Sclaginella ; the latter £>?vsera anglica, Andromeda, Vaccinium
Oxycoccus, Rhynchospora alba, Lastrca spinulosa — all additions
to my Kilkenny list. The rate of progress of this, a typical
county list, may be of interest to those engaged in similar
work : — 1st day (May 19, 1897), 225 species ; 2nd day (July 30,
1898), 125 additional ; 3rd day (July 31), 65 ; 4th day (Aug. 1),
34 ; 5th day (Aug. 2), 20 ; total for five days' work, 469 species,
to which must be added twenty or thirty critical plants not
yet named. Were a list of equal size in existence for each
county-division, Topographical Botany might be published
almost at once.

A week later I went to Carlow — like Kilkenny, a county
almost devoid of bogs or marshes, lakes or mountains ;
and consisting chiefly of tilled, granite country. I had
the fortune to light on a strip of marshy ground on the
limestone south of Carlow town, which yielded a number
of desiderata — Viola ca?iina, Myriophyllum verticillatum,
Galium nliginosum (new to III.), Epipactis pa his Iris,
Juncus obiusiflorus, Sparganium minimum, Potamogeton
coloratus, Cladium, Carex filifo7mis, C. paludosa. A gravel-
bank added Erigeron acre, Gentiana Amarclla, and Calamintha

i899-] PRAEGKR. — A Botanist in the Central Plain. 101

Acinos to these. At Milford Linum angustifolium was
seen, and Arenaria tcnuifolia and Linaria viscida on the rail-
way. Near Leighlinbridge Cynoglossum officinale, very rare
inland, was abundant on a gravel ridge ; Calamintha officinalis
by the roadside, with Caucalis nodosa (new to III.), Orobanche
minor in fields, and what was more unexpected, Trifolium
fragiferum in a pasture by the canal. Proceeding to Borris
early next morning, on the road for Mount Leinster Papaver
Argemone, Stachys palustris x sy hatha, and near Killedmond
Cystopteris fragilis and Orobanche minor, with very fine
crenatum forms of Cetera ch, were seen. Mount L,einster was
swathed in cold, heavy mist. I noted Lastrea Oreoptcris,
Ranunculus Tenorma?idi, Hypericum elodes, Pinguicula
lusitanica, &c, near the base, and stumbled up through the
thick clouds to the summit (2,610 feet). Examining the steep
eastern slope, plenty of Saxifraga stellaris was found, an alpine
missed here by previous explorers, and a very satisfactory
addition to the District III. flora. The plant grows on both
the Carlow and Wexford sides of the county boundary. Next
day I went by train to Ballywilliam, and worked down the
Pollmounty river, which here bounds Wexford and Carlow,
through a fine glen to the Barrow. Scutellaria minor,
Osmunda, R. Lcnonnandi, L. cemula, grew in both counties.
On the Carlow side, where this stream joins the Barrow, were
Stellaria palustris, Trifolium fragiferum. (the' only sign of tidal
influence), CEnanthe fistulosa, and Salix triandra. Thence the
lovely scenery of the Barrow solaced me to near St. Mullin's,
where a welcome patch of bog added to the Carlow list
Andromeda, V. Oxy coccus, Rhynchospora alba, Carex iimosa,
Lastrea spinulosa. At St. Mullin's grew Filago minima, un-
recorded for District III., and by the river above it Campanula
Trachclium, Milium, and Eqiiisctum hyemalc. Pushing on up
the Barrow, Lcmna polyrhiza, new to District III., was .seen in
a ditch, and Lysimachia vulgaris. An evening walk back to
Borris finished 1113- Carlow trip.

Carlow and Kilkenny differ from the typical country of the
Central Plain in their undulating surface and steep river-
escarpments, in the presence of slate and granite, and the
rarity of bogs and marshes. The flora varies accordingly.
Characteristic Central Plain species, such as Myriophylhcm

102 The Irish Naturalist, [April,

verticil latum, Epipactis pahistris, Jiincus obtusijio?2is, Potamoge-
to?i colorahis, Scirpus pauciflortis, and Carex tcretiuscula, are
very rare, and instead a number of plants of dry soils make
their appearance — Arabis hirsuta, Coronopus didymus, Malva
moschata, Centaurea Scabiosa, Vcrbascum Thapstis, Ono?iis
arvensis, Cotyledon, often in abundance. The feature of the
flora most deeply impressed on my mind is certainly the
abundance of the rare Feshica Myuros. In the new Cybele the
only record for District III. is Ferrybank (the extreme
southern corner), Marshall and Shoolbred, 1896. It is strange
how this grass so long remained unnoticed. It is common in
many places from end to end of both counties.

The totals as regards list-making in Carlow followed closely
those for Kilkenny, 232, 123, 44, and 27 species for four days'
work ; total 426, phis critical plants. I look forward to
publishing Topographical Botany when 500 species or over are
on record for each of the forty Irish vice-counties.

I took advantage of the Dublin Field Club excursion to
Enniscorthy on August 13 to list a couple of hundred plants
for Wexford, and on the 14th put in my last day's work along
the ridge of low hills that divide Kildare from Wicklow, near
Blessington. A group of calcifuge species that nourished here,
Spcrgula, Digitalis, Lepidium hirium, Jasione, Aira flexuosa,
Athyrium, &c, were additions to the Kildare list; and the last
find of the season was the addition of Galitcni uliginostim to
the flora of Wicklow and of District IV.

Postscript. — Since the above was written, I have received
from Messrs. Groves and Arthur Bennett a number of critical
plants collected on the trips referred to above, which they
have kindly named for me. Among them, the following
appear to constitute new district-records : —

Fumaria confusa, Jord.— III. Kilkenny — Granny.

F. Borael,Jord — III. Carlow— near St. Mullin's.

Potentilla procumbens, Sibtli. — II. S. Tipperary— by the Suir
near Goold's Cross. III. Careow — Killedmond.

Valeriana IYlikanii, Syme.— VII. King's Co.— Lough Goura.

Myosotis collina, Hoffni. — III. Careow— 011 walls at Bagenalstown
With the exception of the Lough Neagh shores (where several
maritime plants grow) the only inland station in Ireland.

1899O PRAKGKR. — A Botaiiist i?i the Central Plain. 103

* Euphorbia cyparissias, L.— V. Kiladre— several large patches
on railway banks at the Curragh, far from any house.

Potamc\geton f Iabellatus, Bab. — III. Careow— in the Barrow
below Graiguenamanagh. IV. Wexford — brackish pool north of
Courtown Harbour; this was recorded under the aggregate name
of P. pectinatus, L/., in Irish Naturalist, III., 241.

Carex muricata, L,. — VII. N. Tipperary— near Friar's Lough,

Portumna.

Chara vulgaris, L-, var Iongibracteata, Kuetz. — III. Kilkenny
— pool near Granny.

C. fragilis, Desv., var. bar bat a, Gant.— III. Kilkenny— Urlingford.
Queen's Co — Rathdowney. V. Kii/dare -canal east of Rathangan.

NOTES.

The following resolution was passed by the Cork Naturalists' Field
Club at their meeting on February 2 : — That the best thanks of the
C.N.F.C. be given to the Editors of the second edition of Cybeh Hibemica
on the completion of a volume so necessary to Irish Botanists.

We would refer our readers who desire an illuminating discussion of
important points connected with the structure of this country to the
series of articles from the pen of Prof. Cole which have appeared in
Know/edge during the latter half of last year.

The Belfast Club has inaugurated a "Science-gossip half-hour" on
each night of meeting, preceding the formal business. This furnishes
an opportunity for informal discussion, for inquiry, and for interchange
of ideas, and should prove most beneficial. The same object is served
by the tea half-hour at the Dublin Club.

We have received the Reports of the Moss Exchange Club for 1896, '7,
and '8. This Society, founded by the President of the Belfast Field Club,
appears to have embarked on a prosperous and useful career, and we
congratulate Mr. Waddell on the success of his undertaking. The formal
reports are accompanied by critical notes on many of the plants sent in.

The only item in the recently-issued Report and Proceedings of the
Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society for 1897-98 bearing on
Irish natural history is an abstract of Mr. Robert Vouug's paper on some
recent deep borings for water at Belfast. Records of this kind are of
much importance, and are far too often overlooked. Mr. Young gives
the results of fourteen deep borings, mentioning the strata passed through,
and the amount of water obtained. Unfortunately the borings were not
watched over constantly by a scientific man — it is difficult to arrange
that they should be — and in consequence the geological information is
often of a scanty and vague description.

io4 The Iiish Naturalist. I April,

OBITUARY.

George James Aeeman, M.D., F.R.S.
Though personally unknown to the present generation of Irish
naturalists, so distinguished a native of the country as the late Prof.
Allman must claim recognition in the pages of this Magazine. Born at
Cork in 1812, Allman graduated at Dublin and Oxford, and was
appointed to the botanical chair of the former University in 1847. In
1857 he moved to Edinburgh, where he held the Regius Professorship of
Natural History in the University, and the Keepership of the Natural
History Museum. In 1870 he resigned these positions, and retired first
to London and afterwards to Parkstone, Dorset, where he passed away on
November 24, 1898. "He will be ranked," to quote the words of
Prof. Howes (to whose article in Nature, of December 29. we are indebted
for the above particulars), " among the earlier pioneers in the study of
the marine zoology of Britain .... His greater reputation rests
upon his monumental investigations into the classification and morph-
ology of the Coelenterata and Polyzoa, upon which he has left a mark
for all times." His monographs of the Freshwater Polyzoa (1856), and
the Gymnoblastic Hydroids (1872), and his Reports on the ' Challenger '
collection of Hydroids are among the classics of zoological literature.
Material from Irish waters contributed largely to his work on these
subjects, and his discovery of Geomalacus in Go. Kerry in 1843 was the
first step towards the recognition of the " Lusitanian" element in the
land fauna of Ireland.

j. j. doweing.

Local ornithology has sustained the loss of an earnest student in the
death of Mr. Joseph J. Dowling, which took place at his residence, Fox-
rock, on 2nd February. A native of Co. Limerick, he held for many
years a responsible position on the staff of the Irish Local Government
Board, and often regretted that his official duties left him so few oppor-
tunities for making observations and notes. An enthusiastic sportsman
from boyhood, and a keen observer, he had collected a vast fund of
knowledge of the habits of our wild birds and mammals, and it is to
be regretted he found time to publish so little.

However, his activities may be judged by his numerous contributions
to the Field, and Land and Water, during the past twenty years. In J887
he joined the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, and from 1890 served on
the Committee, till failing health compelled his resignation in 1896.
He read a valuable paper on the Wild Ducks and Allied Birds of the
Dublin district before the Club in the Winter Session of 1S92, and often
contributed notes and exhibits of photographic apparatus, in which he
was keenly interested.

In 1889 he was elected a member of the British Ornithologists' Union,

and the following year a foreign member of the kindred French society.

An equally keec votary of rod and gun, he was one of the founders of

the Dublin Anglers' Club, and his cheery good nature and helpful

kindness will long be missed by a wide circle of friends.

H. G. C.

i899-J 105

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a Gazelle from Miss E. MacManus, an Angora
Rabbit from Mr. J. H. Greene, Ducks from Mr. A. R. French and Capt.
H. Despard, and a Badger from Mr. T. Monson. A male Lion (from
Nubia), a Great Kangaroo, and a Great Wallaroo, have been bought. A
young Camel was born in the Gardens on the 6th March, but unfor-
tunately it died when little more than a week old.

7,500 persons visited the Gardens in February.

Dubinin Microscopical Club.

February 16.— The Club met at Leinster House. Mr. W. N. Allen
in the chair.

Mr, J. N. HalbERT exhibited a group of about thirty eggs of a local
plant-bug Eurygaster maura, L., showing freshly emerged nymphs, from
Kenmare, Co. Kerry. The eggs which were firmly attached in regular
rows to the under side of an oak-leaf, are white, oblong in shape, with
well-defined net-like markings over the surface. In ever}' case the
young nymph had made its escape by forcing off a perfectly symmetrical
piece from the free end of the egg.

Dr. H. H. Dixon exhibited a section through the cecidia of Puccinia
poarum, showing nuclear fusion taking place in the secidiospores. When
the spores are being detached from the spore-producing filament two
nuclei are present in each. A minute nucleolus is present in each
nucleus, very little chromatin can be made out. As the spores are set
free, the chromatin increases in bulk and the nucleolus disappears.
One nucleus usually becomes crescent-shaped and partially encloses the
other and then completely fuses with it.

Mr. H. HANNA showed Elachistea Areschougii, Crouan. This rare and
interesting alga was found growing on the receptacles of Himanthalia
lorea, the common Sea Thongs, at Murlough Bay, Co. Antrim, at very
low water, July, 1898. It is a true parasite as shown by M. C. Sauvagean
in the Journal de Botanique for 1892. The previous records for this alga
are those of the brothers Crouan who discovered the plant at Brest, but
in the figure published by them in their " Florule du Finistere," 1867,
pi. 24, gen. 187, they fail to indicate the lower portion of the thallus
immersed in the tissues of the host plant, in reality usually filling up
one or more of the conceptacles of the host. Dr. Bornet subsequently
found it in 1877 at Croisic, and more recently Mr. E. A. L. Batters
gathered it at Berwick (18S4), and at Cumbrae, on the Clyde (1891).
Through the kindness of Mr. E- M. Holmes who identified the
Murlough specimens as identical with Crouan's plant, another locality
for the species is established. It was found while collecting for the Flora
and Fauna Committee of the Royal Irish Academy. The material
collected was preserved in 3 per cent, formol, and is in such good
preservation that the exhibitior hopes to be able to trace the course of

to6 The Irish Naturalist. [April,

the entophytic filaments so as to decide if the plants on one host are
isolated or put into organic connection by means of these filaments,
which pass from the basal region of the cushion and traverse for some
distance the tissues of the host plant. This is of interest as bearing on
the propagation of the parasite.

Mr. W. N. ALLEN showed drawings of Radida Carringtoni and Kadula
Holtii which he made for Messrs. M'Ardle and Lett's paper on Rare
Hepaticse collected at Tore Waterfall, Killarney, in 1897. The figure of
Radula Carringtoni 'is interesting on account of the perianth and capsule
being previously unknown, the plant never having been found in fruit
before ; there are figures of one of the amentse which bear the anthe-
ridia x 20, branches showing the peculiar lobule, and a portion of
leaf x 250, showing cells. The drawing of Radula Holtii shows the plant
natural size, and the same magnified 20 diameters showing the inversely
cone-shaped or trumpet-shaped perianth, mode of branching, and leaves
with rounded lobules one-eighth the size of the lobe, which is sharply
divergent from the fold of the lobule; the latter character is unique
among European Radula.

Mr. G. PiM showed a section of an aerial root of Cereus triangularis
growing under abnormal conditions in a damp hot-house in the Trinity
College Gardens. To the naked eye, the living root was in places
covered with apparently a mycelium of some fungus, but the micro-
scope did not confirm this view. The section showed a curious growth
external to the cortex of the root proper, and consisting of two or three
layers of large spongy cells, rather thick-walled, and readily breaking
away from each other and from the cortex forming a velamen. From the
outer cells of the velamen in places there was a dense growth of very
delicate hairs, which gave rise to the apparent mycelium, and which
occasionally " felted" together contiguous strands of the root. By way
of comparison a section of root of Anthurium was shown ; this was
densely tomentose, but the hairs distinctly originated in the external
cortical layer, and there was nothing at all comparable with the velamen
of the Cereus root.

Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.

March 14 — A Lecture was given by J. Lorrain Smith, M A. M.D.
on the subject, " Pathogenic Bacteria, with special reference to the
Typhoid Bacillus." The paper was illustrated by actual specimens and
by lantern views.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

February 22 —Professor Symington, F-R.S.E., of Queen's College,
Belfast, delivered a lecture on "Whales ; the significance of their struc-
ture and development in connection with theories as to their origin."
The Professor stated that in their struggle for existence numerous
mammals belonging to widely-separated orders have been driven to

1 899-] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 107

spend a portion of their lives under water. Such was the case with
seals, water-voles, beaver, and hippopotamus. In other groups the
adaptation to aquatic life is complete, and the animal has lost the
power of maintaining itself on land and spends its whole life in water.
To this group the whale belongs. The lecturer showed lantern views of
the principal kind of whales, and pointed out their leading characters.
Certain anatomical peculiarities were then pointed out, which lead
Professor Kukenthal to believe that the toothed whales and whalebone
whales have a different origin. The toothed whales have sprung from
some primitive mammals, whose backs were covered with a hard
exoskeleton, while the ancestors of the whalebone whales were land
animals with a hairy covering for the skin. The flippers of whales are
modified fore limbs of mammals, with adaptations and modifications to
suit aquatic life. In the number of bones in the flipper the whale closely
resembles the extinct Ichthyosaurus. This is not a conclusive proof
that both have sprung from a common stock, though it may be fairly
assumed that both represent a modification of different types as an
adaptation to the same mode of life. The hind limbs are not to be
detected on the surface of the body, but embedded in the trunk are
certain bones, rudimentary hip, thigh, and in some cases leg bones, but
of a very small size. The significance of their presence supports the
theory that the Cetacea were originally four-limbed animals. Many
facts about the teeth of whales were then stated. In dealing with the
tail as an organ of locomotion, the lecturer said there are no data to
decide the relative efficiency of a whale's tail as compared with a modern
screw propeller, but there is at least one point in which the tail has an
advantage — its internal structure is specially adapted to its function, its
fibres run in the direction to give the maximum of strength with the
minimum of material. The lecturer discussed the various theories as to
the origin of whales. He favoured the view that the toothed whales
were a more ancient group, and differed more from ordinary mammals
than the whalebone whales. The attempts to prove that the whales
have descended from the Carnivora or the Ruminants had not been very
successful. On the whole, the facts at present known favoured the
hypothesis that both groups of whales departed at a very remote period
from the primitive mammalian stock, the evidence at present available
being too incomplete to justify any dogmatic assertions. In conclusion,
the Professor expressed his indebtedness to Miss Clara Patterson, a
member of the Club, for assistance given in the preparation of the
numerous illustrations.

February 9.— Geoeogicai, Section. —Prof. G. A. J. Cole lectured on
"The Volcanic North; how Ireland became an Island." He briefly outlined
the geography of Palaeozoic times when a great continent existed to the
north of the British Isles, he indicated the changes in geography till the
beginning of the Tertiary period, and then dealt in detail with volcanic
phenomena in Tertiary times, tracing the connection of local activities

io8 The huh Naturalist. [April, 1899.

with the great mountain-making movements to which the Alps and
Himalayas owe their origin and elevation above the sea-level. He
showed how these movements of elevation determined the present lines
of Europe, and traced the progress of the vanishing continent, illustrat-
ing each point by apt lantern illustrations.

March 4.— Geological Section.— The practical value of grouping to-
gether, as a section, members who may be interested in any special study
has been demonstrated by the keen and increasing interest in botany and
geology shown at present in the Belfast Club. More than twenty
members turned out under Mr. Phillips' guidance to visit Scrabo, the
President (the Rev. C. H. Waddell) and a few botanists being present.
The excursion was arranged as a practical demonstration of Mr.
Phillips' geological " Talks." It is to be hoped that in future somewhat
similar courses for special study may be arranged for other branches of
natural historj7.

Cork Naturalists' Field Club.

February 9. — In the Large Hall of the Assembly Rooms, Mr R.
Lloyd Praeger delivered a lecture, under the joint auspices of the
Cork Literary and Scientific Society and the Cork Naturalists' Field Club,
on the recent visit of the Naturalists' Field Clubs to Kerry. Mr. J. L.
CopEMAN, President of the Cork Naturalists' Field Club, occupied the
chair. The lecturer traced the history of the growth of Naturalists'
Field Clubs in Ireland, which at present possessed four, at Belfast,
Dublin, Cork, and Limerick. A series of excursions was arranged
some years ago, and that with which he was about to deal was
the second of the triennial gatherings decided upon. The ex-
cursion was made to Kenmare early in the July of last year. Having
touched on the geological formation of the south-western portion
of Ireland, Mr. Praeger went on to detail the characteristics and
peculiarities of certain species of plants and animals which the ex-
cursionists had an opportunity of finding during their stay in Kerry.
Many of these were not to be found elsewhere, except in parts of Spain
and Portugal, and the sub-arctic regions of North America. Some
capital slides, by Mr. Robert Welch, of Belfast, were exhibited by the
lecturer, depicting the various plants and insects discovered, and the
many places of interest which were visited.

May, 1899.] I09

THE WOODCOCK AS AN IRISH-BREEDING BIRD.

BY C. B. MOFFAT.

In 1786 the Irish Parliament passed an " Act for the preserva-
tion of the Game/' whereby a forfeiture of ^5 was imposed on
11 every person who shall wilfully destroy the eggs of any
pheasant, partridge, quail, land-rail, moor-game, heath-game,
or grouse, wild duck, widgeon, plover, or snipe." The
significant omission of the Woodcock's name is, I think, a
convincing proof that no Irish landowner of that day had the
least cause to suspect that any Woodcocks nested on his
property.

Nor is it possible that, as has sometimes been suggested,
the breeding of the Woodcock in Ireland was merely an
unobserved fact in days when less attention was paid to
natural history. Where Woodcocks breed freely, as they now
do in nearly every part of the country, their nests and young
are stumbled on every year in the most perfectly accidental
manner, while the play of the old birds over the tree-tops is,
during the nuptial season, one of the commonest sights of
evening.

To what, then, is the increase of the Woodcock, as an Irish-
breeding species, attributable? The cause usually assigned
is the recent spread of plantations, but this appears to me
obviously insufficient. Oak-woods, not fir-woods, are the
Woodcock's favourite nesting localities, and remnants of our
old natural forest are, therefore, better calculated to attract
the bird than the cover afforded by new plantations, consisting
as these chiefly do of coniferous trees, whether larch, pine, or
spruce. All the Woodcock's nests which I have seen have
been in oak-woods, or woods largely consisting of oak, and
since the latter have been so extensively cut down in Ireland
during the past hundred years, I question whether the
suitableness of the country as a home for the Woodcock has
not rather diminished than increased.

Perhaps it is a mistake to look solely to the conditions of
our own island for an explanation of the change. The Wood-
cock may, like the Brown Rat a century sooner, have found

A

no The Irish Naturalist. [May,

its former area too restricted, and so simply bowed to necessity
in extending its range westward. The newer immigrant is,
at any rate, much more welcome than its precursor.

One of the most interesting facts in the nesting economy
of the Woodcock is its habit of carrying its young. On this
subject much has been written since Gilbert White cast
doubts on Scopoli's statement, " fugiens ab hoste pullos rostro
portat : " observing that the bill of the Woodcock seemed
singularly ill-adapted for such an exploit. Later witnesses to
the fact of the bird actually carrying its young have, in the
majority of instances, said that this was done with the feet or
legs,1 but a glance at the most recent text-books shows that
the exact method is, at any rate, still far from settled. Mr.
A. H. Evans, in the Cambridge Natural History series, says
"The young are often carried by the parents between the
thighs, the bill probably aiding to steady them." Mr. Aflalo,
in his " Natural History of the British Islands," aiso says
" Between the legs, and pressed with the bill, [is, I believe,
the usual manner." These writers, however, differ from the
conclusion arrived at by Mr. Harting {Zoologist, 1879, p. 440),
that in the majority of instances the bill is not used at all.

It is noteworthy that Thompson on this subject quotes a
gamekeeper who believed the whole story to be due to optical
delusion, produced by the drooping of the tail and ventral
feathers as the bird flew. Though Thompson does not
expressly adopt this view, he evidently attached some
importance to it, and it is possible that scepticism on the
subject, encouraged by such an interpretation of the evidence,
may be yet not wholly extinct. Among the witnesses to the
fact are, however, some few naturalists of well-known accuracy,
including Mr. H. C. Hart.2

I once witnessed the spectacle myself, under circumstances
which lead me to think that there should be no difficulty in
collecting a much greater mass of evidence on the subject
than yet exists.

In the spring of last year I was shown a Woodcock's nest
which had been found by a little boy in the woods at Bally-

1 For an account of the different methods of transport ascribed to the
bird, see an article by Mr. Harting in the Zoologist for 1879, pp. 433-440.

2 Zoologist, 1888, p. 454.

1899] Moffat. — The Woodcock as an Irish breediiig Bird. 11 1

hyland, on the 31st of March. The bird, at that date, had
already begun hatching on her full complement of four eggs,
of which, however, one was soon afterwards removed and
transferred to a collection. From April 12th I frequently
visited the nest, wishing to note the date of emergence of
chicks. On the 17th, at 6 in the evening, the three eggs were
still in the nest, and showed no signs of being near the
hatching-point ; and the iSth was so wet that I omitted to
pay my customary visit. On the morning of the 19th April,
the female, as I approached, sat closer than had been her
wont, and on her rising I was almost immediately struck with
a curious yellowish object that seemed to hang from between
her legs. The bird's flight was slower than usual, and her
long bill was plainly seen to be directed forwards, in the
ordinary attitude, and not in any way used to steady or support
the object carried. Having flown about 60 yards, she dropped
with her burden among the brambles and bracken. I then
looked into the nest. There, in place of the three eggs, sat
two down3T Woodcocks, each covering so as to completely
conceal the shell from which it had emerged ; and beside
them was the shell of the third egg, empty and flattened
whose chick I had just seen the parent carrying away.

Other engagements prevented my awaiting the bird's
return, but at night I revisited the nest, and, striking a light
over it, saw only the three squashed egg-shells. The young
had all been removed, and the nest was never occupied
again.

Most previous observations of the Woodcock carrying her
young seem to have been casual, but it would appear from the
foregoing instance that anyone with opportunities of daily
visiting a nest might reasonably count on seeing the process.

The parental care of the old birds does not cease when
their family are fledged, though it 4s difficult to accept some
statements as to the age at which the chicks continue to be
carried. A good observer of birds told me that in the
beginning of June, 1894, he saw an old Woodcock, whose
young could fly, tumble on the ground before him, " screaming
like a hawk," while the young made off. I have not seen this
habit elsewhere attributed to the Woodcock.

A 2

H2 1 he Irish Naturalist. [May,

That genuine lover of nature, Charles Kingsley, lapses, I
think, into something like an error where, in " Westward
Ho," he describes a scene " under the Hunter's Moon," and
introduces " woodcocks, which, chuckling to each other,
hawked to and fro, like swallows, between the tree-tops and
the sky." The performance here ascribed to the Woodcock
in October seems to be really that of its breeding season, the
so-called "chuckle," being, in fact, a part of the bird's love-
song, and seldom if ever heard after June. Uttered at dusk,
or during moonlight, as the bird flies over the trees, the song
in its perfection is certainly a very curious specimen of
avian art, a deep, constantly repeated croak — " croho croho "
— varied at regular intervals by a shrill screech — " chizzic " —
which follows every fourth croak so rapidly as to be nearly
simultaneous with it. In February, however, when Wood-
cocks begin to tune up, their song consists of the shrill part
only. From about the first of March the croak begins to be
audible, and it is possible that a few birds may then
commence laying. My friend Mr. Ruttledge, of Coolbawn
Cottage, in this county, assures me that he has seen young
Woodcocks on the wing at the end of April. By the middle
of June most of the old birds are silent, though a few keep up
their weird orchestra to the month's close.

I do not know that it has been noticed that while Wood-
cocks play about of a spring evening two may frequently be
seen to dart alongside of one another for a few hundred yards,
chirruping loudly and excitedly, as if in defiance. The noise
at such times uttered reminds one of the ceaseless twittering
of a flock of vSparrows . Possibly this is when one male bird
trespasses upon the beat of another ; at any rate, it seems to
be a peculiarity of the season of love and combat.

Ballyhyiand, Co. Wexford.

1899.] ri3

POA NKMORAUS, P. COMPRESSA, CAUJTRICHE
OBTUSANGULA IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND.

BY S. A. STEWART, F.B.S.EDINB.

Poa nemoralis seems to have escaped observation in the
north for a long period. ; the most recent authorities which
could be quoted by the compilers of the Flora of the Notth-east
of Ireland dating back about half a century. It is, therefore,
very satisfactory to be able to state that it has been refound in
Antrim, District 12, and discovered in County Tyrone, thus
extending its range into District 10. Rev. C. H. Waddell has
just detected in his herbarium a specimen collected in the
woods at Muckamore in May, 1893, but which had remained
unexamined until now. Similarly Miss M. C. Knowles, of
Ballymena, finds amongst her plants some specimens of the
same grass found on a wall near Cookstown, in July, 1897.
This latter locality is in District 10, but on the very margin of
District 12. Poa nemoralis, though not rare in Great Britain,
is undoubtedly one of the rarer grasses in Ireland. The first
notice of it in this country which I can find is the following,
by John Templeton : — " On the walls and under the shade of
the trees on the roadside near I^ucau — northern road, 1799."
On the 21st Jul)', 1809, Templeton met with it in County
Antrim, on rocks at a little waterfall 011 the Glenariffe River.
Two years ago I examined this spot, but did not find the
plant. It should, however, be looked for with every hope of
success amongst the bushes of that magnificent glen. In
1804, when Wade's Plant ce Par/ores appeared, the station at
Knockcree, County Down, was added to those already known
for this plant. This discovery is attributed to John White, a
contemporary of Templeton. I once made a brief, but
unsuccessful visit to this place. Had I, at that time, known
that the exact habitat of the plant at Knockcree was on a wall
I might, perhaps, have been more fortunate. In the Cybclc,
White is credited with finding Poa ncmojalis at Rostrevor, and
also at Garron Point, Co. Antrim. White is said to have
supplied the localities for the Irish Flora, but it is curious

U4 The Irish Naturalist. [May,

that in that work the only locality given for this plant is
Templeton's station at I,uean.

There does not seem to be an}' good reason why Poa
comp7cssa should in the Cybele be relegated to the Appendix,
and stigmatised as an interloper in Ireland. What is there
suspicious about it save that, in this country, it is a rare grass,
and fails to increase and spread ? These are scarcely sufficient
reasons for depriving the plant of its citizenship. It is not a
species which is likely to be imported with seed, being
scarcely to be reckoned as a fodder plant. That it held its
place for so long a period on the walls of Deny is remarkable,
seeing that the station is entirely in the heart of the city. It
is extremely rare there now, if indeed it be not extinct, but
Dr. Dickie, in 1864, said it was rather plentiful on the south
wall.

In Ireland Calliii ielie obtusangula seems to have altogether
escaped observation until very recently. It was not mentioned
in the first edition of Cybele Iliberniea, being indeed at that
time unknown in Great Britain. In the second edition it has
several stations in the south and west assigned to it, but none
farther north than Westmeath. That it has been overlooked
by us, in the north, is certain, as it grows in the City of
Belfast. The exact locality is a brackish ditch in Victoria
Park, close to the County Down shore of the bay. Mr. G. C.
Druce, who is familiar with the plant in England, pointed it
out to me one day last August, and I have subsequently found
it in a similar brackish ditch at Killough, Co. Down. The
northern limit, stated in the Cybele as 51J0, must therefore be
extended to 54-^'. Now that attention is directed to Callitiiehc
obiusangula we may expect to find it still more widely diffused
in the maritime counties.

1899.] ii5

SOME LAND ISOPODS FROM COUNTY GAWAY.

BY CHAS. CHILTON, D.SC, F.L.S.

I have lately been going over the terrestrial Isopoda in
Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson's collections in University
College, Dundee. Among them are several collected at
various times from two localities in Co. Gal way, i.e., at
Galway itself and at Roundstone. As some of the species do
not appear to have been previously recorded from this part of
Ireland, it may, perhaps, be worth while giving the list of
species here : —

LIgia oceanlca, Linn.— from Galway and Roundstone.

Trichoniscus pusillus, Brandt.— Galway.

Onlscus asellus, Linn.- Galway and Roundstone,

Philoscia muscorum, Scopoli— Galway and Roundstone.

Porcellio scaber, Latr. — Galway and Roundstone.

Porcellio dilatatus, Brandt. — Many specimens from Galway and

Roundstone. This species appears common in Galway, though

hitherto recorded in Ireland only from Dublin (see Scharff, Irish

Naturalist, VIII., p. 60).
Porcellio laevis, Latr. — Several specimens from Galway. Apparently

this species was previously recorded only from Dublin, in Ireland,

though like the preceding species it is very widely distributed over

other parts of the globe.
Porcellio pictus, Brandt.— One specimen from Galway.
Metoponorthus pruinosus, Brandt — Two imperfect specimens

from Galway.

It is perhaps worthy of note that the collection contained
no specimens of Aimadillidium vulgare, Latr., since Scharff
{Irish Naturalist, v., p. 225) has drawn attention to its
apparent absence at Clonbrock, Co. Galway, and has con-
trasted this with its abundance at Dublin. It is, however, not
safe to attach very much importance to negative evidence of
this kind.

University College, Dundee.

n6 The Irish Naturalist. [May,

REVIEWS.

The Penycuik Experiments. By J. C. Ewart, M.D., F.R.S.
Edinburgh ; A. and C Black, 189S. 10s. 6d.

The title of Prof. E wart's book convejs little to the ordinary reader of
the Irish Naturalist. To some the name even of the small Scotch town —
Penycuik — the place which the author has chosen for his experiments,
ma}- be unknown But many zoologists and breeders of stock have been
watching with keen interest the results of Prof. Ewart's experiments for
some years past. Since he first succeeded in mating a zebra with a
horse, with the result that a most interesting h3'brid was born, he has
secured several others, and has paid particular attention to various
problems connected with this subject.

Though these experiments have no direct connection with Irish
natural history, they are of such general interest and importance, that
the readers of the Irish Naturalist will welcome a short announcement of
the aims of this work. Since several Irish horses, moreover, were used
in Prof. Ewart's experiments, an indirect claim actually exists in
noticing this little book in our columns.

In the pages of the Veterinarian and the Zoologist the more important
results of the Penycuik experiments have already been fully discussed.
However, the form in which the results of Prof. Ewart's interesting
experiments are now published, enables the reader to more thoroughly
grasp their importance and the methods by which it is desirable that
they should be continued by others.

No less than nine zebra hybrids have been bred by Prof. Ewart by
crossing mares of various sizes and breeds with his famous zebra
stallion " Matopo." He also reared three hybrids which had zebra
mothers, whilst the sire was in one case a donke}- and in two ponies.

Now, the breeding of these hybrids sheds a new light 011 many
questions of general biological interest, such as the origin of stripes,
reversion, inbreeding, and prepotency.

We know very little as yet about reversion. To give a familiar
example of what is meant by the term, we cannot do better than quote
the author's own words — " It is commonly believed that a child some-
times, instead of taking after its father, closely resembles its father's
mother, or is the image of its own mother." Some of the hybrids
reared by the author, for instance, suggest their zebra sire, others their
respective dams; but, curiously enough, even the most zebra-like in form
are utterly unlike their sire in the markings. '• It is not a matter of
taking after a grand-parent," remarks the author, " but after an ancestor
in all probability thousands of generations removed, an ancestor
probably far more like the Somali than any of the Burchell zebras."

1S99.] Pe7iycuik Experiments. 117

Hitherto stock-breeders have worked on rather haphazard lines, and
there can be no doubt that they will greatly benefit b)r the application
of thoroughly scientific methods to their experiments.

From the older experiments conducted by Darwin and others, we
know already that the crossing of extreme forms appears to lead to
reversion towards a remote ancestor, and also that some breeds are more
prepotent than others. Reversion, again, thinks the author, " seems to
lead to a form of rejuvenescence due presumably to the ancestral units
overcoming and controlling the more recently evolved and less stable
units, which, if allowed to have their way, would give rise to offspring
bearing all the marks of decadence that characterised the immediate
ancestors."

What, then, do we understand by prepotency ? The author's explana-
tion clearly indicates to us what is meant by the term: "Any animal,
male or female, which strongly impresses its own peculiarities of form,
colour, disposition, &c, on its offspring is prepotent, while animals that
are the offspring of more or less intimately related parents are inbred —
when the parents have been closely relate'd for several generations they
are said to be grossly inbred." " The wild parent is said to be especially
prepotent because it belongs to an older and longer established type
than our domestic breeds."

As for inbreeding, it is a subject we know little about. It appears that
artificial prepotency may be gradually produced by it by fixing the
characters of the particular variety of stock selected. On the other hand,
intercrossing ma)7 arrest the deleterious effects of inbreeding.

Discussing the supposed decadence of the English race-horse, the
author states that, in his opinion, the best way to maintain its speed,
staying power, and constitution would be to have recourse occasionally
to Australia or New Zealand for sires and dams equal, if possible, in
fiettness and size to our own thoroughbreds, but differing from them in
having a recent dash of Arab blood in their veins.

Perhaps the most interesting parts of Prof. E wart's experiments are
those connected with the subject of " telegony." This term, it may be
mentioned, is applied to the supposed permanent influence by the first
male on the offspring of a female with which it had been mated. So
far, however, the author s experiments give no support to the telegony
hypothesis.

After a perusal of Prof. Ewart's beautifully illustrated work, we clearly
perceive the intricacies underlying the principles of breeding. The
author has by no means solved the many problems connected with the
subject, but he has shown us that the methods of scientific inquiry can
be of much practical use to the breeder. He has also indicated to us the
manner in which future experiments should be conducted, and altogether
has given to us a work of great interest from a biological point of view.

R. F. S.

Ii8 The Irish Natiiratist. [May,

The Naturalists' Directory, i899. London: L. Upcott Gill;

pp. 167. Price is.

The present issue of this little book is a great improvement on last
year's edition. The names of eminent naturalists formerly unaccountably
omitted are now inserted, and the list given may claim to be fairly
representative of students of the various branches of natural science in
the British Islands. We would advise the editor next to turn his
attention to the list of magazines. To name only two of the more
startling omissions — are the Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftlichc Zootogie and the
Archives de Zoologie Experituentale et Generate' not worthy to be mentioned in
a list which finds a place for the Sunchildreris Budget ? And we must again
raise our humble but decided protest against the insertion of advertise-
ments on pages alternating with the text.

Early Chapters in Science. By Mis. W. Awdry. Edited by
Professor W. F. Barrett ; pp. 348, with numerous illustrations.
London : John Murray, 1899. Price, 6s.

This brightly- written little bock is intended, to quote its editor, " to
provide young people with an introduction to the two great divisions of
Science— biological and experimental -to the world of life and the world
of experiment." The first half of the book deals with the form, classifi-
cation, and physiology of animals, while plants are discussed in two
chapters. Eleven chapters are then devoted to physics, and a concluding
chapter to chemistry. It might perhaps have been more satisfactory if
the physical sciences, which underlie the science of life, had been dealt
with first ; and considering that plants can be more readily studied than
animals in a practical waj7 by young children, botany seems rather
restricted as compared with zoology. At the same time there can be no
doubt that animals are to most children the most attractive objects in
nature ; and we can most warmly commend the bright, natural way in
which the outlines of classification are sketched from creatures which can
be observed in a garden. The authoress has produced a valuable little
book, and it is evident that Professor Barrett has spared no pains to
ensure accuracy of statement, having obtained the help of several
naturalists in the revision of the different chapters. The original
illustrations by Miss Stevenson and Miss Mothersole add both to the
attractiveness and usefulness of the volume.

1899-2 "9

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

R.OYAI, ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Recent gifts include a Hooded Crow from Dr. E. Blake Knox, three
Peacocks from Lady Mowbray and Stourton, and two Doves from Mrs.
Mahon. Two Aondads have been born in the Gardens, while seven
Monkeys, a Marabout Stork and a number of small birds have been
bought. The rare Hainan Gibber, after a life in the Gardens of two
years, has died. Its skin has been secured for the Science and Art
Museum

9,680 persons visited the Gardens in March.

The Report of the Society for 189S has recently been issued ; it gives
an encouraging account of the year's work. Though there has been a
falling off both in the number of visitors to the Gardens and of new
members admitted, as compared with 1897, the financial position of the
Society has improved, the account showing a credit balance of ^"352.
The great work of the year has been the erection of the Haughton
Memorial house, which will greatly add to the attractiveness of the
Gardens. It comprises quarters for Marsupials, Monkeys (which will
obtain open-air accommodation in the summer), and Birds, while the
upper storey will be available for lectures and social gatherings. It is
satisfactory to notice that the Council has called the attention of local
authorities in the western counties to the persecution to which Choughs
are subjected during the breeding-season. Of the litter of twelve Cape
Hunting-puppies born on November 8th, it has been found possible to
rear two by transferring them to a foster-mother. The Report is
illustrated by some excellent photographs.

Dubinin Microscopical Club.

March 16. — The Club met at Leiuster House, Mr. W. Haughtoh in
the Chair.

Mr. M'ArdlE exhibited Riccia sorocarpa, Bish., which he has succeeded
in cultivating at Glasnevin, from specimens which were collected last year
by Rev. H. W. Lett and himself on a wall-top, by the roadside leading from
Dingle to Ventry, Co. Kerry, the only locality known in Ireland, where
it was discovered in July, 1873, by Dr. D. Moore and Professor Lindberg,
and has not been collected since that period (26 years) by any persons in
Ireland. It is very scarce in the locality. When dry the margin of the
fronds become inflexed, it is then very difficult to detect, as the plant is
minute, having the fronds palmately divided, the divisions fleshy and
of a brilliant green colour on both surfaces. Mr. M'Ardle promises at a
future date to exhibit the fruit of this curious hepatic, which when young
is immersed in the substance of the frond.

120 The Irish Naturalist. [May,

Mr. H. J. Seymour exhibited specimens of mica from the Godfjeld
mica mine, near Krageroe, Norway. They contain numerous very
beautiful dendritic inclusions of iron oxide in various stages of hydration,
and also many minute rutile cr}'stals.

Rev. H. W. LETT sent for exhibition specimens of Hypopterygium
flavcscens. This moss was first noticed by exhibitor in January, J887, on a
pot in Mr. G. Pirn's cold fernhouse, at Monkstown, Co. Dublin. It
attracted attention in January, 1899, being observed growing in
abundance over the walls and stones in the same place. And since that
date Mr. Pirn has found a stalk with a mature capsule,

Mr. Wm, Mitten, of Hurstpierpoint, to whom specimens were sent,
writes: —

" I have compared it with what I have, and think it most nearly agrees
with Hypopterygium faicscdis from Brazil: it does not come near to
H. tamariscium, the oldest known South American (Jamaica) species
which, perhaps, might be expected to occur in Ireland. The genus is
richest, so far as I know, in species in the southern hemisphere, but one
is found in Thibet, and one in Japan. I have a specimen of H. viridulum
which fruited in the Cambridge Botanical Gardens, and there can be no
doubt some plants are brought over with tree ferns which when dead
are draped with mosses in greenhouses. I had myself for some years
Kacopilum tonientosum, so common in tropical America, as a weed on the
earth in pot plants which were not disturbed."

It is curious to find this tropical moss making its home in a house
which is never heated. But apart from this, the moss has points worth
noticing. The leaves of Hypopterygiitvi are arranged in three rows, closely
resembling the arrangement of the leaves in many hepatics. Two of
these rows are, as in many European mosses, disposed in a pinnate
manner, one along each side of the stem, while the third row is at the
back of the stem, and the leaves of this third row are much smaller and
different in shape, and are pressed close to the stem. They occupy the
exact position that the underleaves do in Ly'eunea, Frtillania, and many
other hepatics.

The leaves of the two pinnately disposed rows remind us of the leaves
of a Milium, with their oval pointed outline and finely-toothed margin
of longitudinal cells. The cells of the leaves are small, and may be
described as " hexagonal-diamond shape." The nerve is nearer the
upper margin of the leaf, and hence the lower half of each leaf is the
larger.

Belfast Naturae History and Philosophical Society.

April II. — A meeting was held in the Museum, when a lecture was
delivered by John N. Pinnegan, B.A., B.Sc, on the subject, "Luminous
Discharges in Rarefied Gases." The lecture was illustrated by experi-
ments and photo slides.

1899O Proceedings of h is h Societies. 121

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

March 21. — H. L. Orr and R. Welch exhibited a series of minute
land-shells— genus Vertigo— from various localities, including a number
of Vertigo antivertigo recently collected at Shaw's Bridge, Belfast, where
there is a very large colony in the marsh. Mr. M'Kinney exhibited
coral found in clay near Glenarm. Mr. Vinycomb taking the chair,

Mr. Gray submitted his report as delegate from the B.N.F.C. to the
meeting of the British Association at Bristol. He described the object,
constitiition, and method of procedure of the Association, and stated
that the committee of corresponding societies was framed for the
purpose of securing the co-operation of all such local scientific societies
publishing transactions and papers calculated to further the advance-
ment of science. The Belfast Naturalists' Field Club was one of the
first local societies registered as a corresponding society by the British
Association. At the Bristol meeting the subject of coast erosion was
recommended for consideration. The question of geological photography
was also considered, and a high compliment was paid to the B.N.F.C.
for the very excellent photographs already contributed by Mr. Welch,
Mr. Phillips and other members of the Field Club. The desirability of
having all reports and, if possible, all transactions published of uniform
size was recommended to facilitate the orderly binding for reference.
The Ethnographical Survey Committee recommended the subject for
the investigation of the corresponding societies. The work already
done in Ireland was acknowledged, but one branch of the subject had
not received in Ireland the attention it merited — namely, the archaeo-
logical survey of this country. It was pointed out that with the number
of capable organizations now operating in Ireland there should be no
difficulty in compiling a very complete catalogue of all the ancient
monuments of Ireland. The Conference Committee resolved at Bristol
to write to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, pointing out the
necessity for undertaking this work. Mr. Gray referred to the fact that
two meetings of the British Association had been held in Bristol since
the last meeting in Belfast, in 1S74. Since then the Association met
several times in England, Scotland, Wales, and Canada, as well as in
Dublin. It was, therefore, time to ask the Association to come to
Belfast again. Mr Gray described the various places of interest in and
around Bristol, as well as the places visited on the excursion, including
Stan don Drew, Raglan Castle, Tintern Abbey, Salisbury, Old Sarum,
and Stonehenge. His descriptive sketches were very fully illustrated by
original lantern slides, with special reference to Anglo-Norman invasion
of Ireland under Strongbow. After the lecture the Chairman and other
members joined in a short discussion, and the meeting closed by the
election of some members.

Botanical Section. — March 25. — The study of the British Grasses,
which was carried on at the monthly meetings during the winter, was
concluded by Rev. C. H. Waddell who described the fescues, brome and

122 The Irish Naturalist. [May,

rye grasses. Arrangements were made for mounting a number of
plants kindly presented to the herbarium by Mr. R. L. Praeger, Miss
Knowles, and Rev. C. H. Waddell, for which Miss S. M. Thompson
kindly presented printed labels.

Dublin Naturalists' Field Club.

March 14.— The President (R. Lloyd Praeger, B.A., B.E.), in the
chair. Forty members and friends were present. Mr. J. N. H ALBERT
read a paper on the " Irish land and water bugs," illustrating his remarks
by a fine set of lantern slides prepared from specimens in the Science
and Art Museum. The Hemiptera or " Bugs " comprise such insects as
the aphides or green flies so injurious to greenhouse plants, the bark-
lice of our fruit trees, including the cochineal insect of commerce, the
common froghoppers, and the true plant and water bugs. They all
have the mouth parts formed for sucking, the majority derive their
nourishment from plants, but some are carnivorous. Amongst the
aquatic kinds we find some walking or skating on the surface of the
water, these have their limbs highly specialised for this purpose, whilst
others enveloped in a covering of air bubbles live in the depths beneath,
paying occasional visits however to the surface to renew the stock of
air. In the so-called Water Scorpion of our ponds the first pair of legs
is modified into formidable pincer-like organs for the capturing of its
prey. Most of the aquatic species can fly well, so that they can migrate
should the small streams and ponds frequented by them dry up. The
Bed-bug is known to be an introduced insect in Britain ; it did not become
a pest in England until after the Fire of London, when it is supposed to
have been imported in great numbers with the lumber used in the
rebuilding of the city. Mr. H. K. G. Cuthbert (Hon. Treas ), and Mr.
F. W. Burbidge, M.A., spoke on the paper. Dr. N. H. Alcock (Hon.
Sec), showed a set of his beautiful lantern slides of various bats, taken
mostly from life, and illustrating their habits. Miss F. Conan showed a
specimen of the lace-bark tree from Barbadoes.

April ii.— The President, R. Lloyd Praeger, B.A., B.E., in the
chair. Prof. GrenyillE Cole, F.G.S., gave a paper on the " Structure
of Ireland." An interesting account of the mode and time of the origin
of the various mountain ranges of Ireland was given ; explanation of the
cause of the great central plain was offered ; the relation of Ireland to
the lost western continent and to Europe ; the cause of the difference of
the east and west coast, the lava flows of the north-east and its extinct
volcanoes were all considered and fully illustrated by a fine series of
lantern slides. The President and Mr. Henry J. Seymour, B.A., spoke
on the paper. Misses F. and A. M. Joly were elected members.

i899-] 123

NOTES.

BOTANY.

Note on the arrangement of a Flora.
A word with regard to the Appendix to the Cybele. I wish to say that,
on the question of putting excluded plants in an appendix, I cannot
agree with the reviewer in December number, but entirely approve of
the practice adopted in the preparation of the Cybele. That practice has
the high sanction of Sir J. D. Hooker, in his Student' 's Flora. The classi-
ficatory instinct rebels against the commingling of dissimilar subjects,
and the inconvenience spoken of, if any, is infinitesimal. 1 find none.
When one wishes to know of plants outside the native flora, we look at
once to the appendix. At all events, life need not be run at such a rate
that we must sacrifice the seemly in order to gain half a second of time.

S. A. Stewart.
Belfast.

There are certainly two sides to this question, but Mr. Stewart's
arguments appear to me to be not convincing. A discussion on the
subject would be hardly in place here, but let me briefly refer to three
of Mr. Stewart's points. He quotes Hooker as sanctioning the relega-
tion of excluded plants to an appendix in his Student's Flora. But he does
not mention that in almost every other standard work on general or
local British botan}7, from Sowerby, Watson, and Babington, down to
innumerable county Floras, such plants are inserted in their proper
places in the body of the work. As regards classificatory instinct, one
would think it would rebel rather against the splitting up of a flora into
halves than against its treatment according to the recognised system of
classification. Lastly, Mr. Stewart says ; " when one wishes to know of
plants outside the native flora, we look at once to the appendix." But
who is to say what is the " native flora" ? It is notorious that no two
botanists can agree on the question. The line separating native plants
from naturalized species, and these again from colonists or denizens, is
a devious and arbitrary one. Nor is it even constant to any one author's
standard, for the flora is ever changing; the casuals of to-day may be
the most assertive and well-established species of to-morrow, and the
unquestioned claims of others may crumble before the searching
scrutiny of the latter-day botanist. A comparison of the old and new
editions of Cybele well exemplifies this, showing how many plants have
gone up in the world and others come down. If " excluded" plants are
separated from their allies and placed in an appendix, none but the
author of the work can be sure in which place to find many of them,
and even his standard may change, as the world goes on and knowledge

increases.

R. Lxoyd Praeger.
Dublin.

124 The Irish Naturalist [May, 1899.

ZOOLOGY.

MAMMALS.

The natural history of Bats.

Mr. Alcock in his admirable papers on the Natural History of Irish
Bats, has quoted me in one or two places, and it is only fair to him to
point out the results of some later observations. On page 31 of this
volume he mentions that we give the time of appearance of Daubenton's
Bat as 70 minutes after sunset, and adds that this was the time when the
first bat was noticed on the water. It has never been my luck to watch
this bat leaving its diurnal resting-place, but from my later observationst
I find that the average time when I first observed it on the water was 56
minutes after sunset, approaching much nearer to Mr. Alcock's average
of 54 minutes. The average is taken from notes made in May, June, and
July. Again, I find that I have noticed this species three days later than
in earlier years. On August 20th, 1896, several were flying on a still
reach of the River Bollin, although there were none on the pond where
I usually observe them.

I have never observed Noctules on the wing before the end of March,
although I received two which had been taken from the roof of a house
on the 19th of that month, whose stomachs contained undigested food.
On page 33 Mr. Alcock states that I saw Noctules in Devonshire on
September 22nd. This I think is a printer's error, as it was at Alport, in
Derbvshire, that I saw them. The latest date that I have seen this bat
was on October 10th, 1896, when I observed a single one on the wing at
5.20, six minutes before sunset. The following day we had the first fall of
snow.

. In his paper on the Whiskered Bat, Mr. Alcock says that only one
specimen was found using a tree as a resting-place. My experience has
been similar: I only once came across one in such a situation. It was
hiding behind some loose bark on a dead tree in Delamere Forest. The
Whiskered Bat seems to be fond of feeding in the day time ; on June 3rd,
1898, a bright sunny day, I observed two flying over the River Dane,
near Wincle, in Cheshire. The first I saw kept for some time in the
shadow of the bridge, but afterwards flew up and down the stream in
strong sunlight. The other was flying under some trees, every now and
then going up stream for about fifty or a hundred yards. Although the
light was strong, both bats eluded my attempts to capture them for a
considerable time. I struck the first one down with a cloak, but it got
up from the ground and escaped unhurt. The second I killed with an
umbrella, and then made certain that it was a Whiskered Bat. Oldham
killed another the same day in the Coyt Valley, near Whaley Bridge, a
locality where he has seen them in the daytime before.

T. A. Coward.
Bowdon, Cheshire.

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June, 1899.] 125

THE NATURAE HISTORY MUSEUM, QUEEN'S

COLLEGE, GAWAY.

BY PROFESSOR RICHARD J. ANDERSON, M.D.

[Plate 6.]

The natural history collection is contained in five rooms.
Three of these serve for zoological specimens and apparatus,
and two for fossils and minerals. The Museum is reached
by a vestibule on the ground floor, which is joined by a stair-
case to the department above. The lower jaw of a Whale-bone
Whale is placed in the vestibule, and reaches nearly from floor to
ceiling. The length is nearly 18 feet, which means that the
original owner of the jaw was 70 feet long, or a little less. The
anchor placed between the sides o£ the jaw was found many
years ago on a rock in Galway Bay, called St. Margaret's Rock,
and belonged possibly to the White Falcon, a warship of the
Spanish Armada, wrecked on the Galway coast. A bit of
cable still remained attached to the anchor when the latter
was discovered. This is regarded by some as an undoubted
proof of its antiquity.

The small Herbarium, near the anchor and whale's jaw,
contains specimens of ferns, and is meant to illustrate the
Carboniferous flora. The model of a salmon, 69 lbs. weight,
is shown on the first staircase landing. Flax, in all stages of
manufacture, appears in a case beside the huge salmon model.
The birds shot by Professor Valentine Ball, when in India, are
mostly in cases that line the walls of the staircase and landings.

Two large sheet pictures represent prehistoric ideal scenes.
One is a Mesozoic scene, and has figures of some of the chief
reptiles of the period. The other is a representation of a
Kainozoic scene, with the Tusked Tiger, Mastodon, and Water
Elephant. Large deer forms are in the background and
tropical birds, whilst on the branches of a tree sit two apes,
of very human aspect, that view with seeming concern the
proximity of a Mastodon below.

The Geographical Museum contains ten vertical cases that
stand out from the walls between the windows and seven
horizontal cases. The vertical cases in their upper parts serve
for the display of fossils arranged in a chronological series,

A

i26 The Irish Naturalist, [Juue,

and below contain specimens of granitic, volcanic, and meta-
morphic rocks. The horizontal cases have minerals and ores,
classified according to the base constituents. Thus one half
case contains the ores of iron, the opposite side has ores of
copper. The lime salts have a half case to themselves, and so
have the feldspars and zeolites.

Illustrative specimens of ice-worn and scored rocks and per-
forated limestones, from the neighbourhood of Galway, are
placed, for inspection, on wall-brackets. A large lump of
rock from a " Bone Bed," agglomerated shells and other
interesting fossil remains are placed in convenient spaces. A
giant Crinoid, a large skeleton of a Plesiosaur, one of a small
Ichthyosaur and the model of the head of a Mosasaur are on
the walls. The restorations of many years ago of Labyrintho-
don and other prehistoric types are still illustrated by small
alabaster models.

Dr. King placed a useful case at one end of the larger room.
This case has a series of fossils arranged chronologically on
boards that can be easily lifted out, examined, and replaced.

A long horizontal case, reaching from end to end of the
Museum, contains Galway minerals and fossils alone. Here
are to be seen fine specimens of calcite and ores of lead, copper,
and zinc. There are, of course, jasper and Connemara
marble in variety, and black polished marble from Menlo.
Various rocks of economic value, though of no special minera-
logical importance, are found in Galway, especially the red
Galway granite. This granite bids fair to be a formidable
rival of the Aberdeen rock. Such rocks are quite suggestive
of new industries that may sometime creep into the West of
Ireland.

The Galway fossils are Silurian and Carboniferous, and are
easy to collect. Weathering of the inland fossiliferous lime-
stone often causes the fossils to stand out in bold relief ; if
organic matter be present the action seems to be more perfect.
But the process by which the sea accomplishes the solution of
certain lime salts amongst the septa of certain corals is of
especial interest. A Lithostrotion brought to the sea in
former times has been so bleached and washed out that
it resembles in colour a modern coral, as if a visit to

1899O Anderson. — Natural History Museum, Galway. 127

the place of its youthful surroundings had brought back its
colour and true features. Several good photographs of
interesting bits of scenes are placed on the walls. The
Mineralogical Department is illustrated by crystal models
of the usual kind, glass and wood. A compromise is attempted
in giving effect to the views of the practical mineralogist,
like Professor Panebianco of Padua, who says that some
mathematical discussions concerning crystals tend to become
either childish or pedantic, and the views of the mathematician
who emphasizes the importance of the study of form, figure,
and molecular attraction. The type forms of Dana accord
with the practical instincts of the man who is constantly
handling minerals. Apparatus have been designed and placed
in this Museum, to illustrate the forces that are at work in
modelling crystals. Four cords above and four below mark
the edges of an octohedron in a simple way. The shape of
the octohedron is altered by the adjustment of weights and
the movements of sliding pulleys. The right octohedron of
the cubic system can be changed into that of the dimetric
and so on. The mind is thus led to dwell upon the effects of
the aggregation of forces. All the forces that make a body
spherical, would, if collected at the extremities of three
diameters standing at right angles, in such a way as to be
quite equal, thus be at work tending to develop an octohedron
in a cohering mass. The forces producing an ellipsoid might,
if reduced similarly to six, produce other right octohedra.
The Museum diagrams suggest a method by which form,
colour, and composition may be learned, at once, by the
student. Take a figure of carbonate of iron. The acid
constituent may be marked on one side, and the base on
another face. Anyone can colour the crystal, and, if a note
be added with reference to hardness and specific gravity, what
more does one want except a practical acquaintance with the
mineral itself, which can only be obtained by inspection,
testing, and handling? So one might put silica on one side,
and manganese on another side of rhodonite, figured, and
paint it flesh colour. By drawing such crystals an interesting
fact becomes impressed on the mind, viz., that impurities in
minerals are often associated with complications in the faces,

A 2

128 The hish Naturalist. (June,

slight traces of a foreign substance having long been known to
change the shape of a crystal. The effects of a little less or a
little more water in modifying the shapes of salts are noted in
several works. The Museum has a supply of spectroscopes,
a goniometer, a globe, and maps with the mountains in relief,
which are of great use in demonstrations.

An optical lantern with slides illustrative of skeletons,
figures, and prehistoric ideal scenes is also amongst the
equipments, besides microscopes suitable for the examination
of mineral sections. A micropolariscope for use with the
ordinary microscope and one for the lantern microscope have
also been found to be valuable aids. A small chemical
cabinet is a useful adjunct to a mineralogical collection, as
well as a few physical apparatus for the determination of
specific gravity. These, with blowpipe and crucibles, are in
use frequently.

The zoological collection is contained chiefly, in twenty-
four vertical cases, some of which stand out from the walls,
and in ten horizontal cases. There are, however, numerous
large skeletons, as in other museums, and stuffed animals that
cannot be conveniently placed in cases. A Cuvier's Duck
Whale is amongst the latter, also a Dugong and Manatee, an
Elephant, and Horse, a Camel and an Ox. The four last
.skeletons were prepared and mounted in the Museum. There
is to be seen here the skeleton of a Donkey. Those who
doubt the existence of a dead donkey may, after a visit, decide
that the skeleton need not be included in the current belief
referred to by young Mr. Weller. The extinct kind of Zebra
and the nearly extinct Giraffe are represented in this collection.
Birds, native and foreign, occupy two vertical cases. A tame
Gull that lived in the Museum some years ago displayed a
sympathetic interest in two of his race that are permanent
specimens. He found them out in his daily perambulation
up the Museum and sat down between them. The skeleton
of an Emu brought from Australia by Mr. Campbell of
Belfast, and presented to the Belfast Corporation, has here
found a resting place. A Rhea keeps her company.

The Reptile case has one skeleton and two spirit preparations
of Hatteria. There is a Cryptobranch ; and, amongst the fishes
are a Protopterus skeleton, and a spirit preparation of Ceratodus.

i899-] Anderson. — Natural History Museum, Galway. 129

There are, besides, from Galway Bay, a Sunfish and Spiny
Shark. The Sunfish uses its dorsal and anal fins in progression
(as some other fishes do).

The Museum shows some good-sized invertebrates from the
neighbouring bay, amongst these a Maja squinado, a Palinutus
and a Starfish are the most conspicuous. The Starfishes,
indeed, deserve a prominent place in any museum, and they
have got it here. The Echinoderm case contains the modern
groups with drawings and dissections. The Sea-Urchin is
shown in vertical and horizontal section, so that the internal
anatomy is understood at a glance. Tunicates, Bryozoa,
Cuttlefish, and Worms are placed in the same vertical case,
whilst the horizontal cases are set apart for the general
collection of Mollusca.

Small vertical cases have been erected on some of the
horizontal ones. These contain varieties of the Maims skeleton
(No. 1) ; Skeleton of pes (No. 2) ; glass models of Protozoa
(No. 3) ; Insects and their development (No. 4) ; Insects,
mimicry (No. 5); Crustacea, anatomy (No. 6).

One collection of insects shows many of those dangerous to
crops, others are of systematic value. Typical collections of
moths and butterflies, and examples of mimicry may be
mentioned.

Metropolitan museum authorities have sought to give a
natural character to their collections, which one seeks for in vain
amongst the average stuffed animals with their sleepless eyes
and too cowering or too rigid pose. The example so well
set has been followed here.

One case represents a tug-of-war between an owl and a
Stoat, the rope is represented by a rat. Another shows the
Platypus at home with the avenues to his burrow by water and
land ; a third shows a Peregrine and a slain Rabbit ; a fourth —
a number of water birds with scenery ; a fifth— the Hornbill at
home ; a sixth — a Fox interested in a Woodcock ; a seventh —
an owl giving portions of a dead bird to its young ; an eighth —
a Stoat with water birds, water, a Dace, and a water-beetle ;
a ninth — a spider with a humming bird in his clutches.

Passing over the models of fungi, dangerous and harmless,
one may note the models of the stomachof an ox, the brain and

130 The Irish Naturalist. [June,

the dentition of a horse. The advantages of a study of the
latter will appear when it is remembered that horse-breeding is
much favoured in Ireland, and the difficulties of telling the
age (say between four years and five years) are very great
indeed. Blaschka's models of various invertebrate types,
Fritch's elegant dissections, and some special casts of viscera
serve to illustrate forms that are not alwajrs available in
a fresh condition. The collection of dried plants and fruits
is of the ordinary kind.

The apparatus for illustration include a series of panoramic
diagrams on rollers, that enable the student to see the figures
in a progressive series, and save much trouble to assistants in
arranging drawings for demonstration. An apparatus for
determining the rotation of limbs consists of a frame with a
graduated circle, by which the amount of rotation and its
character can be understood. A vertical shaft that carries
framed diagrams is a useful apparatus ; the latter is in use
elsewhere, especially in picture galleries. A microscope with
a revolving platform is one of the most satisfactory instruments.
Specimens can be examined in succession by turning a handle.
The instrument is enclosed in a box so that it cannot be injured
in any way by a visitor or an observer. One case is of very great
interest — the case of disarticulated skulls. These are of great
value in the study of the size and distribution of the bone bars
and plates in the skulls of different groups ; such skulls can
be advantageously compared with those that are intact or with
special sections.

Stopping for a moment to mention the groups of birds'
nests and eggs, a combination may be mentioned that
partakes partly of the nature of a laboratory, a biological
cabinet, and a museum, viz., the preservation of a few living
invertebrates in suitable bottles or cages.

Proximity to the sea makes it possible to secure quite a
number of specimens. These can be renewed from time to
time. Young people at Salthill, Galway, obtain a hetero-
geneous collection on the shore, and the movements and
activities are watched for hours with much interest. Many
other varieties obtainable on the land are not sought after
with so much avidity.

i899-] Anderson. — Natural History Museum, Galway. 13 r

I note on a window, as I write, a good many invertebrate
types, living and well — sea-anemones and starfish, nereids
and periwinkles, crabs and tunicates, crickets and spiders.
In one tank are frogs and Freshwater Mussels, in another
Tadpoles. Chara is in one vessel, Spirogyra in another, and
Lemna in a third, whilst in some bog-water contained in ajar
are examples, naturally, of more simple organisms.

The Museum is supplied with microscopes of the Beck,
Swift, and Zeiss build ; a one-fifteenth water immersion lens
goes with the Beck. This is an excellent objective. An oil
immersion (achromatic) belongs to a Zeiss combination.
There are many objectives of different powers. A lantern
microscope (Newton's best) has to be mentioned. The various
microscopic slides can be projected on the screen by means of
powers of moderate dimensions ; Beck's fifteenth has been
used for the projection of bacteria" with great success. Three
good section -cutters are amongst the apparatus, viz., those of
Thoma, Rutherford, and Cathcart. The Museum contains
boxes of Jauch's Flora Arte/acta and some of Brendel's flower
models.
Queen's College, Galway.

ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHY.

Some members of the Avicultural Society are organising a Postal Club
for the encouragement of bird and other animal photography. They
invite the co-operation of photographer naturalists. Communications
should be addressed to the undersigned Hon. Sec, pro tern.

Chas. Louis Hett.
Springfield, Brigg.

132 The Irish Naturalist. [June,

NOTES ON THE RAZORBILL.

BY EDWARD M'CARRON.
With a Prefatory Note by R. M. BarringTON, u,.b , f.i,.s.

IT might be thought that the changes of plumage of such a
common bird as the Razorbill were, by this time of day,
thoroughly worked out.

I do not quite agree with this. They puzzled Colonel
Montagu ; and the enclosed Notes from the pen of Mr.
M'Carron, one of our Irish Light-keepers (I do not agree with
him that there are two species) — coupled with specimens in
my collection — show that there is something yet to be done.

I have a specimen from the Saltees about four days old,
with chin and throat sooty black ; one about ten days old,
with chin and throat greyish-white ; one was sent me on
August 1st, about eight inches long, with throat black; one,
apparently full grown, in January, with throat white ; and one
in June, also full grown with throat white.

This last specimen is very puzzling, and if not abnormal
would go to prove that the adult breeding plumage is not
reached until the second year. If that be so, where are all
the birds of the previous year in the breeding season — do
they, like the young Kittiwakes, keep far out at sea?

R. M. B.

It was in the winter of 1884 when I was on the Tearaght —
one of the Blasquet Islands — as Principal Light-keeper, that I
first observed the " young Razorbills." It was generally in
stormy weather that they came close to our island. They
were then quite busy and active in procuring food. Many a
day I sat for hours in the shelter of some rock, and as close to
the sea as the surging surf would permit, looking at them
through my telescope. I could seldom get a glimpse at one
of them, for they dived immediately. In fine weather they
rested quietly on the water, but kept at a distance from the
island. My object was to identify these birds, which were like
the Razorbill, with the exception of the neck and bill. None

1899.] M'Carron. — ATotes on the Razorbill. 133

came on the rocks or island, and about the 1st of March,
1884, they left altogether. Next winter they were back again,
and came close in stormy weather, diving with the same
activity ; but in fine weather, keeping at a distance as before.
On the 13th January, 1885, our attending boat came, and the
crew were not in much hurry — the day being fine. I took
advantage of this opportunity, and sent off an Assistant
Keeper to shoot one if possible. He succeeded, and I sent it
off to Mr. Barrington, who informed me, by return of post,
that it was a " young Razorbill." In the June following, I
observed about five or six on the island among the hundreds
of other Razorbills. What brought them on the island except
to breed, like all other birds which came? I shot one, and it
was in every respect like the one I sent Mr. Barrington in
January. I shot one of the Common Razorbills, weighed
both — one against the other. The f< j*oung" bird was much
heavier than the old one, and it was decidedly much larger.

Now I will show some facts which will go a long way I
think to prove my contention, viz., that this " Young Razor-
bill " is a distinct species from the Common Razorbill.
Yarrell says, vol. iv., p. 60 (quoting from Mr. Barrington), that
" the young Razorbill a week old has the chin and throat
white." Mr. Barrington says in the Report on the Migration
of Birds in Ireland for 1885, p. 5, that a young Razorbill about
six weeks old which I sent him on the 1st August, 1884, had
the chin and throat black. Could such a change — from white
to black — take place in the same species of bird in so short a
time ? I think not. I think it is quite plain that these two
}*oung Razorbills were two different species. Another young
bird killed on January 13th (already referred to), Mr.
Barrington says had the chin and throat while. Here would
be three distinct changes in a bird still young ; but it had yet
another change to undergo — it had to turn black again, when
it was then no longer young. Here are four distinct changes
in what is said to be the ''Young Razorbill." In my opinion
the young bird of the week old, having the chin and throat
white, and the older bird shot on the 13th January, with chin
and throat white, was one and the same distinct species of the
Razorbill ; and the young bird of the six weeks old having the

a 3

134

The Irish Naturalist.

[June,

chin and neck black, is the young of the Common Razorbill,
which has the chin and throat black.

In 1889 and 1890 I saw several "young Razorbills" exactly
like the one I shot on the Tearaght, swimming and diving
around the Copeland islands — the same "young Razorbill"
which I found heavier and larger than the old common bird —
their young being with them. Only a single pair would be
met with. Here we have the " young Razorbill " accompanied
by its 3'oung. I passed quite close to them in our attending
boat, and saw them several times in the Sound between the
Copeland islands and the mainland, at Donaghadee — always
in single pairs — the "young Razorbill " with its young by its
side, and diving along with it. I saw the same kind of bird
with its young by its side on several occasions at the entrance
to Kingstown Harbour in 1894. Are these not proofs that the
" Young Razorbills" which had their own young with them,
were old birds, distinct from the common species ?

Will it be said that these "Young Razorbills " accidentally
met with their younger kindred, which had been abandoned
by their own parents — the Common Razorbill— and became
their guardians ?

I observed during the several years I was on the Tearaght
the great care and apparent anxiety of the Razorbill in the
rearing of its young. The hatching is done by the male bird
as well as the female. When one goes away the other takes
its place immediately. The Guillemots do the same ; perhaps
the principal object is to protect the eggs against the Herring
Gulls, which are continually hovering about, looking for any
exposed egg that they may carry it off. The Razorbills lay
their eggs mostly in splits or crevices in the rocks, where
they make a good fight and often cause blood to flow, before
they allow themselves to be captured.

The following incident will illustrate this : — While I was on
the Tearaght, my wife with her little boy, about five years old,
went one evening for a walk along the pathway which skirts
the side of the island. She also had a little dog with her.
The boy with the dog wandered away some distance above the
road, while she had a rest by the way. After a little while,
she heard an awful screech from the boy ; he put his hand

iS'99-] M'Carron. — Notes on the Razorbill. 135

into a hole where a Razorbill was hatching its egg, and was
caught by it. The little dog attacked it at once, but was
caught by the Razorbill, and began to roar even worse than
the boy. The bird still kept the grip, the dog crying furiously
until the boy's mother came up excited and breathless. She
at once attacked the Razorbill which let go the dog, and in
the twinkling of an eye, got a good firm grip of her hand.
They all walked away bitten and beaten by the Razorbill,
which remained in possession and unconquered. This shows
how fiercely they will fight for the protection of their young.

The young Razorbills, like the young Puffins, leave their
nesting places in the night time, when they proceed to the
sea ; but I have seen a few of the 3'oung Razorbills set out
on this perilous journey in the day time. The young ones
are jostled all the way down to the sea by the old ones. If
the young one rests too long, the old one shoves it on, and on
it goes, rolling and tumbling, and falling sometimes down
steep cliffs : but at last the sea is gained. Then an interest-
ing performance takes place. The old bird wants to get the
young one off to sea. The young one, apparently, does not
understand this, and merely swims about. The old bird
seems excited, swims round it and right off before it a few
yards, then returns and dives a few times round about it.
At last it commences to peck and tug and worry the young
bird ; but it is so stupid that it cannot understand. Hours are
spent in this way, and little progress is made ; at last the old
bird dives down and conies up under the young one, which is
nicely poised on its back. In this wTa}* the mother swims off
to sea with its offspring, rising and falling with the heaving
of the billows, until they are lost to view in the distance.
This is no mere hearsay — it is my own actual observation ;
but my wife was the first on the island to observe it. Some
of the young ones give no trouble .when they tumble into the
water — they swim off to sea at once, along with the old ones.
Others are carried off by wind and tide, and young and old
wander along for months. The}' do not gather in flocks as
the Puffins do, but go along in single pairs. The shrill pierc-
ing cry of the young Razorbill can be heard all round the
coast of Ireland. It can be heard by people working in the

136 The Irish Naturalist. [June,

fields, or going along the country road — a considerable dis-
tance from the sea — either day or night. The mother bird
can also be heard.

All those birds — the hundreds on the water at the Tearasrlit
in January, the one I sent Mr. Barrington, the one I have
still in my own possession, the five or six on the island
in June, those I observed at the Copeland Islands and at
Kingstown Harbour — had the beak exactly alike, and not fully
developed. Where do they breed ? Well, I remarked already
that five or six were on the Tearaght at the breeding season,
and if the matter was looked after it might be found that they
have some particular part of the coast, or some particular
islands, where they breed ; and the fact that I saw their young
with them at Donaghadee and Kingstown, would show that
they breed somewhere on the coast.

These are my impressions of the * 'voting Razorbill," and I
have at last carried out the resolve which has been a long time
in my mind to commit them to paper.

Dublin.

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES,

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a Peregrine Falcon and a Kestrel from Surgeon
H. Brooinfield, and a West African Chevrotain from Mr. D H. Donovan.
A pair of Coypus, a pair of Ocelots, nine monkeys, two dozen tortoises
and five dozen small birds have been bought.

19,311 persons visited the Gardens during April.

Dublin Microscopical Club.

April 27. — The Club met at Leinster House. Prof. T. Johnson in the
chair. It was proposed by Mr. F. W. Moore, seconded by Mr. W. N.
Allen, and resolved : —

"That the members of the Dublin Microscopical Club desire to
express their great regret at the death of their President, Dr. William
Frazer. one of the original members of the Club."

The meeting then adjourned without further business.

1 899.] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 137

Dubinin Naturalists' Field Club.

April 29. — The first excursion of the season took place. About thirty
members and their friends repaired to the quarry at St. Doulagh's,
under the guidance of Dr. A. H. Foord, F.G.S. The party was favoured
with brilliant weather, and after a pleasant walk through St. Doulagh's
Park reached their destination at about 3 o'clock. First of all Dr. Foord
addressed some remarks to the members of the Club on the geological
phenomena exemplified in the quarry. He pointed out that the rocks
belonged to a lower division of the Carboniferous system, viz., the Lower
Carboniferous Limestone, which, like other pure limestones, is chiefly of
organic origin, and contains the hard parts of shells, corals, crinoids,
and other marine invertebrates in considerable abundance. The thick-
ness of the rock (about 1,200 feet in the Province ot Leinster) indicates a
deepening sea, which admitted of the accumulation of the debris of vast
quantities of the organisms mentioned, and the sediment thus built up
gradually solidified, partly by pressure, partly by chemical agency.
Subsequently, earth movements taking place, these subaqueous deposits
were raised into dry land and their consolidation was finally effected,
with the result that massive limestone rock was formed, such as that
exposed in the quarry. Dr. Foord then described briefly some of the
characteristic fossils which the quarr}-men had obtained, stating that
the St. Doulagh's fossils were fairly representative of the invertebrate
fauna of the Carboniferous limestone. The following are the names of
these fossils : — Crinoidea— stems of crinoids, very abundant in the
upper part of the beds ; Polyzoa — Fenestella plebcia, M'Coy, very abundant ;
Brachiopoda — Productus semireticitlatns, Mart, abundant ; Spirifera striata,
Sby. ; S.pinguis, Sby. ; Rhynchonella pugnus, Shy. ; LamellibranchiaTa—
Avictdopecten granosus, Sby. ; Cardiomorpha oblonga, Sby. ; GASTROPODA—
Euomphahis pentangidaius, Sby.; Naticopsis Phillipsii, M'Coy ; Cephalopoda
— Orthoceras, body-chamber of an undetermined species; Calonatitilus
pingnis, Sby. ; Solenocheilus dorsalis, Phil. ; CRUSTACEA (Trilobitse). Phil-
lipsia gemmiuifera, Phil.

Some of the members, provided with hammers, succeeded in finding
and knocking out some specimens of Fenestella and Froductus, the most
characteristic fossils of the beds ; several specimens of Spin/era were
also obtained.

On leaving the quarry a few of the party visited the interesting little
church of St. Doulagh's. All then repaired to Mrs. Hone's house, St.
Doulagh's Park, where the members were most hospitably received.
In Mrs. Hone's collection of fossils Dr. Foord noticed a very fine
specimen of Spirifera striata, Sby., the largest he had ever seen. The
party left for Dublin by the 6.22 train, having spent a very agreeable
afternoon.

138 The Irish Naturalist. [June,

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

April 25.— The thirty-sixth Annual General Meeting of the Club
was held. Rev. C. H. Waddell, B.D. (President), in the chair. The
Secretary read the annual report, which stated that the work of the Club
had been carried on successfully during the year by excursions and
evening meetings. A feature of interest was the appointment of a field
lecturer, whose explanations and short lectures given during the
excursions were much appreciated by the members. A new feature in
connection with the winter meetings was the institution of a science
gossip half-hour before each meeting. These half-hours were well
attended, and gave beginners in natural history or archaeolog}' an
opportunity of getting information on subjects in which they were
interested.

Three collections submitted in competition for prizes were of consider-
able merit, one by Mr. Adams containing a plant new to Ireland, as well
as several additions to the flora of the N.B- Ireland. This collection
received special mention. Mr. H. L- Orr's collection of land and fresh-
water shells also contained some new species as well as a good repre-
sentation of more usual forms, all neatly mounted and carefully named,
and secured the prize offered. Miss Finlay secured the prize for flowering
plauts. The Hon. Treasurer submitted accounts for the year, which
showed the Club was in a good financial condition.

Mr. Wm. Gray spoke on the report and accounts, which were passed,
and will be printed and circulated among members as usual. A cordial
vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Phillips for the effective services he
had rendered the Club as Hon. Secretary. His " talks " to the Geological
section were of practical value in the laboratory, and his demonstrations
in the field were most instructive and useful.

The election of officers for the coming year was proceeded with, as
follows:— Rev. C. H. Waddell, B.D., President; F J. Bigger, Vice-
President; W. H. Phillips, Treasurer; William Swanston, Librarian.
A vacancy having occurred by retirement of a secretary, Mr. Wm. Gray,
M.R.I. A., was unanimously elected to the post, along with W. D.
Donnan, M.D. The new Committee comprises George Donaldson, W. J.
Fenuell, John Hamilton, F. W. Lockwood, J. St. J. Phillips, S. A.
Stewart, F.B.S.E. ; Miss S. M. Thompson, John Vinycomb, Robert
Welch, and Joseph Wright, F.G.S.

Suggestions were received and discussed as to places of interest for
summer excursions

Mr. W. H. Phillips gave an address on British ferns, in which he
showed how the study of ferns is most interesting and fascinating, being
half botany and half horticulture. The Counties of Antrim and Down
are full of glens, mountains, and roadsides well stocked with varieties
A description of the different genera and species was then given
showing the salient points of structure and the difference of each ; and
many examples were shown and explained after the lecture.

i899-] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 139

Geological Section.— May 6. — An excursion to Barney's Point and
Magheratnorne took place to visit the Lias, Greensand and Chalk, and
Estuarine clays. A local member, Mr. Dixon Donaldson, pointed out
glacial striae on some rocks recently exposed when extending quarr}dng
operations. Afterwards Mr. Donaldson showed an interesting collection
of fossils gathered in the locality. The members had tea in the Kilcoan
Schoolhouse and afterwards returned to Belfast, having spent a most
profitable and enjoyable evening.

May ii. — The last of a series of " Introductory talks on Geology " was
held in the Club rooms. J. ST. J. Philips briefly described a few of the
characteristic fossils from the Mesozoic and Cainozoic formations,
exhibiting specimens — some of which the members had collected on the
Saturday excursion. In closing his talks he referred to the great variety
a geologist found in the study— some would be interested in the
economic applications of rocks as building stones or as soils, others
would delight to trace the evolution of the landscape and picture past
physical geographies ; others would endeavour to gain a knowledge of
the history of life on the earth from the fossil contents of the rocks
whilst some would study the results of volcanic or plutonic activities in
the igneous rocks. At the close of the " Talk," W. J. Fenuell, M. R.I. A.,
expressed the thanks of the members for the trouble taken in preparing
for the series, and said that the large attendance that had followed the
course must be taken by Mr. Phillips as indicating the interest members
had taken in his work. In reply Mr. Phillips said that it was most
gratifying to see the regularity with which the same members had come
night after night. As to the members he was somewhat sorry to find
theroom was not large enough to accommodate all comfortably. He
hoped that his talks would result in the enrolment of new names in the
Geological Section.

Cork NaT uralists' Field Club.

May i.— The Annual Meeting was held. Mr. J. L- Copeman, President,
occupied the chair.

The Hon. Secretary read the report, as follows : — Your committee
have to report that the membership has been maintained during the
past season. Five members, on leaving Cork, resigned, against which
we have five new members, The following ten excursions were held
during the summer :— May 4th, to Inniscarra and the Lee ; Professor
Hartog conducted and pointed out the interesting geological features of
the neighbourhood. On Whit Monday, May 30th, to Meeshal, near
Coachford, there was only a small party as the day was very showery.
On June nth to the Lough Nurseries, where after a pleasant and
interesting afternoon, the members were kindly invited to tea by Mr.
Hartland. June 29th to Youghal, by the kind invitation of Mr. T.
Farrington, where the members spent a very pleasant day. On July 6th
to Ballinhassig Glen, and quarries, conducted by Mr. E- B. Hughes.

140 The Irish Naturalist June,

Some interesting specimens were found in the slate quarries. On July
7th to 13th to Kenmare and surrounding district, a week's excursion,
in connection with the Irish Field Club Union. This was a most
enjoyable outing, the weather was perfect, and several new finds were
recorded. Some of the members, including those from Cork, extended
the excursion the following week, visiting Derrynane, Waterville,
Valencia Island, and Caragh Lake. On July 30th to the grounds of the
Queen's College, where the part)7 were met by Mr. Griffin and shown the
objects of interest. On August 20th to Riverstown, and through the
grounds of Mr. W. T. Steward, which was largely attended. On
September 3rd to Oldcourt, Rochestown, where between twenty and
thirty members were conducted by Mr. J. L. Copeman. On September
14th to Fota, by the kind permission of the Hon. A. H. Smith-Barry, M.P.
On October the nth a conversazione was held in the School of Science
and Art, jointly with the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society,
which was largely attended. The exhibits of the Field Club in-
cluded specimens sent in by Miss Delap from Valentia of Laodice,
Velella, Cydippe, Tubularia larynx, Corymorpha nutans, Tomopteris, and the
Teredo (Ship-worm). These she kindly presented to the Field Club.
Miss H. Martin also exhibited the specimens caught by her at Valentia,
and has kindly written a short description of her work which is
appended. Mrs. K B. Hughes showed botanical specimens found in
the County of Cork. Mr. J. L,. Copeman and Mr. W. H. Johnson showed
specimens of Lepidoptera taken in County Cork. There were also
exhibited ten cases of Lepidoptera, being the first part of a complete set
of Irish specimens specially prepared by Mr. G. H. Carpenter for the
Cork Field Club. He also sent specimens of fresh-water shells. Mr.
Johnson reports having again taken Colias edusa, a male specimen,
being taken on the 14th of November, and in good condition, close to
Cork. On February 9th a joint lecture with the Literary and Scientific
Society was delivered by Mr. R. L. Praeger, in the Assembly Rooms, on
"Naturalists in Kerry," illustrated with views taken on the excursion
by Mr. R. Welch, of Belfast. The Committee call attention to the
valuable botanical work being done by Mr. R. A. Phillips, for the County
of Cork, and trust many other of the members will take as special
subjects, and work them out systematically, so as to produce works of
reference for the district. Cork Harbour and its abutary streams, and
the varied coast line, so easy of access, afford opportunities of study
seldom equalled.

The report was adopted unanimously, and the accounts for the past
year were passed.

Mr. T. Farrington was unanimously elected President.

The Vice-Presidents were elected as follows :— Professor M. Hartog,
Miss H. Martin, W. H. Shaw, J. P. ; J. H. Bennett, J. Lund, J. L- Copeman,
Mr. W. H. Johnson was re-elected Secretary, and Mr. H. A. Phillips was
re-elected Curator.

i899-] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 141

The following Committee were elected:— Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Hughes,
Mr. Blair, Mr. Franklin, and Mr. Noonan. A cordial vote of thanks was
given to Mr. Copeman for his work in connection with the Club. The
election of new members was then proceeded with, and after a short
discussion as to the excursions for the coming season, the meeting
terminated.

OBITUARY.

WIUIAM FRAZER, F.R. C.S.I.

The death on Sunday, April 16th, of Dr. William Frazer removes
a well-known figure from scientific and antiquarian work in Dublin,
Although his claims to celebrity rest chiefly on his archaeological work,
he took a keen interest in science in air its forms — mineralogy being,
perhaps, his favourite branch. He was one of the original members of
the Dublin Microscopical Club, which was formally established on
December 20th, i860 — although the nucleus had been in existence four
years earlier— and at the time of his death filled the office of President.
During the long period of his membership he was a regular attendant
at the Club though he did not often exhibit ; and the older members
will recollect with pleasure the meetings that took place at his house
in Harcourt-street, and the cheery greeting of its warm-hearted owner.

Dr. Frazer was of a Scotch family, but was born in Dublin on August
28th, 1824, and had just reached the ripe age of 75. He obtained his
medical qualification in 1848, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal
College of Surgeons in 1872. He had been Lecturer on Materia Medical
at the Carmichael Medical School, and on Forensic Medicine in the
Park-street School. He joined the Royal Irish Academy in 1866, was
elected into the Council in 1881 ; at the time of his death he held the
important post of Librarian to the Academy. Like so many other of
his nationality, he was a staunch Presbyterian, and took much interest
in church matters generally — as well as more particularly in the office
of the Ormond-quay Congregation, of which he was a prominent
member. He was twice married, and'his second wife and some grown-
up sons and daughters survive him.

Greenwood Pim.

142 The Irish Natwalist. [June,

NOTES.

BOTANY.
FERNS.

Records of Connemara Ferns.

About twelve years ago the late Mr. Henry Seebohm gave me Vol. I.
of The Naturalist, published 1851. Happening to open it a few days since
I found his " List of Ferns found in Connemara" on p. 220.

This list has two or three very interesting records, which appear in
both editions of the Cybele Hibenrica, but strange to say the list itself is
nowhere referred to in either.

Richard M. Barrington.
Fassaroe, Bray.

The records referred to in the above note are no doubt those given for
Pilularia and Lycopodium inundatum at pp. 463 and 459 of the second edition
of Cybele Hibernica. Mr. Barrington's discovery is of considerable interest
as fixing the date of the original records.

Nathi,. Coi,gan.
Reginald W. Scueey.

Dublin.

PHANEROGAMS.

Irish Plants.

The recently issued 14th Annual Report of the Watson Botanical
Exchange Club contains a number of references to Irish plants, collected
by Rev. H. W. Lett and Rev. C. H. Waddell.

Poa nemoralis, L., in Co. Down.

Although recorded as a Co. Down plant many years ago this grass
seems to have been overlooked of late years. It is probably not un-
common, and should be looked for in dry shady places, shrubberies, and
especially in beech woods. I find it plentiful in such localities at Saint-
field. A slender form which I gathered at Beechpark, near Lurgan, but
in Co. Down, seems to be a distinct variety, which I hope to collect in
larger quantity, and have named. I notice that Rev. H. W. Lett has had
a grass named P. nemoralis, in the Report of the Watson Exchange Club
lately issued, from Ivy Lodge, Newry, in the southern part of the county.

C. H. WADDED.

Saintfield.

1899. 1 Notes. -343

Neotlnea Intacta in Co. Galway.

A new locality may be added for Neotinea intacta in Co. Galway, as
I found it on May 16th growing with Dryas oclopelela (the latter sparingly).
Gentiana verna, Sesleria cczrulea, etc., on " Corbashly's Farm " near Castle,
Lambert, four miles inland, due east from Oranmore. It was not
growing among crags or rocks as in Burren, but on bare grassy clearings
between the heather, in scattered groups of from eight to fifteen plants
each. No doubt plenty more of it will be found in that district. I also
found a plant of Vicia Orobus not yet in flower.

M. E. Joyce.

Crausrhwell.

i&j

ZOOLOGY.

MOLLUSCS.

Land and Freshwater IYIoIIusca of Clonbrock, Co. Galway.

In a quantity of vegetable debris from about the roots of rushes in
marshy ground, kindly sent to me by the Hon. R. E. Dillon, I find,
among other species, the following additions to the Clonbrock list given
by Dr. vScharff in the Irish Naturalist, 1896, p. 223 \—Hyalinia nitida, a few;
Agriolimax /avis, four or five rather large specimens ; Helix pulchella, a
dozen or so; Vertigo antive>tigo, a dozen ; Carychiilin minimum, over 600 ;
and of Planorbis spirorbis and Ancylus laiuslris, one dead specimen each.
Of the rarer species already listed by Dr. Scharff, Hyalinia radiatula and
H. pura occurred sparingly with Helix pygnuea, while of Vertigo pygmaa
there were over 70 specimens.

R. Wei,ch.

Belfast.

Land Shells from Co. Limerick.

Whilst collecting Land Mollusca last November at Galbally, Co.
Limerick, I obtained the shells mentioned below in a beechwood
adjoining the old churchyard, and in the Glen of Currane or Carrigan.
(about 2 miles north of Mitchelstown) Those from the latter are the
results of a small basketful of moss. They have been kindly named for
me by Mr. Welch.

The following ten species were common to both places: — Hyalinia
radiatula, H. crystallina, H fulva ; Helix rotundata, H. hispida, H. rufescens,
H virgata ; Cochlicopa lubrica ; Pupa cylindracea ; and Carychium minimum.
Also in beechwood alone — Vitrina pelludda, Hyalinia nitidula, Helix
rupestris, H. aspersa ; Balca pe?-versa, and Clausilia bidentata. In the glen
alone — Hyalinia alliaria, H. pura; Helix lamellala, Vertigo edeulula, V.
vbstriata, Acme lineata— 22 species in all.

Annie; L- Massy.
Malahide.

144 Ihe Irish Naturalist. [June, 1899

BIRDS.

Crccn Woodpecker in Ireland.— A Correction.

In Swann's " Handbook of British Birds, " 1896, it is stated that this
species had only twice been obtained in Ireland previously to October,
1889, "when an extensive immigration occurred."

Again, Afialo's " Sketch of the Natural History of the British Islands,''
1898, speaks of a " recent immigration into Ireland, where previous to
the appearance of the last edition of Mr. Saunders' admirable manual
but two examples have been recorded."

The above immigration never occurred, and neither edition of Mr.
Saunders' manual is responsible for such a statement as regards he
Green Woodpecker, though in the last quarter of 1889 six Great Spotted
Woodpeckers were shot in Ulster, two in Leinster, and one in Munster a
tenth was shot in Kerry in January, 1890. The species referred to should
therefore be Dendrocopits major. I make this correction in a friendly
spirit, as I hope any similar mistakes of mine hereafter may be imme-
diately corrected.

R. J. Ussher
Cappagh, Co. Waterford.

Spring Arrival of Sandwich Terns at Killala.

The wet and excessively stormy weather evidently delayed the arrival

of the Sandwich Tern in the bay and estuary, for although I saw a

solitary bird flying over the estuary on the 26th of March, and three on

the 5th of April, yet they did not appear in any numbers until the nth

inst., when Mr. A. C. Kirkwood saw a fair number fishing in the sheltered

channel near Partragh Island.

Robert Warren.
Moyview, Ballina.

Iceland Cull at Londonderry.

On 17th April I noticed an Iceland gull {larus leucopterus) among the

usual flock of common gulls which frequent the river Foyle along our

quay. Fortunately it flew quite close to where I stood. It wras the

size of a small specimen of the Herring Gull, with wings extra long, and

plumage was entirely white, showing that it was just passing into the

mature state

D. C CaMPBE^I,.

Londonderry.

MAMMALS.

Capture of Live Bats.

I should be glad if any readers of the Irish Naturalist could give me
some hints as to taking bats alive. I am desirous of photographing our
common ones. I have searched likely places for roosts without success.
I have been told that bats will settle on anything white, such as a sheet ;
but once tried it without success.

Chas. Louis Hett.

Brigg.

July, 1899.] 145

THE IRISH CHARACE^.

BY PROF. T. JOHNSON, D.SC, F.I<.S.
(Read before the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, November 8th, 1898.)

The Characeae or Brittle-star plants form a group which
has probably had, as regards its systematic position, a more
chequered history than any other group. Though now
generally regarded as an anomalous group of green algae the
Characeae were once by many, and are still by a few, regarded
as on a level with the Flowering plants. This view is due to
the regularity of arrangement of tbe parts of the plant body,
to their high degree of differentiation, and to insufficient
knowledge of the exact nature of the reproductive organs.
There are many flowering plants with a very poorly developed
plant-body, yet by their reproductive organs recognised at
once as true flowering plants.

The sub-kingdom Thallophyta (Algae, Fungi and L,ichens)
consists of plants which have, as a rule, no marked division
of the plant-body or "thallus" into stem, leaf, and roots.
The Characeae stand out from most Thallophyta by the
possession of a marked differentiation of the plant-body, which
shows a diagrammatic regularity of arrangement into stem,
leaf and root. The stem grows by a well-marked apical cell,
from which segments are regularly cut off with a definite
future history. In the stem one recognises nodes and inter-
nodes, stipulate leaves in whorls or circles, and branches, as
in an ordinary flowering plant. Though called stem, leaf,
etc., the organs have no morphological connection with the
stem and leaves of the higher plants. They belong to another
generation and cannot be truly compared. The apical bud
serves as an excellent object for dissection under the simple
microscope ; carefully done, the apical cell and the cells cut off
from it can be seen. In the stem of the Characeae there is no
suggestion of the veins or conducting strands of the higher
plants. The internode consists of one long cell, surrounded
in Chara by a many-celled cortex which is often more or less
encrusted with chalk or carbonate of lime. In Nitella there

146 The Irish Naturalist. [July,

is no cortex and the internodal cell shows well under the
compound microscope the streaming or rotation or C37clo-
sis of protoplasm of which fuller accounts have been quite
recently published. The tips of the leaves serve equally well
for examination. The protoplasm of the older internodal cell
contains many nuclei and they may be seen dividing directly
or by " fragmentation", a mode of nuclear division rarely seen
in the higher plants. For a detailed and illustrated account
of the characters ot the stem, leaf, mode of branching, etc.,
readers should consult a general text-book of botany. Here
it would be quite out of place. The Characeae are found in
fresh and in brackish water — in canals, ponds, dug-out quarries,
clay-pits, bog-holes, etc. In some cases, as in Chara fcetida,
their smell is anything but agreeable. The sexual organs of
the Characeae are well-marked and are always derived from the
leaves. In some cases the male organs — antheridia — and the
female organs — carpogonia or oogonia or "nucules" — are
found on the same plant (monoecious), in other cases on
different plants (dioecious). They are to be found on different
species from spring to autumn, and occasionally make their
appearance in very early spring before the ice, which rarely
comes in Ireland, has disappeared. They are found in con-
nection with the whorls of leaves and are generally recognis-
able, by the naked eye, as bright orange or red specks. The
male organ — the antheridium or globule — is round and
contains a very large number of male cells or antherozoids
which, when set free, swim about in the water by the aid of
two long lashes or cilia. These antherozoids differ from those
of all other algae in being spirally coiled, like a cork-screw —
the Characeae agreeing in this respect with the Mosses, and
Liverworts, &c.

The female organ — oogonium or carpogonium — is larger and
more cylindrical in form. The egg-cell — ovum or oosphere —
is enclosed in its cell-wall and is further protected, before
fertilisation, by becoming surrounded by five spirally twisted
filamentous cells — the involucre or pericarp. The tips of
these cells meet at the free end of the oogonium and become
cut off by horizontal walls to form the corona of five cells in
tne Charetz or of ten cells in the Nitellea. At the time of
fertilisation the corona cells separate ; through the canal so

l899-] Johnson. — The Irish Characetz* i^j

formed an antherozoid passes and on through the mucila-
ginous wall of the oogonium to the receptive spot in the egg-
cell.

The antherozoid fuses with the nucleus of the egg-cell and
so fertilisation is completed. Food matter now accumulates
in the egg-cell ; the oospore and the involucre become
darker in colour and thick-walled to protect the oosperm
from injury during its period of rest — at the bottom of the
pond, etc. — from the autumn till the following spring when
germination takes place. The nucule1 bursts open and two
little threads grow out ; one into the mud as a root, the other
is green, and on it a new plant arises in a way which need not
be described here. In addition to this sexual reproduction
vegetative propagation is not uncommon. Cells of the root-
filaments may become filled with starch, round off, and as
bulbils give rise to new plants. Starch-stars arise by some of
the surface cells of a node growing out and becoming filled
with starch. This is well seen in Tolypellopsis in which the
nucule rarely ripens. Other ways of simple reproduction are
also known. Chara cancsccns {crinita) is remarkable in that the
egg-cell gives rise to a new plant parthenogetically, i.e.,
without fertilisation. C. crinita was discovered in Ireland in
1894 by Dr. R. W. Scully.

Migula regards the Characeae as a group of plants indepen-
dent of the two subkingdoms of the Thallophyta, and the
Bryophyta (including Mosses and Liverworts) and proposes a
new subkingdom — the Charophyta — for their reception. Their
relationships are thus indicated : —

Bryophyta.

Charophyta.

Coleochabte,

Chlorophyceae.

Thallophyta.

1 By nucule one understands the resting oosperm with the more or
less complete involucre and corona //present still.

A 2

148 The Irish Naturalist. [July,

The group contains 150 species, some of which like Chara
fcetida are cosmopolitan. Twenty-eight species are found in
Great Britain. Twenty are recorded for Ireland in the new
edition of the "Cybele Hibernica." A detailed account of their
distribution in Ireland appears in the Irish JVaturalist for 1895,
by the brothers Groves, who have made a special study of the
British Characeae. The publication of their fasciculi of dried
specimens has made the stud}' of the group much easier, as has
the recent completion of Migula's fully illustrated Monograph
"Die Characeen" in Rabenhorst's " Kryptogamen- Flora," an
abridged form of which has more recently appeared.

The collecting of Characeae is helped by the use of a small
hook dredge. Owing to their entangled and brittle character,
special care is needed both in collecting and mounting
specimens.

The following key is practically an adaption of the one in
Migula's work and that by the Groves brothers in the Journal
of Botany, 1880, to which periodical many illustrated papers
on different Characeae have been contributed by these botanists.

Tolypellopsis is a very interesting connecting link between
the Chares and the Nitellecs, and is regarded by Migula as
the oldest living representative of the Characeae. Its oospores,
oosperms, or nucules show a close likeness to those of a fossil
type. They are rarely fully ripened, reproduction being
essentially vegetative. The genus has a very isolated geo-
graphical distribution, indicative of a waning character.
Tolypellopsis stelligcra, Mig. is recorded from England but is
an Irish desideratum. Of the six genera only three — Nitella,
Tolypella, and Chara — are Irish.

KEY TO THE CHARACEAE.

A. Crown or corona of 2-celled filaments, i.e., crown is 10-celled.

I. Nitei^E^.

a. Leaf or ' branchlet ' with only one leaflet or ' ray '-producing

node.
Leaflets projecting beyond leaf-tip, often themselves again
branched ; Antheridia apical, on the leaf or leaflet of the
penultimate order. 1. Nitella.

b. Leaf undivided or having shorter lateral leaflets ; Antheridia
terminal on i-celled lateral leaflet; 2. Tolyf>ella.

'899* J Johnson. — The Irish Chamceas. 149

B. Crown or corona of i-celled filaments, i.e., crown is 5-celled.

II. Chares.
a- Without whorl of stipuJes. 3. Tolypelbpsis.

b. With whorl of stipules.
aa. Oogonia standing below the antheridia;

uncortexed ; monoecious. 4. Lamprothamnuu

bb. Oogonia mixed with the antheridia ;

incompletely cortexed or uncortexed ; monoecious.

5. Lycnothamnus*,
ce. Dioecious or monoecious ; in latter case oogonia above antheri-
dium ; cortexed or uncortexed. 6. Ckara.

REVIEW OF SPECIES OF NITELLA, Agardh.
I. Leaves only once divided, end segments i-celled, Corona deci-
duous : JMonarthrodactyke (Flexiles).
f [A. Sexual organs with gelatinous envelope : Glccocarpa.

a. Female leaves unforked, oospore or nucule smooth.

1. N. syticarpa.

b. Female leaves forked, oospore or nucule with bands.

2. N. capitata.]
B. Sexual organs without gelatinous envelope :

Gymnocarpa.

a. dioecious. 3. N. opaca.

b. monoecious. 4- Af. flcxilis.

II. Leaves repeatedly divided, end-segments 2 or 3-celled, Corona
persistent : Diarthrodaclyla.

A. Whorls without or, only occasionally with, accessory leaves :

Honiixophylhe,
a, Sexual organs without gelatinous envelope :

Gymnocarpa.
a. End segments short, with the lateral leaflets also short,
producing an insignificant corona : Coronate.

Fertile leaves crowded together into very small masses,
end segments of leaves scarcely recognisable with the
naked eye. 5- Af. trans! nans.

i3. End segments longer, forking of the leaves distinct,
the last cells of the end segments attached as a short
corona to the preceding cells, which are several times
longer. Mticronata,

1 . Sexual organs at several rays.

* Oospore or nucule with sharp bands.

[7. N. mitcrcuafa.2

* Oospore or nucule with slight bands.

* Not British.

■f [ ] = not Irish but step inserted as a guide for comparison.

150

The Irish Naturalist. [July,

**Oogonia at all places of division of the leaves,
whorls open, ?'.£., not crowded, end-segments often
3-celled. 8. N. gracilis.

** Oogonia mostly lacking at the first places of divi-
sion, whorls "balled," "massed" or crowded;
end segments always two-celled.

9. N. tenuissima.

2. vSexual organs only at the primary ray.

[10. N. confenmcca.]

b. Sexual organs with gelatinous envelope :

II. N. batrachospcrma

or N. Nordstedtiana.

B. Whorls with numerous, mostly 16, accessory leaves called

stipular leaves : Heterophylte. [12. N. hyalina.]

[III. Leaves divided several times, end-segments 3 to 5-celled

Polyarthrodactylce. 13- N- ornithopoda,~]

REVIEW OF SPECIES OF TOLYFELLA, Leonh.

I. Moncecious.

A. End-cells of leaves pointed or acute.

a. vSterile leaves simple. 14. T. prolifera, Leonh.

b. Sterile leaves divided. 15. T. intricata, Leonh.

B. End-cells of leaves blunt or obtuse.

a. With one to several sterile leaf whorls.
aa. Oospore not above 370 ft long (T\j inch), membrane

minutely punctate. 16. T. glomerata, Leonh.

bb. Oospore not less than 380 /i long (^V inch), membrane

smooth. 17. T. nidificay Leonh.1

\b. Without sterile leaf whorls. [18. T. Normanniana.~\

[19. T. hi span it a .]

1 The following note bearing on the late Dr. D. Moore's Irish specimens,
preserved in the Science and Art Museum, should justify the inclusion
of the species in the Irish flora: —

T. nidi/lea, A. Braun : " F'ragmente einer Monographic der Characeen."
(Abhandl. der konigl. A /cad. Wissenseh. Berlin, 1882, p. 94.)

Forma intermedia, Frankreich, Hyeres(Var.) (Antheridien auffallend
gross, o, 44 — , 47 mm. dick). Accedens ad glomeratam. — Irland. Dr.
Moore in herb. Hooker. (Form, die iichte init T. inlricata und prolifera
oder zuniichst N. glomerata zu verbindeu scheint). Habitus N. nidificae
balticae, folia verticilloruni fertilium eodem modo incurva et obtusa.
Color nigrescerjs. Semi n a minora niagis contorta 10-gyrata, unicif,
o, 46 — ,48 mm. lang, ohne Kronchen o, 43— ,44 mm. lang, Kern hell
gelbgriin o, 30 — 0.35 mm. lang.

i899-J Johnson". — The Irish Char acece. 151

II. Dkecious.

Tolypellopsis (v. Leonh.) Migula.

(This genus includes Lycnothamnus stelliger, Braun, not yet recorded for
Ireland).

Cortex of stem and leaves and stipular whorl absent. In place of
stipules 3 small cells of the basal node of the leaf are strongly developed
on the outer side of the leaf at its base.

Leaves with only one or two nodes, leaflets one or two at the nodes,
often quite absent.

Antheridia and oogonia represent leaflets ; antheridia are solitary,
stalked, quite at the bulging side of the leaf. Oogonia solitary or in pairs
with quite short, often a common stalk cell, on the bulging part of the
leaf.

The neck portion of the involucre cells is elongated and beaklike ;
the corona is small, rounded off with small cells, not erect, and becoming
thinner towards the apex.
Tolypellopsis is distinguished

a. from all other Charecs by the absence of a stipular whorl, the form of

the involucre-cells and of the corona, as well as in habit by the
small number of leaflets.

b. from Lycnothamnus by the position of the antheridia,

c. from Lamprothamnus by the development of the oogonia.

d. from Cham, by this and by the completely^different structure of the

stem node.
{Lamprothamnus aiopecuroides, Braun. is very rare, not recorded for
Ireland ; it was discovered in the Isle of Wight, in 1862, by the late A. G.
More, and is recognisable by the characters of the genus already given."]

REVIEW OF SPECIES OF CHARA.
I. Whorl of stipules i-seriate, plants monoecious :

Haplostcphana, A. Br.
Completely uncortexed, oospore or nucule without a chalky
envelope or involucre. End-joint of leaves a little longer than
the leaflets of the last node and producing with these mostly
a 3 -pointed crown or tuft. [23. C. coronata Ziz. or C-

Braunii, Gruel.]
II. Whorl of stipules biseriate (in C. ceralophylla sometimes tri-
seriate).
Plants monoecious or dioecious : Diplostephana, A. Br.

A. Cortex incomplete, only -of elongated, irregular cells :

Imperfecta, A. Br, [25. C. imperfecta.^

B. Stem cortex complete, of elongated internodal cells and
isodiametric nodal cells : Ferfcctie, A. Br.

1. Number of rows of cortical cells same as of leaves of
corresponding node : Isosiicfuc A. Br.

* Dioecious. 26. C. crinita Wallr.

or C. canesce/:s, Loisel.

* Monoecious. 27. C. denudata, A. Br.

or C. d/sso/ula, A. Br.

!^2 Ihe Irish Naturalist. [July,

2. Number of rows of cortical tubes twice as many as of leaves
of corresponding node : Dip/ostie/ur, A. Br.

* Chief or middle or primary rows stronger developed,
spines on edges of cortex : Tylacantha.

(a.) Dioecious, - - - - 28. C. ceratophylla, Wallr.,

or C. to/nentosa, Linn.
{b.) Monoecious.

a. Oospore or nucule with chalky involucre, plant also

always more or less iucrusted.
* Oospore black.

** Spines of cortex absent or only slightly developed, then
always solitary.
Oospore (nucule) with spinules (thornlets) ; 6S0 p. 1/37)
inch) long at most ; leaflets scarcely developed ; 011
the back of the leaf.
*** Leaves of normal length, at any rate never conspicuously
short, with several cortexed or at least fertile leaf
nodes. 30. C. eontraria, Kiitz.

** Spines of cortex strongly developed, solitary and also
always some tufted, sometimes the latter only
present ;
Oospore with or without spinules ; leaflets fairly uniformly
au*d strongly developed round the leaf.
*** Oospore more than 700 \i. (1/36 inch) long, with 10-12
strong bands 32. C. po/yaeant/ia, Braun.

* Oospore brown (very rarely almost black), more than
700 fi. long (1/36 inch), leaflets on the back of leaf
very short. Spines mostly strongly developed,
sometimes tufted, more rarely scattered, but then

still long and strong.

33. \C. papulosa, Kiitz., or

C. intermedia, A. Br.]

/3. Oospore without chalky envelope, plant not iucrusted,

Oospore more than 700 ji (1/33 inch) long, black with

strong spinules.

[34. C. baltica.~]

f Primary or middle rows more or less raised above the

secondary or intervening rows, more rarely both

almost equally developed.

Thorns (or papillae or the isodiametric cells, in forms
which develop neither thorns nor papillce) in the
grooves or furrows, often quite absent from the
secondary rows : Aulacantluv, A. Br.

Stem and leaves completely cortexed except one or a
few of the no longer fertile leaf-segments.

Antheridia and oogonia together.
■ The nodal cells of the cortical tubes develop either no
pnpilke or spines or these remain small and relatively
thick, always solitary.

1899] Johnson. — The Irish ' Characecz. 153

Leaflets far weaker developed on the hack of the leaf
and appearing only as papillae.
** Leaflets on the back of the leaf almost wholly un-
developed, scarcely longer than broad.

38. C. fcetida, A. Br., or C. vulgaris, Linn.
* The nodal cells of the cortical tubes develope more or
less long spines which are in part solitary, in part
tufted, but sometimes tufted only. Leaflets de-
veloped on the underside of the leaf are half as long
as those on the upper side.
** Leaflets on the back of leaf half as long as or shorter
than those on the dilated (inner) part, mostty
incrusted.
*** Secondary and primary tubes almost equally well
developed, leaflets on the dilated part longer than
the fruit (oospore). 41. C. hispida, Linn.

3. The number of the series of cortical tubes is three times
that of the leaves of the corresponding node :

Triplostichce. A. Br.
t Dioecious.

a. Spines present, mostly distinctly evident.

In addition to shorter leaflets on the inner side five
longer ones on the side and on the dilated side.
a. Covering leaflets and subsidiary leaflets as long as the
two lateral ones, developing unicellular bulbils in
mucilage.

43. C. aspera, Willd.

b. Spines absent, only two subsidiary and one covering

leaflet, rarely two short lateral leaflets developed.
a. Cell-wall of cortical tubes very thin, stem and leaves
becoming when dry as thin as paper, producing
strawberry-like bulbils in mucilage.

[45. C. fragifera, Durien.l
|8. Stem and leaves, but especially the cortical tubes
thick walled, remaining in drying almost round,
stiff, shining, without bulbils.

44. C. con/livens, Braun.
\ Monoecious.
Leaflets on the back of the leaf undeveloped or wart-
like only, oospore black.
a. Without spines or warts, primary and secondary rows
of cortical tubes equally well developed.

48. C. fragilis, Desv.
/3. The primary or middle rows project above the
secondary or intervening rows and bear distinct
warts or spines. 49. C. delicaiula, Braun.

A3

54

The Irish Naturalist-

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SOME ALG^B FROM THE ANTRIM COAST.

BY HENRY II ANNA, M.A., B.SC.
[Collected for the R.I.A. Flora and Fauna Committee.]

Thk following notes contain some of the more interesting
results on the seaweeds collected on the coast of Co. Antrim.
Excursions to various points on the coast were made, where
suitable conditions were likely to exist for shore-collecting or
dredging, such as the Gobbins, Larne Harbour, Murlough
Bay, Colliery Bay, Torr Head, Portrush, and the Giant's
Causeway, in addition to part of Belfast L,ough. It was not
found possible to visit Cushendall, Cushendun, or Glenarm,
including Canilough, places I should have liked very much to
explore, but this would have exceeded the limits of the time
at my disposal.

On July 4th, 1898, and on a subsequent occasion, the Gobbins
were visited for to carry out shore-hunting : here I found a
fine specimen of Ectocarpus brachiatus, Harv., (- Stictyosiphon
Giiffithsia?ia, Holm, et Batt.), growing on a very young
specimen of Fucus scrratus, on an exposed part of the coast.
Dr. Bornet, to whom I am greatly indebted for kindly
examining it, referred it to Ectocarpus brae hiatus, Harv., similar
to that seut out in Mrs. Wyatt's Alg. Danm., No. 187. The
usual habitat for this plant is Rhodymoiia palmata.

Dredging was carried on in and outside L,arne Harbour on
three different occasions towards the end of July, and on the
25th September. Numerous Nitophylla were dredged, the
principal being N. taccratum, Hillier ; also a small scrap of
Bonnemaisonia asparagoides, and some forms of Lithotha?n?ua.
The latter were forwarded to Dr. M. Foslie, who kindly
undertook their examination, one of which he makes the type
of a new variety of Lithophyllum calcarcum—i. cunana, Fosl. in
a recent number of the Sclskabs S k rift cr (no. 6, 1898).

The first week in August was spent at Murlough Bay, and
neighbouring localities were examined, such as Colliery Bay
and Torr Head. Mr. E. M. Holmes accompanied me on this
occasion, and his assistance was invaluable.

156 The Irish Naturalist* [July,

The following plants collected are new to Ireland : —

Phyilophora Trail I if, Holm, et J3att.— Torr Head.

Elachistea (Streblonema) Areschougii, Crn.— Murlough, on
Himanthalia lorca.

Rivularia biasolettiana, Menegh.— On rocks near high water mark
exposed to spray ; Torr Head.

Blastophysa Rhizopus, Rke.— Torr Head.

Phaeostroma pustulosum, Kuck. — Murlough, on Laminar/a

saaharina.

Wild man nia mi n iata, Fosl. — This plant, collected at Murlough Bay,
floating up at high tide, is of interest owing to the lateness of the
season when observed. It flourishes best during early spring, and,
according to Dr. Foslie, should perhaps be considered as only a form
of Diplodcnna amplissimum, collected man)1 years ago on this coast at
Cushendall by the late Dr. Moore. Kjellman figures and describes
this latter plant in " The Algae of the Arctic Sea." pi. 18. 18S3.

Porphyra Ieucostlcta, Thur.— Larne ; Murlough Bay.

Polysiphonia divaricata, Kiitz. — Washed up, probably from very
deep water, at Murlough BajT, on the second day after arrival. This
plant, included in Holmes and Batters' " Revised List of British
Marine Algae " as occurring in district 4, where it was probably
collected by Dr. Magnus, of the North Sea exploring party, does not
appear to have been found since. This plant, which Mr. E. M.
Holmes kindly identified as Kiitzing's P. divaricata, is doubtfully a
true species, as I am not aware of fruit having ever been found. It
may be only a rare variety of some better known plant.

Ceramlum Derbesil, Sol. Kutzing, Tab. Phyc, t. 14, vol. xiii. —
Murlough Bay, on rocks at low water ; it is new to the British Flora.

I would here gratefully acknowledge the help and kindness
extended and shown to me by Mr. E- M. Holmes, Dr. Edward
Bornet, Prof. Sauvageau, Dr. Foslie, and Prof. Johnson.

Royal College of Science, Dublin.

1899J 157

SOME FRESHWATER MITES FROM CO. DUBININ.

BY D. FREEMAN, M.A., M.B.

For many reasons the determination of species of the
HydrachnidcB has hitherto attracted the attention of but
few persons in Great Britain or Ireland, the chief one
being, I suppose, that no work has yet been published with
figures and descriptions of the British species. Papers, how-
ever, are now in progress in " Science Gossip " which will
supply this want, so that any one interested in these little
" spidery" creatures can easily work at the group, with very
little cost for a text-book.

In the years 1884 and 1885 I collected Hydrachnids in the
neighbourhood of Dublin : the captures which were identified
were determined from the works of C. L- Koch, A. Duges, P<
Kramer, and C. Neuman. The literature of this family of
mites was then largely in a scattered, even fragmentary state,
Neuman's monograph being then, I believe, the principal
modern authority dealing with the whole group. Since 1885
I did little or no work until the appearance of Dr. R. Piersig's
great monograph (publication not yet completed), when I
revised old work, using his nomenclature where possible.
The following species occurred : —

Atax crassipes, Miiller (Bruzelius).— Common and generally distri-
buted.

Hydrochoreutes filipes, Neuman.

Hydrochoreutes cruciger, Neuman. — The last two species are given
with Neuman's nomenclature. Piersig suggests by query that
Neuman's species are synonymous with H. ungulatus (Koch)
Piersig, but my captures were identified from Neuman, and are not
now in a condition to be compared with Piersig's figures and
descriptions. H. filipes and H, cruciger are not common ; two
examples of the former and one of tiie latter were taken in the Royal
Canal (May).

Curvipes conglobatus, G. L. Koch.

Curvipes Iongipalpis Krendowskij.?

Curvipes nodatus Muller.?

Curvipes fuscatus, Hermann.

Hygrobates Iongipalpis, Hermann. — Common everywhere. II. im-
pressus, Neuman, — $ II Iongipalpis, according to Piersig, occurred,
occasionally in the Royal Canal.

*58 7"he Irish Naturalist [July,

Llmnesia hlstrlonlca, Hemiaiin.— The coinmou inite placed under
, this uame requires investigation. Male (?) examples seem to be

disproportionately numerous.
Llmnesia maculata (Midler), Bruzelius.— Common.
Brachy porta versicolor, O- F. Midler.— This very small mite is much

the commonest of the Hydrachnida about Dublin.

lYlirteopsIs orbicularis, O. F. Midler.— Royal Canal. Rare. A single

example was taken on two occasions in May.
lYlidea elliptica, O. F. Midler.— Royal Canal, occasionally.

Arrenurus globator, O. F. Midler.— Generally distributed, and fairly

common.
Arrenurus securiformis, Piersig.— Many examples $ occurred in

a ditch near the new Clontarf railway station (May and June).

Arrenurus caudatus, De Geer. — Examples $ and 9 , brilliantly
coloured as in Neuman's figures (orange-red anteriorly and
posteriorly, aud indigo-blue in the middle of the body) were taken
plentifully from a ditch by the railway at Broom Bridge, Royal
Canal.

Diplodontus despiciens, Midler. — The dusky yellowish-brown mite
figured and described by Neumau under the synonym D. filipcs
Duges, is rare here. I found it only in the Tolka River (Botanic
Gardens), August, and a few years ago at Carton, Maynooth (June).
A bright red-bodied form with red epimera, legs, and palpi is com-
mon ; the body is not depressed and somewhat flaccid as in Neuman's
mite, and it is a livelier and stronger swimmer. Is there a specific
distinction ?

Hydryphantes ruber, De Geer.— A few examples in a marsh pool,
llowth Hill, in May. This Hydrachuid is one of the first to appear
in the season ; it has been detected by Mr. Halbert this year in the
middle of March.

Tnyas venusta C. L,. Koch. ?— One example found in a pool inSantry
Demesne.

Hydrachna giobosa (De Geer), Duges.— Plentiful in the ponds at
Mount Temple, Clontarf, in May.

Hydrachna Sp. — A mite of this genus having the plates of the area
genitalis widely distant from each other, occurred a few times in
the Royal Canal (March). Mr. Halbert secured many examples this
year (March) at Gollierstown, by the Grand Canal. I have not seen
it figured or described ; Piersig's descriptions of the genus have not
yet appeared. Neuman points out the separation of the genital
plates in his description of immature examples of H. geographka,\*\\\z\\
however, is much the largest of the Hydnuhniihc, attaining eight
or nine millimetres in length of body, while this species barely,
reaches two.

Eylais extendens (Midler), Latreille.— Common, April to July.

Llmnochares holoserlcea, De Geer.— Rather common, March to
June.

JS99.] Freeman. — Some Freshwater Mite? from Co. Dublin. 150

I fished for mites a few times this year, adding the following

species : —

Cochleophorus vernalis (Miiller) C. L. Koch. — One example,

female (April). Ditch near Broom Bridge. Royal Canal.
Llmnesfa Koenikel Piersig. — One example, Royal Canal (April), of

hyaline ground colour, with faint blue epimera, palpi and legs.

Perhaps this variety is synonymous with L. albella Koch, described

also by Neuman. Mr. Halbert had previously detected L. Kcenikei.
Lebertia tau-insignita Lebert. — Pond by Grand Canal at Golliers-

town (Easter).
Neuman (1880) described 20 genera and 69 species for
Sweden ; G. Haller (1882), 12 genera and 32 species for
Switzerland ; Krendowskij (1884), 10 genera and 35 species for
South Russia; Th. Barrois and R. Moniez (1887), 21 genera
and 72 species for the north of France. But Piersig (1897),
while he suppresses some species described by these investi-
gators, doubles for Germany the number recorded for North
France in the portion of his work that has already been pub-
lished. It is clear that much now remains to be done for a
Dublin list.

The fresh-water mites, excepting a very few species parasitic
on Unto and Anodonta, are found among aquatic plants, and
may be taken with a finely-meshed water-net. They are most
plentiful in May and June, when often a single dip into a
bunch of Callitriche yields a quite embarrassing number of
specimens : many species can be taken in fair quantity in
March and April. My method of fishing is to use a net of
" grenadine," or of straining linen. Having passed it through
the water- weeds, I turn it inside out and wash it in a portable
white rubber camp-basin. All the mites taken will, in this
way, be secured, and the very smallest of them can be seen
swimming about. They are fished out of the basin with a
soft, rather large, camel-hair pencil, and dipped into a phial
containing water and some water-weed. When the creatures
touch the water they disengage themselves instantly, and so
are finally secured. The weed supplies a resting place for the
captures, and more or less' refuge from attack, for some kinds
— such as species of Limnesia and Hygtobates — are more than
commonly rapacious, and are apt to destroy less active and
softer skinned kinds, especially if numerous individuals are
contained in a vessel which does not afford " elbow-room "
enough.

i6o

The Irish Naturalist.

[July,

Callitriche verna is particularly haunted by water mites, also
the large water sedges. Elodea canadensis yields man3^ species.
I have found Potamogeton quite unproductive.

For the purpose of noting the colouring of water mites, they
should be examined alive. For preservation they must be
scalded, in order to retain the limbs in an extended position.
Unfortunately, this treatment utterly spoils the colour of
many kinds. A tax crassipes and Cochlcophorus vernalis will
turn quite black in an hour or so.

I keep the mites in tubes containing spirit and water — about
one-fifth spirit. Many kinds have retained colour fairly for
fifteen years. Most species of red colour, however, bleach
rapidly.

Hydrachnids can be kept alive a long time in an aquarium
containing suitable aquatic plants, and Entomostraca
(e.g. Dapknia, Cypris) for food. According to Piersig they
also feed on gnat-larvae and Infusoria.

Dublin-

NOTES.

BOTANY.

Rev. E. S. Marshall on " Cybele HIbernlca."

To the Journal of Botany for June, Rev. E. S. Marshall, M.A., F.Iv.S.,
contributes some " Remarks on Cybele Hibernica, ed. II." Apart from
Mr. Marshall's high position as a British field botanist, his claim to
speak on the Irish flora rests on several thorough and successful
explorations carried out in recent years in little known parts of our
island, and his remarks are therefore deserving of careful attention, and
we trust that the paper will be read and noted by Irish botanists. Mr.
Marshall is distinctly of opinion that a too rigid severity has been applied
to the claims of certain species to rank as natives in Ireland — such as
Ranunculus parvijlorus, Teesdalia nudicaulis, Helianthemum Chamcrcistus,
Geranium pusillum, Medicago sylvestris, 7 ri folium glomeratutn, Epilobium
Lamyi, GSnantke pimpinelloides, Sisyrinchium calif ornicum, Leucojum astivum,
Brachypodium pinnatum. We fancy that many of our readers will agree
that the severe treatment applied to some of these in "Cybele" was
hardly warranted by the facts.

1899.1" Notes. 161

Geranium rotundifolium, L. in Co. Wexford.

On August loth, last year, I noticed a few plants of Geranium rotundifolium

growing near New Ross, but had not time to investigate its distribution

in the district until May 25th, this year, when I was again in the

neighbourhood, and found that it occurs abundantly on some rocks

about half a mile south of the town, and sparingly at intervals along the

rocky sides of the road leading from that into the town. As the only

other known Irish stations for this species are in counties Cork and

Clare it makes an interesting addition to the flora of District 1V»

Geranium columbinum, already recorded from other localities in Co(

Wexford, also grows on these rocks.

R. A. Philips.
Cork.

Teesdalia nudicaulis in Co. Down.

A )rear ago I had the pleasure of detecting Teesdalia nudicaulis in Co.
Antrim. This year I have met with it, in some abundance, in the
adjoining County of Down, in a shady place near the filtering ponds of
the pleasantly situated bleaching grounds at Lambeg, bordering on the
River Lagan. The conditions of the place where it grows, and where it
would seem to have been long established, point to its having come
thither by the canal with sand from Lough Neagh, possibly from the
Co. Tyrone shore, where it is known to occur. In the last named station,
where the species was first discovered in Ireland, the editors of Cybele
Hiberniea consider it a doubtful native, but have, nevertheless, admitted
it, provisionally, to a place in the Irish flora. Teesdalia has a wide comital
distribution in England and Wales, extending into vScotland, and if, as
seems likely, it should have come to Ireland to stay, our flora will be
enriched by the addition of one of the most distinct and interesting
species of Crueiferce.

J. H. DAVIES.

Lisburn.

ZOOLOGY.

Phenological Notes from Co. Tipperary.

As the May number of the Irish Naturalist does not make any announce-
ment of the arrival of summer migrants to Ireland I send particulars of
which those have come under my notice. Wheatear (seen by a friend) }
25th March; Sand Martin (seen by a friend), 31st March; Sand Martin (seen
by myself), 5th April ; House Martin, 5th April ; Chiff-chaff, 1st April ;
Willow Wren, 6th April; Meadow-pipit, 7th April; Sandpiper, 8th April;
Swallow, 19th April ; Sedge Warbler and Cuckoo, 23rd April ; Corn-
crake, 25th April ; Swift, 27th April ; Reed Warbler, 4th May.

A large number of Reed Buntings made their appearance on the
Nenagh River and shores of Lough Derg about the 20th of April, and
flocks of May Birds or Whimbrel passed over Lough Derg from the Co.
Gal way on 7 th May.

1 62 The Irish Naturatist, [ Jury,

The rough north -east wind and rough broken weather between the 7th
and 20th of April interfered very much with the earl}' arrival of our
migrant birds. Is there any record of the Fieldfare breeding in Co.
Tipperary ? I believe there are some pairs breeding here at present in
some Scotch firs.

For the past week (May ist-6th) the Mayfly or Green Drake has been
showing up on Lough Derg, so that the regular rise may happen any
moment. I find that the Orange Tip butterfly hatches out in this
locality, as a rule, the week before the the full rise of the Mayfly, and the
Orange Tip has been fairly numerous the past week. The Brimstone
Butterfly comes out with the Mayfly, and I have already seen several on
the wing. The Small White, Green-veined White WTood Argus and
Speckled Wall Butterflies are also plentiful the past week, with many
Small Tortoise-shells here and there, probably hibernated specimens,
though a few looked very fresh and bright. I have also seen a few Pea-
cock Butterflies, but they must be last year's brood.

Why do not some of the Field Clubs pay a visit to North Tipperary
which is an interesting district, and but little known to Irish naturalists?

MlCHAEI, GEEESON.

Nenagh.

WORMS.

Irish Worms Wanted.

I am almost ever}' day getting new species of small worms from

gardeners, florists, and others in England. I wish Irish workers could

be prevailed on to send me similar material. White worms now abound

in manure, leaf-mould, bulbs, &c, and I have no doubt there are many

new species yet to be discovered if only workers would send material.

Hiederic Friend.
Ocker Hill, Tipton:

CRUSTACEA.

Irish Crustacea.

In the current volume of the Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist. (7), iii., 1S99,
Canon A. M. Norman publishes (pp. 70-78) a valuable annotated list of
the British Land Isopoda. Several additional species have been found
in England since Dr. Scharff 's paper on the British and Irish Woodlice
was published in our pages (vol. iii., pp. 4-7 ; 25-9.) Another paper in the
same volume of the Annals (pp. 317-40) by the same author, on British
Isopoda Chelifera, contains the records of several species taken in Irish
waters in recent years, and the complete survey of their British and general
distribution is of great value, as also the very complete bibliography.

Mr. W. T. Caiman has contributed to the same volume (pp. 27-39) a
paper on the British Pandalidae, in which he gives additional details on
the structure of Pandalus propinqutts and P. leptorhynchus, G. O. Sars, which
were recorded by him from the S.W. coast of Ireland in the Trans. R.I. A.,
vol. xxxi., 1896. These species have now been found in Scottish waters.
The latter is in future to be known as P. Bonnierii, Caullery.

1 899. J Notes, 163

INSECTS

IVlacrogiossa stellatarum in Co. Dublin.

During the past few days I have observed an unusual abundance of
the Humming-bird Hawkmoth in this part of Co. Dublin. On June 1st
and 2nd I noticed a large number of them about a bed of Columbine in
my garden, and next day found them in great numbers along every
roadside in the neighbourhood, and especially along the sea side of the
West Pier battery wall at Kingstown, where scores of them were
flitting back and forward, their loud crackling hum attracting instant
notice. The insect is usually common enough in this district, but I
have never previously seen it in such numbers.

H. G. CUTHBERT.

Blackrock.

Vcspa rufa in Co. Clare.

While staying in Limerick during the Whitsuntide holidays I spent a
day at Scariff, ill Co. Clare, and noticed there a great abundance of the
females of this wasp. All the specimens captured were engaged in
hawking flies, showing that nest-building had commenced, although I
was unable to locate the position of any nests. I saw no specimens of
V. austriaca, a wasp I have always taken 011 the wing much later in the
season.

H. G. CUTHBERT.

Blackrock.

Vespa austrlaca In Derry and Donegal.

While hunting for Longicorn beetles yesterday in Walworth Wood,
Co. Derry, I observed Vcspa austriaca, Panz. (arborea, Smith), females in
abundance. It was in company with V. rufa, which is very abundant in
Derry and Donegal this season, from which it may readily be dis-
tinguished when on the wing by the much deeper tone of its hum, the
contrast being quite as strong as the difference between Bombus horiorttm
and B. tcrrcstris. I had no suitable net. for taking them, but succeeded
in capturing four examples in less than half an hour, besides missing
others. The black dots on the clypeus vary in each example ; in two
cases the three dots are united, all have"1 a yellow line on the front of the
first joint of antenna?, and in one specimen there is only the faintest
trace of the yellow dot under the wings.

On 16th August last I took a male V. aitstn'aca at White Castle, Co.
Donegal. Mr. Edward Saunders kindly examined and verified this for
me. I believe this to be the second male V. austriaca taken in the
British Isles, the previous example being taken in 1S96 by Rev.
O. Pickard-Cambridge, in Dorsetshire, and recorded in the Irish
Naturalist, vol. vii., p. 18.

164 The Irish Naturalist. [July,

My specimen was taken in company with male Vcspa norvegica and V.
sylvcstris. Vcspa norvegica, V. sylvcstris, and V. ; ufa are all plentiful in this
district this year. V. vulgaris not so common, and I have not yet met
with a single example of V. gcrmanica.

Claude W. Buckie-
Londonderry.

The Habits of Vespa austrlaca.

Mr. Buckle's note on the occurrence of this interesting wasp in the
North of Ireland suggests that the attention of our readers should be
called to Mr. Chas. Robson's recent observations on the habits of this
species {Science Gossip, vol. v., 1898, pp. 69-73). He was able to examine
a nest of Vespa rufa, which contained both males and females of V.
auslriaca just ready to emerge from their cells, and showing the
characteristic marking of the species. The generally-believed idea that
V. auslriaca is a " cuckoo parasite " or inquiline (see Mr. Cuthbert's
paper, Irish Naturalist, vol. vi., 1897, pp. 2S5-7) has now received full
confirmation.

MOLLUSC A.

Marine Shells from the Kenmare River.

During a visit to Kenmare last Easter, Mrs. Tatlow and Miss Massy
did a little hurried shell-collecting at Parknasilla, and on the strand at
the mouth of the Blackwater. The time was very limited, otherwise a
fair list might have been worked up. As it is, the list may be worth
publishing, as Mr. A. R. Nichols informs me there are few records from
the long sea-inlet called Kenmare River. Thanks are due to Dr. G. W.
Chaster for some of the determinations. The following is a list of the
species collected. Those marked * were found at both Parknasilla and
Blackwater ; those marked f at Blackwater only ; the remainder at Park-
nasilla only: — * Anomia cphippium and var. aculcata, A. palelliformis, Ostrea
edit I is, Pec ten Pusio, P. varius, P. maxim us, * My til 'us edulis, Modiolaria
marmorata, Montacuta bidentata, Lascva rubra, Cardium exiguum, *C. edule,
*C. norvc^ic urn,* Venus exoleta, V. fasciata, V. verrucosa, V. ovata, V. gallina,
Tapes aureus, * T. pullastra, * T. decussatus, Tellina crassa, * Gastrana fragilis,
Psammobia vespertina, *Maclra solida, *Lutraria elliptica, *Scrobicularia piperata,
*Solcn ensis, *Mya arcnaria, Saxicava rugosa, \Pkolas Candida, * Patella vulgata,
Tectura virginea, Fissurella graca, Trochus helicinus,*T. magus, T. cinerareus,
T. umbilicatus, T. tumidus. T. zizyphinus, Lacuna divaricata, L. pallidula,
*Littorina litorea, L. rudis, *L. obtusata, Rissoa punctura, K. parva, R. albclla
var., R. membrauacea, R. violacea, R. striata and var. arctica, R. ciugillus,
Hydrobia ulvic and var. Barleei, S/ccnea planorbis, Odostomia filicata, 0. albclla,
0. pusilla, Ccrithium rcticulatum, Purpura lapillus, Buccinum undatum, *Murex
erinaccus, Nassa reticulata, N. incrassata, Pleurotoma coslata, Cypnva europaa,
Melampus bidentalus.

R. Ll,OYD PRAEGER.

i899-] Notes. 165

FISHES.

Extraordinary abundance of Herrings In the Rivers

Suir and Barrow.

In November last we had a visitation from a body of herrings of such
unusual magnitude as to deserve record in the pages of the Irish
Naturalist. Not only were the fish in very great numbers, but they found
their way up the rivers to a considerable distance from the sea. At low
tides on November nth and 12th they were cast up alive on the beach at
Pilltown (Co. Wexford,'on the Barrow, above its junction with the Suir),
in such quantities that the beach was white with their bodies, and the
farmers sent their carts down to the river to remove loads of them. Un-
fortunately I was not able to go and see the beach again, but I was
informed that the fish continued in a similar abundance for about a week,
and that there were places where in her course between Waterford and
New Ross the local river steamer forced them out of the water on her
paddles. Enormous takes were made by the fishermen living nearer the
sea. I am informed that a similar appearance of herrings in the Barrow
has not occurred for fifty years, but I read in Arthur Young's " Tour of
Ireland in 1776-1 779" (Cassell's National Library, 18S7, p. 131), that in
1774 they were in such quantities in Waterford Harbour " that the tides

left the ditches full of them."

G. E. Barrett-Ham i i/ton.
Kilmanock, Co. Wexford.

MAMMALS.

Capture of Live Bats.

In reply to Mr. Hett's note in last month's Irish Naturalist (p. 144) he
will find it possible to attempt the capture of these animals in one of
two ways —

(1.) Catching them on the wing ;

(2.) Finding them in their holes.

The first method is scarcely suitable for his purpose, though sometimes
it is possible to catch bats quite uninjured by means of a net stretched
by some device on a fishing-rod.

The second method is usually preferable, but tedious. Different bats
will be found in different localities. For instance, Long-eared Bats
frequent church steeples and roofs of buildings, Hairy-armed Bats live
in hollow trees, &c, &c. Caves, holes, and cracks in rocks are always
worth searching— care being taken to search the smaller holes especially
thoroughly, as bats pack themselves into an amazingly small compass.
French window-shutters that have not been touched for some time are
generally good places.

If Mr. Hett will write to me personally I shall be very pleased to render

him any assistance in my power-

N. H. AI.COCK.

Trinity College, Dublin.

1 66 The Irish Naturalist. [July,

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a monkey from Mrs. J. T. Campbell. Eleven
monkeys, two lemurs, an Ocelot, two Golden Agnotis, two Vulturine
Guineafowl, ten White-fronted Geese, and a number of small birds have
been bought. It is highty satisfactory to notice that the action taken
by the Council last year with reference to the protection of the Chough
has led to the issue of instructions to the Royal Irish Constabulary to
enforce vigorously the Wild Birds' Protection Act.

Over 19,000 persons visited the Gardens in May.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

May 20. — The members held their first Field Meeting for the year at
Armagh, whither a goodly party proceeded by the morning train. The
party at once proceeded to the celebrated Navan Fort, or Emania, the
pre-Christian residence of the Kings of Ulster, whose occupation
extended down to the fourth century of the Christian era. A formal
meeting was constituted, and Mr. John Vinycomb, M.R.I.A., was elected
chairman. The arrangements for the day were announced, some new
members were elected, and a discussion took place as to the desirability
of inviting the British Association to Belfast at an early date. The
Chairman delivered a short address referring to the historic events
suggested by the surroundings. The meeting was then addressed by
Mr. Robert Pillow, a local antiquarian, well versed in archaeological,
topographical, and folk-lore subjects. He rendered the party most
efficient service during the entire day by his prompt answers to every
question put him by the inquisitive members of the party. Leaving
Emania, an adjournment was made to the adjoining quarries, which
were successfully explored for the characteristic fossils of the locality.

Returning to the City of Armagh, a visit was paid to St.Patrick's Well
and the Callan Water — a stream often referred to in the annals of
Ireland. The party next visited the Abbey, in the Palace grounds, and
then walked on to the Museum of the Armagh Natural Histor)' Society,
where, under the guidance of the Society's Secretary, they found an
excellent collection of natural history and antiquarian objects. The
Chairman pointed out the important and valuable collection of seals,
and made some suggestions as to their arrangement. Walking on to
the observatory, the party were very cordially received by the chief
astronomer, Dr. Dreyer, who conducted the members over the premises.
Next a visit was paid the Roman Catholic Cathedral, where a courteous
officer, by the kind direction of Rev. John Quinn, P.P., gave the history
of the building, and pointed out its prominent features and contents.
It was intended to visit the Armagh Library, but the time for closing
had arrived, so the members of the B.N.F.C. had to close their interest-
ing tour of inspection with a visit to the old cathedral.

1899] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 167

After tea, the Chairman again constituted a formal meetiug, at which
the events of the day were discussed. The conductor having tendered
the Club's thanks, through Mr. Fanning, the Secretary, to the Armagh
Natural History Society, made some suggestions as to the Museum and
some subjects of geological inquiry, including the desirability of having
a typical collection of local fossil fish remains, and proposed the
following resolution, which was passed unanimously: — "That this
meeting, having noticed the neglected condition of what now remains
of the ancient sculptured stone crosses of Armagh, it is desirable that
steps should be taken to have the crosses re-erected and restored, and
that the B.N.F.C. should initiate the movement at an early date." Mr.
Fanning suitably responded to the expressions of thanks to the local
authorities, and promised, on behalf of the Natural History Society, to
give the suggestions of the Club their very best attention.

June 10.— On the 10th instant the members of the Club held their
second Field Meeting of the session at the hill fort at Lurigethan,
County Antrim, a point out of the beaten track, but one of great interest.
Availing themselves of the facilities afforded by the Northern Counties
Railway, the party was conveyed as far as Retreat Castle, on the south side
of the valle}r of Ballyemon. Leaving the railway carriage the party
proceeded on foot up the slope and along the great ridge that separates
the valleys of Ballyemon and Glenariff. A walk of about a mile brought
the party to the ancient earthworks that constitute the important hill
fort at the extreme end of the ridge, which rises abruptly from the
coast-line, and appears from below a truncated cone 1,154 feet high. To
the geologist this point of view is of special interest, not only from the
varied features of physical geography that it presents, but from the
marked difference between the geological structure of the district to the
north and the area under view to the south, for whereas the district to
the south, with the construction of Lurigethan itself, is built up with
the same geological formations of the Secondary period that constitute
the main structure of Antrim, and are displayed in the escapment of
Cave Hill and the eastern coast-line, the rocks in the northern area are
mainly primary rocks, mica schist, and crystalline limestone, much
older than any other rocks in Antrim or Down, and more nearly related
to the rocks of the opposite side in Scotland, a relation that opens up a
chapter of inquir3T of the greatest interest. To the antiquarian the fort
of Lurig must be of special interest, not alone for itself, as the strong-
hold of the chieftains of the glens, when, as Scots, thev joined the Picts
in resisting the Roman advance in North Britain, but also because of
the number of events and variety of ancient monuments called to
remembrance by the prospect enjoj'ed from this spot. The Club's
meeting at Lurig was presided over by Mr. John Vinycomb, M.R.I. A*
Business matters were discussed, new members elected, and one of the
Honorary Secretaries, who acted as conductor, pointed out the special
national and historic features of the locality, and reported the results of
recent observations in natural history by members of the Club

1 68 The Irish Naturalist. [July- 1899

Dublin Naturalists' Field Club.
May 27. — Excursion to Ireland's Eye. — This excursion, under the
direction of Mr. H. K. G. Cuthbert, Hon. Treasurer, was attended by
twenty-eight members and their friends. Leaving Amiens-street by the
1.55 p.m. train, the party embarked in boats at the West Pier, Howth,
and reached the island in about half an hour. One boat was retained
during the afternoon for dredging. The bulk of the members devoted
their time to an examination of the botanical features of the island, most
noteworthy of which was the great abundance of the Blue-bell and
Vernal Squill. Tea was served at six, and the party returned to town by
the evening trains.

INJURIOUS INSECTS.

Twenty-second Report of Observations of Injurious Insects.

By Eleanor A. Ormerod, F.R.Met.Soc, &c. London: Simpkin,
Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., 1899. Price I*. 6d.

This Report is a worthy successor to those which have preceded it,
and is excellently illustrated, many of the figures being new. Insects
likely to be of special interest to Irish cultivators are the ground-beetle
J'terostichus madidus, which is mentioned as destructive to mangold roots*
and allied species which attack strawberries, as also the " rustic " moth
Hydrcecia ?nicacea, Esp. whose caterpillar bores potato stems — a new
observation. This last-named insect pupates in the ground and is
therefore more difficult to destroy than an allied species Gortyna flavago,
which was noticed some years ago by Miss Ormerod as also injuring
potatoes in this manner, but which pupates within the stem.

Several enquiries from Ireland as to the " Murrain worm " have led to
the publication of a description and figure of the " Elephant " Hawk-
moth {Chcerocampa dpenor) and its caterpillar. Miss Ormerod's correspon-
dents detail the well-known legend that this caterpillar causes sickness
in cattle. She makes the suggestion that as the larva frequents ditches
and feeds on plants which grow by the water, " it appears very likely that
sickness may be caused by the poisonous water-plants and the caterpillar,
being seen accompanying, be erroneously considered to be the cause of
the mischief."

It is more likely however that the caterpillar's evil reputation in this

country is due principally to its alarming appearance. From the

descriptions given of the insect by peasants it is evident that much stress

is laid on the reptilian look of the eye-spots when the ' ' terrifying " attitude

is adopted. One of Miss Ormerod's correspondents writes, "from the

farmer's description it is evidently a lizard or something akin to it."

And Mr. Battersby, of Cromlyn, Co. Westmeath, has informed us that an

ordinary blown specimen of the caterpillar is not recognised by the

country people as the dreaded " Murrain- worm."

G. H. C.

August, 1S99.]

169

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IRISH BATS.

BY N. H. ALCOCK, M.D.

The Hairy-Armed Bat.
Vcspaugo (Pipistrellui) Lculcri, Kuhl.
[Plates 7 and S\
This handsome species is one of the most easily recognised
and studied of our Irish Bats, and as it occurs very abundantly
near Dublin it has been possible to ascertain some interesting
details of its life-history with more precision than was
practicable in other districts, where this bat is merely an
uncommon visitor.

Three principal characteristics serve to distinguish this
species from those with which it might be confounded.

1. The size.

2. The fur.

3. The teeth.

The measurements given by Dobson (iv., p. 216), are : —

.

in

Ih

s

.

(U

0)

Cfi

xj

bJO

be

Length Head
and Body.

c3

ead.

S3

be
ca
u

a

u
0

9

r— 1

13

r- 1

•t-H

^5

0
0

H

X

W

H

Ph

H

rr>

10

H

fe

2*3 inches, .

165

07

o-6

Q-2

1 "5

0-25

27

i-8

065

0-3

Many individuals are slightly larger than this, the length
being sometimes as much as 2-6", forearm 1 • 68", 3rd finger
3-0", 5th finger 1-97".

The fur is of a fine chestnut colour above, the terminal one-
fourth of the hairs being bright yellowish, the basal three-
fourths dark brown ; below, the terminal one-fourth is light
brown, the basal part dark brown. The fur is said to be
darker in young individuals than in old. In several specimens
I examined, the males were darker than the females, in others
not ; this may possibly be an example of age difference, but
further investigation is necessary to decide the question.

The incisor teeth furnish another distinguishing charac-
teristic. The outer upper incisor is equal to the incisor in
cross section at the base, while the lower incisors are said to
stand in the direction of the jaws, and not to be " crowded."

a

170 The hish Naturalist. [August,

A very elaborate controversy has arisen on the bats captured
by Mr. Barrington in 1S6S, at Tandragee, and referred by him
to this species. Mr. J. E. Harting (" Remarks on British
Bats," Zoologist (3) xi., p. 168), writes : —

"There is reason to believe that some specimens of a large bat taken
at Tandragee, Co. Armagh, and reported to be Vcspcrugo Leisleri, were in
reality Vespentgo noctula. To be more explicit : — in the Zoologist for Jul}',
rS74, Mr. R. M. Barrington gave a very interesting account (pp. 4,071-
4,074) of the discovery in June, 186S, of a colony of large bats in the
desmesne of the Duke of Manchester, at Tandragee, Co. Armagh, and of
the subsequent capture of several (presumably of the same species) at
the same place in May, 1874. Mr. Barrington identified them as Vcspcrugo
Leisleri, observing (p. 4,072), ' they were all of the Hairy-armed species.'
I have presented two specimens to the British Museum." These two
specimens, at our own particular request, were examined by Dr. Dobson
in 1S76, when preparing his Monograph of the Asiatic Chiroptera, and he

pronounced them to be immature examples of Vcspcrugo noctula

it seems to us that this circumstance establishes the fact of the occurrence
of the Noctule in Ireland."

In 1878, however, Dr. Dobson (iv.) catalogued these same
specimens as Vcspcrugo Leisleri.

In 1S89 the subject was re-opened, and Mr. Barrington sent
four specimens of this bat to Dr. Dobson. After some
vicissitudes they arrived safely, and Dr. Dobson writes : —

" 15 : 7 : 89.

"Dear Sir,

" Your postcard and the bats reached me to-day, re-directed from
London. I have carefully examined the bats, and am rather puzzled
about them. While agreeing with V. Leisleri in the bicoloured fur, in the
lower incisors being in the direction of the jaws, and not transverse as
in Vespentgo noctula, and in their small size ; they differ in the large size of
the outer upper incisors at the base, herein agreeing with V. noctula. I
am not satisfied that the three £ 's are full-grown. The young one (with
persistent milk teeth) has its forearm as long as any of the other three
and they have the incisors quite sharp and unworn, so it is very likely
that they are only a month or two older than this young individual.
Therefore, before definitely pronouncing an opinion, it would be well to
have before me specimens with worn teeth, indicating full growth, and I
would be glad if you would endeavour to procure such. If the characters
I have referred to be also found in the perfectly adult animal then
the Irish specimens represent either a new species, or a curious case of
hybridization .

" Very faithfully yours,

" G. E. Dobson.

" P.S.— Your letter arrived as I had written so far. I was obliged to
kill the bats in order to make the necessary examination, and have put
them in spirit."

TS99-] Ai^COCK. — The Hairy-aimed Bat. 171

Mr. Barrington then sent a.iother specimen, which appears
to have gone to the British Museum, to await Dr. Dobson's
inspection, who wrote again to Mr. Barrington before he had
examined the bat as follows : —

"October 18, 1S98.
Dear Sir,
" I write on the back of Mr. Harting's reply to my letter, which gives
you the information you ask for [i.e., the fate of this last specimen]. I
have lost the locality of the four bats you sent me some time ago, and
which, if not examples of immature individuals, appear to me to represent
a form intermediate between V. noctula and V. Lcislcri. I am therefore
very anxious to obtain additional specimens, for it would be most
interesting to find a new species of mammal in Ireland. The specimen
you sent cannot be determined until dead, as it would be necessary to
examine its teeth.

" Believe me,

" Yours very truly,

" G. E. Dobson."

Dr, Dobson's untimely death, so much regretted by the
world of science, prevented further investigation at the time;
but apparently the examination of adult specimens has
not confirmed these speculations, as Mr. De Winton, of the
British Museum, to whom I wrote for information, tells me
that he sees no difference between English and Irish
individuals of this species.

It is not my intention in these papers to take any part either
in this controversy or in the still more thorny question of
nomenclature, so I will merely add that there seems to be very
insufficient evidence at the present time for admitting the
Noctule as an Irish species.

The habits of the Hairy-armed Bat are interesting in many
ways. The earliest date on which it wras seen in the spring
of 1899 was April 21st — many flying on April 24th — both
observations being made at Bray, Co. Wicklow, by Dr. B- B.
Knox. None were seen earlier, though on April 16th I looked
for them with particular care.

The last day in the autumn of 1898 was September 16th ; no
observations were taken for the next few days, but on
September 26th, though both the Pipistrelle and Daubenton's
Bat were seen, the Hairy-armed Bat had retired.

A 2

172 The Irish Naturalist. [August,

This species usually appears in the evening about 15 m.
after sunset, being about 10 m. earlier in the spring and 10 m.
later in the autumn.

At first it commonly flies at a considerable height, in open
country taking long sweeps and wide zigzags, often being
seen but once in an evening. Near woods and in favourable
localities it will often remain for some little time near one
spot, flying at an altitude of 30-40 feet, with a faster and
less irregular flight than the Pipistrelle, the tail being
extended in a straight line with the body. L,ater on it flies
nearer the ground, very commonly shrieking loudly, and I have
observed two bats at this time chasing one another exactly as
two butterflies do, both flying very fast and screaming.

As far as I can ascertain — the point is difficult to determine
— the Hairy-armed Bat flies for about an hour, and then
retires, not to reappear till the next evening.

1 have not been fortunate enough to come across any of the
resting-places of these animals, so that the times given above
are only approximate, being taken from observations made in
the open. Still, making every allowance for error, the facts
are sufficiently remarkable. A mammal, that rests for six
months in the year, that only feeds for one hour a day during
the other six, spending this hour in rapid and sustained
flight — as great a contrast as can be imagined to its previous
condition— certainly presents a very curious picture of animal
economy.

This species would appear to be wholly insectivorous.
Mr. G. H. Carpenter's researches on the fragments found in
the stomach after death show that Diptera form the great bulk
of the food, and he has been able to identify a midge, probably
a Mycetophilid, an Acalypterate Muscid, and the yellow-haired
fly, Scatophaga stcrcoraria, already referred to, besides legs and
wings of caddis-flies. Scales of moths were plentifully found
in one case. This bat furnishes therefore an interesting
contrast to the Noctule, the latter feeding on species of
beetles.

The Hairy-armed Bat has been found in colonies inhabiting
hollow trees and roofs of houses, as in the case of Mr. R. M.
Barrington's specimens, but most of the captures have been
of solitary individuals either in the open or in rooms into
which they have flown.

1899.] Ai,cock. — The Hairy-armed Bat. 173

The habits of this species in captivity do not seem to have
been observed since 1858, when Mr. Darragh's specimen lived
for ten days in confinement. Mr. G. P. Farran, on February
13th, very kindly presented me with a female which he had
obtained at Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, and which lived with
me for some time. For nearly a month it remained in a
typical state of hibernation, but on March nth it woke up
and ate raw meat dipped in milk, not appearing in the least
degree wild or shy. A few days of cold weather sent it back
to sleep, then it reappeared, very lively, and with a great
appetite.

It always slept during the day, waking up about 8.30 p.m.,
when it was taken out of its cage and placed on the dining-
room table. Here it ate raw meat in truly enormous quantities,
and exercised itself scurrying round the table, never attempting
to fly, though occasionally falling off on to the floor! It
learned to come to a pair of scissors, the clicking together of
the blades serving as a " dinner bell," and would always walk
towards one's hands, which it climbed over and finally crouched
down in, apparently enjoying the warmth. Its career was
closed by an unexpected tragedy, as on the evening of April 6th,
while careering round the floor, it was accidentally crushed,
to the great grief of all its acquaintance.

The photographs on Plate 7 were all taken from this
specimen during life, while the animal was hibernating. The
position of the tail, the post-calcanean lobule, the toes —
alwa3's widely separated during life — and the beautiful curves
of the ears are worthy of note. When the bat wakes, it raises
itself from the ground, and the widely open eyes give an alert
expression to the countenance which changes its character
considerably.

The cry of this species is moderately high in pitch, corres-
ponding to about 17,000 vibrations per second, as measured
by Galton's whistle ; a fair imitation can be made by
striking a sixpenny piece against a halfpenny.

The distribution of this bat is remarkable. It occurs
probably throughout the whole of the Palaearctic region, being
reported from France, Germany, Middle Russia, and the Ural,
extending west as far as the Azores, and east to the Himalayas.
In the British Isles, with which we are more immediately
concerned, its distribution is curiously local, in England being

174 Ite Irish Naturalist. [August,

found in some numbers along the valley of the River Avon
in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire (Tomes,
xvii.), rarely in Yorkshire (Clarke and Roebuck, xxvi.,
Charbonnier, xxv.), and once in Cheshire (Coward, xxvii.). It
has been recorded from Norfolk (Paine, xxx.), but the
identification of the species has been questioned (see Halting,
xxviii).

In Ireland, as can be seen hy the map which accompanies
this paper, the Hairy-armed Bat is common in the north-east,
and is not recorded elsewhere. The references are from
Jameson's paper (x.), and a note by C. B. Moffat (xxix.).
Whether it is really absent from the districts where it has
not been observed is a question I am unable to answer.1

In conclusion, I have much pleasure in expressing my
obligations to Mr. R. M. Barrington, who most kindly placed
his valuable MSS. at my disposal, to the officials of the
Science and Art Museum, Dublin, to Mr. De Winton, of the
British Museum, to Dr. E. B. Knox, and to Mr. Byrne, of the
Brewery, Bray, for their very kind assistance in man}' ways,
and to whom I feel deeply indebted.

Authors Quoted.
See also pp. 35-6 and p. 57, supra.
XXV.— Charbonnier, H. — (Hairy-armed Bat in Yorkshire). Zool. (3)
xvi., 1S92, p. 329. [The identification has been questioned,
but Mr. Charbonnier has sent me two of the specimens
captured on this occasion ; they are undoubtedly V.
Leisleri. ]
XXVI. — Cearke and Roebuck. Vert, fauna of Yorkshire, 1881.
(Hairy-armed Bat in Yorkshire).
XXVII.— Coward, T. A. (Hairy-armed Bat in Cheshire.) Zool. (4) iii.,

1899, p. 266.
XXVIII.— HarTing, J. E. Remarks on British Bats. Zool. (3) xi., 1S87,
p. 161, et seq.
XXIX.— Moffat, C. B. (Hairy-armed Bat in Westmeath). /. Nat.,
vi., 1897, p. 135.
XXX.— Paine. Ann. Nat. Hist., ii. (1S39), p. 181 (Hairy-armed Bat
in Norfolk).
Brackna Lodge, Merrion,
Co. Dublin.

1 While this paper is in the press, I have seen a male l^cspcntgo Leisleri
shot at Culmore, near Londonderry, by Mr. C. W. Buckle on July 20th,
1S99. The specimen is in the Science and Art Museum, Dublin.

Irish Naturalist, Vol. VIII.]

[Plate £

Distribution- of the Hairy-armed Bat in Ireland.
Co. Derry (40) should be shaded also {See foot-note. p. 1741

To face page 1 74. J

I899-] 175

A VISIT TO ROUNDSTONE IN APRII,.

BY M. FOSUE.

Since the publication of Harvey's Phycologia Britannica, about
fifty years ago, Roundstone, on the west coast of Ireland, has
been well known for marine botany. Several of the rarer and
more interesting of British seaweeds are found in this locality,
and some have only been found here up to the present time.
Among the latter are Lithothamnion agariciforme and L.
fasciculatum, Harv.

Working with calcareous algae for some years, it has been of
great interest to me to understand clearly the Lithothamnia
described by Harvey. For instance, L.fasciculatum is one
of the Corallines very differently interpreted by different
writers. In fact, two authors, writing about this alga, have
understood different species. So also as regards L. agari-
cifo7ine, as well as L. calcareum, the latter quoted by Harvey
from different parts of the Irish and British coasts. This mis-
understanding is due to the fact that Harvey's type specimens
of this group of algae are lost, and the descriptions and figures
of sterile specimens are all that can be relied on in arriving at
what was understood.

The above Roundstone species have, according to Harvey,
been collected by M'Calla. Apparently a small part of
M'Calla's collection, now in the Science and Art Museum
Herbarium, Dublin, labelled L. agai'iciformc, is not to be
considered as authentic, since the labels, according to Prof.
T. Johnson, have been re-written some time before they were
acquired by the Museum. They do not quite correspond with
Harvey's figure nor his description. On the other hand, some
of them may perhaps belong to the same species, but un-
fortunately, so far as hitherto examined, they are sterile and
not suitable for accurate determination of the species.

Therefore, I took the opportunity of visiting Roundstone
early in the year, as many of the calcareous algae do not
appear to possess fruit in summer. Professor T. Johnson
greatly facilitated my object by placing at my disposal his
advice and suggestions gained from a previous visit, as well as
apparatus, dredges, &c, and has given me the opportunity of

176 7 he Irish Naturalist, [August,

examining the collection of this group of algae in the Science
and Art Museum, Dublin. He also was kind enough to make
it possible that Mr. H. Hanna was enabled to accompany me
to facilitate the object of my visit. Mr. Hanna has collected
algae at different parts of the coast, and within the past year
has sent me for examination some Lithothamnia from L,arne,
Co. Antrim, one of which I have made the type of a new
variety, L. calcareum, f. eu?iana, now, however, probably to
be considered a variety of L. fasciculatum.

After a pleasant drive from Ballynahinch station, we arrived
in Roundstone in the afternoon, in beautiful weather. We
soon saw that it would take more time than we had at our dis-
posal to work over the different bays by dredge in search of
the so-called " coral banks " where the Lithotha?nnia especially
grow, and it was therefore necessary to engage a man well
acquainted with the localities.

The next morning, having engaged the services of a fisher-
man who claimed to have personal acquaintance of all the
banks on the west coast, including the adjoining bays, we
proceeded to Bertraghboy Bay in a sailing boat; but having
made two hauls, we soon found he was not acquainted with
the particular coral banks we were most interested in. Here
we encountered a sudden squall, and were forced to return to
Roundstone Bay, where we proceeded to dredge.

The following day we engaged another man, who had some
previous experience in such work. Although he considered
himself to be thoroughly acquainted with just those banks we
most desired to dredge on, after showing him figures of what
we were in search of and newly collected samples, we soon
learned that his acquaintance was still more superficial. We
then proceeded, with the aid of charts, to locate the banks on
which the Lithothamnia were to be found, knowing from
Harvey's work that the previously mentioned species were
very local and occurred in quiet bays.

The accompanying sketch (fig. 1.) shows the principal
localities where we dredged, indicated by numbers.

In Station 1 we found, in a depth of about 3 fathoms,
immense quantities of a small form, partly allied to L. squar-
7ulosum, partly to L. calcareum. We found a number of
specimens entire, some of which were in fruit. The bulk of

I899-]

Foslie. — A Visit to Roundstone in April.

177

the specimens on the bank consisted of fragments partly
dead, partly producing new branches, showing that this part
of the bay is much exposed.

Farther up (station 2) we met with larger specimens of the
same forms, and here the specimens were less broken into
fragments, the depth being about 3 fathoms.

At station 3, in a depth of about 1-2 fathoms, we brought,
up a few specimens of the same forms previously dredged, but
a great number of another and larger species, which apparently
seemed to be what hitherto has been considered a form of
L. calcareuni, but appears to be more nearly related to
L. fasciculatum.

Fig. 1. A Pi,an of Roundstone Bay.

At station 4 the Lithotham?iia were very local, but here we
met with much larger forms, and partly agreeing with the
last mentioned from station 3, partly fully agreeing with
typical L. fasciculatum, Harv. Besides we found a few
specimens as at station 1 and 2. Also here we met with a
form no doubt that figured by Harvey as a variety of

A3

178 The Irish Naturalist. [August,

L. fasciculaium, but partly closely coinciding in habit with
L. dcntatum, Kiitz., and on the other side connected with the
form in M'Calla's collection labelled L. agaticiforme. Close
to the banks of Lithothamnia we dredged large quantities of
Cladophora lying loosely fixed among the Zostera. This
most probably is or at least is nearly allied to Cladophora
corynarthra, Kutz. There seems to be but little doubt that
station 4, and probably also 3, are the principal localities
where M'Calla collected calcareous algae. On the other side
we were not able to find the spot where a delicate form,
apparently nearly connected with L. lichenoides, has been
collected and rather considered to be the true L. agariciforme>
Harv., as Harvey's description agrees better with this form
than that labelled L. agariciforme in M'Calla's collection.
However, we could not work over these localities as well
as we wished, because they were protected, since some beds
for oyster culture had been cleaned, and oysters put out
about a year ago. Unfortunately, the agent or owner was
away from home, and his herds appeared to be rather too
anxious about our seaweed collecting, whether discharge of
duty or for other reasons seemed to be a question.

At station 5 we made only one haul, and found a rather
muddy bottom, with thinly scattered specimens of Clado-
phora, as at station 4. Depth about 4 fathoms. At station
6, also, one haul was taken in a depth of about 5 fathoms,
with a rather hard bottom ; there was brought up Lami?iaria
digitata and a few specimens of a sterile Lithothavinion,
which most probably is L. coralloides, Crn., not formerly
found in the British Isles in the sense here taken. In the one
haul taken at station 7 the bottom was found to be rather
muddy, with some Lithothanmia most nearly related to
those in the previous station.

At station 8, a bank nearly crossing the bay, we found in
about 1 fathom water quantities of a rather coarse form of
: Corallina officinalis, very much encrusted with Melobesia
coralline, the former mixed with Zostera, or often fastened to
scattered specimens of L. coralloides, some of which were
provided with conceptacles.

Station 9 (3-6 fathoms) was a rather poor bottom for algae,
of broken shells, with a large intermixture of mud and

i899-] FosiyiE. — A Visit to Rotmdstone in April. 179

scattered specimens of Squa?nariace<z and crustlike Litho-
thamnia, together with a perforating alga, Conchocclis rosea.
Probably another species nearly related to the latter was
observed infesting the central parts of a Lithothamnion at
station 1. Of animals in the above hauls, there was observed
a fine specimen of a Dentalhim, the shell of which was made
up of fine sand-grains firmly cemented together.

After the work of dredging, we divided our attention
between encrusting Lithotham?iia and the other seaweeds to
be found between tides. South and south-west of Roundstone
Bay, in somewhat exposed rock-pools, we found L. i?icrustans
(L. polymorphum, Harv.) to be very abundant. This seems to
be a species capable of rapid growth, and is of interest as
showing the great variation brought about in the struggle for
existence between seaweeds and animals. In the most
exposed places at " The Beaches,"" we met with well-developed
specimens in fruit of Phymatolithon polyinojplmm, a rather
northern calcareous alga. Closely associated we found an
interesting form of L. lichenoides nearly related to that form
figured by Harvey in Phycologia Britannica, showing that also
this species varies according to the nature of the locality.
We also met with several Melobesice, and L. Cro7iani> not
formerly found in Ireland. This species was found here, as at
other places, growing on the stems of Laminaria hyperborea,
together with Melobesia laminarics, but more scarce than
farther north. Of other algae we met with numerous speci-
mens of Ch<ztoviorpha acrea mixed with Cladopho?a hirta
and Ch<ztomorpha tortuosa. In deep rock-pools at about
half- tide we observed luxuriant plants of Desmatestia ligulata
and Ralfsia sp., as well as other interesting species, among
these many parasites and epiphytes partly infesting Cysloseira,
partly other algae, but not yet worked at, as they require
microscopic examination. One of us also met with in these
rock-pools a few specimens of the starfish known as Asterina
gibbosa, while on the other hand the well-known boring sea-
urchin, Strongylocentrotus lividus, which is common along the
west coast, was observed in abundance. Many of the urchins
were nearly concealed under a crust of L. i?icrusta?is.

The calcareous algae did not appear to be made use of here,
as in other parts of Ireland, for manuring purposes. But on
the shore, close to "The Beaches," there were many heaps of

180 The Irish Naturalist. [August,

other dried seaweeds. We were astonished to learn on further
inquiry that these were to be used for kelp. It was hard to
believe that they were for use in that way, because a very large
number of specimens were heaped one on another on stone
walls in such a manner that the largest proportion must have
remained damp for a very long time before they became dry,
and during the changing weather much of the valuable residual
product must have been lost. Close to these heaps were many
very fine drying-grounds for this purpose, and, instead of
burning as soon as the specimens were in a fit condition, they
were kept for months, and thereby, after much unnecessary
exposure, the kelp produced must have become very much
reduced in market value. Most of the seaweed used was the
stems of Laminaria digitata and proportionally small specimens
of the more valuable L. hyperborea. Besides there were heaps
of FucuSy mixed with other smaller seaweeds, which were said
to be put to the same purpose. This seems to be almost un-
necessary labour. No doubt, much more profit might be
reaped by the kelp-burners by following more exact methods
of drying and burning, as well as more restricted selection of
the weeds. We understood the process of burning to be waste-
ful, and but little adapted to its purpose. Prof. Johnson has
issued instructions for kelp-burning, and distributed them
through the Congested Districts Board for Ireland, but the
kelp-burners here appear to be too conservative to follow new
methods.

We did not attempt a detailed study of the algal flora of
Roundstone, as our stay was only of a few days' duration, and
was principally taken up in studying the calcareous algae.
These algae appear to occur very generally around the coast,
but as yet are far from being wrell known, since most of the
specimens collected up to recently have been devoid of fruit,
and therefore difficult to clearly determine. We learned of
the existence of many banks in the neighbourhood, which
should prove to be of great interest to examine, but for want
of time we had to put off their examination until some future
period. Much work yet remains to be done before it is
possible to get a clear idea of the distribution and mode of life
as obtained in this important group of algae.

Trondbjem, Norway.

1899] i8i

BOTANICAL NOTES FROM EAST GALWAY.

BY MARGARET K. JOYCE.

There are a few interesting botanical notes for the month of
June from County Galway, where Epipactis atro-rnbcns,
Geranium eolumbimnn, Ophiys muscijera, and Habenaria albida
were all found.

The one first mentioned, grows on top of Knoekmae, a
hill six miles west of Tuam, among loose slabs of limestone,
almost barren of vegetable life.

Geranium columbinum grows at the edge of a field of rocks,
between Kilcornan and Rahasane. Here also were a few
plants of Arabis kirsuta, growing out. of the fissures of the
rocks, and about half a mile westward three plants of
Habenaiia intacta.

Ophrys muscifera, also Habenaria .albida grow at Finerty-
Moyode, three miles south of Athenry ; the latter sparingly
on one hill, the former plentifully in the rocky pasture
wherever it is clear of Hazel scrub. From this locality
Gentiana verna, Habena?ia intacta, Viola stagnina, Sesleria
cce?'ulea, Hicracium iricum have been already recorded.

As Mr. L,loyd Praeger kindly identified the Epipactis and
Mr. Colgan the Geranium I feel no hesitation in sending a
notice of both plants to the Irish Naturalist.
St. Cleran's, Craughwell.

WEST CORK PLANTS.

BY R. W. SCUEEY, F.E.S.

In the course of a walk taken from Kinsale to Crosshaven

early in June of this year the following interesting plants

were observed : —

Ranunculus parviflorus, Linn. — In cultivated land near Robert's
Head. Apparently not observed in West Cork since the date of
Druinmond's record 80 years a^o.

TrigoneNa ornithopodioides, DC— Found growing abundantly
over a limited area at Currabinny. This is a new record for Dis-
trict I. and gives a wide south-western extension of range to a rare
Irish species hitherto believed to be confined to Fast Ireland.

1 82 The Irish Naturalist. [August,

Trifollum flllforme, Linn.— At Currabinny with the preceding.
Apparently an addition to the flora of Co. Cork.

Orobanche major, Linn.— On furze in CurrabinnjT wood, Cork
Harbour.

Orobanchc minor, Sutt— Abundant on Trifolium pratense in a field
near Flat Head. Further on Linum augustifolium and Leontodon
hispidvs were observed, the latter rare in West Cork though pre-
viously noticed by me near Carrigaline.

Euphorbia amygdaloides, Linn.— Abundant over a considerable
space about the western extremity of Oysterhaven. This gives a
welcome extension to the restricted range of one of our rarest Irish
plants.

Dublin.

ALLIUM SCHCENOPRASUM, L- IN IRELAND.

BY REV. E. S. MARSHALL, M.A., F.L-S.

In July, 1895 (and again in 1896) I discovered a flowerless
garlic, thinly scattered over about two miles of the limestone
tract lying immediately south of Lough Mask, K. Mayo
(extending to within 100 yards of Co. Galway, though I could
not trace it across the border, where it probably occurs), which
had quite the habit of Chives ; the blooming of one plant now
at length justifies my opinion. The nature of the locality
forbids all reasonable doubt as to its wildness, and I think
that a careful search will result in its being found elsewhere.
The inflorescence of A. sibiricwn from the Lizard, long grown
in my garden, hardly differs except in the much shorter
styles (perhaps a variable character), but their habit is quite
distinct ; the stouter, very glaucous, recurved leaves of
sibiricum contrasting greatly ^ith the green, straight foliage
of Schccnopi'asum. Yet, in spite of their constancy, they are
scarcely more than varieties of one species, as Babington and
Hooker have ranked them. The wild Mayo plant, owing to
the shallowness of the soil, was only from two to four inches
high in those dry summers.
Godalming.

1899.] 1 83

THE SONG OF BIRDS.

Cries and Call-Notes of Wild Birds. With Musical Illustrations.
By C. A. WiTCHEi.iv, Author of " Evolution of Bird-Song," &c.
London : L,. Upcott Gill, 1899. is.

It is a gratifying sign of the times that there is a demand for a shilling
manual on the notes of birds. To a naturalist it is not less essential to
learn something of the language of our feathered favourites than to
study their plumage, nests, eggs, migration, and food ; but on all the
above topics the student has access to vast store-houses of knowledge in
the shape of books, pictures, museums, and private collections. Sounds,
however, cannot be collected, like eggs, nor recorded with exactness,
like dates of arrival, or contents of crops and pellets ; and for this reason
every beginner has to learn more for himself on the language of birds
than on most other ornithological matters. The few attempted guide-
books that have been written are experimental rather than recognized
primers ; such, for instance, is Mr. Ilett's " Dictionary of Bird-Notes,"
of which it remains to be seen whether -the bulk of the syllabic render-
ings will be recognized when the notes they are intended to represent
are heard.

Mr. Witchell is well entitled to speak with authority on a subject
which he has already treated so excellently in his former work. At the
same time, we might have hoped for a better book than the one before
us from the author of the " Evolution of Bird-Song." We must decidedly
object to his perverse arrangement of birds into " Town," " Woodland,"
"Upland," and "Waterside" — a classification which makes reference,
even in so small a book, exasperatingly difficult, and has the strange
effect of placing the Carrion Crow in the first chapter, and the Hooded
Crow (a doubtfully distinct species) in the last. Then the whole group
of sea-haunting birds is omitted, except a few— as the Redshank and
Dunlin — which nest inland, and the Rock Pipit, which seems to have
slipped in inadvertently. The Sparrow-hawk, Woodcock, and Water
Rail are striking instances of inland birds of whose notes Mr. Witchell
has nothing to say—we may fairly ask, why ? The Water Rail is a
peculiarly noisy species, and, from its skulking habits, one of the most
likely to baffle the inquisitiveness of a puzzled audience; and the Wood-
cock's voice has often (though quite unlike) been mistaken for the
Nightjar's. These, moreover, are cries of marked character, which, if
not to be successfully syllabled, can at least be recognizably described ;
while we are strongly inclined to doubt altogether the distinctive value
of many such renderings of bird-sounds as Mr. WitchelPs "chick"
(Thrush), "chick" or "ching" (Dipper), "chip" (Tree-pipit and Corn-
bunting), "jigg" (House-martin), " sip " (Cirl-bunting), " sit '* (Crossbill
and Haw-finch), "twit" (Chaffinch), "whit" (Dabchick), "gick" or
"quet" (Greater Spotted Woodpecker), "tick" or "kink" (Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker), " clit " (Swallow), " quilp " (Redwing), " tink "
(Reed-bunting), "pink" (Chaffinch); bearing in mind that in all these

184 The Irish Naturalist. [August,

cases the consonants are imaginary, while the vowel sound is identical.
The same calls must too often, to different ears, seem like totally different
words. How many of us, for instance, would say with Mr. Witchell that
" shushushushu " is the common cry of the Magpie ? To the Long-
eared Owl our author ascribes only one note, a hissing or rushing
" sheea. " Now, this is a bird with a very copious vocabulary. In earl}7
spring, its nuptial note, a deep lugubrious "oop," is uttered at regular
intervals of about three seconds for hours together, and can be clearly
heard at a distance of half-a-mile. By the end of April its young are
abroad mewing like kittens— whence, perhaps, the bird's local Irish
name, " Cat-Owl." The parent owl, at this season, scolds iutruders on
the family's haunts with a strong " wek. wek, wek." The wood which
they frequent is sometimes resonant with a noise like the clapping of
hands, caused by several of the owls snapping their bills; and the birds
playfully chase one another through the trees with cries like " a-whay
a-whay a- wha-a-ay." We have heard (and seen) them uttering several
other notes, besides all the above ; but never anything like Mr. Witchell's
"sheea," which, in print, looks suspiciously like the well-known
" snore " of the Barn Owl. On this last-named bird, too, Mr. Witchell has
nothing to say beyond that it cries " kek kek kek " like a moorhen. If
" Cries and Call-Notes" reaches a second edition it ought to be greatly
amplified.

C. B. M.

NOTES

ZOOLOGY

M O L L US C S,

Land IYIollusca of Narin.

The following list of land and freshwater shells from Narin, Co.

Donegal, and the surrounding district, was the result of a collection

made there last summer ; — Vitrina pellucida, Hyalinia cellar ia, H. alliaria,

H. nitidula, H. pura, II. radiatula, II. crystallina, II. julva, H. excavata,

H. nilida, Helix pygmaa, H. rotuudata, H.pulchella, and var. costatct,H. lamellata,

H. hispida, II rufescens, Il.fus.a, II. cricetorum, H. acuta, H nenwralis, Cochlicopa

luhrica, Pupa cyliudracea, P. muscorum, I\ auglica, Vertigo edentate) V. pyg/uaa,

V. substriata, V. antiverligo, Balea perversa, Clausilia bidcuiata, Suceinia putris,

S. elegans, Carychium minimum, Limnaa peregra, I. palustris, I. truncatula,

Planorbis spiiorbis, P. albus, P. crista, P. Joulanus, Ancylus fluviatilis, Acme

lineata, Valvala cris'ata, Sphcerium cornewn. In addition to the above, dead

shells were found of Helix aculeata, Vertigo angustior, and V. pusilla, on the

sandhills at Kitoorish and Narin, the shell pockets from the latter place

yielding 25 species.

G. P. Far ran.
Templeogue.

i899-l Notes. 185

INSECTS.

IVIacroglossa stellatarum, and IYI. bombyliformis,

at Poyntzpass.

On June 2nd a fine specimen of the Humming-bird Moth flew into my
dining-room, and was duly captured. Since then I have seen several, and
they have plainly been very much in evidence throughout the country,
judging from letters in the daily papers. It would be interesting to find
out whether these moths are Irish bred or have crossed the channel.

Of M. bombyliformis, Esp., I captured a single specimen on the morning

of June 9th. The moth was hovering at the flowers of Stock. I had not

my net with me, but as the moth was very intent on extracting the

honey from the flowers I succeeded in boxing it. As far as I know this

is the first record of its capture in County Armagh.

W. P. Johnson.
Poyntzpass.

Macroglossa stellatarum in 1899.

The unusual abundance of the Humming-bird Hawk-Moth noticed by
Mr. Cuthbert in Co. Dublin was also a striking feature in this part of Co.
Wexford in the early days of June. I saw none until the 1st of June,
when one showed itself; but on the 2nd and 3rd I was struck with its
unusual frequency, and on the 4th I have an entry in my note-
book;— " Macroglossa stellatarum in all directions; never saw so many."
The numbers seen here did not come up to Mr. Cuthbert's description of
the abundance witnessed by him at Kingstown, but I think the simul-
taneous outburst over so considerable an area is of much interest.

C. B. Moffat.
Ballyhyland.

BIRDS.

Spring Migrants at Poyntzpass.

As might be expected the Migrants were somewhat late this year.

The Chiffchaff arrived on March 24th, the Swallow on April 12th, the

Willow Wren on April 19th, the Corncrake on April 26th, the Cuckoo on

April 27th, and the Swift on May 5th. Though the Swallow was seen

as above it did not appear in any numbers till the end of April.

W. F. Johnston.
Poyntzpass.

Bird records in Co. Tipperary.

In Mr. M. Gleeson's list of spring migrants to North Tipperary, Ifear

he is mistaken in mentioning the Reed Warbler (Acrocephalm streperus) as

a visitor; if not he will confer a grand acquisition to the Irish collection

in Kildare-street Museum by sending a specimen to Dr. Scharff. He is

also probably mistaken in believing that some pairs of Field-fares were

breeding in Scotch firs at the time he mentions.

Robert Warren.
Moyview,[ Ballina-

1 86 Tlic Irish Naturalist. [August,

White Wagtails at Bartragh, Co. IVlayo.

It may be of interest to note that the White Wagtails \Motacilla alba)

have again visited the island of Bartragh (Killala Bay) on their northern

migration this season. Mr. A. C. Kirkwood. on the 27th of April, met a

solitary bird in the stable-yard at Bartragh, and a few days later saw

another. This bird disappeared in a day or two, but was succeeded

by another pair that were observed on the 4th of May feeding on a

manure heap in the stable-yard. From the fact of these birds having

been observed during the spring migration on the island of Bartragh in

1851, 1893, 1S97, 1898, and in April and May of the present year, it is

more than probable that they pass over Bartragh every spring on their

way to Iceland, but they are not seen, unless strong northerly winds

occur at the time of their passage, causing a few birds to rest and feed

on Bartragh before continuing their northerly flight.

Robkrt Warrkn.
Ballina.

Rose-coloured Pastor near Inch, Co. Donegal.

On 9th June Mr. John Hunter obtained a specimen of this bird, Pastor

roscits, L,., in fine plumage, between Bridge-end and Inch, about five miles

from Londonderry.

D. C. Campbei^.
Londonderry.

Quail in Co. Dublin.

On May 27th last a Quail was whistling in the same field, near Temple-
ogue, in which I heard one in the last Quail year, 1896.

G. P. Farran.

Cormorants breeding in trees.

I have just visited a lonely lake in the Mayo mountains which at one
end contained some islands. One of these is overgrown with yew, birch,
and holly of great age. Before reaching this island we heard the cries
of a large bird colony, and on rowing round it we found all the trees on
the south side and the east end laden with Cormorants' nests, tier above
tier, three and four deep, supporting both old and young birds. The
former did not take flight until we had a good look at them, and when
they did, some tumbled down into the water below before they could get
under weigh. One was hanging from the fork of a tree in which its neck
was caught. The young, three and four in each nest, were mostly of
large size, showing the wing-feathers, but several nests contained eggs or
newly-hatched young. The nests were compact and small for so many
large birds to stand on. They were built of coarse heather-stems. Several
of the trees were dead or dying from the droppings of the birds which
covered everything beneath the] nests. From the water the array of
nests laden with birds looked most striking. I counted eighty, but
allowing for others I could not see from the water there may have been
a hundred. When the old birds had taken flight on our nearer approach

1899] Notes 187

they filled the air like a flock of Rooks, and then settled together on the
lake at some distance. Besides the Cormorants a number of Herons
breed on this island, but occupy the interior of it, their huge basket-like
nests contrasting with the smaller ones built by the former birds. Both
species resort to a neighbouring inlet of the sea to fish.

I have seen Cormorants nesting in trees on Lough Key, near Bo}le,
but there is nothing like the imposing colony I have described above.

The Cormorant ordinarily breeds on open ledges of the sea-cliffs or on
the tops of large isolated rocks, and it is rarely indeed that one meets
with a breeding place in trees. However, this species commonly resorts
to inland waters, so that it is more likely to remain and breed there Its
congener, the .Shag, is exclusively marine in its habits, and far out-
numbers the larger Cormorant on the west coast of Ireland.

The birds of the former species I have lately seen have all lost the

crests that adorn them in spring, and those of the latter have lost the

winter patch on the thigh.

R. J. USSHER.
Cappagh, Lismore.

Bar-tailed Codwlts In the IVIoy Estuary.

An unusually large number of Godwits (Li/nosa lapponicd) have
remained about the lands of the estuary and bay this summer. When
returning from Bartragh in my boat on the 5th instant I observed about
a hundred birds on the shore of Baunros. On the 13th of June, on the
lands near Moyne Abbey, I saw several flocks, numbering fully 150 birds
altogether, and amongst one small group I observed a bird in the red
plumage of summer, a very unusual sight in this district, for the birds in
breeding plumage do not pass along this coast to their breeding haunts
as they do on the east coast of England, apparently all the birds with
few exceptions that frequent this coast being immature, too young for
breeding.

Robkrt Warrkn.

Ballina.

Black Scoter In the IVIoy Estuary.

While returning from Bartragh on the 5th inst. I observed a black
duck diving in the channel off Goose Island, and not being able to
identify it with my glass, I let the boat drift up with the tide until within
range, when I fired, the bird diving on the instant. However when
coming up again, it rose, and I brought down with my second barrel
a beautiful adult Black Scoter ((Edemia nigra) in perfect breeding plumage.
The yellow patch on bill was very bright, while the plumage was like
black velvet, soft and shining. It was the first time that I ever met this
duck in summer, although Scoters are common in the bay in winter, yet
they seldom come into the channels of the estuary.

Robert Warren.

Moyview, Ballina.

1 88 The Irish Naturalist. [August, 1S99.

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a Silver Pheasant and a Peahen from Captain
A. E. Boxer, a cockatoo from Mr. R S. Swirles, a Gannet from Mr. P.
Cummins, four Redpolls, two Greenfinches, a Chaffinch, and a Bullfinch
from Mr. D. E. Kirkpatrick, a Hooded Crow from Colonel Alexander,
and a pair of Kestrels from Mr. A. E- Darley. A pair of African Tantalus,
a pair of Ravens, two pairs of Mandarin Ducks, and two Gazelles have
been bought.

Over 16,000 persons visited the Gardens in June.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

JunR 24. -The third field meeting of the season was held at Dundrum

Castle, and was attended by a large number of members and friends.

The formal meeting was held on the top of the Donjon Keep, and was

presided over by the President of the Club. After the election of members

and the transaction of some formal business, one of the members gave a

description of the main geological features of the district, embracing

volcanic, metamorphic, sedimentary, and ceoliau rocks. After exploring

the castle and its surroundings, the party split up into different sections,

each taking its own subject for investigation. Some members explored

the sand-dunes and collected worked flints, flakes, scrapers, and

pottery. Another division visited, sketched, and photographed the

cromleac and standing stone at Sliddery ford, also the round tower and

ancient church at Maghera. The district in the vicinity of Dundrum has,

time after time, been visited by botanical explorers. The Rock Cress

(Arabis hirsutd) w7as found in some quantity at the castle. It is 102 years

since Templetou, the pioneer of northern botany, first noted this plant

on the walls of Dundrum Castle. An interesting plant found in the pond

near the castle was Syme's variety of Moore i of Apium inundatum. In the

short time available a good number of scarce plants were picked up.

Amongst these may be mentioned the Musky Storksbill {Erodium

moschatum) and the much smaller but not at all common Erodium

maritimum : also, the White Campion {Lychnis vespertina), Viper's Bugloss

{Echium vulgare), Hound's-tongue {Cynoglossum officinale). By the kind

permission of the manager the express from Newcastle picked up the

partv at Dundrum for Belfast.

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September, 1S99.] 189

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEST OF
THE EITTEE TERN

(Sterna minuta).

BY CHARGES J. PATTEN, B.A., M.D.

(Plate 9.)
When a careful examination of a large number of different
birds' nests is made, one cannot fail to be struck with the
enormous variety there is to be seen among them. Not only
do they differ in shape, and in the constituent materials which
form them, but also in the way in which they have been
constructed.

All birds (with very few exceptions) make or construct nests
of some kind or another, yet in the strict sense of the word,
only certain species can be said to build them.

We understand by a built1 nest one which has been con-
structed by making it up of a number of pieces of material,
carefully chosen, and put together after a particular fashion by
the bird, according to what the species may be.

Considerable skill is often displayed in these cases by the
feathered architects, as may be seen in the beautiful nests of
the Long-tailed Titmouse {Acredula caudatd), Gold-crest
(Regulus cristaius), Chaffinch (Ft ingilla ccclcbs), and others
too numerous to mention.

On the other hand a built nest may be extremely rude in
its formation, as exemplified in those of the Columbidce
(Pigeons), and in certain of the Laridcc (Gulls). Between the
latter and the more perfectly formed nests many gradations
exist. But it is needless to dwell any longer on this subject
which does not directly concern us at present.

Passing to those species which do not build nests, we find
that they are in the minority, at all events as far as Ireland is
concerned.

They are for the most part occupants of the cliffs or sea
beach, and include among them many of the (a.) Grallatores
or wading birds (especially the Charadriidcc or Plover family),
(b.) the GavicE or Terns, and (c.) the Alcidce or " Divers "
(Guillemot and Razorbill). The last mentioned group may

1 We may here include certain birds which sometimes only repair
deserted nests of other birds, e.g. ; Kestrel rebuilding old Magpie's nest.

A

I go The I) ish Naturalist. [September,

be said to make no nests at all.1 The other two groups — (a.)
and (b ) — usually lay their eggs in depressions below the
general level of the surrounding ground. ■

The Little Tern affords us a good example. Its eggs are
generally deposited in such cavities, and it is the nature of
these, and how they are formed that I now wish to consider.

On looking up the literature of the subject it is manifest
that the accounts and descriptions given by different writers,
dealing with the nests of the Little Tern, are rather general
and at the same time somewhat inadequate.

"There are few places," says Seebohm,'2 "where this bird
breeds in greater abundance than on some of the islands in
the lagoon of Missolonghi, in Greece. There it makes no nest,
but generally scratches a slight hollow in the sand, or in the
long line of broken reeds, bits of cork, dead grass, seaweed, or
similar rubbish which marks the limits of the wavelets, pro-
duced on the lagoon by the storms of winter."

Saunders3 describes the eggs as being " laid on the bare
shingle or soil towards the end of May."

Yarrell4 simply speaks of the nest as a small depression
scraped in the ground above high-water mark.5

Atkinson0 goes further still, and fails to give the Little
Tern the credit of even making the depression. This writer
says it " lays its two or three eggs in any small cavity which
it may be lucky enough to find in the selected place."

From the foregoing quotations it would appear as if this
paiticular species of tern devoted but little time and trouble
to the construction of its nest.

Far from this being the case I hope to show, as a result of a
closer study of the subject, that the nest of the Little Tern
is a nest, and a true one, and a much more definite structure
than has hitherto been described ; and further that it is usually
constructed on the same general plan, for a definite adaptative
purpose.

1 It is very probable however that a considerable amount of choice is
exercised as to the particular rock on which the eggs are laid.

2 <l Eggs of British Birds ", p. 103.

3 " British Birds", Last edition, 1S99.

4 '; British Birds ", vol. iii., p- 558-

5 I have found the nects below high-water mark when the colonies
have been persistently plundered.

6 " British Birds' Eggs and Nests ", p. 161.

I899-J PATTEN:— Nest of Little Tern. 191

To arrive at any conclusions as to its formation, it is
necessary to visit as large a colony of terns as possible.
Observations made on one or two nests afford us little help, as
they are liable to variation.

A pair of powerful field-glasses or a binocular telescope are
also essential, so that the nests and their occupants may be
investigated at a distance. Approaching too close frightens
the birds ; often indeed the slightest provocation induces the
whole colony to rise1 from their breeding haunts and so pre-
vent the observer from seeing the birds at work.

We are fortunate enough in having two colonies not far
from Dublin city. One at Kilcool, Co. Wicklow, on the sea
beach ; and the other at the far end of the Dollymount Strand,
or North Bull, Dublin. The nature of the ground differs
somewhat in the two localities, and -correlated with this fact,
the nests are often correspondingly modified. At Kilcool
gravel predominates on the beach ; at Dollymount sand and
shingle {broke?i shells). I^et us describe a nest found in the
latter locality as our type.

In the unfinished state it is seen to consist of a depression
some 5 cm. (2 inches) deep. Viewed from above, the outline
is almost circular, with a diameter at its widest part of 6 to 7J
cm. or nearly 2\ to 3 inches. No shells or pebbles are
contained in the cavity, which at this stage is entirely lined
with sand. Outside, shingles are scattered somewhat abund-
antly. (Fig. i,4).

When seen in vertical section the depression is somewhat
conical or V-shaped, the edges sloping at a definite angle, and
the deepest part or centre being quite narrow.

In section we might represent the appearance diagram--
matically somewhat as in fig. 1 (see next page).

The question now arises — how is this V-shaped depression
excavated? By the feet or the beak ? Or both? Simply to
say that a hole is scratched in the sand affords us no clue as to
its formation. The answer is not so easy as one might be
inclined to anticipate. As far as direct observation goes I
canuot positively assert that I have ever seen the bird using

1 Though easily startled from their nests, the Little Terns are fierce and
courageous, and when they see their eggs or young actually being
plundered, they will boldly fly in the face of their assailants.

A 2

IQ2

The Irish Naturalist.

[September,

either its feet or its beak for the purpose in question. I have
watched different colonies for some hours, with and without a
field glass, and have seen terns sitting in their nests, walking
round them, flying to and fro, but never actually in the act of
digging the hole. Perhaps this part of the procedure is
performed at night ?

These facts led me to think that maybe the depression was
made by a process of what is commonly called by bird fanciers
"breasting." That is to say the bird presses its breast
against the sand, &c, and then commences to rotate back and
forwards through the arc of a circle, and through a vertical
axis passing from the dorsum or back of the bird to its ventral
aspect or breast.

Figure; i. — Diagrammatic representation of a vertical section of the
nest of Sterna minuta in the first or unfinished stage.— C.J. P.

Half natural size,
i. — Sloping wall of nest.

2. — Lowest and narrowest part of depression.
3. — Sand lining nest.
4. — Shingles lying outside the nest.
5. — Sand under the surface of the shingles.

Sparrows "dusting" themselves in the city streets afford
us a crude illustration of this performance. But the shape of
the depression minimises the truth of this theory. fl Breasting"
produces a cup shape and not the conical depression already
described.

If we now neglect this method as a preliminary operation,
it remaixis to ask ourselves, are the feet or the beak brought

1S99J PatTKn.— Nest of Little Tern. 193

mostly into requisition ? Some observers think the feet are
mainly used. But here a difficulty presents itself in this
theory.

The finished excavation is on an average 5 cm. (2 inches)
in depth, whereas the foot (tarso-metatarsus) of the Little Tern
measures only 2 cm. + 1 mm. (| inch nearly) in length. It
is difficult to understand how the bird could balance itself and
at the same time dig a hole, conical in shape, the depth of
which is to be more than twice the length of its feet. The
beak, head, and neck, would be very much in the way, and
the sand could never be thrown up on the surface.

I am strongly inclined to agree with Mr. Williams, and to
believe that the process of excavating is performed mainly, if
not in toto, by the beak.

This structure is admirably adapted for the purpose. Being
relatively long (4 cm. or if inches), wedge-shaped, and
strongly made, it can be used after the fashion of a pick-axe,
until the requisite depth is reached. If at the same time that
the beak was at work, the bird walked round a circle the
centre of which is at its beak and the distance an imaginary
radius from its beak to its feet, the tendency obviously would
be for the depression to assume ultimately a conical form.
This would be more or less pronounced according to the
alterations in the oblique direction of the beak. So much for
the description of the unfinished nest.

When completed and containing the full clutch of two or
three eggs we note that the deepest and narrowest part of the
nest is now filled up with broken shells, which for the
purpose of description wc may term " lining shells" (fig. 2, 1).

Some of these, especially the larger pieces, are pressed
against the upper part of the shelving wall, and may even
reach to the surface.

Immediately surrounding the nest is a " zone" or " girdle "
of comparatively bare sand from which the shingles have been
removed save a few of the larger and more entire examples.
Outside the " zone " shingles are scattered plentifully.

A rough diagrammatic sketch of the completed nest, as seen
in vertical section (containing the three eggs), will serve to
illustrate these remarks, and to make them clearly understood.
(fig. 2).

194

7 he Irish Naturalist.

[September,

I was very much struck with admiration at the appearance
of the " bare zone" when I first discovered it in a well-marked
specimen. But its great interest depends on the fact that it
affords a clue as to how the " lining shells " were actually
deposited in the bottom and along the sides of the nest. I
think it is almost conclusive that they have been picked away
from the mouth of the nest, and dropped or pushed into it,
and not carried for any distance by the bird in its beak, as one
might first perhaps anticipate.

<>". /.

FIGURE 2.— Diagrammatic representation of a vertical section of the
nest of Sterna minuta in the second or finished stage. — C. J. P.

Half natural size.
1.— Lining shells.

2. — Lining shells reaching month of nest.
3.—" Bare zone" or " girdle."
4.— Shingles outside the "zone."
5. — Under surface sand.
6' 6" 6'". — Three Eggs in position in nest.

When we think of the ver3Mrregular shape, and the slippery
nature of broken shells it at once becomes manifest that it
would not be conducive to the comfort of the bird to earn' these
for any distance in its beak. I have never seen terns with
anything but food of some kind (fish or shrimps, &c), in
their beaks, at all events when flying.

Another interesting fact about the "bare zone " is that it is
liable to great variation with regard to distinctness. In some
cases it was very feebly marked, and in others almost absent.
The latter condition was often associated with the fact that the

j399.]

Patten. — Nest of Little Tern.

J95

surrounding shingles were not suitable for "lining" purposes,
the shells being either too large and entire or badly shaped.
Indeed it is quite evident that the Ljttle Tern exercises a
certain amount of choice as to the materials with which it will
line its nest, small fragments of Myidcc and Caidiidcz (Razor
and Cockle valves) being special favourites.

Before proceeding further, it is convenient at this stage to
indicate in a tabulated manner the total number of nests
observed duiing a period of successive years. From these the
average number of nests, constructed like the type already
described, may be calculated. Such nests may conveniently
be termed "typical," whether in the unfinished or finished
state. In the first column the letters N.T. will signify the
total number of nests observed on such and such a year. In
the second column, U.T. stands for the number out of these
which conformed to the unfinished type which has been
described. F.T.Z., in the third column, shows the number of
" Finished Typical" nests with Zone out of the total number,
and A.T., in the last column, stands for " Average Typical"
number of nests, taking finished and unfinished examples
together : —

Tabular view of the total number ofuests of the Little Tern (Sicnia
minnta) observed at Dollymount, near Dublin, from the )ear 1891 to
1899, inclusive, showing also the average number of "typical" nests: —

Year.

N.T. U.T.

F.T.Z.

A.T.

June i8, 189 1,

49

27

13
observed.

30

June 6, 1S92, .

No nests

May 30, 1893,

8

4

2

6

May 30, 1894, .

No nests

observed-

June r3, 1895,

-*

No nests

observed.

June 8, 1896 .

10

6

2

8

June 16, 1897,

4

1

1

2

June 12, 1898,

No nests

observed.

May 21, 1899,

16

5

8

13

tq6 The Irish Naturalist. [September,

Summing up, it appears that the fully-formed nest of the
Little Tern is a definitely excavated structure, conical in
shape, and partially filled up with a choice selection of " lining
shells," on which are deposited two or three eggs, and that
frequently a " bare zone " or " girdie " of sand immediately
surrounds the mouth of the nest,

If we now consider how disproportionately large the eggs
are when compared with the size of the bird that lays them,
it will be seen that a nest shaped like that which I have
attempted to describe will offer special advantages towards
the process of nidification. For when the eggs are laid they
will tend to assume the position in the nest as depicted in fig.
2 (6' 6" 6"'). Here it is seen that the pointed or narrow ends
fall towards the bottom of the cone, and the broader ends look
upwards towards the parent's breast.1

In this way the three eggs occupy a smaller space than if
they lay on their sides, a condition which allows of their being
more completely covered by the parent bird.

The "lining" shells below, by truncating the point of the
cone, sufficiently increase the space for the narrow ends of
the eggs to rest upon (fig. 2, i.)

It is also likely that these shells are heated by the under-
lying sand, and that the increase of temperature reaches the
lower parts of the eggs either by conduction or radiation, at
the same time that the rest of the surface of the eggs is
receiving heat from the body temperature of the mother.

The third illustration (plate 9) is reproduced from a photo-
graph. It is taken from nature and shows the nest undis-
turbed, with its general surroundings.

The " bare zone " is plainly seen and tolerably pronounced,
being only interrupted by a large "razor" and a "collier"
shell, which are seen lying somewhat across its path (plate 9, b).

The true conception of the depth of the nest and of the
position of the eggs, as seen from above, appears somewhat
misleading. This is difficult to avoid, being due to the usual

1 Sometimes only two of the eggs assume this position, the third one
lying altogether on its side. See Irish Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 57. Here a
nest of the Common Tern {Sterna Jluviatilis) is shown photographed from
nature by Mr. Welch, at Me\\ Island, Belfast Lough. The right hand
egg is shown lying on its side.

1899.] Patten. — Nest 0/ Little Tern. 197

" contortion " or " telescoping " which so frequently is seen in
a photograph illustrating a cavity. At the same time the
picture is as good as could be obtained in the field, and my
best thanks are due to my friend, Mr. W. D. Latimer, for the
care and trouble he has bestowed upon the subject.

There is little to add, except that the conclusions which I
have drawn are only based on the results of a limited number of
observations, and these have been confined to a narrow
district, and are therefore of a rather local nature.

It is therefore not improbable that the Little Tern's nest, in
some other localities, may not altogether conform with the
type which I have endeavoured to describe. One would
expect this all the more where gravel or weeds replace the
sand and shingle. However, speaking generally, I think it
may be said, that in suitable localities where sand and shingle
are obtainable the Little Tern constructs a nest which in its
formation displays more care and skill than it has hitherto
been credited with by most observers.

Trinity College, Dublin.

OBITUARY.

PROFESSOR SIR FREDERICK M'COY, K.C.M.G., D.SC., F.R.S.

Irish naturalists will not forget the debt they owe to M'Coy, though
he has lived at the other side of the world for the last 40 years. Born
at Dublin in 1823, he studied medicine in his native city and at Cam-
bridge ; but was drawn off when quite young to the pursuit of natural
science. In conjunction with Sir R. Griffith he investigated the fossils
of the Irish rakeozoic rocks, his monograph on the Carboniferous
fossils being published in 1844, and that on the Silurian in 1846. After
a few years of Survey work he was appointed Professor of Geology and
Mineralogy in the Queen's University, and he lectured in the Belfast
College. In 1852 a large book on British Palaeozoic fossils was published
by him, under the auspices of the Cambridge University. He was then
appointed to the Chair of Natural Science in the University of Melbourne,
where he also founded and directed the National Museum of Victoria.
He published numerous papers on the zoology and geology of Australia,
and in the museum under his care he adopted, at a very early date, some
striking and original features in the arrangement of the collections. At
this congenial work he continued almost till his death, which took place
on May 16th of this year. We are indebted to a notice in the Geological
Magazine for June for the facts and dates here given.

198 The Irish Naturalist. [September,

NOTES ON THE FLORA OF THE COUNTIES OF
ARMAGH, DOWN, ANTRIM, AND DERRY.

BY G. CLARIDGE DRUCE, M.A., F.L-S.

In the August of last year I spent a few days in the North of
Ireland, making my headquarters at Belfast. It was not
likely that any important discovery could be made in a part of
the country which has been so well and systematically worked
as that portion of Ireland has been by so painstaking and
enthusiastic a botanist as my veteran friend, Mr. S. A. Stewart,
and his coadjutors. But perhaps I may be excused for
enumerating a few plants and some notes on a few critical
forms which I noticed either when in the company of Mr.
Stewart, to whom I am much indebted for kind guidance, or
during a few solitary rambles.

Ranunculus acris, Linn, var StcvenI (Andrj). — Glenarin, &c,
Co. Antrim.

Saponarla officinalis, Linn — Noticed near Toome Bridge, Co.
Derry.

Sag-in a marltlma, Don. — Portrush, Co. Antrim.

Erodium cicutarium, L'Herit. — On the Newcastle sandhills, in Co.
Down, a very pretty form was noticed, which, according to the
description, must be very near if not identical with the var. dissectum,
Rouy et Foucaud, "Flore de France," iv., p. io& = E. cicutarium, var.
charophyllum, D.C. Fl. Fr,v., p. 840, which is distinguished from
E. pimpinellifolium, vSibth., by " Feuilles toutes a segments profonde-
ment piunitartites, a rachis assez etroit." The former has " Feuilles
au moins les inferieures a segments simplement incises pinnatifides,
a rachis large." M. Rouy has not yet replied to my query as to
whether the Irish form is identical with his var. dissectum. The
same form occurred on the Wigtown coast.

IYIIlIegrana Radiola, Roth.= A'adio/a Millegrana, Sm. — Newcastle
sandhills. Co. Down.

Viola tricolor, L.— Near Lough Gilly, in Co. Armagh, a pretty form of
this plant was noticed. Herr Freyn suggests that it may be under
V. tricolor, L. — V. saxatilis, Schmidt, var. Sagoti, Rouy and Foucaud,
"Flore de France," Hi., p. 43= V. tricolor, var. Sagoti (Jord. Obs.
Fragm. ii., p. 34), Gren. and Godr., Flore de France, i., p. 1S4.

Anthyllis Vulncraria, Linn. — I should refer to the var. maritima,
Koch, plants seen on the coast between Portrush and the Giant's
Causeway.

Ononis spinosa, Linn. — I think I saw this in some pastures near
Coleraine, Derry, but unfortunately I did not collect specimens.

*%>9-J Druck.— Flora of N.E- Ireland.

199

Rubus Rogers! I, Linton— Near Toome Bridge, Co. Derry, in some
plenty ; it grew between the station and Lough Neagh.

R. Selmeri, Lindeb.- -Cave Hill, near Belfast ; Glenarm, Co. Antrim;
Toome Bridge, Co. Derry ; near Lough Gilly. Co. Armagh. Rather
frequent in the North of Ireland.

R. pulcherrimus, Neum.— Toome Bridge, Co. Derry.

R. LincUeianus, Lees.— A pretty form of this grew near Lough Gilly,
Co. Armagh.

R. pal I Id us, Bab. non Weihe. — Near Toome Bridge, Co. Derry.

Rosa villosa, Linn., var. nuda = A\ mollis, Sm., var. ««</a.-A form of
this species with the peduncles and calyx-tube free from bristles
grew on Cave Hill, Co. Antrim. The type occurred on Harbour
Islaud, Co. Derry, and elsewhere in the four counties.

R. mollissima, Willd., var. subgIot)Osa=i?. tomentosa, Sin., var.
subglobom (Sm.) — Near Bushmills, Co. Antrim.

R. glauca, Villi — Cave Hill, Co. Antrim ; near Lough Neagh, Co.
Derry; near Mullaghmore, Co. Armagh. Two or three different
forms were observed

R. glauca, Vill , var. csesla (Sm.)=A\ coriifolia, Fries.— Cave Hill,
Co. Antrim. Lough Neagh, Co. Derry.

R. dumetorum, Thuill. — Near Lough Gilly, Co. Armagh ; near Toome
Bridge, Co. Derry.

R. dumalis, Bechst.— Glenarm, &c, Co. Antrim. Lough Neagh, &c.
Co. Derry.

Agrimonia odorata, Mill —Near Glenarm, Co. Antrim.

Alchemllla vulgaris, var. fllicaulls (Buser) — On the Cave Hill,
Co. Antrim.

Callltrlche obtusangula, Le Gall. -Mr. S. A. Stewart has already
recorded in the Irish Naturalist, 1899, p. 114, our discovery of this near
Belfast, in Co. Down, in brackish ditches near the Victoria Park.

Galium verum, Linn., var. litorale, Brebisson. — On the sandhills at
Newcastle, Co. Down.

C. IVIoIIugo, Linn., var. angustifolium, G. Beck —Near Cave Hill,
Antrim. Shown to me by Mr. S. A. Stewart. The Austrian botanists
do not agree with us in regard to C. erectum, Huds. Beck places it
as a variety of Mollugo. Plants referred to Beck's var. angustifolium, by
Herr Freyn would be named G. eratum, Huds., by many British
botanists. I am awaiting the opinion of H. Braun (who has made
the form of G. Mollugo a special study for some time), on forms of
the Irish Galii which Mr. Stewart has sent me.

Arctium Intermedium, Lange. — To this I should refer some plants
gathered near Toomebridge, Co. Derry.

*Gentiana baltica, Murbeck.— On the sandhills at Newcastle, Co.
Down. I also found it on the Wigtown coast.

flVIImuIus moschatus, Douglas. —Naturalised in a small stream at
Tollymore Park, Co. Down.

20o The Irish Naturalist. [September,

IYIelampyrum pratcnse, Linn , var. hfans, Druce.- Abundant in
the beautiful Glenariff gorge, Co. Antrim, and also by the river in
Tollymore Park, Co. Down.
Rhinanthus Crista-galli, Linn., var. fallax, Wimm. and Grab —

Near Toomebridge, Co. Antrim.
Galeopsis Tetrahit, Linn., var. nigricans, Brebisson, Fl. de la

Normandie, p. 246. — Near Lough Beg, Co. Antrim, and by Lough

Neagh in potato fields, Co. Derry. This has the " Calyce noiratres

munis de trves longues dents."
Galeopsis Tetrahit, Linn., var. bifida (Boenn.)— Toome, in Cos. Derry

and Antrim,
G. speciosa, Miller.— Near Toome, plentiful, Co. Antrim.
Thymus Serpyllum, Linn., var. Linnaeanus, Gren. et Godr. Fl.

Fr. ii , 658.— Cave Hill, Belfast, teste Herr Freyn.
Utricularia major, Schmidel = U. neglecla. Lehm. — Mullaghmore,

Co. Armagh.
? Atriplex calotheca, Fries— I think it probable that a plant from

the coast near Newcastle, Co. Down, may prove to be this species, as

it is closely allied to my Wigtown specimens which Herr Freyn

names A. calotheca.
Potamogeton gramineum, Linn.—/', heterophyllus, Schreb. — River

Baun near Toomebridge.
Carex flava, Linn., var. Iepidocarpa(Tausch). — Mullaghmore Lough,

Co. Armagh, teste the Ffarrer Kiikenthal. Near Harbour Island, Co.

Derry.
C. flava, Linn, var. cedocarpa, Anders— Lough Beg, Co. Antrim.
C. CEderl, Retz. and vSymc. — Shores of Longh Neagh, Co. Derry.
C. Goodenowii, Gay, var elatior, Lange, 1. angustifolia.— Harbour

Island, Co. Derry.
C. rostrata, Stokes, var. Iatifolia (Ascherson) = C. rhynchophysa

Praeger in Herb. Kew. ! Mullaghmore Lough, Co. Armagh. See

Journ. Linn. Soc. (1899), pp. 276-9.
C. rostrata, Stokes, var. sparganiformis, Murray. — Mullaghmore

Longh, Co. Armagh, teste the Ffarrer Kiikenthal.
Agrostis alba, Linn., var. coarctata (Hoffm.) —Abundant in the

marshes near Lough Beg, Co. Antrim, and in islands in Lough

Neagh, Co. Derry.
Koeleria cristata, Pers.— Portrush, Co. Antrim.

High-street, Oxford.

1899] 201

THE NAMES OF BIRDS.

A Clossary of Popular, Local, and Old-fashioned Names of
British Birds, by Charges Louis Hett. Brigg: Jacksons.
London : Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. Price 6d.

Mr. Hett has reprinted, with some additional matter, the glossary of
local bird-names which appeared as an appendix to his "Dictionary of
Bird-Notes." As it had little connection with the subject-matter of the
Dictionary, it was there rather thrown away, and to have it separate is a
distinct improvement. The additions now made are also very welcome.
Some two thousand local names were printed in the original glossary,
and about four hundred others are now added, giving as an average rather
more than six local English names to every British bird. The most re-
grettable feature about the book is that the old and new matter have not
been dove-tailed, but appear as two separate glossaries. It is of less con-
sequence that the B. O. U. list of 1S83, which the author uses, does not
contain all the birds now recognized as " British," for of course none of
the mere stragglers added of late years have any right to " local or
popular" names. Mr. Hett appears to have made out a very exhaustive
list, containing nearly five times as many names as appear in the similar
glossary appended to Gordon's " Our Country's Birds, and how to know
them" ; and we think he has succeeded in including most of those com-
monly used in Ireland. Among the omissions, however, are " Sally-
pecker" (the all-but-universal rustic appellation in this country for the
Willow-wren and Chiffchaff); "Ground Lark" (applied somewhat mis-
cellaneously, but chiefly to the Sky-lark); «■ Royal Gull" for Laras mar-
inns ; " Kite " for any Harrier, and " Cat-Owl " for Asio otus. Some of our
local names are but slight variations on others which appear in Mr.
Hett's book; e.g., with us the Mistle-thrush is "Jay," not "Jay-pie," and
the Hooded Crow "Scald Crow," not "Scale Crow"; while the Wren
(about Dublin) is not a " Scutty, ' but a " Scut." "Tweet," a local name
for the Meadow Pipit, might also have been given. It is in common use
in the Isle of Man, and probably elsewhere. Mr. Hett invites those of
his readers who can supply further additions to communicate with him.
and in doing so they will materially increase the value of what is already

a very excellent little book.

J C. B. M.

202 The Irish Naturalist. [September,

A BOOK ON INSECTS.

Insects: their Structure and Life. A Primer of Ento-
mology. By George H. Carpenter, b.sc, Loud. London,
1899 : J. M. Dent & Co. xii. & 404 pp. ; 183 figures. Price, \s. 6d.
net.

Mr. Carpenter modestly prefaces his "Primer" by saying " Not one,
even of the many books made iu these days, is likely to be thought
superfluous by its author." Although publishers' lists are increasinglj-
flooded with "popular" works on Entomology, the present volume is
certainly not at all unnecessary, but will be the very thing that young
students of limited means have long been anxious to obtain, and
should stimulate the " mere collector " to regard his captures more
as material for morphological or biological investigations. There is not
another work — in the English language, at least— of similar size and inex-
pensiveness, which presents a general sketch of Entomology so exhaus-
tive and withal so lucid and interesting in its treatment.

It is necessarily largely a compilation, but the selection of subjects
has been very judicious — scarcely a point of general interest having been
omitted— and the space devoted to each topic is fairly distributed.
There are one or two slight inaccuracies here and there, and there are
several points at which the captious critic could carp, but the reputa-
tion of the author will be an ample guarantee of its general accuracy,
and the debatable subjects have still many supporters on both sides.

The work embraces six chapters, and is completed by a bibliography
and an index. The chapters are entitled as follows : —
I. The Form of Insects, pp. 1-83.
II. The Life-history of Insects, pp. 84-127.

III. The Classification of Insects, pp. 128-159.

IV. The Orders of Insects, pp. 160-280.

V. Insects and their surroundings, pp. 281-343.
VI The Pedigree of Insects, pp. 344-378.

The opening chapter is devoted to a general consideration of the
"Form" of Insects, the familiar Cockroach being selected as a type.
We of the human race are not sufficiently grateful to "Nature" for
having preserved to us an insect so little specialised, so easy of access,
so sufficiently numerous in individuals, and of so convenient a size for
examination.

The account has evidently been largely drawn up from Miall and
Denny's classic monograph, modified and extended by a practical know-
ledge of the subject and a sagacious acquaintance with entomological
literature, particularly perhaps from Marlatt and Benton's papers in the
publications of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. After a general descrip-
tion of the external morphology, the nerves and sense organs are
discussed, followed by a resumd of our knowledge of the muscular, cir-
culatory, respiratory, aliinentarj", and reproductive systems.

1 899. J A Book on Insects. 203

Although the nomenclature adopted for genera and species is not
always in accord with the strict law of priority, it is refreshing to find
that the usurping " Periplaneta" has been discarded, and the ancient
"Blatta" restored.

There is one point here, however, upon which, as a candid critic, I
canuot congratulate Mr. Carpenter, and that is his morphological
nomenclature. "Segment" is rightly substituted for the erroneously
but unhappily almost universally employed "joint," but where such
terms as, for example — "thorax," "abdomen," "antennae," "tibia,"
"tarsus," u salivary glands," etc., are in constant use by workers in all
countries, it seems a mistaken policy to employ such uncouth terms as
*" fore-body," "hind-body," "feelers," "shin," "foot," "spittle-glands,"
etc., and the substitution of the hideous "in-pushing" for "invagina-
tion " cannot be commended.

Chapter 2 sketches the life-history of insects from the egg, through
fertilisation, and the development of the embryo to the emergence of
the imago, while the author has not forgotten to touch upon such
obscure and interesting phenomena as virgin reproduction, larval
reproduction and hypermetamorphosis.

The third chapter sets forth the classification of Insects, or rather —
the nomenclature of their classification. "Variety" and " Species,"
and the causes of variation are discussed — Polyommatus astrarche, its
varieties and allies, being taken as instances — leading to the origin of
species, natural selection, the utility of specific characters; etc. It is
in this chapter that the author displays more particularly his originality
of treatment, and it is one that every young student ought to read
carefully.

Mr. Carpenter sets forth very clearly the various theories now holding
the field, but though he wisely cautions the reader to " suspend judg-
ment," he openly and boldly refuses to " subscribe to the ' all sufficiency'
of natural selection." It is remarkable, however, that many theories
tend to point back to " natural selection '" in the end, e.g., the last-named
is dismissed as inapplicable in dealing with the atrophy of vision in
cave insects, but the alternative " economy of nutrition " is really
only natural selection under another name (p. 288).

Chapter 4 deals with the orders of insects, concisely enumerating the
salient characteristics of the various families, and although these are not
in every instance rigorously accurate when applied to extra-Britannic
forms, they appear to be sufficient to enable the young student to locate
any British Insect in its proper family.'' Fifteen orders are considered
more or less valid, and are arranged in the following secp:ience.(pp.
162-4):— Collembola, Thysanura, Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Platyptera
(Stone-flies, etc.), Thysanoptera, Ilemiptera, Plectoptera (Mayflies),
Odonata, Neuroptera (Lacewings, etc.), Coleoptera, Trichoptera,
Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera.

* " Body " (corpus^ corps, Kvrper, etc.) being used to denote the whole
insect) " fore-body " is surely strictly equivalent to the head, and not to
the thorax !

204 The Irish Naturalist. [September,

There is one positive mistake in this ehapter that I call attention to,
although it does not strictly refer to the British Fauna, and that is the
inclusion of the Belostomatida among the Nepidtc (" Some tropical Nepidcc
attain a gigantic size," p. 191). The true position and affinities of the
Nepida are extremely obscure, but they are probably as far removed from
the Belostomatidz as a Sesiid from a Pierid ! Our present scanty know-
ledge points to their descent from Reduvioid ancestors, the Be/ostomatidie
proceeding from an Acanthioid through a Naucoroid stock ; the Corixidce
and later Notonectid<By are doubtless from the last-named. The Nepidcc
differ entirely from the other Hydrocorisse, in facies, in structure, and in
habits ; the long posterior respiratory tubes (modified pleura) which are
so marked a feature of the NcpidiC, are quite absent in the Bclostontatidic,
where the pleura are more or less normal, while the short strap-like
processes in the latter are connected with the sexual organs.

In the Lepidoptera, Mr. Carpenter does not consider the old divisions
of Rhopalocera and Heterocera scientific, nor does he adopt the Jugatoe
and Frenatae of Comstock, the Incomplete and Obtectae of Chapman,
nor Packard's exclusion of the Micropterygida to found a sub-order
(Laciniata), distinct from all the other families (Haustellata). "On the
whole it is better not to adopt any division of the Lepidoptera between
the order and the family." Forty-six families are recognised, the principal
being placed in the following order : — Microptoygidcr, Eriocraniida-,
Hcpialidtc, Zyganida, Psychidce, Cossidcc, Scsiidtv, Tortricida, Tincidiv, Ptcro-
phoridce, Pyralidce, Lasiocauip'uhe, Lymantriidce, Arctiidiv^ Noctuidw, Sphingidcc,
Geometridce, Uraniida, Bombycida, Saturniides, Hesperiida, Lyccetiida,
Popi/ioiiidiC, Fieri Ju , and NympJialidtc. The author does not agree with
Grote that the raniassi-Papi/ionidcT should terminate the series, but
considers the NymplialiJ<€ as the dominant family, and ends the
Lepidoptera with the Satyrinee.

The Diptera are divided into three groups : Aphaniptera, Orthorrhapa,
and Cvclorrhapa ; the recent researches, however, of Heymons {Zoo/.
Anzeiger, xxii. 1899, pp. 223-40), lend support to the view that the Fleas
should form a separate order.

The fifth chapter deals with Insects and their surroundings The sub-
joined list of topics shows that very little of importance and interest has
been omitted, viz. : Abundance of Insect life, Cave Insects, Freshwater
and Marine Insects, Geographical Distribution, Vegetable-feeders,
Scavengers, Insects of Prey, Parasites, the various significances of
colouring, Sexual Modification, Family and Social Life, and Insects in
relation to Man.

Chapter 6 briefly sketches the relationship of the Insect-orders,
not only among themselves — past and present—but in comparison with
the other orders of the Arthropoda.

"The names of authorities are not mentioned in the text, but reference
figures in heavy type call attention to the bibliography at the end of the
book," where 217 representative and well up-to-date titles will be found.
These should prove very useful to the young worker. The book is

1 899. 1 A Book on Insects. 205

liberally illustrated with 183 figures, of which many are from Miall and
Denny's "Cockroach" (19 per cent.), and still more from the publica-
tions of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (56 per cent). A good index
completes the volume, which is well printed and suitably " got up."

In fine, I can cordially recommend the book to young entomologists
as one admirable in every way.

Mr. Carpenter has headed each of the chapters with one or two
quotations from various authors, from Cowper to Darwin ! It may not
therefore be inappropriate to close this critique — or rather, appreciation
— by appl}ing to the author himself the well-worn, but ever fresh
lines : —

"Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
" Atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum

" Subiecit pedibus "

G. W. Kirkaldy.

NOTES

We have received from Mr. H. Lyster Jameson, a paper on the
anatomy and histology of Thalassema Nepiuni, which formed his inaugural-
dissertation lor the degree of ph d., at the Heidelberg University. We
heartily congratulate Dr. Jameson on his memoir, which shows traces
of careful research. We hear that he is now on his way to the Conflict
Islands, in the Coral Sea, near Papua, where he is to survey a proposed
pearl-fisher}'. All Irish naturalists will wish him godspeed.

Dr. Forsyth-Major, whose fame as a palaeontologist is world-wide
has been working through the fossil mammals, .&c, preserved in the
Dublin Museum of Science and Art. Some interesting papers may be
expected as the result of his researches.

An important outcome of the recent visit of Dr. Fcrsyth -Major to
Dublin has been the formation of a committee to carry out further
investigations of the cave deposits of this island. Caves which sheltered
the men and wild animals of former days abound in many parts of the
country, and only one or two of them have been systematically examined,
so interesting results may be expected. The committee consists of
Dr. Scharff (Chairman), Dr. Major, R. J. Ussher, Professor Cole, George
Coffey, and R. Lloyd Praeger (Secretary). They are to be congratulated
on having secured the active co-operation of Dr. Major, the first
authority in Europe on the subject. Work will, it is hoped, be com-
menced next .spring.

Our readers who collect worms for the Rev. Hilderic Friend, will
please take note that he has removed from Ocker Hill, Tipton, to
Chichester, Sussex.

»o6 The Irish Naturalist. [September,

BOTANY.

Cybeie Hibernica and its Critic.

In the Journal of Botany for July, the editors of Cybclc Hibernica reply
to the remarks of Rev. E. vS. Marshall, which appeared iu the June
number, and on which we briefly commented in our last issue. The
August number of the Journal of 'Botany contains a further paper by Mr.
Marshall, " On the probable status of some Irish Plants," containing
some interesting statements and arguments on the subject of certain
plants of doubtful standing. The discussion is an interesting one, and
will no doubt be attentively followed by Irish botanists.

Geranium pyrenaicum in South-cast Galway.

As Geranium pyrenaicum has not been recorded from District VI. in
Cybele Hibemica (1898 Ed.), it may be worth mentioning as found growing
plentifully by the roadside in one locality in the parish of Kilconicky,
near Craughwell. in July and August of the present year.

Margaret E. Joyce.

St Clerau's, Craughwell.

Isoctcs Iacustris in Lough Neaerh.

The small part of Count)' Down which touches Lough Neagh is

separated from County Antrim by a streamlet that enters the lough at

a little bay at Annadroughal. A very short distance from this point,

Isoetes /acustris, which is there to be claimed for both counties, occurs

in considerable quantity, as I had the pleasure of observing in

the middle of last June. Doubtless that part of the shore just indicated

has oft times been botanically examined, but the plant growing, as it

does, where the water has a depth of three or tour feet, can hardly be

seen save in passing over it in a boat.

J. II. Dayihs.

Iyisburn.

ZOOLOGY.

Ireland and Kamchatka.

In the Scottish Geographical Magazine^ 1899 (pp. 225-256), Mr. G. E- II.
Barrett-Hamilton gives an interesting account of his visit to Kamchatka,
when in the far north-east in connection with the Fur-seal Enquiry.
Several comparisons are made between the fauna of Kamchatka, and
that of the British Isles Among the sea-birds such familiar species
as the Common Gull, the Kittiwake, and the Guillemot were observed,
but not the Little Auk or the Razorbill. " The Magpie and the Carrion
Crow are as evident as in England, but one misses the familiar forms of
Rook, Jackdaw and Starling." One point of similarity between the
Kamchatka and Irish faunas is "the intermingling of Arctic forms with
those which we are more accustomed to associate with the sunny south."

I899-1 Notes. 207

INSECTS.

Bembidium paludosum, Panz, at Lough Neagh.

On June 19th I made an expedition to Lough Neagh in the hope of
meeting with either Dysckirius obscurus or Silpha dispar. A kind friend
drove me from Fortadown to the lake-shore at Derryadd. Finding,
however, that the lake was too high for any hope of captures, I pushed
on to Ardmore. Here again the high level of the water proved a draw-
back, and I soon saw that there was no chance of either of the species I
had hoped to meet with. However there were ,come beetles to be found
under debris, and accordingly I set to work, assisted by Mrs. Johnson
and my friend's little daughter. I soon noticed Bembidium bipufictaium
and along with it a Bembidium which was strange to my eye. This, on
examination, proved to be B. faludosum, Panz. I did not get many, for
there were but few insects stirring, but no doubt had the state of the
shore been more favourable I should have met with a considerable
number. I cannot find any recent record of its occurrence in Ireland.
Haliday gives it in his list among beetles captured near Belfast, and
Fowler adds Lough Neagh and Kerry It is possible that this beetle may
like others 011I3" be found in the perfect state at one period of the year,
and, consequently, unless searched for at that particular time, will not
be met with.

W. F. Johnson.

Poyntzpass.

Noteworthy Lepidoptera.

Readers of the Irish Naturalist may be on the look-out for certain
interesting species of Lepidoptera which usually occur after a warm
season, such as the present; more especially as it follows upon a pre-
ceding year of more than usual sun-heat. Already throughout the
summer the Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossa stellatarum) has been
exceedingly numerous in our gardens, and larvae of the great Death's-
head Moth {Acherontia atropos), have been reported to me by Mr. W. B.
Thoruhill, of Castle-Bellingham, feeding on the common Euonymus
or Spindle-tree. They should be looked for in the potato fields,
and an outlook should be kept for their large black pupae at
potato-digging. We may also expect an immigration of the beautiful
"orange-coloured butterfly Colias edusa in the United Kingdom ; and
probably other Hawk-moths beside those alluded to above will be
reported as the autumn proceeds— sucTi as DcHephila gain, D. Ih-ornica,
and Sphinx convolvuli, flying about Honeysuckle and other flowers as
dusk approaches.

Wm. Fr as. dk V. Kank.

Drumreaske, Monaghan.

[Mr. Kane will notice that Colias cdusa has been observed both in the
north and south of Ireland (p. 20S). We have received caterpillars of
Acherontia alropos from Cos. Kildare, Wexford, and Waterford.— Kns.]

2o8 The Irish Naturalist. [September,

Colias edusa in Co. Donegal.

T saw during August near here a male specimen of the Clouded Yellow.
Of course I did not attempt to capture it; but watched it for some
minutes. As it is an unique experience for me in this part of the British
Isles, I send the information, in case it may interest readers of the Irish

Naturalist.

K. Thompson.
Convo)T, Co. Donegal.

Colias edusa in Co. Waterford.

On the ioth August I saw four specimens of this butterfly, and
succeeded in capturing one, a male. On the following day I saw another.
The Clouded Yellow is decidedly rare about here in most seasons, and
many years pass without my being able to see a single specimen.

Wiijjam W. Filming.
Coolfin, Portlaw, Co. Waterford.

Vespa rufa and other Wasps in Co. Wexford,

At Ballyhyland we have had the same remarkable abundance of the
pale wasp, Vespa rufa, this 3'ear, as is reported by Mr. Cuthbert (p. 163)
from Co. Clare, and by Mr. Buckle (p. 164) from Co. Derry. Along every
hedge-bank its light }Tellow form was constantly to be seen throughout
June. I took a considerable number of specimens in hopes of finding
the rare V. aust/iaca among them, but unsuccessfully. Vespa rufa occurs
in some numbers every year at Ballyhyland, but not in profusion as it
has done this summer.

V. vulgaris is fairly, not remarkably, plentiful, and, like Mr. Buckle,
have not seen a single specimen of V. germanica. The workers of this
wasp often seem quite as plentiful at Ballyhyland as those of V. vulgaiis,
but the perfect females are always, I think, comparatively scarce. Still
it is curious not to meet w7ith one throughout the whole of May and
June.

Vespa sylvc-slris is every year common at Ballyhyland, and may be taken
in any number at flowers of either of the figworts, Scrophularia nodosa and
S. aqualica, particularly the latter. The fondness of wasps for figwort is
notorious, but I have never seen it noted that the majority of the wasps
which swarm about this flower are generally V. sylvestris. At Ballyhyland
I find V. sylvestris compose at least 75 per cent, of the figwort-hunting
wasps; and this has been the case every summer since I first noticed the
peculiarity in August, 1894 ; in that season, by the way, I could find no
other wasp at figwort at all.

Vespa norvegica seems very rare here ; I have not seen it this summer,
but last year I caught a few with V. sylvestris at figwort, the only live
specimens I had ever met with.

C. B. MOKFAT.
Ballyhyland, Co. Wexford.

1899.]

Notes.

209

Wasp Notes.

Although an occasional queen wasp may still be met with, the season
during which they are to be caught in large numbers is now past, so that
one can note the results of the season's catch.

I was away from Ireland till June 27th, but in the fortnight following
that date I was paying visits in the North of Ireland, at Bangor, Co.
Down, and near Kilrea, Co. Derry. While there I caught a considerable
number of queens, and even so early as that I caught a good many
workers, Vcspa rufa, V. norvegica, and V. sylvestrts, being the most common.

During my absence from home I instructed my gardener to catch
queen wasps for me here, the following being the results of the catches
in the three places named : —

Fetiagh,
Co. Carlow.

Nr. Kilrea,
Co. Derry.

Bangor,
Co. Down.

Vcspa vulgaris,

28

—

2

„ germanica,

1

-

-

„ rufa,

148

72

4i

„ sylvestris ,

43

6

-

„ norvegica,

2

-

4

,, austriaca, .

4

4

6

226

82

53

The vast majority were caught on bushes of Cotoneaster Symondsi. This
shrub has a very great attraction for wasps when in flower, which this
year was the end of June and early part of July.

I planted some of this shrub here some years ago for the purpose of
killing queen wasps on it, and have been very successful for several years
past in reducing the number of nests about, but before this year have not
taken note of the various species killed.

The great fascination this plant has for queen wasps may possibly be
of interest to collectors. A friend of mine tells me that one year he killed
over a thousand queens on some plants of it in his garden. The great
numbers of V. rufa this year, both in this part and in the north of Ireland
is interesting, as I do not ever remember noticing this wasp here before.

I examined some hundreds of workers here last autumn, but found

nothing but V. vulgaris. Nests of V. rufa should be common this year,

and there should be ample opportunities for confirming Mr. Robson's

observations on the inquiline nature of V. austriaca which also seems to

have been met writh in larger numbers than usual.

Dknis R. Fack-Beresford.
Fenagh House, Bagnalstowu.

2io The If isJi Naturalist. [September,

MAMMALS.

Supposed Occurrence of the Lesser Rorqual in

the Swilly.

With reference to the note which appeared on page 30 of the current
volume of the Irish Naturalist, might I suggest that, as the cetacean in
question has not yet been identified, and that there is nothing to show
in the note that it may not prove, when identified, to be quite another
species, the title " Cesser Rorqual in the Swill)'" is distinctly mis-
leading, and likely to give a very erroneous impression to many readers ?

But this is not my only complaint. On the previous page of the same
number there is a letter from the correspondent who is responsible
for the note to which I have already referred, in which he compares the
stranding of the supposed Lesser Rorqual with that of a Black Fish on
the same beach, and draws deductions therefrom as to the composition
of the Irish fauna !

From whatever point of view we regard them, the printing of such
uncertain communications in the Irish Naturalist, to which we all look for
an example of scrupulous accuracy, is deplorable, and I trust that some
small amends will shortly be made by the correction or confirmation of
the objectionable note.

G. E. H. Barrktt-Hamii/ton.

Kilmauock, Arthurstown, Waterford.

GEOLOGY.

Pleistocene Fossils from Co. Antrim.

In working out a small parcel of washings of the Estuarine Clay

of Magheramorne, collected by myself, I find a number of unnoticed items

that may be interesting to put on record as additional to the fauna of

Estuarine Clay at this place.

Decapoda — Cancer pagurus, Carcinas nuenas, Pilumnus hirtellus, Port units
corrugatus, P. pusillus, all represented by their chelae.

KnTomostraCA— Cytlicrc albomaculata (1 valve)), C. convexa (frequent),
C. I u tea (mostly female), Cpellucida (1 valve), C. villosa (rare). Loxoeoncha
impressa (few, mostly male), Pontocypris my ti bides (few), Zestotebris depressa
(2 valves).

RAlfANlD.'E — Verruca stromia, Balanus sp.

EcillNODERMATA — Eeliinus eseu'eu/us, E. mi/iaris, E. norvegicus, Echinoear-
diuni cordatus, all in detached plates and spines.

A.NNJSI/IDA— Spirorbis corrugatus^ S. heterosirophus.

MoiJ,USCA — Aclis supranitida, Fissureila gracat Homabgyra atomus, II. rota
(v.r.), leffeysia opalina, Pherusa gulsone 1 Rissoa cancellata, Skenea
planorbis, Trochus {Solarium) acutangulatum. (I figured in the Proc.
Yorkshire Phil. Soc. in 1S93 one of several examples collected
in the interglacial deposit at Selsey, in Sussex, which M. Dolfuss
thought might be a Mediterranean form ; I am unable to correlate
it with the young of any Northern shell, and as I have found
several specimens believe it to be an overlooked Irish shell.)

iS99-] Notes. 211

~POL,YZO\—Alysidora labrosa, Cellularia reptans (coiiiinoii), Cellepora pumicosa,
Hippothoa catenularia (inside of M. modiolus), Microporella violacea,
Muceonella Ptachii, M. variolosa, Membranipora m.mostachys (coating the
outside of P. opercular is), Schizoporella hyaliua, Scrupocellaria scruposa,
mostly rare, in well preserved fragments.
MISCELLANEOUS. — Melobesia, sp., Liihotkamnion^ sp. , Zoslcra marina, sponge
tissue, and spicules perhaps of Thensa muricata.

ALFRED BELL.
Guildford, Surrey.

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Recent gifts include three Spider-monkeys and a pair of Squirrels from
Mr. J. Hogg, a Parakeet from Sir T. F. Brady, a pair of Knots from Mr.
R. Warren, and a Kestrel from Mr. G. H. George A Great Wallaroo, a
Red Kangaroo, a pair of Bennett's Wallabies, a Striped Hyena, and a
Nigger Monkey have been bought.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.
This Society held their fourth field meeting for the present session on
the nth, 12th, and 13th July in Dungiven and the valley of the Roe.
The conductor's whistle sounded ' to business," and all were on the
march to the beautiful grounds of Roe Park, on the left bank of the River
Roe, and within a mile of kimavady. Here the party were met by the
proprietor, Mr J. J{. Ritter, who conducted all to the summit of the re-
puted Drumcatt, where a great native assembly was held ad. 575. At
this .spot the formal field meeting was constituted, and Mr. John Vinv-
comb, M.R.I. A., was elected chairman, who, after a brief address, asked
the conductor, Mr. W. Gray, M.R.I. A., to explain the proposed pro-
gramme, which was done, and a general discussion followed. O'Cahan's
Rock and Castle were visited, and the very best views of the fine scenery
of the river Roe were pointed out; and, coming to more matter-of-fact
subjects, Mr. Ritter explained how he had succeeded in making use of
the water power of the river to generate the electric power which is now
used to work manufacturing machinery in Roe Park and to light Eoe
Park House and the town of kimavad}*. The naturalists walked on to
Carrick Rocks, a very fine gorge cut cn.it of the Siluriau rocks by the
River Roe. The banks at each side are about 60 feet high, and give
capital sections for study. Being now four miles from headquarters, cars
met the part}7, for the return journey, calling at Ardmore, where Mrs.
Macrory entertained the explorers. A visit was paid to Drenagh, where
Mr. M. M'Causland conducted the party to the old church of Druma-
chose, and pointed out the reputed grave of Fin M'Ouillan. The party
then returned to the hotel for dinner, after which a walk was taken to
the old fort on the Derry road. The banks above the pool are clothed

212 7 he Irish Naturalist. [September, 1899.

with the Beech Fern and numerous other plants. An excellent section of
primitive limestone also occurs here, traversing the metamorphic rocks,
ati'l good specimens were secured, as well as very fine examples of quartz,
which occurs sometimes in very clear, large crystals, and is known as
" Dungiven diamonds." After a rest at Carniban, or the White Cairn, a
visit was paid to Banagher old church, said to be built by St. O'Heuey.
After exploring the venerable ruins the party found a good example of a
bullaun on the bank next the gate, and the conductor poiuted out its
supposed history. Returning to Dungiven, the party visited Pellipar
House by permission of Captain R. A. Ogilby, D.L,. From Pellipar the
party went on to the old church of Dungiven. On entering the grave-
yard there is a good example of the bullaun, which is here venerated as a
holy font or well, and the surrounding bushes are liberally decorated
with votive offerings in the shape of rags, strings, and coloured pieces of
cloth.

On the 13th inst. the members started by train from Limavady for Dim-
given, when they were received by Dr. Moore and others as cordially as
on the morning of the day before. They at once proceeded to the
residence of Rev. S. Thomson, whose very fine collection of geological
specimens were arranged for inspection. The Sponges, Echinodermata,
and Cephalopoda are exceedingly abundant, and many of the less known
forms elsewhere are numerous here. Mr. Thomson was good enough to
accompany the party up to the quarries on Benbradagh, where a con-
siderable number of specimens were collected. A walk of about a mile
on the crest of the hill enabled the party to reach by a gradual slope the
highest point of the mountain, 1,536 feet high. From this point there is
a most extensive view, and as the atmospheric conditions were most
favourable, every feature of the grand panorama was distinctly visible.
This was the grandest view enjoyed during the trip, and very appro-
priately terminated the naturalists' meeting at Dungiven, a locality well
worthy the attention of tourists in general.

On Wednesday morning the naturalists left Limavady by rail for
Dungiven. Here they were met by a number of local friends, who were
anxious to aid in every way. Dr. Moore, of Dungiven, and J. Kakin,
of Feeny, rendered special service. Moving off in vehicles Mr. Eakin
conducted the naturalists to Banagher, where a survey was made of what
remains of a vitrified fort, one of the very few that occur in Ireland.
Unfortunately a former rector of the parish had the main structure re-
moved in making what he considered "improvements" about his
grounds. Proceeding up through Templemoyle, where a variety of
plants were collected, and reaching the top of the hill a visit was paid to
Anglish stone circles, of which there are several. One is quite complete,
and composed of about 5c stones about 2\ feet high. Returning by the
road at Carniban, at the north end of the valley of Lignapestia, while the
naturalists walked through from the south.

October, 1899.] 213

SOME ANIMALS FROM THE MACGILLICUDDY'S

REEKS.

BY R. P. SCHARPP, PH.D., and GEORGE H. CARPENTER, B.SC
[Collected for the R.I. A. Flora and Fauna Committee.]

In September, 1898, having been deputed by the R.I. A. Flora
and Fauna Committee to make a preliminary survey of the fauna
of the MacGillicuddy's Reeks, we set out for that famous moun-
tain-range. The long distance from Killarney to the foot of
the Reeks led us to make Glencar, at the western extremity of
the range, our headquarters. Accordingly we took train from
Dublin to Killorglin, and drove thence by a road commanding
fine views of our proposed collecting-ground. At the approach
of evening the mists, which throughout the day had rested on
the hills, slowly lifted, and, as we skirted Lough Acoose, the
summit of Carrantuohill was plainly to be seen. We soon
found ourselves comfortably settled for the night in the
Glencar Hotel.

Early next morning we started for the mountains, the day
being fine and almost cloudless. The road from the hotel
rises steadily for about three miles to Lough Acoose, whence
the ascent begins. Like the whole of Co. Kerry, the district
is poor in animal life, and our stay being confined to two
days we observed only a small proportion of lowland forms,
our main object being to explore the higher regions of the
Reeks. The weather being dry, Mollusca were especially
scarce. Near the hotel the commonest species were the slugs
Arion a/^(both brown and black varieties), Arion Bourguignaii,
Limax marginatus {arboium), and Agriolirnax agrestis, while of
snails only Helix rotundata was met with. Near Lough
Acoose, Vertigo edentula was taken by sweeping Bracken, while
Hyalinia radiatula occurred under stones. Flying around
the trees or on the lake-shore we noticed very richly marked
specimens of the " Vapourer" Moth — Orgyia antiqua.

We delayed only a short time collecting at the foot of the
mountain, and pushed on towards Carrantuohill. The ascent
up to 3,100 feet— a point named Caher — is easy, and by
keeping high enough up on the side of the valleys, it is
possible to avoid boggy ground almost entirely. Up to 1,500
feet some common arachnids were fairly numerous ; the

A

214 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

Harvestmen Liobunvm rotundum, Mcgabunus insiguis, and
Acantholophus cphippiatus were observed, while among the
spiders we saw Araneus diadema/us, Jl/eta segmeniata,
Af. 7ncrianw, Lycosa pulverulenta, Paradosa pullata, and
P. a?nmtata, in numbers. More noteworthy were single speci-
mens ol Erigone promiscua and Diplocephalus latifrons. Among
the beetles1 we found, about the same elevation, Cychrus
roslraius, Notiophilus biguttatus, Nebria brevicollis, Bradycellus
cognatus, Ptcrostichus vulgaris, P. diligens, A?icho?ne?ius albipes,
Trechus minutus var. obtusus, Quedius boops, Lathrobium
fidvipcnne, Platystethus arenarius, Cholcva angustata (hitherto
unknown in the south-west), Cocciiiclla hicroglyphica, Byrrhus
pillula,LochmcEa sutu?alis, Apio?i striatum, and Sitones lineahis.
The handsome red-legged fly, Bibio pomoncc, was abundant
above 1,500 feet. From the foot of the mountain up to 2,000
feet the only molluscs observed were Ai-iou ater and Limax
marginahis.

At the height of 2,500 feet, however, we were greatly struck
with the sudden appearance of a small, almost perfectly black
slug looking like a very dark form of Agriolimax agrestis,
which species abounds lower down in the large, white, un-
specified variety characteristic of western Ireland. We found
several specimens of this interesting slug between 2,500 feet
and Caher (3,100 feet) ; it often crawls over the surface of the
large rock-fragments which strew these higher slopes, and its
black colour makes it very conspicuous. On closer examina-
tion the wrinkles on the back showed the structure peculiar
to Limax, with which the form also agreed in the absence of the
milky slime so characteristic of Agriolimax agrestis. We were
puzzled by this peculiar form, which is certainly quite absent
on the lower slopes of the mountain. Careful study after-
wards led to the conclusion that it must be a small dark form
of Limax 7/iargi?iatus, which is certainly worthy of a distinct
varietal name.

Limax marglnatus, var. nov. nlger, ScharfF.
Colour almost black, sides a little lighter, but no trace of bands, stripes,
or spots. Foot-fringe black ; sole light grey. Length, when fully
extended, 35 mm. Keel strongly developed on posterior half of
body.

1 We have to thank our colleague, Mr. J. N. Halbert, for identifying
the Coleoptera and Hemiptera we collected.

i899-] Scharff & Carpenter. — Animals from the Reeks. 215

This slug is so much like Agriolimax agiestis in general
appearance (except colour), that we at first sight naturally
mistook it for an Agiiolimax. Examination of the repro-
ductive organs showed however a close correspondence with
Limax marginatus, while Professor Simroth (to whom a speci-
men was sent) drew attention to another limacine character —
the six convolutions of the intestine ; Agriolimax has only four.
Indeed the internal organs of this slug from the Reeks agree
in all respects except size with those of an ordinary Limax
marginatus, which is generally double the size of the present
variety.

Limax marginatns (formerly known as L. arborum), has a
very wide range in Europe, but it is more common and variable
in the west than in the east One of us has taken it as far south
as the Canaries, and it is recorded fro-m Scandinavia, the Faroes,
and the Shetlands. The beautiful variety maculata, described
by Roebuck, and recorded by him from Co. Mayo, seems to
be confined to western Ireland ; iii the south-west it has been
noticed only around Killarney and Berehaven. The present
form (var. ?iiger) occurs, according to Professor Simroth, also
in Transylvania. It approaches very closely var. rupicola of
Lessona and Pollinera, which occurs in the Piedmontese Alps
up to 7,000 feet, and has been recorded by Roebuck from the
Mourne Mountains, but differs from that form in being
entirely unicolorous above. Other varieties {Betto?iii and
7iemorosa) are also known from Ireland.

Besides this interesting slug, Arion ater (the blajk variety
only) A. subfuscus (a small dark brown form) and A. i}i(cnnedius
were found sparingly above 2,700 feet. At that height
Hyaliyiia alliaria occurred, but no snails were noticed beyond.
The flies Tipula hortensis and Sepsis cynipsea and the spiders
Bathyphantes varicgatus, Leptyphantes Blackzuallii, L. te?iuis,
and Textrix de?itieulata were noticed up to 2,500 feet, but not
higher. Other species however were to be found right up to the
summit of Caher : — Tapi?wpa longidens, Porrhomma pygmcea,
Tmeticus prudefis, T. Hitthwaitii, T. abnotmis, T. bicolor var.
co?ici?mus, and W 'alckaiacra nudipalpis. Of the mountain
beetles, Carabus catenulatus occurred as high as 2,700 feet, while
from that level up to the summit of Caher we met with Leistus

A 2

?i6 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

montanus, Nebria Gyllenhalii, and Patrobus assimilis. Earth-
worms taken at this high elevation have been identified for us
by Rev. H. Friend as Lumbricus rubellus, and Allolobophora
subrubieunda.

Caher is a conical peak, commanding magnificent views of
Dingle Bay and peninsula, and of the beautiful mountain
ranges which stretch away westwards towards Valentia.
From Caher to the summit of Carrantuohill it is necessary
to follow the grand ridge of the Reeks, whence a sheer
precipice drops on the left 1,600 feet, to the tarn known as
Lough Eagher, and a steep slope on the right to the Black
Valley. By keeping along this slope a few feet below the
ridge the walk presents no difficulty on such a day as we
were favoured with ; though in a mist or a high wind, the
journey would be more exciting than pleasant. From Caher
the ridge dips several hundred feet, then rises again to another
peak with magnificent scarped cliffs to the north, and then
dips again before rising to the summit of Carrantuohill (3,414
feet). From Carrantuohill the ridge stretches away eastward
to the Gap of Dunloe, but unfortunately we had not time to
follow it further. On the ridge a specimen of the rare spider
Leptyphantes pallidas w7as found beneath a stone, its only
other known Irish habitat is Mitchelstown Cave ! On the
actual summit of Carrantuohill the only animals observed
were the beetle Nebria Gyllenhalii, the springtail Entomobrya
multifasciata (very common under stones), the spider Pedanos-
tcthus lividus, the harvestmen Mitopus alpi?itis and Nemastoma
lugubre, and the centipede Lithobhis variegaius. Of these only
Nebria Gylle?ihalii and Mitopus alpinus can be considered
mountain forms ; the others are all common lowland animals.
The Lithobhis was observed in numbers all the way up the
mountain ; the specimens are smaller and more brightly
marked than typical L. variegaius, but in structure they agree
altogether with that species.

Returning along the ridge to Caher, we descended a steep
slope to Lough Eagher, a good-sized tarn, situated at a
height of 1,550 feet right beneath the grand precipices of
Carrantuohill. The only mollusc which rewarded our search
here was A?icylus fluviatilis, but of the two water-beetles taken,

i899-l Scharff & Carpenter. — Animals from the Reeks. 217

Haliplus li?ieaticollis and Agabus guttatus, the latter is new to
the south-west of Ireland. We also found the interesting
dark variety of the water-bug Corixa nigrolineata (Fabricii).
Next day we returned to the tarn, and secured a freshwater
sponge, which on examination proves to be the North American
species Heteromeyenia Ryderz, Potts, recorded by Hanitsch1
from Lough Doon, near Dingle. This species will probably
therefore be found widely distributed in the south-west. The
present specimen is remarkable in possessing a number of
perfectly plain spicules in the dermal skeleton, in addition
to the typical spiny spicules as figured by Potts and Hanitsch t
intermediate forms of spicule with very few spines also occur.
According to Potts the spicules in this species are very variable,
and he describes two varieties ( Walshii and Baleni) in which
the number of spines is greatly reduced. Both kinds of
amphidiscsin the gemmules of the sponge from Lough Eagher
are altogether typical in form.

The best descent from this tarn to the road (probably also
the best ascent to the Reeks, though rather longer than the
route we had taken) would be to follow the course of the
stream which flows from it, keeping to the left bank. But
we were unwise enough to try a short cut to Lough Acoose,
and so had to cross some very broken and boggy ground,
which delayed progress so much that it was quite dusk before
we again stood on the high road. The stream which we
should have followed flows under the road about half a mile
below Lough Acoose.

Next day, in addition to revisiting the tarn, we did a little
collecting at the foot of the mountain, near Glencar. Besides
such common insects as Sympctrum s trio latum, Philopotamus
montantiSy Agabus bipustalatus, Carpocoris baccarum, Stygnus
pedestris, Scolopostethus decoratus and Orthotylus ericetorum, we
secured a plant-bug, Calocoris cheiwpodii, new to Ireland, and a
beetle, Haltica pusilla, of which no certain Irish specimen is
known. The spider Arancus Redii was observed near the
hotel, and some of our fellow-guests having told us of a
wonderful long-legged spider in their bedroom, we instituted
a hunt on the morning of our departure, and captured several
specimens of Pholcus phalangioides.

1 Irish Nat , vol. iv., 1895, p. 128, pi 4, fig. 6.

218 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

The few remarkable varieties of well-known species which
we found in our hurried expedition to the MacGillicuddy's
Reeks show that much more interesting results could be ex-
pected from a more systematic survey. We must confess that
we found the work of collecting while hill-climbing in the
soft Kerry air decidedly tiring, and much more work might
be done if a party of naturalists could arrange to camp out
on the shores of Eough Eagher, or at some point half-way
up the mountain. The higher and lower slopes could thus be
well searched with the least amount of fatigue, while nocturnal
insects could be studied. But we feel ourselves happy to have
*been able to work even so little at the fauna of this lovely
district, and the favourable weather we had enjoyed while
collecting was brought vividly to our remembrance, as we
drove twenty miles through pelting showers of rain to catch
the up express from Killarney.

Science and Art Museum, Dublin.

MIGRATORY BUTTEREUES IN SOUTH-WEST CORK.

BY J. J. WOI.FK.

On June 7th I saw Pyiamcis caidui for the first time this
year, and for a week or ten days after they were very numerous ;
they appeared to have arrived in thousands simultaneously
or nearly so. I saw no Colias cdusa in June, but my little
son told me he saw one. So I watched for their re- appearance.
The/*, cardui immigrants remained with us; after resting they
did not move inland, and others continue to arrive, for day
after day the same individuals returned to the same spots —
for instance one was in our yard for several successive morn-
ings, and when disturbed flew to the same slate on an adjacent
roof.

In the first weeks of July larvae of P. cardui were abundant
all over the neighbourhood, wherever I went. On Sherkin
Island, which I visited on July 6th, they were very plentiful.
On the 17th most of the larvae had left the thistles, and on
the 1 9th I saw the last, three or four full fed:

1899O Wolfk. — Migratory Butterflies in South-west Cork. 219

On July 30th I saw about a dozen C. cdusa, some worn,
others apparently quite fresh, doubtless descendants of June
migrants. I captured a fresh male and a worn one, and a
fresh female, and confined them on the morning of July 31st
by four panes of glass and gauze tied on top, over some short
Red Clover in sunshine, putting in a bunch of wild flowers
in water. On the following morning there were several eggs
on the clover and the worn male was dead, and on the
morning of August 3rd the second male was dead, and there
were many eggs scattered over upper surfaces of clover leaves —
two on a vetch spray put with flowers and at least one on
grass near the clover. I then liberated the female.

On the morning of August 7th many young larvae were
out, and all the eggs had hatched on the following morning.
Duration in the egg stage is, therefore, but five or six days
in fine weather and sunshine. The young larvae were not,
however, nearly as numerous in a day or two as the eggs
had been, so I removed all I could find to four glasses, some
of which I kept indoors and some out, and fed some on Red
Clover and some on Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus).
Five, which were fed on the latter indoors, in a north window,
grew most rapidly. One of them, always considerably in
advance of all the others, pupated on September 9th, after
two days' suspension, during which it hung with its back very
much arched, thus making the suspending band unusually
long. As the wing cases are now remarkably broad the long
band appears necessary. One other is now (September 12th)
suspended for its change, and five or six seem full grown,
while others in the same glasses are not yet more than half
the size. This variation in rate of growth (probably increased
in nature, where conditions of situation and food might vary
much), doubtless accounts for C. cdusa s long presence with
us, as it seems not a long-lived butterfly. All through August
I saw a few wherever I went, especially near the sea, but
towards its close the}' were getting scarcer, and I saw the
last, I think, of that generation on September 5th. To-day I
saw a fresh specimen, the first of the new brood I take it, and
as larvae are doubtless now plentiful I expect an abundance
of the beautiful butterflies up to the middle of October, if the
weather continues fine, and the nights not frosty.

220 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

In its early stages the larva remains quietly on upper sur-
face of clover leaves, and holds on very firmly. After very
heavy thunder-showers or high wind they were still on same
leaves, and the leaf might be plucked and carried without
danger of larva dropping. Its appearance is then very like
the young larva of Pieris ?'apce, but the full-grown caterpillar
is, I think, a very pretty one, with a bright lateral stripe,
shading in each segment from white through yellow to bright
red in the middle, and back through yellow to white. The
spiracle comes just in front of the red spot, and underneath
each red spot and in connection with it is a black one. The
ground colour is a velvety green sprinkled with minute black
spots. In its last pretty coat the caterpillar rolls up and drops
very readily, concussion of the footstep or the shadow being
sometimes apparently sufficient cause.

Larvae of P. cardui being so remarkably abundant in the
first half of July, I looked for a swarm of the butterflies at end
of the mouth or early in August. The weather was beautiful,
and I saw, I think, three, and even though I am kept most
days busy indoors, I was also at my work in June, when I saw
them in scores. It seems to me that some strange instinct
caused each individual as it emerged to leave. I suppose they
went to the north. The very dry weather has not ripened off
all our thistles, and we still have food everywhere for the
larvae, now nearly full grown again, but they are very scarce —
perhaps one for fifty in July.

Skibbereen.

*S99-] 221

MATRICARIA DISCOIDEA DC. IN WEST IRELAND.

BY NATHANIEL COLGAN, M.R.I.A.
With a note by R. Lloyd Prarger, B.E., M.R.I.A,

When recording the first recognition of this North American
alien in a wild state in Ireland some five years ago (I.N., vol.
iii., p. 215), the opinion was hazarded that the plant had come
to stay with us. Further observations made this year in the
Co. Mayo show that this opinion was justified. Driving into
Westport from L,eenane on the 20th July last, I found the
roadsides about half a mile from the town in the direction of
Knappa lined with a luxuriant growth of the plant, and on
passing through the town it re-appeared in great abundance on
the open space between the head of the Mall and the railway
station, spreading up to the station, where it occupied the
goods platform and adjacent waste places. There was no
time available at Westport to examine the town and its
outlets ; but at Newport, which was reached the same evening,
I made a few days' stay for the purpose of exploring some of
the higher points of the Mayo mountains, and so had ample
opportunity of searching for this interesting but unlovely
stranger. Here it seemed to have become even more firmly
established than at Westport. It turned up first of all at the
railway station and its approaches, next appeared in profusion
on waste ground by the river near the new railway bridge,
and again in greater profusion along the grass-grown quays
whence it continued at intervals all along the road skirting
the O'Donel demesne. On walking out to Borrishoole, some
two miles from the town, the plant was observed, abundantly
in many places, along the main-road and the bye-road leading
to the old abbey. On another grass-grown bye-road branching
off northward from the main-road it spread in profusion for a
distance of nearly a quarter of a mile, and scattered plants
continued to appear along the main road to beyond Deraddha,
fully three miles out of Newport. In another direction, along
the road leading north-east to Eough Beltra, the plant was traced

a 2

22"2 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

for a distance of three miles, thinning out rapidly about a mile
beyond the town ; and on the eastern or Castlebar road it
appeared in several places for a distance of about a mile and
a half from Newport. Though appearing frequently in dense
patches along the roadsides at considerable distances from
dwellings, it usually became more abundant where the road
passed a cabin or farm-yard.

The peculiar manner of the plant's occurrence here at
Newport seems to point to its diffusion from many independent
centres. The seeds are most probably imported with damaged
American corn for fowl feeding, so that every hen-wife in the
country who uses American corn may become an unconscious
agent in the enrichment of our flora. As a matter of fact,
American corn is, and long has been, imported to Newport,
and the minute seeds of the Maf?icaiia could very easily
become mixed with and imported along with the grain. A
few plants once matured by a roadside, their countless small
and light seeds would be carried by wind and surface drainage
for considerable distances, and left enveloped in a matrix of
road mud under most favourable conditions for germination,
Railways, of course, play their part as distributors too. On
the journey down to Athlone on the ioth July last I noticed a
dense mass of the plant growing on the cattle platforms at
Ballinasloe, and on the return from Newport it appeared on
the permanent way at Castlebar, at Manulla junction, and at
Claremorris. Mr. Praeger tells me that he has observed the
plant this year in many other localities in Ireland. At
Carrickmines, Co. Dublin, one of its first observed Irish
stations, it has maintained itself for five j^ears ; at Westport
and Newport it has all the appearance of being long established.
On the whole, the evidence available up to the present is more
than sufficient to justify the admission of this prolific annual
s a member of the Irish flora.

N. Coi,gan.
Dublin.

I899-.1 Matricaria discoidea hi West Ireland. 223

As Mr. Colgan has referred to further stations recently
discovered for Matricaria discoidea, some more definite informa-
tion concerning them may be useful. I first met with the
plant this year on June 10, when it turned up on the roadside
near Carrick-on-Shannon railway station, in Roscommon, and
the same afternoon I found it again on the railway at
Ballaghaderreen, East Mayo. Next day it appeared again>
this time in Co. Sligo, growing in profusion on roadsides at
Ballysadare, on the southern side of the river, half a mile from
the railway. On my way back to Dublin I saw it in profusion
about the cattle-platforms at Ballinasloe. On July 2 I found
it in immense abundance along the railway at Athlone,
especially about the cattle-platforms on the Roscommon side,
more sparingly on the Westmeath side, and next day it was
seen swarming about the cattle-platforms at Mullingar,
extending to the road and canal bank adjoining. It turned up
at Tuam on July 15, growing by roadsides on the western
outskirts of the town, well removed from the railway, where
it was quite absent. On August 25 I found it by a bye-road
near a cottage four miles north-east of Galway — a spot remote
from any railway or port ; and lastly, on August 30, it was
noticed forming a close carpet on the fair-green at Clara,
King's Co.

That this alien is thoroughly established in Ireland is beyond
a doubt. Its present head-quarters are the towns from the
centre to the west coast, the original station in Dublin being
quite an outlier. Its favourite haunts are cattle-platforms and
railway tracks in the vicinity of stations, and in such situations
it often occurs in immense profusion, forming a close green
carpet and crushing out all other vegetation. So far it has
not been reported from Ulster, nor have the vigilant botanists
of the South yet given notice of its arrival in Munster. It
appears to be still absent from the South-east, as I saw it
nowhere during a good many days spent in Waterford,
Kilkenny, and Carlow. A census shows that this plant is
now known to grow in nine out of the forty Irish county-
divisions, six of these belonging to Connaught, and three to

L,einster.

R. Li<oyd Praeger.

Dublin.

224 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

POA COMPRBSSA, LINN., AS AN IRISH PLANT.

BY J. H. DA VIES.
With a postscript by the Editors of Cybele Hibernica.

Poa compressa, hitherto believed to be extremely rare in
Ireland, and for which, in District XII., only one locality is
on record, I had the pleasure of gathering in July last both in
County Down and County Antrim, namely : —

Down. — Old wall on the left hand side of the approach to
Hillsborough church. (New county record.)

Antrim. — Old walls at Lisburn. In several places on the
walls by the site on which stood Lisburn Castle, and in great
abundance on a wall at the rear of the Convent.

The Lisburn plant is very typical of the species. That at
Hillsborough is less so. The nodes of the latter are more
numerous, the uppermost knot being much above the middle of
the stem, which is less compressed. It may be the form which
has been named P. polynoda ; but the slight dissimilarity is of
little importance, and is owing probabl}T to the greater dryness
of the situation in which it grows.

In view of its history in Ireland, to meet with the plant here
was a surprise to me, and was in a great measure due to my
friend Mr. William Foggitt, who gives heed with much interest
to the progress of Irish botany, and who in a recent letter
expressed an opinion that it had been overlooked, and would
be found to be less rare than was supposed. Singularly
enough I had the good fortune to find it on the first old wall on
which I specially sought it, and again on other wTalls. It may
therefore be anticipated that, if kept in mind, it will be found
to occur elsewhere in suitable situations. An inconspicuous,
and what some might consider an unattractive grass, growing
amongst other grasses, may easily escape recognition. That
it has been so in the case of this species I have little doubt.

Of the three districts for which, in the first edition of Cybele
Hibernica^ the plant is recorded, the localities for two are dis-
credited on supposition of mistaken identification, leaving
only one station " North of Ireland — Londonderry only."
The second edition passes over without notice Moore and
More's doubts as to the stations cited for Districts IV. and V.,

1%9-J t)AviKS. — Poa compiessa as an Irish Ptani. 22$

but gives a recent addition for District IV. (Moffat) and also
one for District X., " Roadside between Portadown and
I^urgan" (W. MacMillen). Mr. MacMillen, whom I lately had
the pleasure of meeting, informs me that the date of his dis-
covery of the plant at this place was 1866, and that it occurs
in several .spots on a dry bank by the footpath. No date is
given for the Derry station, but Dr. Moore was there about
1836, and it was probably at that time that he detected the
grass on the walls of the city. Mr. Stewart has shown me
specimens gathered there by himself in 1S88, and for aught
that is known to the contrary it still exists there, and is
probably to be found on other old walls in the vicinity.

When reference was made to the Cybele for information as
to its distribution in our island, it was disconcerting to discover
that Poa comprcssa, which hy our veteran northern botanist,
Mr. Stewart, and others, was always held to be native, had
been degraded, as an intruder, to a place without the Irish
flora proper.

Unless Mr. Colgan and Dr. Scully (in whose meritorious
book so very few questionable conclusions are to be found),
have reasons which do not appear, I think— and hope it will
not be held presumptuous in me to say — that in their treatment
of this grass they have been rather arbitrary.

The first edition of Cybele gives the obelisk mark to signify
that the species may possibly have been introduced at a remote
period. The second edition goes beyond this and states,
" introduced in all of its stations." In what manner intro-
duced ? Its habitats are old walls for the most part, sometimes
dry banks and old gravel pits. A plant of European and
Asiatic distribution, in Britain, where it has always been
adjudged as a true native, it was first distinguished by Sherard
in 1724 "on the walls about Hltham." It is not a plant of
cultivated ground. What, then, is there to arouse suspicion ?
When specially searched for it has been found and will most
likely prove to be more widely distributed than has been
supposed. In like manner Poa ncmoralis was regarded as
very rare in the North, and had not been seen by Stewart and
Corry. But Rev. C. H. Waddell, Rev. H. W. Lett and others
have recently shown that it is not of infrequent occurrence.
Mr. Waddell writes : — ;< It is probably not uncommon. I find

226 The Irish Naturalist. (.October,

it plentiful at Saintfield" (I.N., p. 142, supra). But the
standing of P. nemoralis as an indigenous Irish plant has not
been doubted, although, considering its habitats, it seems to
me that it is much more likely to have been introduced by
human agency than is P. comprcssa.

One may not at all times be conscious of the bias which is
inseparable from " botanical patriotism, an amiable but per-
nicious weakness." Yet with this consideration in mind, and
with some regard for scientific exactness, nothing, so far as
appears to me, can be discovered to lend support to the view
that P. comprcssa is not indigenous in Ireland. To my mind
it is as truly native as is any other Irish Poa.

J. H. Davies.
Lisburn.

The absence of sufficient evidence that Poa comprcssa existed
in considerable quantity in any of its Irish stations when the
2nd ed. of Cybclc went to press induced us to remove the
plant to the appendix. Mr. Stewart informed us that he
found it but sparingly in its chief station, the old walls of
Derry, in 1888, and we had no means of judging whether it
had appeared more than casually in its stations for Districts
X. and XII. However, the fresh evidence supplied by Mr.
Davies in the foregoing valuable note, in our opinion, warrants
the re-admission of the plant to the Irish flora. Whether it is
to take rank there as an indigenous species, we should prefer
to leave an open question, while admitting that our statement,
"introduced in all of its stations," should have been qualified
in some way. Mr. Davies has courteously allowed us to read
his MS., and to append these few lines of comment.

Nathaniel Colgan.
Reginald W. Scully.

1S99] 22.7

NOTES.

The British Association.

A public meeting, convened by the Lord Mayor (Mr. Otto Jaffa J. P.),
was held on Sept. nth, in the Council Chamber at the City Hall, for the
purpose of considering the desirability of inviting the British Association
to visit Belfast. The Lord Mayor presided. The Lord Mayor said he
thought it hardly required words of his to emphasize the pleasure of the
citizens of Belfast at the fact of a requisition for that meeting having been
served upon him. They would heartily welcome the British Association
if they selected that city for their place of meeting in 1901 or 1902. The
Earl of Shaftesbury moved the following resolution: — "That we, the
citizens of Belfast, assembled in town meeting, duly convened by the
Lord Mayor, and held on the nth September, 1899, hereby invite the
members of the British Association to meet in Belfast at an early date,
and we desire that this invitation be conveyed to the British Association
at its forthcoming meeting in Dover by the following deputation : —
The Lord Mayor, Professor Fitzgerald, Godfrey W. Ferguson, William
Gray, M.R.I A. ; Professor Morton, Professor Symington, Alex Tate, C.E. ;
J. Smyth, C.E. ; Professor Thompson, and Thomas Workman. J. P. ; with
power to add to their number." Mr. Samuel Young, M.P. seconded the
resolution, which was supported by Mr. Win. Johnston, M.P., and the
Right Honourable Thomas Sinclair, and the resolution was then put to the
meeting, and carried unanimously. Rev. Dr Hamilton moved : — "That
the following local executive committee be appointed to carry out the
resolution of this meeting — The Lord Mayor, the President of Queen's
College, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the President of
the Trades Council, the Presidents and Secretaries of the Natural History
and Philosophical Society, the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club and the
Ulster Medical Society, with Sir William Q. Ewart, Bart. ; Sir James
Musgrave, Bart.; Sir James Henderson, Right Honourable W. J. Pirrie,
Right Honourable Thomas Sinclair, Professor Fitzgerald, Professor
Symington, Professor Thompson, and Messrs. John Brown, Samuel
Davidson, John Horner, William Swanston, F.G S. ; John Vinycomb,
M.R.I.A. ; and Alexander G. Wilson, with power to add to their number,
Professor Fitzgerald being convener." Sir William Q. Ewart, Bart.,
seconded and Sir James Henderson supported the resolution. Mr. Alex.
Tate said, as a member of the British Association for fort}' years, he would
like to express his sympathy with the movement. The resolution was
unanimously carried. Lord Shaftesbury having taken the second chair.
Mr. Thomas Workman moved, and Dr- J. A. Lindsay seconded a vote of
thanks to the Lord Mayor for presiding. The meeting then terminated.

We understand that at the Dover meeting, just concluded, the Belfast
deputation presented a cordial invitation to the Association for 1902,
while Professor Hartog spoke strongly on behalf of Cork. The
claims of the rival Irish cities will be decided at Bradford next year.
At any rate we rejoice to thiftk that the Parliament of Science is soon
again to meet on this side of St. George's CI annel.

228 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

BOTANY.

Cystopterls fragllls In Wlcklow.

Last month I was in Co. Wicklow, and got Cystopteris fragilis growing

abundantly on the walls of an old mining building high up on the

side of Lugduff beyond the Waterfall, above the upper lake of Glen-

dalough. As this fern is decidedly rare in Wicklow the record may be

worth noting.

Charges F, D'Arcy.
Ballymena.

Chicory In Co. mayo.

Cichorium Intybus grows at Cloghans, Co. Mayo, in great profusion,

producing a very brilliant effect. It was unknown in the locality

until late years.

AucE C LEWIN.
Casttegrove, Tuam.

ZOOLOGY.

INSECTS.

Collas edusa In Co. Cork.

There seems a good sprinkling of these butterflies all round here.

I saw one close by the cit}-, several along the line to Queenstowu, and

on August 21st took five specimens, two males and three females, at

Little Island, in a clover field, while several others escaped me.

Macroglossa stellataram is also plentiful, while larger numbers than usual

of Orgy la antiqua are flying about. Is there anything in the theory of

these butterflies recurring every fourteen years, as stated in some books ?

John L. Copeman.
Cork.

Collas edusa In Co. Westmeath.

I see in the last number of Irish Naturalist some notices of Colias edusa

having been seen in Ireland. I saw a yellow butterfly bordered with

black in the garden here, but did not capture it ; another of same

description was seen on the shores of Derevaragh Lake about middle of

August. I presume they were C. edusa.

H. E. Rkyneu,.
Killynon, Co. Westmeath.

Collas edusa in Co. Waterford and Co. Cork.

On August ioth I captured a fine male specimen of the Clouded Yellow,
and saw another near Kilbarry. A few days later, on the 14th, I took
two more male specimens of it on the sandhills near Tramore, and missed
a third. Both these localities are in the Co. Waterford. I subsequently
spent a few days at Passage West, Co. Cork, and met with Colias edusa

1899.] Notes. 229

commonly in the environs of the town. It was especially partial to fields
in which the oats had just been cut — not clover fields — and nearly all my
captures were effected in such places. On August 22nd, a very fine
sunny day, I saw nine or ten specimens of this beautiful butterfly, and
succeeded in taking four (males) in fine condition. I may remark that
during the railway journej' from Waterford to Passage West I observed
single specimens of the Clouded Yellow in widely different localities, viz.,
Kilmeadan, Carrol's Cross, and Durrow, Co. Waterford ; Blarney, and
near Passage West, Co. Cork, which facts point to the wide distribution of
this butterfly in the South of Ireland during the present season.

L. H. Bonaparte-Wyse.
Newcastle, Co. Down.

Probable occurrence of Collas edusa In Co. Wexford.

I have little doubt that this county may be added to the list of those
in which the occurrence of this butterfly has been recorded for the
present year by correspondents in the September number of the Irish
Naturalist. I have on two occasions recently seen butterflies which were
almost certainly of this species, but, as I. did not actually catch them, I
cannot well record the species positively. It has occurred in previous
years in this locality.

G. E. II. Barrett-Hamilton.

Kilmanock, Arthurstown.

Collas edusa In Co. Wexford.

On the 6th June I saw one of these butterflies for the first time near
the sea-shore, opposite to the Tuskar Lighthouse, flying at an immense
pace, but alighting at times on a small patch of short grass. Though
carefully looked for it was not seen again in this locality until the 23rd
July. It appeared within the limits of this place on the 30th and 31st
July, and a very good specimen of the male was captured by my eldest
daughter on the 9th August. Since then, and up to the present time, it
has been very frequently seen, both here and on the roads to the distance
of five or six miles inland, but, so far as my experience goes, not more
than one specimen was visible at a time. Residents in this neighbour-
hood do not recollect having seen the Clouded Yellow prior to this
year. My daughter has secured several good specimens, both male and
female.

Edmund T. Bewxey.

Ballytrent, Co. Wexford.

BIRDS.

White Wagtails In Co. Cork.

Mr. W. T. Crawstay writes in the Zoologist for September that he
observed a specimen of Motacilla alba on the River Lee on April 20th.
The wind on April 15th, 16th, and 17th was N. and N.E- ; on 18th, 19th,
and 20th S. and S.W.

„ V*

230 The Irish Naturalist. [October,

Rose-coloured Pastor in Donegal.

A beautiful specimen of the Rose-coloured Pastor {Pastor roseus) was
shot by Mr. A. Brooke, of Killybegs, in his garden on the 20th July. The
bird is an adult male in perfect plumage. This is the first specimen I
have met in an experience of twenty-five years.

E. Wit^ijams.

Dublin.

Occurrence of the Golden Oriole and Night Heron In Co.

Wexford,

On the authority of my friend, Mr. E. A. Gibbon, I have to record the
occurrence of a female Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula, L.) in Wexford,
early in May or late in April of this year. Mr. Gibbon saw the bird in
the shop of Messrs. Wheelocks. gunsmiths, at Wexford, on May 4th, and
ascertained that it had been picked up still warm and recently dead, and
with the head much injured, under a tree near Kilmore, by a working
man. While still at Wheclock's the skin of this specimen was unfortu-
nately destroyed by a cat. The Golden Oriole is a very rare spring or
early summer visitor to the County Wexford, and, as far as I am aware,
the present is the fifth known occurrence of the bird in this county.

A much rarer bird, and I think, new to the county fauna, is a

fine male Night Heron {Nyctico/ax griseus, L.), now in the Museum of

Science and Art at Dublin, and which was obtained in a little stream

near the old castle close to Killinick, by a man who, in ignorance of its

value, was about to throw it away. Fortunately, however, the bird was

recognised by a neighbour and purchased for half-a-crown. It is said

that a second bird frequented the same stream at about the same time,

but eventually took its departure uninjured. I am indebted for this

information to my friends, Dr. Scharff (of the Museum), Messrs. C. B.

Moffat and E. A. Gibbon. So far as I know, there are not fifteen

recorded instances of the occurrence of the Night Heron in Ireland, and

some of these took place many years ago : the bird has occurred both in

spring and autumn.

G. E. H. Barrett-Hamii/ton.
Kilmanock.

The Black Grouse— A Correction.

T wish to point out an error which has escaped my notice in my
paper on " The Introduction of the Black Grouse and of some other Birds
into Ireland," which was printed in the Irish Naturalist for February,
!S99> PP 37-43- At page 38 it is stated that Mr. Lyddeker discovered in
the Dublin Museum of Science and Art " two bones " which he identified
as those of a Black Grouse. The number should, however, be one, and
not two, and I am indebted to my friend, Mr. R. J. Ussher, for calling
my attention to the mistake.

G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton.

Kilmanock.

1899.] Notes. 231

Calls of Owls.

Referring to C.B.M.'s mention of the above on page 1S4 of the current
volume, I have syllableised the shriek of the Barn Owl at different times
as " schkree — r " and "ske — r— arke." The snore of the young I render
as " skee — rep " or " see — rep " pronounced as if with an indrawn breath.
The resemblance to a snore increases as the nestlings grow older.

I have a note giving the call of the young Tawny Owl as a kitten-like
"mew."

I should be glad of opinions as to the correctness of my rendering of
the Barn Owl's calls, and also as to whether the mewing is a call used by
the young of both the Tawny and Long-eared Owl.

I should be glad of any observations which would act as "aids to
identification without slaughter," with the view of incorporation in the

next edition of my Dictionary of Bird Notes.

Chas. Louis Hett.
Springfield, Brigg.

Wood Sandpiper In Co. Watcrford.

A Wood Sandpiper (To/anus glareola)'\vas obtained on the 26th of

August, by Mr. J. F. Knox, on the Back Strand, Tramore, Co. Waterford.

This is the fifth recorded occurrence of this species in Ireland, three

having been obtained in Calary Bog, Co. Wicklow, and one near Lough

Cullin, Co. Mayo, Sept. 5, 1898.

E. Wl 1,1,1 am s.
Dublin.

Wood Pigeon cooing by Moonlight.

A Wood Pigeon seemed to have mistaken the bright moonlight of
the night of February 26th for daylight, as I heard him cooing in
the trees near the house here at 10.45 P-m- Again on the night of April
23rd one was cooing very distinctly at 11.20 p.m. Lastly on August
25th the moonlight seemed to have an exciting effect on a bird of
this species, for he began to coo loudly at 11 p.m., but only continued
to do so, as far as I am aware, for a few minutes. I am a good deal
away from home, so that it is possible that the habit of cooing at night
is more universal among Wood Pigeons than I imagine it to be. My
experience is not an isolated one for this county, as Mr. C. B. Moffat,
to whom I mentioned the subject, wrote me that at Ballyhyland, near
Fynniscorthy, "the Wood Pigeons cooing at night have been one of
the sensations here this spring. When I came down here on March
25th I was told that they were to be heard at all hours, and the
statement was fully confirmed to me the same night, when I heard them
in full voice at twenty minutes after midnight. I have heard them at it
frequently since." (Lit. of 16th May, 1899). I may add that the thunder
and heavy rain which we experienced here from about 5 to 9 a.m. on
August 18th, 1898, in no way interrupted the cooing of Wood Pigeons,
whose voices could be very distinctly heard between the claps.

G. K. H. Barrett-Hamilton.

Kilmanock, Arthurstown, Co. Wexford.

232 The Irish Naturalist. October, 1899.

Montagu's Harriet* In Co. Wexford.

On the 14th of August two specimens of Montagu's Harrier {Circus

Montagui) were trapped on the property of Sir Thomas Gratton-Esmonde,

M.P., Ballinastragh, Gorey, Co. Wexford. The birds were male and

female birds of the year evidently the one brood, and their occurrence so

early in the season as August raises the very interesting question as to the

possibility of their being bred in Ireland. A curious circumstance in

connection with the appearance of this bird is that all the specimens, I

think seven in number, taken in Ireland have been captured between

Wexford and Dublin.

E. Wl 1,1,1AM S.
Dublin.

GEOLOGY.

The Granites of Tyrone and Derry.

In a recent paper {Q.J. Geo/. Soc.t vol. lv., 1899, pp. 273-6,) Professor G.
A. J. Cole discusses the age of the granite of eastern Tyrone with
reference to the similar rock at the base of Slieve Gallion {Trans. R. D. S.,
vol. vi., 1897, p. 243). The Surveyors regarded this granite as intrusive
in the Old Red Sandstone, but as pre-Carboniferous. But the exami-
nation of a new section has convinced Professor Cole that the sandstone
is derived in large part from the granite, fragments of the latter being
scattered through the former rock. The granite must therefore be
pre-Devonian, but is possibly post-Silurian, like so many masses through-
out Ireland.

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include a Cockatoo from Sir Thornley Stoker, a pair of
Swans from Lord Castlestewart, a Hare from Mr. R. E. Nulty, Seals from
Mr. T. D. Pile and Mr. Petrie, a Goose from Mr. W. E. Peebles, a Canary
from Mr. F. W. Powell, a Black-headed Gull from Dr. C. J. Patten, a
Flying Phalanger from Miss Reynardson, five Ichneumons from Mr.
W. H. Godwin, a Heron Mr. W. W. Despard, a pair of Swans from Mr.
Justice Madden, a King Parrot from Sir T. Brady, a Chameleon from Mrs.
Wilson, and three Gulls and a Jackdaw from Sergeant M'Goldrick. A
Gibbon, a pair ofChacma Baboons, a Polecat, an Otter, a Leopard, an
Indian Antelope, a pair of Axis Deer, a pair of Emus, and Cockatoo have
been bought.

Irish Naturalist, Vol. VIII. j

[Plate io.

^mxs*

To face pagt 233.]

Thk Sociable Plover,

Vanellus gregarhis (Pall.)

Co. Meath.

[/Vio/o. by Chancellor, Dublin.

November, 1899.] 233

THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SOCIABLE PLOVER IN

IRELAND.

BY EDWARD WILXIAMS.

[Plate 10.]

On the 3rd of August, in the present year, I received a bird
from Robinstown, near Navau, Co. Meath, which puzzled me
very much. At first I thought it was a variety of the common
Green Plover, but on closer examination I found the legs
were much longer.

Upon looking over the collection of skins of the Charadriidce
in the Dublin Museum, I was able to identify the bird as the
Gregarious Plover (Charadrius gregarhis, Pall.), or as Mr.
Howard Saunders calls it, in the last edition of his
" Manual of British Birds," the Sociable Plover ( Vanellus
gregarius).

As will be seen further on, in the extract from that valuable
work, its claims to rank as a British bird were, to say the
least, resting on a very slender basis, but the occurrence in
Ireland of a second example firmly establishes its right to a
place in the British list, and adds a new bird to our Irish
fauna.

Upon communicating with the owner as to its capture, he
informed me that on the 1st August one of his men whilst
grubbing turnips noticed this fancy bird, as he called it, running
about the field, and went in for his master, who came out and
shot the specimen.

As far as I can make out by comparison, the bird is a female,
and I think in the second year's plumage. The following is
a full description : —

Top of head very dark brown dappled with light buff ; a
broad light-coloured band extends 'right over the eye from the
bill to the back of the head. Back ash-grey with a number of
new feathers of a dark brown tint, with a rufous edge coming
out all over, which I take to be the winter plumage. Lower
part of breast blackish, with a baud of chestnut not very
clearly defined extending right across behind the legs. Vent
and lower tail coverts white ; upper tail coverts snow white.
Tail consisting of twelve feathers, two outer ones white, the rest

A

?34 The Irish Naturalist. [November,

white with a band of black near the end, widest in the middle
ones and narrowing as it approaches the sides of the tail.
Primaries black, secondaries pure white, tertiaries and wing
coverts ash grey with dark feathers coming out same as back.
I am indebted to my friend, Dr. C. J. Patten, for the following
very accurate measurements of the Sociable Plover compared
with our L,apwing : —

Sociable Plover. Lapwing.

fTibio-tarsus, 6*5 cm.

Leg

Tarso-metatarsus, 6*9 cm

Hallux = 6 mm.

Leg

'Tibio-tarsus, 4*5 cm.
Tarso-metatarsus, 4*5 cm.
Hallux = 8 mm.

L,ength of bill = 2*9 cm. Length of bill = 2 cm.

The following notes are extracted from Mr. Howard
Saunders' "Manual" (pp. 537-8.)

" In the autumn of the year 1860, or thereabouts, an immature example
of this south-eastern species was shot from among a flock of Lapwings
near St. Michael-on-Wye, in Lancashire, and having been placed in a
case with many other stuffed birds which impeded the view, it was first
erroneously recorded as a Cream-coloured Courser.

" It afterwards came into the possession of Mr. W. H, Doeg, when it
was correctly identified, and was exhibited by the late Mr. Sebohm at a
meeting of the Zoological Society of London on Nov. 21st, 1888. It has
not yet been observed in Heligoland or the northern part of western
Europe, but as long ago as March, 1838, an adult was shot near Rome,
where a young female was obtained in Nov., 1872, while a third example
was killed near Sienna. On the Riviera an adult male was taken near
Nice in April, 1883.

" The Sociable Plover inhabits the steppes of the Crimea, and of the
district between the Don and the Volga, and the Caucasus, as well as the
Aralo-Caspian area and Turkestan. In September it crosses the Pamirs
to the dry uplands of Sinde and the sandy plains of India, and wanders
southward to Ceylon in the cold season, when it also visits Arabia,
Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia. The food consists of spiders, grass-
hoppers, beetles, and their larvae.

"Von Hugelin, who had opportunities of observing this bird in
Kordofan and Senaar, says that it frequented sandy localities and ground
that had been burnt ; it was as a rule quite silent, but every now and then
he heard it utter a short whistle."

Dame-street, Dublin.

I899-] 235

MARINE SHELLS FROM SOUTH-WEST DONEGAL.

BY EMII,Y M. TATI.OW.
[Collected for the R I. A. Flora and Fauna Committee.]

During my nine weeks' visit to South-west Donegal last
summer no day passed on which I did not spend a few hours
on the shore of some one of the bays so numerous there.

My headquarters were at Narin, about eight miles from
Glenties, and a more charming place for a restful holiday it
would be hard to imagine. There is a fine stretch of strand,
known as Narin Beach, and here the majority of the bivalves
were found ; they were by no means numerous, and it was
only by constant search — generally twice a day — that I
discovered a considerable number of species.

At the Black Rocks, where Narin strand ends, there were
always streaks of finer stuff at high tide ; Rissoas and Lacunas
were to be -found, but the shells were interesting chiefly on
account of their lovely colours, specially Nassa i?icrassata,
which was in every shade of purple, pink, and crimson.

My friends at Narin, interested in my occupation, kindly
gave me all the shells they found, so the collection may be
said to be a fairly representative one of the neighbourhood,
though, no doubt, dredging would have produced much more
varied results.

It was, however, on the island of Iniskeen, accessible from
the mainland at low water, and in the smaller island of
Inisbarnog that some fascinating stuff was abundant, rich in
the smaller univalves. In variety it did not equal Round-
stone, but considering the poverty of the main beach and of
the many bays around in the smaller shells, it was remarkable
to find so close at hand, concentrated on a tiny strip of shore,
this material, which almost entirely consisted of small mollusca,
in which Pleurotoma Icevigata and Lacunas were abundant,
and Pleurotoma striolata, P. septa?igularis, and Ma?gi?iella lesvis,
were found. The character of the shells in the , islet of
Inisbarnog was quite different. Here the colouring of the
common Limpet, with its wonderful streaking of black and
white, red and orange, was so exquisite as to give the beach
the effect of being painted by the brush of some inspired
artist, while Littorina obtusata was abnormally large and

A 2

236 The Irish Naturalist. [November,

brilliant of hue. Here it was that Area tetragojia was found ;
I did not see it elsewhere in the district. The specimens
were all small. At Ardara, though the shore is extensive,
there was nothing of interest in the way of shells ; Donax
vittatus and Jlfaetra solida had it all their own way. At
Cloonej' Bay Cardium edule was of enormous size ; Hydrobia
ulvce, unknown at Narin, was in quantities.

Hoping to make discoveries if I went further from home, I
bicycled to Killybegs, where I spent a week. There I found
Mya truncata and M. arenaria (not seen elsewhere), but only
a few single valves of each ; Tapes deeussatus was abundant.
Serobieula?ia pipcrata was abundant and fine at Fintra Bay,
and Tellina balthiea was specially fine in colour and size.

As August approached the debris from the sea increased in
interest ; the shore was often strewn with Vclclla, its exquisite
colour and graceful shape, at the time unfamiliar to me,
suggested its being a foreigner, and gave hope of finding
other rarities. Two waifs from the West Indies next put in
an appearance, the large brown bean of Entada scandens, and
the round grey nut of Ccesalpinia Bonducclla.

The day before leaving Narin some friends picked up about
a dozen specimens of the beautiful oceanic shell Ianthina
rotundata, known as the " Blue Snail." They were quite fresh,
the animal being alive ; attached to many of the shells were
young barnacles which must have somewhat interfered with
the comfort of the " Blind Sailor."

My best thanks are due to Dr. G. W. Chaster, who kindly
named many of the small shells, and to Professor Johnson
for identifying the West Indian seeds.

ANNOTATED LIST OF SPECIES.

Anomla ephippium, Linn.— Young only,
var. aculeata. Iniskeen.
patelliformis, Linn. — Abundant, Inisbarnog.

Ostrea edulis, Linn.— Rare.

Pectcn pusio, Linn. }

var I us, Linn. V Rare an(l small, but very brilliantly

opercularis, Linn.j coloured,

maximus, Linn. — One specimen only.

lYIytilus edulis, Linn.— Small at Narin, very large at Killybegs.

Modlolarla marmorata, Forbes. — Rare.

Area tetragona, Poli. — Inisbarnog only.

1899O Tatlow. — Marine Shells from South-west Donegal. 237

Lasaea rubra, Mont.— Iniskeel and Inisbarnog.

Keliia suborbicularis, Mont. — Iniskeen only.

Luclna borealis, Linn. — Very large at Narin, i£ inch in diameter.

Cardium exiguum, Gmelin.— Very rare.

edule, Linn. — Abnormally large at Clooney Bay.
norvegicum, Speng.— Very rare.
Venus I in eta, Pult.— Frequent.

exoleta, Linn. — Very rare and old.
fasciata, Da C. — Beautifully coloured.
verrucosa, Linn.— One valve.
ovata, Penn.— Rare.
gallina, Linn. — Common.
Tapes pullastra, Mont— Very common,
var. perforans. — Rare.
decussatus, Linn. — Common at Killybegs.
Tellina balthica, Linn.— Fine at Fintra Bay.
tenuis, Da C. — Common.
fabula, Gron. — Rare.

squalida, Pult. — A single valve and a complete specimen.
donacina, Linn. — One specimen.
pusilla, Phil.— Inisbarnog, rare.
Psammobia tellinella, Lam. — One specimen at Inisbarnog.
Donax vittatus, Da C- — Abundant on every shore.
iYlactra solida, Linn.— Common.

subtruncata, Da C— Small.
stultorum, Linn. — Frequent.
Lutraria elliptica, Lam — A few.

Scrobicularia piperata, Bell —Abundant living at Killybegs.
Solen siliqua, Linn. — Rare and broken.
Thracia papyracea, Poli. — Frequent.
Saxicava rugosa, Linn. -Rare.

Patella vulgata, Linn.— Abundant and beautifully coloured.
Helcion pellucidum, Linn.— Common.

var. Iaevis. — Very large.
Tectura virginea, Mull.— Iniskeen. Common.
Emarginula fissura, Liun.— Not uncommon.
Fissurella graeca, Linn — Frequent.
Trochus magus, Linn. — Very few.

clnerareus, Linn. — Common.
umbi Meatus, Mont. — Common.
Iineatus, Da C. — Abundant living and fine.
zizyphinus, Linn. — Living commonly at low-water mark.
Phasianella pulla, Linn. — Islands, common.
Lacuna crassior, Mont. — Abundant at Iniskeen.
dlvaricata, Fab. — Abundant
var. quadrifasciata. — Iniskeen.
puteolus, Turton. — Inisbarnog, Narin, Iniskeen.
pallidula, Da C— Common.

238 The Irish Naturalist. [November,

Lfttorina obtusata, Linn. ) , , S11. , , ,

_, V > Common and brilliantly coloured.

rudls, Maton. ) J

Iltorca, Linn. > Common.

ncritoicles, Linn.)

Rissoa punctura, Mont. — Iniskeen. ) Rare

co st at a, Adams. *

parva, Da C. ) Common.

var. interrupta.)

striata, Adams. \

membranacea, Adams. >• Frequent.

cingillus, Mont. )

violacea, Desm. — Rare.

Hydrobia ulvae, Penn. — Cloouey Bay. Common.

Turrltella terebra, Linn.— Very rare.

Odostomia Iactea, Linn. — Iniskeen and Narin.

Scalaria clathratula, Adams. — Iniskeen. Frequent.

communis, Lam — Iniskeen.

lanthina rotundata, Leach. —Narin.

Natica Aldcri, Forbes. — Common.

Aporrhais pes-pelecani, Linn. — Scarce.

Cerithium rcticulatum, Da C. — Very large at Iniskeeu ;-|-inch long.

var. Iactea. — Narin.

perversum, Linn. — Frequent.

Cerithiopsis tubercularis, Mont. — Iniskeen. Rare.

Purpura Iapillus, Linn.— Common.

Buccinum undatum, Linn. — Very rare.

Nassa incrassata, Stroin.— Perhaps the most abundant of all the

univalves.

reticulata, Linn.— Worn specimens.

Defrancia linearis, Mont — Narin, Inisbarnog, Iniskeen.

purpurea, Mont. — Iniskeen.

Pleurotoma laevigata, Phil.— Very abundant.

costata, Don.— Not common.

septangularis, Mont.— Rare.

striolata, Phil.— Iniskeen.

margin el la Iaevis, Don— One on Inisbarnog.

Cypraea europaea, Mont.— Common and large.

Cylichna cylindracea, Penn.— Several.

Utriculus truncatulus, Brug.— Narin. Rare.

obtusus, Mont.— Iniskeen. Rare.

Actseon tornatilis, Linn. -Iniskeen. Rare.

ADDITIONAL SPECIES FROM KH.I.YBEGS.

Tapes aureus, Gmel.— Frequent.
IYIya truncata, Linn. 1 Rare.
arenaria, Linn. )

Dundrum, Co. Dublin.

I899-] 239

THE HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA.

The History of the European Fauna. By R. F. Scharff, B.Sc,

Ph.D., F.Z.S., &c. The Contemporary Science Series, edited by

Havelock Ellis. London : Walter Scott, Limited, 1899 (pp. viii.4-364).

Price 6s.

The latest volume of "The Contemporary Science Series" is the

outcome of Dr. R. F. ScharfPs paper " On the Origin of the European

Fauna," which was published in the Proceeding? of the Royal Irish Academy,

3rd ser., vol. iv., 1897. The paper should be well known to Irish

naturalists: it was noticed in the Irish Naturalist of September, 1897,

summarised in Nature, vol. lvi., 1897, and more fully abstracted and, to

a certain extent, criticised in the Geological Magazine, n.s., vol. iv.,

1897. As published in book-form the paper has, so the author tells us,

been amplified and improved upon. It has also, of necessity, been

altered in some respects so as to meet the needs of general readers, and

in addition to the maps, a number of woodcuts have been introduced.

However one may feel inclined to differ from Dr. Scharff 's deductions,
and it is all but impossible that when a writer deals, as he does, with not
only vertebrates and invertebrates, but even with plants, he should not
fall foul of some of the specialists on whose particular ground he is
treading, one cannot help admiring the broadminded way in which Dr.
Scharff has completed his work, the enthusiasm which is manifested in
all parts of it, and the industry with which he has sought out and pressed
into his service facts taken from the works of zoologists, botanists,
and geologists. It is, indeed, refreshing to read a book on the
geographical distribution of animals where regions and sub-regions
are no longer treated (as were formerly species) as things immutable and
almost immortal, whereas, in fact, both the one and the other are terms
invented for the convenience of zoologists, to be discarded or replaced
by something better the moment they have served the purpose for
which they were called into being. Bearing this in mind it can hardly,
we think, be doubted that Dr. Scharff will realize his hope that the
publication of his book may give a fresh impulse to the study of the
geographical distribution of species.

Having thus shown our high appreciation of his work, we shall not,
we hope, be misunderstood when expressing opinions, as we may have
to do in several instances, which are not in accord with Dr. Scharff 's.
And first we would express regret that he should have considered it
necessary to ignore " the latest views in revised nomenclature." It is
true that to many of his readers Icpus variabilis is still the Mountain and
I. timidus the Brown Hare, but it is surely the part of a popular instructor,
which role Dr. Scharff has here taken upon himself, to assist the labours
of recognised leaders in the special branches of zoology by adopting the
nomenclature suggested to them by their matured thought, even if in
doing so he should find it necessary to give a few words of explanation
in each case.

240

The Irish Naturalist. LNovem1)er»

The arrangement of the book itself is, we think, not an improvement
on that of Dr Scharff's paper as read to the Royal Irish Academy. He
leads off with an introduction ; this is followed by preliminary considera-
tions, the two sections occupying 88 pages. Then follow six chapters
dealing respectively with the British fauna, the Arctic fauna, the
Siberian migration, the Oriental migration, the Lusitauian fauna and
the Alpine fauna ; but as each of these subjects has to a certain extent
been discussed in the first three sections, the result is much repetition
and frequent unnecessary quotation of the same matter. Thus Professor
Boyd Dawkius' views on the mixture of remains of northern and
southern animals are quoted or paraphrased no less than three times
(pages 54, 73, and 209), while Prof. Bonney on the origin of the Boulder
clay comes in for a ver}T similar attention. The status of the usually
alpine Mountain Avens, Dry as octopetala, as a plant of the sea-level in
Co. Galway is described on page 76 and repeated on page 240, while the
facts concerning the somewhat similar diversity of habitat of the
"Edelweiss" {Leontopodium alpimtni) are given us twice on pages 266 and
342, and so on. Lastly the Bibliography does not contain all the papers
or works alluded to in the text, e.g., the papers by the present writer and
Mr. Bonhote on Arctic Foxes (see footnote to page 149), that by the
present writer on Dr. Gadow's find of remains of the Norway Lemming,
(Lemmus lemmus) in Portugal (page 139), as well as a paper by Dr. John
Hamilton alluded to on page 161. Worse still, a study of the Index,
although it extends to a length of over nine pages, reveals some serious
omissions, such as for instance, to cite a few out of many, the important
allusions to the Reindeer, Hippopotamus and Hyaena in the above
often-quoted statements of Professor Boyd Dawkins, and to the Beaver
and Dormouse on page 63, while we fail to find the word " Woodlouse"
included, in spite of the important genera, such as Platyarthrus, to which
allusion is made in the book.

Dr. Scharff's views on the European fauna are (or ought to be) familiar
to Irish readers from a perusal of his previous papers. Looking for a
small area as a key to the larger one which he had under study, he
selected the British Isles for that purpose, so that his main contentions
allude to these islands in particular. These are briefly as follows : —
recognizing the mixed nature of our fauna and flora, and believing
that 95 per cent, of it reached our islands by the ordinary means of
dispersal, he attempts to follow each component group to its original
home, and to give us the road by which each dispersal was effected.
The southern or Lusitanian element of our fauna, he thinks, must be of
very great age, and part of it may have had its origin in a lost " Atlantis,"
or at all events from various local European centres. An Oriental section
reached us from the countries south of the Caucasus and Altai mainly
by way of the Mediterranean in times when the distribution of land and
sea in that region was widely different from what it is now. A Siberian
element (which, however, did not reach Ireland) had a more northern
course, while two other sections, an Arctic and an American, reached us
from the north by means of a great land-bridge, extending, perhaps,

1899] The History of the European Fauna. 241

through Scotland, Scandinavia, and Greenland. Africa, on the other
hand, has never played a role of importance as the source of any of our
fauna and flora. Dr. Scharff is never afraid to make use of now sub-
merged continents as the stepping stones by means of which our animals
and plants reached their present habitat, with the result that in his
hands our present fauna and flora necessarily date back to an extremely
ancient and in fact Pre-glacial age:

This Pre-glacial antiquity naturally leads to difficulties. How, for
instance, if there was a Glacial age, did anything living survive it ? The
way out of the difficulty lies in the belittlement of the severity of the
Glacial climate. It was not, argues Dr. Scharff, a period of extermination,
but one of comparative mildness. Glaciers there were and the snow-line
was lower than at the present date, but this was compatible with a far
milder, rnoister climate than is generally attributed to it, so that life,
during the summer at all events, may even have been luxuriant. This state
of things Dr. Scharff attributes largely to the presence of an immense
inland sea which stretched from the present Caspian to the White Sea,
and which naturally had a powerful effect on the then climate of Europe
and Western Siberia. To the presence of such a sea, and not to the action
of land-ice, Dr. Scharff attributes the formation of much of the Euro-
pean Boulder-clay ; and he seems inclined to believe with Mr. Mallet
that many of the ice-striated and polished rock-surfaces, which have been
regarded as quite indisputable evidence of glacier action, may be due to
the slipping downwards of heavy masses of mud or gravel from the
side of land in the course of emergence from the sea, a supposition
which would seem to draw some support from the modern tendency to
trace the origins of seismic movements to extensive landslips on conti-
nental slopes.

To support his arguments Dr. Scharff quotes freely from the works of
authors, zoological, botanical, and geological, audit is with these facts
and the conclusions drawn from them that the book is largel}- filled.
With the applications of many of the facts quoted we cannot always
agree. We cannot even always follow the arguments based upon them,
especially as a study of the peculiar geological problems involved would
occupy much time and could only be fully appreciated by a geologist.
One thing is certain : Dr. Scharff has produced a book full of suggestions,
a book which must make the reader think at almost every page of it, a
book which even the opponents of his theories will find useful to keep
handy, if only as a work of reference.

It is the duty of a reviewer to criticise as well as to praise. In our
remarks we shall try to mix adverse and favourable comments in fair
proportion, but in the case of a work of this kind, where the subject is of
such great interest, it is obviously impossible to notice everything that
one would wish ; to do so, iu fact, would be to write a second volume
as big as, or bigger than Dr. Scharft's. And firstly, whatever may be
thought of the minor details of Dr. Scharff's theories, we think he
has made it abundantly clear that the exterminating severity of the
Glacial period may well have been over-estimated. The experiences of
travellers, such as Peary in northernmost Greenland and Nordenskiold at
the northernmost cape of Asia (Cape Chelyeuskin), show us clearly

A3

242 Ihe Irish Naturalist. [November,

that a comparatively rich fauna and flora can and do survive in some
of the coldest known regions of the globe. How much more may this
have been the case in the far more southern Glacial regions of past
times. But we think. Dr. Scharff goes a step too far when he asks us to
regard our mammals as survivors from a Pre-glacial age, and he certainly
makes a grave mistake in expecting us to believe that the two forms
of Stoat (Putorius ermineus and P. hibernicus), of Bullfinch {Pyrrhula major and
P. europced), or of Hare {Lepus europaus and L. mediterraneus) represent, in
each case, a double influx to Europe of its respective species. Rather can
we only regard these forms in the light of modern changes to suit peculiar
climatic conditions. Mammals are so plastic, that were our mammalian
fauna of anything like the age Dr. Scharff would like to make it, it
would surely be the case that not only the few species which we
know to have become more or less altered, but all our species would
be distinct from those of Continental Europe, and might even have
progressed far enough along the course of differentiation to have become
distinct genera. We believe then that Dr. Scharff's views on this point,
while they may apply to invertebrates like Geomalacus macubsus, to
plants like Arbutus Unedo and Etip/iorbia hiberna, and even to the Natterjack
Toad (Bufo calamitd) cannot be applied to our mammals. As regards
birds the case might be different, for they could always escape by
migration from seasonal severity of temperature. Dr. Scharff does not
pin himself down to the belief that our fauna survived in any supposed
large extension of Western Europe. Such extensions there may
have been in comparatively recent times, but a study of Mr. W. H.
Huddleston's paper on " The Eastern Margin of the North Atlantic
Basin" (Geol. Mag., March and April, 1899, pp. 97-105 and 145-157) seems
convincing that if there were such, they are not likely to have been of
ver)r great area, and it is questionable if they could have been of sufficient
extent to support our whole fauna and flora. Is it possible that one
place of refuge for the endangered species of Glacial times could have
been the great tract of low-lying land which is presumed to have occupied
the present basin of the Irish Sea ?

In his eagerness to prove his case, Dr. Scharff seems to push his
arguments as to the mildness of the Glacial period too far. It was right
to reduce the over-estimates of other writers, but surely we must assume
a rather severe climate in Glacial times to explain the dispersion of
such forms of life as issued from the Arctic centre of origin which Dr.
Scharff himself advocates, and to explain the forcing over the equator
into Antarctic regions of such northern types as the Camelida and the
Skuas, and the migrations right over the equator of birds like the
Gray Plover (Sauafaro/a helvetica) which winter in the southern and
summer in the northern hemispheres. (By-the-bye, why does Dr.
Scharff assume (p. 255), that the Wagtails are of southern rather than
northern origin, because, although most of them "have a somewhat
northern range," " almost all of them pass the winter in southern
latitudes ? " Surely the converse is the obvious inference). Further we
were of the opinion that a gradual amelioration of our climate had been
well-nigh proved, even for early histoiical times (see Boyd Dawkins'
"Pleistocene Mammalia"), and that the periods represented in Europe,

i899-] Tlie History of the European Fauna. 243

Including Ireland, by the replacement of the Scotch Fir by the Oak
really represent some of the stages in the retrocession of the Glacial
age. Judging by the luxuriant growth of the Beech in the south of
Ireland we have now reached a period, the climate of which is more
suitable to that tree than to the Oak. Further there are some theories
which base the occurrence of the Glacial period on a variation in the
position of the earth's axis,1 and some account of which might have
been expected from Dr. Scharff. If they are to be believed in their
entirety, they would surely be highly antagonistic to Dr. Scharff 's views.

Next, as regards Dr. Scharff 's extensive Glacial European sea, it is
the part of a geologist to estimate the exact period in, or the limits to
which such a sea must have attained, but there can be no doubt that
some such sea is needed to explain the geographical distribution of
animals in the Gulf of Bothnia, and the great lakes and inland seas of
Asia. How can we explain the presence of a seal (P/ioca sibirica, Sm.)
in Lake Baikal, unless there was some direct and fairly easy com-
munication thence with the Arctic Ocean ?

With reference to centres of distribution., Dr. Scharff has a good deal of
interest to tell us. We do not feel bound to follow Dr. Haacke's theory
of an Arctic origin of life to its utmost limits, but the more we think of
the marine faunae of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the more we feel the
necessity for an extensive centre for the origin of living things in the
Arctic Ocean, perhaps in those flourishing Eocene or Miocene times,
when conifers such as Sequoia, Thujopsis, and Salisburia, together with
such well-known deciduous trees as beeches, oaks, planes, poplars,
limes and magnolias (p. 144), flourished in the congenial climate of
Greenland, and when the flora of Spitzbergen and of Alaska was not
widely different. Such a centre of distribution is necessary to explain
the curious presence of so many closely allied forms in both the N.
Atlantic and the N. Pacific, some of them now separated from each other,
while others extend the whole way around the arctic shores of Asia and
Europe. Thus, to take vertebrates alone, we have the Alcidce and
the Phocida, represented in both oceans by species, some of which occur
right around the northern coast of Eurasia, while others have separated
themselves into two isolated settlements, one confined to each ocean :
and the same remark applies to fish. This centre of distribution need
in no way interfere with that advocated by Mr. Lydekker, and supported
by Dr. Scharff, in the present Oriental region. It was broken up with
the advent of the Glacial period, and the^spread of numerous forms from
it has given a different complexion to most other regions of the earth.

Dr. Scharff advocates the existence of several minor centres of origin
of life in Europe, such as for the Molluscan genus Clausilia in the south-
east (p. 262), and for the slugs of the family Arionida (p. 48) in south-
western Europe, perhaps, even in the submerged Atlantis ; but we hardly
think that Europe can have ever competed with southern Asia in this
respect, at least as regards vertebrates, since the actual area of land
available has always been somewhat limited, and the little that has been
available has occupied temperate or transitional regions, the Sahara

1 See a paper by H. Trautschold in the Bull. Soc. Nat. Jl/osc, 1896, No. 2.

244 Tfie Irish Naturalist. [November,

having apparently existed, either as sea or desert, long enough to form a
barrier to the extension of life northwards from the African Tropics.
We agree with Dr. Scharff when he states that he cannot (p. 290) call to
mind any large species of mammal which we might reasonably suppose
to have originated in South-western Europe. Myogalc is possibly such ;
Talpa, even if it occurs in French Miocene deposits, is old enough in the
Bast to have reached Japan. The Rabbit (Lcpus cumculus) may be a case
in point, as may also be Muscardinus (p. 316), of the ancestry of which,
however, we know nothing, but we doubt if Dr. ScharfF is right in
branding Myoxus (now known as G//s) as of European extraction (p. 316),
that genus having a representative, M. eleqans, Temm., in Japan.
Neither can we agree with Dr. Scharff in placing the origin of the genus
Fringilla (p. 293), and especially of the Chaffinches, in south-western
Europe, for the various sub-species found in Teueriffe, Madeira, the
Canaries, and the Azores, are surely only instances of the adoption, by
isolated colonies of a widely spread bird, of a dress suitable to local
conditions. Even Cyanopolius Cooki (p. 293"), the beautiful blue Magpie of
Spain, must be the survivor of a once widely-spread species, now repre-
sented only by itself and the almost identical C. cyan us of eastern Siberia.

Among the vertebrate representatives of Arctic forms in our islands
are the extinct Reindeer, Arctic Fox and Lemmings, the Varying
Hare, the Stoat, Ptarmigan, Great Auk (extinct), the Salmonidcc, the
vSticklebacks, the genus Cottus, Perches, Cods, and Herrings The North
American fresh-water sponges and plants of Ireland belong to a slightly
different section. With regard to these, we think Dr. Scharff is right in
claiming that they reached our shores by land and not by passing over
frozen arms of the sea, but when he talks of the Reindeer frequently
crossing and recrossing Bering's Straits (why spell it " Behring " ?) in
winter, we think he is incorrect, for we believe the ice of these straits
is never firmly fixed enough for such traffic, as the traveller De Wentt
recently found to his cost. Other Arctic vertebrates, such as the Polar
Bear and Musk Ox, are not known from the British Isles.

A pretty point is made by Dr. Scharff when he contends that the
presence of arctic and alpine plants and animals is not necessarily
indicative of a severe climate, but that they exist in such situations on
account of the protection afforded to them by the snow from severe cold.
In support of this he quotes the extreme delicacy of Arctic plants in
gardens, and their inability to stand an ordinary winter uncovered, the
fact that many of them are evergreen, that some of them such as
the alpine Edelweiss and the Mountain Avens, are found elsewhere at
sea-level, while all, or nearly all, have an extremely discontinuous range.
If we are to follow Dr. Scharff. we shall be led to the conclusion that
arctic and alpine animals are refugees, and have retired before other
and more vigorous forms, to their present habitats, and we must admit
that there seems to be a good deal to favour this supposition. As regards
mountains, we have evidence that in Tibet and in Luzon a group of high
mountains may form an island-like retreat for a peculiar fauna, while
the last refuge of many animals formerly wide-spread has been in the
far or intermediate North. To quote one or two, the Great Auk, the

i899-1 The History of the European Fauna. 245

Rhytina and many Whales have survived longest in regions near one or
other of the poles, and it may be that similar reasons explain the
extreme southern habitat of the Penguins. The Reindeer, the Musk Ox,
the Polar F'ox, and the Lemmings, have only retired northwards in recent
periods, and may well have been driven from the more southern regions
which the}' formerly occupied — the larger animals, perhaps, by man, the
lesser by the competition of other forms. Lastly, where competition
is less keen, as in islands and peninsulas, northern forms occur very
much to the south of their ordinary range, witness the Reindeer and
Arctic Fox in Kamchatka, and the Varying Hare, which is able to
live at sea-level in Ireland in the absence of the competition of the
larger Lepus europcmis. But amongst these Arctic animals we must surely
recognize the presence of a few members of dominant groups which
spread and maintain themselves in all latitudes almost regardless of
climate, and amongst them I would include the Stoat, found widely
distributed in one form or another, and the Polar Bear, a species of a
very dominant genus.

The members of Dr. Scharff's Siberian migration hardly reached
westward of the east coast of England. It has left numerous survivors
on the continent, and nine, including the extinct Beaver, in England.
The Polecat, the Harvest Mouse, the Hamster, and the Brown Hare are
instances of this group, with regard to which, Dr. Scharff, arguing mainly
from Mollusca, upon which it appears the Glacial Period had hardly any
effect (p. 196), and disagreeing with Prof. A. Nehring (pp. 210 and 211),
is at some pains to show that it was not characteristic of steppe-like
conditions. But surely what might be true of mollusca need not
necessarily be so of mammals. The former, powerless to move from their
haunts, might survive unhurt a short continuance of wholly changed
conditions ; the latter, with their ready means of locomotion and high
intelligence, would readily follow on the heel of conditions which suited
them best, so that it really needs no great Siberian migration to account
for their presence in Western Europe. Appropriate mammals would
necessarily fill up a treeless region, wherever such existed, and would as
quickly retreat before the advent of forests. If, as Dr. Scharff supposes,
the west had always the wetter and milder climate, then that is sufficient
to account for the failure of the Siberian forms to penetrate to Ireland,
but some of them must have got very near to our inaccessible shore, for
we have the Common Shrew in Jura, and the Brown Hare in the otherwise
quite hibernian Isle of Man.

We must at this point enter a protest against Dr. Scharff's use of the
word " migration." The fact is that by many people the word migration
is used in a very careless and loose sense to indicate what are three
distinct sets of phenomena — we mean the ordinary periodic and seasonal
movements of migratory birds, fishes, or other animals; the extraordinarjr
and often evanescent irruptions of animals like the Sand-Grouse and the
Lemming ; and the steady, almost imperceptible dispersion of a species
such as the gradual recent increase of the Woodcock and Starling as
breeding species in the South of Ireland. There are statements in his
book indeed, as where he states that the first and third of these

246 The Irhh Naturalist. [November,

phenomena may be manifested in the same species at the same time,
which seem to show that Dr. Scharff appreciates the difference between
them ; but right through the work he uses the word migration to apply
to very different processes. It seems to us that it is high time that
we should distinguish them, and that we should restrict the word
" migration " to the periodic and seasonal movements. For the other
two we might, perhaps, suggest such words as " irruption1 " and
" dispersal."

The Lusitanian group is but poorly, if at all, represented among Irish
mammals ; and this review has already reached such a length that we
have hardly time to allude to its other constituents, or to the Oriental
group in which Dr. Scharff would include such vertebrates as the Red
Deer, the Fallow Deer, the Pheasant, the Fire-crested Wren ; such mollusca
as Buliminus pupa, and such plants as the Cedars. In the Lusitanian
section he includes the Dartford Warbler, Bearded Titmouse, Natterjack
Toad, the Brimstone Butterfly {Gonopteryx rhamni) the slug Geomalacus
maculosus, the species of Testacclla, the blind Woodlouse, Platya rthr us ; and
among plants the Strawberry tree, Arbutus Unedo, the Mediterranean
Heath, and the Irish Spurge, Euphorbia hiberna.

One point at all events strikes us after reading the distribution of the
various groups, and how Mediterranean forms, such as some of the above,
hold their own in the south-west of England and on the west and
north-west coastal districts of Ireland. It is the reality of the existence
of what the Americans would call a Transitional, and we a Mediterranean
region, inside the limits of which, if it be ever taken to include all forms
of life, must certainly be included parts of the western and south-western
sea-board of the British Islands.

We must conclude this notice with a word of warning. The subject is
one of such immense difficulty, and one beset by so many complications,
that it may well be that all our present beliefs may one day have to go
to the wall. It may well be, as Dr. Scharff has suggested, that our
fauna and flora, or much of it, is Pre-glacial ; but, inclined as we are to
believe him, we cannot help emphasising the great distance of time which
undoubtedly separates us from the Glacial Period, as shown, for instance,
by the result of the excavations made by a Committee of the British
Association at Hoxne, in Bast Anglia.3 Even the immensely ancient
palaeolithic implements of Hoxne are separated from the chalky Boulder
clay by two distinct climatic waves accompanied by corresponding
changes of flora ! Who then can say that the long ages, the meagre
history of which we owe to these excavations, may not some day be
shown to have been of sufficient duration for the occurrence of all the
changes and complications in our fauna and flora which form the subject
of Dr. Scharft's volume ? G. E. H. B.-H.

' A word used many years ago by Professor Newton with reference to
the Sand-Grouse.

2 See Report of Sir John Evans' Committee to British Association at
Liverpool in 1896.

1899-1 24;

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Recent gifts include a pair of Kestrels from Mr. J. Tutty, four Doves
from Mr. D. E. Kirkpatrick, Redshanks from Dr. C. J. Patten and Mr.
W. D. Latimer, a Monkey from Major Byres, a pair of Axolotls from
Mr. V. W. Brown, a pair of Gulls from Dr. J. A. Baird, a Razorbill from
Mr. R. Warren, five St. Kilda Sheep from Dr. C. Norman, two young
Seals from Sergt. M'Goldrick, and a pair of Hares from Constable Hf
Murphy. Three Lion cubs were born in the gardens on Sept. 26th, and
three more on October 12th. A Malayan Bear, a white Jackdaw, and
three Land-crabs have been bought.

12,900 persons visited the gardens during September.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.
August 12.— Excursion to Toomebridge. — An early train brought
the party to Toomebridge, where the river banks and site of the ancient
ford, famous for the splendid flint implements which it has yielded, were
explored. The supply of antiquarian objects is not yet exhausted, for
members of the Field Club party collected worked flakes during their
survey on the 12th inst. The party was conducted by Mr. Grant over his
Kieselguhr works, near the hotel. The well-known Bann clay is now
known in commerce as Kieselguhr, and is used for a great variety of
economical' purposes, chiefly through the practical skill and enterprise
of the Messrs. Grant, of Toome. Very fine pure-white clay occurs in
large quantities on both banks of the Bann for several miles along its
course, and for a considerable distance inland over the fiat country around
Toome. The thickness of the deposit varies from two to six feet thick.
The clay is a pure silicate of alumina, the average analysis being as
follows : — Silica, 72 per cent. ; alumina, 9 per cent. ; iron oxide, 5 per
cent. ; lime, 1 per cent. ; water and organic matter, 13 per cent. Its
specific gravity is about '5422, so that when dry it will float on water like
peat. It is a non-conductor of heat and sound, and may be made into
bricks which will float in water. It is used in the manufacture of
dynamite and polishing preparations, and for a variety of purposes on
board ship and public structures, where its extreme lightness, fire-proof,
deafening, and non-conducting properties render it so valuable. It is
prepared by Messrs. Grant in various conditions, but chiefly in bags of
pure-white powder of the very finest texture. Although so very highly
silicious it is of a vegetable and not of a mineral origin. It is, in fact,
made up of the silicious flinty or glass cases of extremely minute single-
belled plants, such as are at present living in and around the Bann — the
plant organisms are known as Diatoms, the most abundant, indestructible,
varied and beautiful forms known in the organic world. A cubic inch of
the earth would probably contain seventy million separate organisms.

248 The Irish Naturalist. [November,

The Club party congratulated Messrs. Graut upon the result of their
labours, and very heartily wished them all the ultimate success their
manifest skill and enterprise so clearly merit.

A number of boats were now provided, and after an enjoyable row of
an hour on the Bann, all were safely landed on Church Island, when the
church, holy well, or bullaun, and the island's many other attractions
were explored, and the return journey was as pleasantly accomplished.

The eel fishing is one of the most important of the local industries at
Toome, where eels are taken by the ton during the season, and are sent
by rail to the various markets, chiefly in England.

The district is one of the very best for the naturalist in search of fresh-
water mollusca. On this occasion some fifteen species were collected,
including the scavenging Limncea stagnalis and Z. palustris. Some large
forms of the Bubble snail, Physa fontiualis, were captured. Of the Coil
shells Planorbis marginatus was very abundant. The mud-loving Pisidium
amnicum was plentiful about the roots of plants in muddy bottoms. On
the shores of the rivers and at Church Island the beautiful Amber shell,
Succinea elegans, was collected with several land shells.

The district around Toome is botanically rich. The botanical
members secured fine examples of the rare Water-Starwort, Callitriche
autumnalis, also Potamogeion heterophyllus, a curious attenuated form, in good
condition. Fine fruiting specimens of Potamogcton lucens were abundant,
and quite a mass of Chara aspera at the northern end of Lough Beg. Of
land plants, the most important was Spcrgularia rubra, which in Ireland
may be accounted decidedly rare. The submerged water plants were
found to be almost entirely encrusted with Diatoms, such as niake up the
bulk of the Bann clay or kieselguhr.

After the investigations of the day, Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Fahy welcomed
and hospitably entertained the party of some sixty members, who,
rested and refreshed, were further entertained by a short address
from Mr. Fahy, giving a most interesting account of the parish and its
immediate surroundings, including its archaeology and natural history.
Mr. Adam Speers, B.Sc, acted as chairman of this, the formal meeting of
the Club, which directed that a letter of condolence be sent to Mr. W. J.
Browne, M.A., on his recent sad bereavement, so very deeply regretted by
the Club ; and after the transaction of some other formal business, a most
hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr. and Mrs. Fahy, and then the
party returned to Toome to catch the last train for Belfast.

SEPTEMBER 2. — The last field meeting was held at Ballynahinch,
The first item of the programme was an open country walk to Glass-
drummond — the green ridge — which is crowned by a good example of a
cashel or stone fort. The party returned to Ballynahinch, noting
natural and artificial objects of interest along the way. The members
obtained ,'permission to enter the demesne of Montalto, which affords
excellent opportunities for the study of many branches of natural
history.

i S99.I Proceedings of Irish Societies 249

Returning to Ballynahinch, tea was provided at Fitzpatrick's Hotel,
after which a formal meeting was held, under the chairmanship of Mr.
W. H. Patterson, M.R.I. A. Among the business matters transacted was
a vote of thanks to the Rev. Patrick Quail, whose extensive knowledge
of the locality enhanced the pleasure and profit of the afternoon's
ramble. A resolution was also passed strongly in favour of inviting the
British Association to revisit Belfast at an early date, as it is now twenty-
five years since the last meeting, in 1874.

Dublin Naturalists' Fiei/d Club.

July 12— Excursion to Lough Bray.— Some fifty members and
their friends, by train, car, and bicycle rode to the head of Glencree and
Lough Bra}-. Additional interest was given to the excursion by the
presence of the botanical and geological science teachers attending the
summer courses in the Royal College of Science. Mr. A W. Davies, in
charge of the geological members, gave an account of the origin of the
Scalp and on the moraine at Upper Lough Bra)*, and enlarged on the
Rev. Maxwell Close's illustrated account'of the origin of the loughs.

The Ivy-leaved Bell-flower was seen at its best, and the Irish Quillwort
was collected in its well-known habitat in the Upper Lough.

NOTES.

ZOOLOGY.

INSECTS.

Noteworthy Irish Orthoptcra.

A female specimen otLocusta cinerascens, Fab., captured at the South Aran
lighthouse in August, 1898, has been given by Mr. R. M Barrington to
the Dublin Museum of Science and Art. This is the common migratory
locust of South-western Europe, and occasional specimens have reached
Great Britain on several occasions.

In June of the present year a female of the Mole-cricket, Ctirtilla
gryllotalpa, Linn., was sent by Major Bruce, of Toome, Co. Derry, through
Mr. R. Welch, who informed me that" it was collected on an old Irish
canoe taken out of the bed of Lough Neagh, at the outflow of the Bann
at Toome, a few years ago. This is a well-known insect in the south of
England, and the presence of a single specimen in the north of Ireland
is remarkable. It is to be hoped that its range in this country may soon
be more fully known.

Both of these specimens have been exhibited in the collection of Irish
animals on the ground floor of the Natural History building.

Geo. H. Carpenter.

250 The Irish Naturalist. [November,

iYlacroglossa stellatarum, etc., In Co. Down.

I took over half a dozen examples, and saw many others, of the
Humming-bird Moth hovering over the flowers of fuchsia, chiefly in
Donard demesne, Newcastle, during the first two weeks in September.
It seems to be common in Ireland this year from all accounts, but its
occurrence so far north may be worth recording.

Pyrameis atalanta was exceedingly abundant also in the same place, and

I might have taken scores of them had I been so disposed.

L. H. BonaparTE-Wyse.
Paris.

Notes on Lepldoptera.

I have seen three " Clouded Yellows" (Colias edusa) in North Tipperary

this season, one early in August and two on the 29th September. I am

not aware that it has yet been recorded from this locality. The

Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossa stellatarnni) was rather abundant

in the gardens around Nenagh this summer. I have counted seven in

one small corner together. I have also seen two specimens of the Irish

Burnet {Zygoma nubigena) near Lough Derg. In 1894 I also met with it

in the same place, but not in the intervening years. On the 16th

August, when landing at Urra, on the shore of Lough Derg, I found

myself actually surrounded by butterflies. A plant with a large flat

pink-headed flower1 grew along the shore for a hundred yards or so,

enclosed in a wooded bay, and in and about this plant I counted over

two dozen of Pyrameis atalanta, several Vanessa io, Argynnis paphia. two

other Fritillaries I did not recognize, Clirysop/iamies pklceas, Pararge egeria,

P. megcera, and a few Whites. On the same day I caught a Clouded

Yellow near by. Such a number and variety in one small spot was

extraordinary.

MiCHAEl, Gr,BESON.
Nenagh.

MOLLUSCS.

The Dispersal of Molluscs, &c.

A friend journeying from Belfast to Ballyshannon brought me from
Co. Sligo what he was pleased to call " Fossil Ivy " — a piece of Carboni-
ferous limestone very much weathered, the coral standing out just like
the stems of Ivy.

The stone measured 5 inches by i\ inches, was very rough and full of
crevasses. When handling it I was attracted by a small beetle hiding in
one of the holes. Making a careful search with a field microscope I
discovered five beetles, all of one species {Longitarsus melanocephalus) and
fifty-four live Helix rupestris. Only four or five of these were full grown.

The stone is used as the common fencing stone of the district.

Hugh L. Orr.
Belfast.

1 Presumably Hemp-Agrimony, Eupatorium cannabinum. — Eds.

J899.] Notes. *5i

BIRDS.

Grey Phalarope !n Co. Armagh.

Mr. H. W. Marsden writes to the Zoologist for October that he received
from Mr. W. Keatley a male Grey Phalarope (P/ialaropus fidicarius) shot
on September 28th, near Lurgan.

Cannets on the Bull Rock.

Owing to the apparent uncertainty that prevails as to the above
breeding-colony of the Gannet (the only other such colony on the Irish
coast besides the Little Skellig), I have made enquiry of the principal
light-keeper, from whom I have received the following reply : —

" Bull Rock light-house, Garnish, Sept. 16th, 1899.— In reply to your
letter of 12th August, relative to birds in our district, particularly as to
number of Gannets on the rock, I have made enquiry from a number of
the natives, who should be most likely to know about the Gannets. and
send you the result. The Gannets first began to build on the Bull Rock
about twenty-five or thirty years ago, and for some years only about six
or eight pairs had nests on it ; during the four or five years of the
building of the lighthouse the Gannets rather decreased in numbers ;
my own observations, extending back three seasons, are that Gannets
are by far more numerous this year than any of the two previous years —
in all I should say there are 500 to 700 nests on the rock. The Gannets
come to the Bull in February, and appear to take from 1st April (when
the first eggs are to be had), up to 1st September before the first young
fly from nest, and all clear away about the 3rd or 4th October. What we
take to be the young birds of the year before come to the Rock about
the end of July. Rock Pipits also build on the Bull Rock— about half-a-
dozen pairs. The Red-legged Jackdaws are still plentiful in the district ;
I counted over forty in the lighthouse ground ashore a day or two ago.
The other birds building on the Rock are — Guillemots, Razor-bills,
Puffins, Kittiwakes, and one pair of Common [Herring] Gulls built last
year. No Gannets have ever been known to build on the " Cow " where
all the above [birds breed] except Gannets, and, in addition, Cormorants
and Black-backed Gulls. The sea-birds have been very plentiful around
the rocks this last season. On the night of the 13th August last we had
a regular invasion of Stormy Petrels on the rock, and over thirty were
killed. Those birds, I think, build in the rock, but only a pair or so, and
we have never been able to find the nest. — James Higginbotham,
1st Keeper."

I may remark on the above that Gannets must have bred on the Bull
Rock longer than Mr. Higginbotham or his informants suppose, for Mr.
Hutchins, who visited it in June, 1868, found " certainly many hundreds "
there (Zoologist, 1882, p. no), and Major Vernon, who sailed past it
about 1876, estimated them by thousands {Field, 1st July, 1876). I was
not aware that Gannets laid before May, and I hope Mr. Higginbotham
next year will note the date when the first eggs are found. We should
also be glad to have a description of what he calls lC the young birds
of the year before."

Cappagh. R. J. USSHER.

252 The Irish Naturalist. [November, 1899.

The Little Tern in Dublin Bay.

It seems to be a moot point whether the Little Tern {Sterna minuta)
breeds every year on the North Bull, or only irregularly. In Dr. Patten's
article in the Irish Naturalist for September, he gives (p. 195) details of
nests found there in the summers of 1891, 1893, 1S96, 1897, and 1899, but
mentions that he observed none in 1892, 1S94, 1895, or 1898, though the
locality was visited at about the same season every year. This would
seem to support the view that the site is not utilised every year, and that
such is the case seems also to be Dr. Patten's own opinion, since in a
former article (vol. vii., p. 237) he speaks of this tern on the North Bull
as "remaining to breed during some seasons." However, I find on
looking up my notes that on June 10th, 1892, 1 found a nest with eggs, and
other nests with broken egg-shells, at this breeding-station ; also, that
on July 1st, 1S94, I found seven nests with eggs, many fragments of
hatched shells, and two newly-hatched birds. It thus appears that in
the series of nine years, 1891-9, there were only two seasons, 1S95 and
189S, in which no nests of the Little Tern were seen on the Bull either
by Dr. Patten or by myself. Under the circumstances it seems to me
probable that they breed there every year, and certainly the negative
evidence is not strong enough to justify our setting them down as
nomadic in that locality. Any positive evidence as to nests found in
1895 or 1898 would tend to set the question at rest.

Ballyhyland, Co. Wexford. C. B. MOFFAT.

In reference to a communication entitled " The Construction of the
Nest of the Little Tern," by Charles J. Patten, I was much interested to
find that his remarks entirely agree with what I have myself observed.
During the last two summers I have on several occasions gone to the
South Bull (commonly called the Shelly Banks), beyond the Pigeon
House Fort ; at the extreme end of the sand hills is a large expanse of
sand covered with shells and loose shingle ; in the early summer this is
covered by the nests of the Little Tern ; I have counted as many as
nineteen nests in one short walk. The conical depression carefully lined
by small pieces of shells was always well marked, and frequently I
noticed the belt of sand surrounding the nest, from which, it seemed
evident, the lining shells had been gathered.

Sandymount, Co. Dublin. R. Atkinson Stoney.

MAMMALS.

Pine Marten and Common Badger in County Caiway.

An aged specimen of Pine Marten {Mustcla martes) was recently killed
near Galway, and is now in my possession. The Badger {Aides taxus) is
common in same locality, and Badger-hunting is a frequent pastime in
the district. The nature of the surface — rocky, woody, partially under
cultivation, and somewhat mountainous — affords suitable shelter and
hunting-ground for both animals, and it is not likely that they shall, for
many years, if at all, become extinct in County Galway.

Galway. R. M. Gii,more;.

December, i89_J 253

RECENT OBSERVATIONS ON THE SEA-FOWL OF

THE DUBLIN COAST.

BY CHARGES J. PATTEN, B.A., M.D.

One might almost have expected that the heavy gales, which
raged so furiously during the middle and latter parts of last
September, would have tended to turn out of their course
large numbers of sea-fowl which happened at that time to be
journeying on their southern migration. Observations made
about the Dublin coast show this to be true to a certain
extent, for some species appeared earlier than is usual, these
having probably been wafted out of their direct line of migra-
tion. Indicative also of the rough weather many birds remained
with us for a longer period than they generally have done,
their numbers not thinning out so rapidly soon after their
arrival as on previous occasions, but curiously enough, as far
as I am aware, very few rare species have been recorded from
Dublin Bay or its vicinity during this autumn.

Of the large and varied Order of Limicolae, the Golden
PeovER (Charadrhis pluvialis) has been very numerous this
autumn. It appeared on the North Bull, Dolly mount, as
early as the 20th of September. On that date I only can be
certain that I observed a single bird, although sportsmen
inform me that it is often seen in large flocks even earlier.
On Monday, September 25th, Mr. E. Williams noted an
enormous flock at Portmarnock. I have not seen large flocks
of Golden Plover about Dublin Bay earlier than the middle of
October.

Grey Peover1 (Squatarola helvetica) have made their
appearance since the beginning of October. Compared with
previous seasons, their arrival was somewhat late, the middle
of September being the usual time.

On October 7th I noticed three "Or four flocks, consisting
each of ten to twelve birds.

Turnstones (Strepsilas interpres) have been exceptionally
numerous this autumn. I noticed an adult bird in summer
plumage as early as August 2nd, 1899. Towards the end of
the same month, viz., August 26th, hundreds of immature

'Old birds in summer plumage seldom occur on our coasts. (See Irish
Naturalist, vol. vii., p. 233.)

A

254 The his h Naturalist. [December,

Turnstones appeared on the Dollymount strand. After a
long and careful examination of a large flock I was able to
distinguish many adult birds among them.

This interested me to a large extent, as it suggested that
Turnstones, old and young, migrate together, differing in that
respect from most other L,iniicolae, the young of which migrate
separately and often before the old birds.1

All through September until the beginning of October this
species was plentiful. However on the 7th October the
numbers had diminished to about eight ; indeed on the day
previous to this Mr. Williams only noticed a few examples.

The Oyster-catcher (H<zmatoptis ostralagus) is never a
scarce bird in Dublin Bay, but during the heavy gales of
September it appeared in huge flocks, many of which allowed
the observer to approach them closer than usual.

The Snipe {Gallinago ccelestis) is by no means common on
the North Bull, Dollymount. During many seasons it failed
to appear, but this year I rose three from the rushes, each on
a different occasion. The dates were August 26th, September
14th, September 20th.

Since 1897 the Little Stint {Tringa minuta) has not been
observed in Dublin Bay until October the 6th this year. Mr.
Williams noted one on that date, and the next day I noted a
single example also. This was likely the same bird. It is
very curious how irregular this little " wader " is as an
autumnal visitor.2

The Curlew Sandpiper {Tringa subarquata) is another
species which occurs irregularly in autumn. It more than
likely appears every year, but in varying numbers. I only
noted one this year, and that on September 14th. It was in
the midst of an enormous flock of very tame Dunlins, in the
company of which species I have often noted it previously.

The Knot {Tinga ca?iuta) is also somewhat irregular in
its numbers as an autumn visitor to the Dublin coast. This
year it seems rather scarce. As far as my observations go, I

J On September 4th of this year, at Rossbeg, beyond Glenties, on the
Donegal coast, a large flock of Turnstones appeared, and rested on the
rocks. Many were old birds, still retaining part of their rich summer
plumage. The flock only remained a few days, during which time the
weather was calm and warm.

2 See Irish Naturalist, vol. vii., p. 234.

i899-J Pattfn. — Sea-Fowl of the Dublin Coast. 255

believe it to be nearly as plentiful in the early winter
(November to Christmas) as it is in autumn.

The usual number of Sandfrung ( Tringa are?iaria), grouped
together in small wisps of twenty birds or so, appeared about
the middle of September. A month earlier than this (August
16th, 1899), I noted a large flock of about 100 Sanderiing at
the North Bull. This flock consisted of adult birds, many of
which at this early date had moulted for the most part into
their winter dress. They only remained about ten days. If
any had been shot at the end of that period and examined,
they would have been found to be almost, if not altogether,
in full winter plumage. Sanderiing in mid-winter are scarce
on the Dublin coast, and it is likely that many of the
specimens which one sees in collections, without the date of
capture, of the Sanderiing hi full winter plumage are specimens
taken in late autumn.

During the northern migration the Sanderiing remained as
late as the 7th June this year.

The Ruff or RFFVF {Machetes pugnax), although decidedly
rare on the Dublin coast, is, I think, a more regular migrant
during autumn than hitherto supposed. The following
records of its occurrence will bear out this statement : —

(1.) September 1st, 1896, male Ruff shot at the North

Bull. This specimen is in my collection.
(2.) August 28th, 1897, 1 Mr. Williams shot a pair at the

North Bull.
(3 ) Supposed to have been observed, but no specimens

taken, in autumn of 1898.
(4.) September 20th, 1899, female Ruff (called Reeve) shot
at the North Bull by Mr. Walker, forwarded to me
from Mr. Williams. This specimen is in my
collection.
(5.) October 3rd, 1899, Ruff (female) shot at Balbriggan
by Mr. Tuustal-Moore (junior), and recorded by
Mr. E. Williams.
N.B. — The last is a late date for the occurrence of this
species.

It is almost needless to mention that the Common Red-
shank (Totanus calidtis) is a very plentiful bird all along
the Dublin coast wherever mudslobs and tidal estuaries are

1 See Irish Naturalist, page 235, vol. vii.

A 2

256 The Irish Naturalist. [December,

present. But its congener, the Greenshank ( Totanus ca?iesce?is),
is much less common, and seems more conservative in its
habits— preferring the muddy shores1 of one part of the Dublin
coast rather than another. It is oftener found about Malahide
and Portmarnock than at Dublin Bay ; indeed, on the North
Bull it seems of late to have become a scarce bird.

The Black-tailed Godwit {Limosa cegocephala) is very rare
in Dublin Bay. I cannot be certain that I have ever seen it
till this year, when, on the 20th of September, Mr. Williams
pointed one out to me which flew past us on the North Bull.
Mr. Williams has observed this species at Portmarnock on
previous occasions.

Bar-tailed Godwits {Limosa lapponicd) remained at the
North Bull as late as June 7th, 1899. I have never seen them
later, although Mr. R. Warren records them as stopping until
the 13th of June where he observed them this year, on the
lands of Moyne Abbey, near Balliua, Co. Mayo (see Irish
Naturalist, vol. viii., p. 187).

The Whimbrel {Numenius phceopus) appeared as early as
the 1 6th of August, and has remained until the 15th October.

Among the order Gaviae the I,ittle Tern {Sterna minuta)
may be mentioned as having bred in considerable numbers
this year about the Dublin coast. In one colony on the
Dollymount Strand I counted sixteen nests. This was on the
21st May, 1899 {Irish Naturalist, vol. viii., p. 195).

Probably many eggs were hatched, as the young appeared
flying about in large numbers during August and the early
part of September.

Some of the Duck Family (Anseres) appeared at an early
date. On the 26th August I observed two Widgeon {Mareca
pe7iclopc)> and on the 14th of September a large flock had
arrived at Dollymount Strand. I noticed the Golden-eye
{Clangula glaucion) on October 7th, and on the day before
(October 6th), a L,ong-TAilED Duck {Harelda glacialis) was
shot at the North Bull by Mr. O'Comiell, and forwarded to
Mr. Williams for preservation. I have not heard of this
bird occurring in Dublin Bay before, although I have two
specimens from Malahide in my collection. They were shot
last winter.

Trinity College, Dublin.

1 Like the Turnstone, the Greenshank also inhabits rocks.

1899-1

257

ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM ULSTER
by rev- w. f. johnson, m.a., f-e-s.

Lepidoptera.

The past summer was a remarkably fine one, and as a result
we have had an invasion of migratory lepidoptera. Those
most noticed are the Clouded Yellow (Colias edusa) and the
Humming-bird Moth {Macroglossa stellataruni)> both of which
seem to have spread themselves widely over the country. It
is somewhat remarkable that the Painted Lady (Pyrantels
cardui), which is a great wanderer, does not appear to have
been noticed except in south-west Cork, as recounted in Mr.
J. J. Wolfe's very interesting paper (ante p. 218). I observed
a single specimen between Poyntzpass and Scarva on August
23rd. I did not capture it, as I had no net with me. It would
be interesting to know whether any of the brood reared in
Cork were noticed elsewhere, as evidently from Mr. Wolfe's
account they dispersed themselves.

I noticed a good man}'- Red Admirals (Pyramcis atalanta) in
my garden and round the neighbourhood, and I saw one on
the wing as late as October 1.

The Small Tortoiseshell ( Vanessa urticci) was of course
abundant. The autumn brood very soon go into hybernation ;
I see them coming into the house early in September. They
will settle inside a window, then work their way to the ceiling,
and then vanish into some cranny. I followed the movements
of one down a passage where it day by day got into a darker
place until at last it hid itself in the very darkest corner, and
I had to get a lamp before I could discover its whereabouts.
I took one that had come in, and killed and set it. It was a
fine fresh specimen, and could not have been very long
emerged from the pupa. The " Whites," as might have been
expected, were in great force, and their larvae were far too
numerous for the good of the cabbages. I do not think any-
thing is at all as efficacious for the destruction of these larvae
as hand-picking. It is troublesome of course, but where it is
done thoroughly it is far the most effective remedy. Mr.
Gleeson's experience at Lough Derg(ante p. 250) is probably that
of most entomologists. There are certain spots which have

258 The Irish Naturalist. [December,

some peculiar attraction for insects, e.g., a particular corner
of a field, part of a lane, or, as in Mr. Gleeson's case, a nook
on the shore of a lake or edge of a wood. The curious thing
is that there are other places apparently equally attractive to
which the insects do not resort. Zygoma loniccra* and Z. fili-
pcndtda were abundant, and I secured some fine specimens in
my own fields.

I picked up a few moths in my garden at rhododendron
blossom, among them being Lophopteryx camelina, Leucania
pattens, L. impura, and Hadcna oleracea. I boxed a nice
specimen of Eubolia palumbaria as it was sitting in a hedge.
Besides these I took Euplcxia lucipa?-a in a farm house,
Cticutlia umbratica and Habrostola urtica in my garden, and
Aglossa pinguinalis in this house. During October I tried
sugar and Ivy blossom ever}' suitable night. Moths were
never numerous, but I obtained a nice little series of Calo-
caynpa exoleta and C. vetusta. In addition I took Miselia
oxyacantluE, Agrotis suffusa, Nochia triangulum, Orthosia
pistacina, and O. ferrugi?iea. Of the last three I only took
single specimens. I saw a good many Phtogopho?'a meticulosa
at Ivy blossom, but even they were never present in any
numbers.

Coi^KOPTKRA.

My friend, Col. W. J, Alexander, while stopping at Narin,
Co. Donegal, sent me a few beetles which he had picked up.
Among them were several Cicindcla campestris, which he told
me were numerous, but hard to catch, owing to their activity ;
he also sent Pristonychus terricola, Corymbitis cuprens and
Phyllopertha ho?iicota. I happened to mention, in my letter
acknowledging the arrival of these distinguished strangers,
that the last named (P. horticola) was called the " Bracken
Clock," and Col. Alexander, who was fishing, noticing that the
beetle was abundant, tried the artificial fly which was called by
that name, with the result that he had some excellent sport. I
hope any of the piscatorial fraternity whose e}^e this may meet
will note the advantage of entomology, and add fly-catching
to fly-fishing.

I recorded (/. Nat., vol. vii., p. 169) the capture of two
specimens of Lochmtza cratcegi, one in April and the second in
June. Canon Fowler (" British Coleoptera," vol. iv.) says that

iS99-] Johnson. — Entomological Notes from Ulster. 259

the beetle occurs "on flowers of Whitethorn," and I was conse-
quently surprised not to be able to obtain more than a single
specimen when I beat the Whitethorn in full bloom. I
have, however, now solved the mystery, and found that the
beetle, here at any rate, is not to be met with in numbers
until long after the flowers are off the Whitethorn. In August
last Mrs. Johnson and I were out in one of my fields, and took
refuge from a shower of rain under the hedge. Almost im-
mediately Mrs. Johnson called my attention to two beetles
that were sitting on my coat sleeve. I recognised them to be
L. cratcsgi, and when the rain had passed off returned with net
and bottle, and began to beat the hedge. In a very short
time I had as many as I wanted, but for curiosity I tried the
Whitethorn in other parts of the Glebe farm, and found the
beetle present there also. From this experience it would seem
that the main brood of the beetle is present in autumn rather
than in early summer.

The great heat and drought of this summer gave the Turnip
" Fly " (Phyllotreta undulatd) and the Wireworm fine oppor-
tunities for the exercise of their peculiar gifts. I slew
P. undulata wholesale by tapping the cabbage and young
turnip plants, and causing the beetles to spring into my net.
I then either crushed them or drowned them. The Wireworm,
which is here mostly Agriotes obscurus, did a great deal of
mischief among turnips, corn, and potatoes. A neighbour of
mine had the greater part of a field of potatoes ruined by these
grubs eating through the tubers, and making them unfit for
market purposes. As far as my experience goes nitrate of
soda is the most useful dressing that can be applied to check
the ravages of these grubs.

Part of this house is pretty old, and consequently harbours
some of the Ptinidce. I have taken Ptinusfur, a good many ;
Niptus kololeuacs, freely ; and N. crenatus sparingly. Crypto-
phagus scanicus and Mus mus cuius, though so far apart in
structure, habits, &c, have a common liking which is
equally destructive to both ; they both love cream, so
both tumble into the cream crocks in my dairy at night
and their corpses are found in the morning, to Mrs.
Johnson's intense delight, as all good housewives will
understand. She tries to get me to take an interest in the

260 The Irish Naturalist. [December,

beetles, but I know that no respectable Cryptophagus, such, for
instance, as pilosus or ruficornis, would get drowned in a cream
crock, so I pay no attention to these gluttonous specimens.
Perhaps it may be of interest to note that I captured nearly all
my specimens of Ptimis fitr after dark. They were on the
walls and ceiling of a pantry and passage which I pass
through to reach the room where I had my incubator at work.

Hymenoptkra.

Wasps have not been at all numerous here this year, owing
probably to the wet spring. I saw very few nests, but noted
those of Vcspa vztlgaris, V. norvegica and V. rufa. I had
intended keeping the nest of V. rufa under observation, but
the very day after I found it some mischievous person
destro3red it. Most people destroy all wasps and their nests
that they can, so acting through ignorance, for though wasps
and their nests in the immediate vicinity of a dwellinghouse
are to be discouraged, yet elsewhere they should be un-
molested and allowed to carry on their work in the economy
of nature, one very important part in which is the killing of
flies. Of course I shall be reminded that wasps sting, but
they won't sting if they are unmolested. I have stood by a
pine tree when it was swarming with wasps, and caught any
that I wanted, and no wasp tried to sting me, and I have
lately stood by a nest of V. vulgaris every day to watch them
at work and, though one would now and then examine me, I
was not stung. I dare not have stood as near to a hive of bees
as I did to these wasps, yet most people would say that wasps
are far more vicious than bees.

Bombus smithianus is still here, and as cross as ever. The}'
attacked and stung my man when mowing, and would have
paid me the same attention, but I was too wary for them. I
met with a few Megachile ccntuncularis in my garden busy
cutting out the rose leaves.

The nest of wasps referred to above is still active at the
time of writing (November 7), and I am very curious to see
how long they, will continue to work.

Acton Glebe, Poyutzpass.

1899] 26 1

PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES.

Royal Zoological Society.

Recent gifts include six Walking Fish, an Electric Fish, and a Mud Fish
from Dr. H. O. Forbes, a Ring-necked Parrakeet from Mr. A. S. Belling-
ham, and a pair of Swans from Miss Cotton. Five Monkeys have been
purchased.

12,600 persons visited the gardens during October.

Dublin Microscopical Club.
May 18. — The Club met at Leinster House.

Mr. Greenwood Pim showed specimens of Mycorrhiza from the roots
of Vaccinium and White Poplar. The mycelium on the first creeps over
the rootlets and in the second forms a kind of felted tissue, the root and
the fungus living and working together syinbiotically.

Professor T. Johnson showed a preparation of the embyro-sac of an
angiosperm at the time of fertilization, and exhibited illustrations from
the Revue Generate de Botanique of M. Guignard's recent discovery of
antherozoid-like male generative nuclei and their functions in Lilium
Mart agon.

Mr. G. H. Carpenter showed a female specimen of Cordylochete malteo-
lata (Sars.), a rare Arctic pantopod of remarkable form. The specimen
had been dredged in July, 1S98, by Mr. W. S. Bruce, of Edinburgh, when
cruising in the S.S. " Bleucathra " off the south-eastern coast of Spitz-
bergen.

October 19. — The Club met at Leinster House.

Mr. Greenwood Pim showed flowers of Ceropcgia Woodii, a curious
creeping or pendulous member of the Asctepiadacece The corolla is
tubular, swollen suddenly at the base, and divided above into four connate
segments, curiously bordered with hair.

Mr. McArdlE exhibited Lejeunea Rossettiana, Massal., which he collected
last May on Ross Island, Killarney, to which district in Ireland it seems
now confined, though reported to have been gathered near Dublin by
Dr. Taylor in 1830. It is rare in England and also found in Italy. On
account of the hyaline papillose leaves it is a beautiful object. The
perianth capsule and spores were also shown ; from the membraneous
capsule a number of long cilia, angular at the apex, grow, extending past
the mouth, over which they curve in a remarkable manner and behave
exactly as do the teeth in the peristome of some mosses. A figure and
description will appear in the Irish Naturalist with Mr. McArdle's paper
on the Hepaticae of Ross Island.

262 The Irish Naturalist. [December,

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.

November i. — Annual Conversazione. — The annual conversazione
was held in the Public Library. There was a large attendance of the
members and their friends. In the reading-room on the first floor there
was a general exhibition of objects of interest, chiefly connected with the
members' investigations during the summer, the sections represented
being geology, zoology, botany, ethnology, and photography. The
exhibitors included Miss M. K. Andrews, Mrs. Patterson, LLD. ; Pro-
fessor Symington, F.R.S.B- ; Professor Johnson, (D.N.F.C); Messrs.
J. St J. Phillips, B.A. ; F. J. Bigger, M.R.I.A. ; A. Speers, B.Sc. ; R.
Welch, J H. Davies, Alexander Milligan, W. Gray, M.R.I.A. ; W. Swan-
ston, F.G.S. ; J. Donaldson, J. Wright, F.G.S. ; J. Lizars, R. May, J.
Hamilton, Chas. Bulla, R. Bell, G. P. Farrau (D.N.F.C), W. H. Phillips,
Alex. R. Hogg, W. J. Fennell, M R.I. A.I. ; and H. L. Orr. The last-
named took the Club's prize for a collection of Irish land shells. Mr. J.
H. Davies exhibited freshly-gathered mosses of different species, which
are to be found in fruit at this season, and the fructification of these was
examined with much interest under Mr. Gray's microscope. Mr. Davies
had also on the table freshly-collected tufts of Foa compressa lately
detected by him on old walls at Lisburn. Mr. Robert Welch displayed
a collection of fresh-water shells from Ulster lakes, and shells
collected by Mr. Moore lately in Lake Tanganyika, Central Africa,
survivals to our day of marine forms hitherto only known fossil in
Jurassic rocks. Mr. Moore, Royal Botanic Gardens, Dublin, kindly
sent a plant of the tropical yam, and Professor Johnson (D N.F.C.)
a number of carnivorous plants. North Antrim land shells, botanical
lantern slides, and rubbings of armorial stones from County Antrim were
shown by Mr. Bigger, and Mr. Swanston exhibited some maps of ancient
Ireland from 1520 to 1700. Mr. H. h- Orr also exhibited a series of
British moths and butterflies, mounted on a new plan on blotting paper
with sunk cells for the bodies, and glass top and bottom, making each
mount practically damp and mite proof. Mr. Gray, in addition to several
other exhibits, slides, &c, showed a mass of the diatomaceous earth or
Kieselguhr — " Bann Clay " — from Toome,with photographs of the sections
on banks of the Bann. Other exhibits included the following: — Rev. C.
H. Waddell, B.D. (President), a collection of mosses and liverworts, also
botanical slides for microscope and miscellaneous objects ; Mr. S. A.
Stewart, a collection of small mosses, mounted for microscope ;
Mr. Wm. Porter, a finely-mounted collection of British grasses; Mr. N.
Carruthers, a fine collection of dried flowering plants (mounted) ; Mr. A.
Gulbransen, microscope slides (botanical).

After the President had extended a cordial welcome to all present,
and referred to the work of the ensuing winter session, an optical lantern
demonstration was given, the various views being explained by Mr. Gray>
Mr. Fennell, and Mr. Phillips.

1899.] Proceedings of Irish Societies. 263

Dublin Naturalists' F'ield Club.

October 25. — The winter session was opened with the usual conver-
sazione. In addition to the Club members and their friends, representa-
tives of the Belfast and Limerick Field Clubs were present, to whom, on
behalf of the Club, the President, R. LI. Praeger, B.A., B.E., offered a
hearty welcome, but especially to Professor A. C. Haddon, D.Sc, F.R.S.,
on his safe return from his successful expedition to Torres Straits and New
Guinea. The lantern exhibit which the latter had agreed to give was
the feature of the evening, the lantern being worked by Mr. Greenwood
Pirn, M.A.

Professor Haddon showed a series of slides illustrating sacred stones
and shrines in the Murray Islands, Torres Straits. A shrine which con-
sisted of one or two large clam shells gave an abundance of cocoa-nuts ;
another was a collection of clam shells containing small stones, which
ensured a good fruit harvest ; rudely carved stones placed in gardens
made the yams and sweet potatoes grow. One block of lava on a small
cairn on the shore was a fish charm, and if boys threw stones at it the
fish migrated. A rude stone figure represents a woman who is supposed
by the natives to have made a hill 600 feet in height. Photographs of
other stones illustrating local legends were also shown. A couple of
views were shown of Port Moresby, the capital of British New Guinea.
This is the centre of a large pottery industry, and seventeen slides were
shown illustrating all the stages in the manufacture of a pot by women.

The exhibition concluded with a series of slides illustrating various
games of Pepuan children, beginning with a string puzzle like our cat's
cradle, and ending with several round singing games, some of which
bear some resemblance to games played at home.

The following exhibits were on view, being in many cases the results
of the past summer's field work: — Mrs. D. R. Alcock, Australian and
Swiss flowers; Dr N. H. Alcock (Hon. Sec), photographs of bats, and a
collection of living bats ; Miss Bernard, sketches made on the Lough Ree
excursion ; G. H. Carpenter, B.Sc, and J. N. Halbert, new insect-cases
for the Museum collection of Irish animals; G. P. Farran, a blind Pump
Shrimp from Templeogue ; Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole, F.G.S., and J. A.
Cunningham, B.A., A.R.CSc.L, specimens and illustrations of the older
rocks of County Donegal, collected in August, 1899 ; Mrs. G. A. J. Cole,
water-colour drawings of sections of igneous rocks ; Mrs. W. S. Green,
Sp'ru/a, Ianthina shells from Inishbofin ; Miss Hughes, drawings illus-
trative of British Ferns; Prof. T. Johnson, D.Sc. (Hon. Sec), Sderotia
and other botanical objects ; \V. F. de V. Kane, M.A., F.E.S., Bormitia
Lilljeborgii (new to Britain) and other Entomostraca ; Miss A. L. Massy, a
series of marine shellsTrom the Malahide estuary; D. McArdle, rare Irish
liverworts and mosses; F. W. Moore, M.R.I.A., a collection of succulent
and other plants, many new to cultivation ; F. Neale (Hon. Sec. L.F.C )
Brimstone butterflies and Ichneumon imagos; A. R. Nichols, B.A., deep-
sea animals from the " Challenger " Expedition ; Miss Patton, Natural

264 The Irish Naturalist. December,

History objects from the East ; Dr. C. J. Patten, a few of the rarer Irish
birds recently obtained from Co. Dublin ; Greenwood Pirn, M.A., Physi-
anthtts. in fruit; and anew Moss, Hypopterycium sp. ; Wistaria sinensis, in
fruit, from Rosanna, Co. Wicklow ; Ricinns, in fruit, &c. ; J. St. J. Phillips
(Hon. Sec. B.N.F.C.), Torridon Sandstone (slide of) ; Dr. C. B. Plowright,
a collection of Fungi presented to the Science and Art Museum; Mrs.
Carleton Rea, drawing of Agaricus strobiliformis (from Lucan Demesne,
1898); A. Gore Rider, CE-, an Indian huntsman's fetich; Dr. R. F.
Scharff, B.Sc, a collection of vertebrate and invertebrate animals from
the Pyrenees; Henry J. Seymour, B.A., 1. Gold nuggets recently obtained
from two different localities in Ireland ; 2. A hammerstoue used by the
natives of Matabeleland for the extraction of gold from its matrix; Miss
L. Shackleton, drawings of British flowering plants, &c. ; Mrs. J. T.
Tatlow, results of shore-collecting, shells, &c, in South Donegal, June
and July, 1899 ; R. Welch (B.N.F.C), British laud and freshwater shells ;
Irish geological photographs.

One table was occupied by a large number of fungi, edible and
poisonous, collected by a number of members the day before in the
Dunran demesne, kindly thrown open by Mr. B. T. Patterson, CE , a
Club member, who added to the Club's indebtedness by inviting the party
to afternoon tea.

Mr. Moore, the Keeper of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Glasnevin,
had, as usual, an interesting group of plants, many of which have
not been seen in cultivation before. Some of the succulent plants illus-
trated mimicry of rock, stone, lichen, and similarity of habit in widely-
separated species. Dr. A. H. Foord, F.G.S., and H. Hanna, M.A., D.Sc,
were prevented by illness from exhibiting.

Cork Naturalists' Field Club.
October 19.— Under the auspices of the Cork Literary and Scientific
Society the inaugural lecture of the new session of the Cork Naturalists'
Field Club was delivered by the President, Mr. T. Farrington, M.A., who
took for his subject, "Some of the relations of the Atmosphere to Plants."
The lecture was illustrated by a number of limelight illustrations and
experiments. Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, Bart., President of the
Literary and Scientific Society, occupied the chair. The lecturer
described the different elements of which the atmosphere was composed,
showing by experiments the influence they had on one another, and
proceeded with his lecture, showing what the atmosphere did for the
plant at different stages of its growth. At the conclusion a warm vote
of thanks was passed to Mr. Farrington.

1899.] 265

OBITUARY.

Charges Bason,
Died November 5, 1899.

It is with a sad satisfaction that we add our small tribute to the memory
of the head of the publishing house which issues this magazine. Many
individuals and undertakings in Ireland will be the poorer for the death
of Charles Eason, and the Irish Naturalist loses in him a steadfast friend
and helper. We believe that it would not be his wish that the part which
he took in founding this Journal should even now be made known ; but at
least we may say that the Irish Naturalist would probably never have
been started, and could certainly never have been carried on, without
the help which he heartily and cheerfully gave us during its earlier
years.

He was born at Yeovil, Somerset, in May, 1823. In 1856 he settled in
Dublin as manager for Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son. From small
beginnings he built up the great and successful business which thirty
years later passed into his own hands. Essentially a man of books, his
reading was varied and his interests wide. Though not a naturalist his
mind was ever open to the teachings of science, and the bearing of
modern biological thought 011 the great problems of existence was
always a fascinating subject to him. His presence eleven years ago at a
certain youthful essay on the life of Darwin was the beginning of a
friendship which led him afterwards to freely place his technical know-
ledge and the resources of his great establishment at the disposal of the
editors and supporters of the Irish Naturalist.

NOTES.

ZOOLOGY.

The History of the European Fauna.

Professor Newton has very kindly called my attention to a curious
slip which occurs in the review of Dr. ScharfPs book {Irish Nat., Nov.,
1899, p. 244), where it is stated that the Musk Ox is not known from the
British Isles. The words " British Isles " have been strangely substituted
for "Ireland," in this sentence, as, of course, remains of the Musk Ox have
been found in more than one English locality, such as, for instance, in
the Pleistocene deposits of Maidenhead, Berks (part of a cranium), of
Crayford (some teeth), and of Green street Green (part of a cranium), both
in Kent— see R. Lydekker's Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the
British Museum Collections, 1885, Part II., p 39.

Professor Newton has also been good enough to point out that the
Great Auk, which is alluded to on the same page as one of the Arctic
forms in our islands, was never, so far as we know, more than a sub-
Arctic species, there being but one instance (if that can be trusted) of its

occurrence within the Arctic circle.

G.E-H.B.-H.

266 The Irish Naturalist. [December,

So much of the valuable space of the Irish Naturalist has already been
taken up with the discussion of my book on the European Fauna that I
cannot here enter fully into the criticisms which appeared in last
month's issue of this journal. Perhaps, however, I may be allowed to
make a few remarks which seem to me of special importance. The
reviewer regrets that I should have considered it necessary to "ignore
the latest views in revised nomenclature." I cannot really see any cause
for such regret. My work was not so much addressed to the specialist as
to those generally interested in the history of the living things sur-
rounding us. It would have made the book very cumbersome and, I
think, confusing to most readers to have had to explain in the case of
almost every Latin name used what particular reviser of nomenclature I
had followed ; for the latest views on revised nomenclature are not at
once adopted by all zoologists, since the revisers themselves are by no
means agreed as to the extent and manner of revision.

The reviewer thinks that I should have given an account in my book
of the theory which bases the occurrence of the Glacial Period on a
variation in the position of the earth's axis. But had I done so the many
other views as to the origin of the Glacial Period, especially that which
attributes the phenomena of glaciation to changes in the eccentricity of
the orbit should have been discussed, which would scarcely have been
within the scope of my work.

As regards my statement that the Reindeer often cross the Behring or
Bering Straits (I believe the hardy Dane who discovered the straits did
not know himself whether to spell his name with or without an " h" — see
Encyclopedia Britannica), I can only refer the reviewer to the paper by
Brauer (quoted in my bibliography), in which full references are given.

R. F. SCHARFF.

Science and Art Museum, Dublin.

INSECTS.

Irish Fleas.

Dr. Scharff very kindly forwarded me last year some fleas. It may
possibly be of interest to the readers of the Irish Naturalist to record the
species. I received a large series of Ctenopsylla musculi from Dublin taken
off the House Mouse, and a pair of Ceratopsylla jubata taken off the Hairy-
armed Bat (Scotophilus Lcisleri) from Bray River, September 7, 1898. In
addition to these there were some others which I hope to record later.

So very little is known of even our British fleas that many new species
must be forthcoming. I should much like to receive any Irish fleas
collectors may be disposed to part with, and can give British birds and
lepidoptera in exchange.

N. Charges Rothschild.

Tring, Herts.

1899.] Notes. 267

BIRDS.

Bird Records In Co. Tippcrary.

Mr. Warren, to whose opinion I at once yield, thinks I am mistaken in
reporting the arrival of a Reed Warbler in the Co. Tipperary (see above,
page 185). On referring to my note-book I find I put a query after it,
'Reed Warbler or what else?" I had on a few occasions previously
seen a Warbler in the locality near the reedy shores of Lough Derg on
the Nenagh River, but more particularly last May, when I had a good
opportunity of a near examination with an opera glass. It certainly was
not a Sedge Warbler, a bird quite common here and well known to me,
although it resembled it generally in size and appearance. The general
colour was a warm brown above, but without any streaks or markings of
the Sedge Warbler; white on breast and stomach, with a surrounding
tawny tinge, and with a pale eye streak.

I had no opportunity of catching it, if so inclined, even, and it certainly
appeared to be the same bird which had been pointed out to me in the
South of England as a Reed Warbler. 'Some weeks ago I noticed con-
sorting with a flock of Long-tailed and other Tits several very bright
yellow green-coloured small birds which resembled the Willow Wren, but
were much brighter. Has the Wood Wren been recorded from this
county, or would the Wood Wren be found in company with Tits ?

Michaei, Gl^EKSON.

Nenagh.

Maternal Affection of Wild Birds and Vitality of

some Eggs.

Crossing one of our Antrim hills in the company of a friend, we came
to a piece of miry ground thickly studded with tumocks of grass. We
were stepping from one to another of these when, as my foot touched,
one of them, up rose a Snipe. Being much surprised, I drew back my foot
and remained motionless ; the bird had risen about eighteen inches, and
continued to hover over the spot with rapidly beating wing for over half
a minute— I could easily have caught her with my hand— then flew
ahead about a hundred yards and to a height of about thirty yards, when
she commenced to make that noise which has been described as bleating.
I had often heard it before, but not at so short a range or so long
continued. On parting the long fane glasses which rose to the height of
ten or twelve inches, we discovered the eggs, which they had completely
hidden from view.

The eggs we took to compare with the previous ones taken in Down-
patrick marshes thirty years before. Finding them hard set I put them
in a basin of cold water, and placed them out of doors. On examining
them next day I found the chicks still living in the shells, after having
floated in cold water for over twelve hours.

268 The Irish Naturalist. [December, 18

They were extracted after the shells had been strengthened with glue
and tow, but I never enjoyed looking at them, and finally brushed them
aside ; but the memory of the ruthless deed still lingers with me.

Did the bird winnow the grass to close it over the nest, or was it to
decoy me in pursuit, as the Green Plover often had done, or was it
evidence of the maternal affection for her unfledged young, which I
have often witnessed in the Robin and Hedgesparrow during the last
stage of incubation, when they have allowed me to stroke them with
my finger— the same birds proving wild at earlier stages of the hatching ?
I have observed similar evidence of vitality in the eggs of wild birds,
though the eggs of domestic fowls are very perishable.

H. L. Orr.

Belfast.

MAMMALS.

The Hedgehog and Its food.

In searching our banks and hedgerows, especially our railway cuttings,
I have observed countless numbers of broken shells of Helix nemoralis ;
these are strewed in the runs which are overhung with grass and herbage
and are, I strongly suspect, the work of the Hedgehog. Some time
ago I was fortunate in finding one, a fine specimen, rolled up in a bushel of
beech leaves. These were nicely compacted and apparently waterproof,
placed in a tangle of briars in a glen. We kept the little beast for some
time, and it was amusing to see how shy it was — the least noise or motion
making it coil up. After a time it became quite tame.

I had heard it accused of eating eggs. I placed one oil the floor over-
night ; next morning I found the shell with a piece the size of a shilling
broken out of one side, and the contents clean gone. I supplied it with
some dozens of Helix nemoralis, and listened to it crunching them up,
separating and rejecting the shells, and swallowing the snails with
exceeding gusto. We cut a few of its bristles off to section for the
microscope, and set it at liberty. Has its propensity for eating snails
been noticed by others ? I have heard them sniffing in the early spring
morning in the hedges, and have heard at the same time the crunching
sound which I afterwards verified.

H. Iy. Orr.

Belfast.

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