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THE  IRISH  NATURALIST: 


^  JlitlonttTl^  ^oxxvnal 


OF 


GENERAL  IRISH  NATURAL  HISTORY 


THK    OFFICIAIv   ORGAN    OF 

The  Royal  Zoological  Society  of  Ireland  ;   The  Dub/in  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  ; 

2'he  Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club ;     The  Limerick  Naturalists'  Field  Club. 


EDITED    BY 

GEORGE    H.    CARPENTER,    B.Sc,    Lond 

AND 

R.  LI.OYD  PRAEGER,  B.A.,  B.E.,  M.R.I.A. 


VOL.    V. 


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

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

1S96. 


PRINTED  BY  ALEX.  THOM  &  CO.  (LiMrTED),  87,  88,  &  89,  ABBEY-STREET,  DUBLIN. 


CONTRIBUTORS 

TO   the;    prbsknt   voi.umk. 


G.  E.  H.  Barrett- Hamii^Ton,  b.a.,  New  Ross. 

R.  M.  Harrington,  i,l.b.,  f.i;.s.,  Fassaroe,  Bray. 

W.  B.  Barrington,  Cork. 

H.  D.  M.  Barton,  Antrim. 

J.  Bei^I/AS,  Coleraine. 

E.  BIvAKE-Knox,  Bray. 

Rev.  S.  a.  Brenan,  B.A.,  Knocknacary,  Co.  Antrim. 

Henry  W.  Broi,emann,  Paris. 

E.  T.  Browne,  University  College,  London. 

H.  BUI.I.OCK,  Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin. 

D.  C.  Campbei,!,,  Londonderry. 

Geo.  H.  Carpenter,  b.sc.,  f.e.S.,  vScience&Art  Museum,  Dublin 
Prof.  G,  A.  J.  C01.E,  F.G.S.,  m.r.i.a.,  R.  College  ofScience,  Dublin. 
Nathaniei.  Coi,gan,  m.r.i.a.,  Dublin. 
W.  E.  Coi,i.iNGE,  F.Z.S.,  Mason  College,  Birmingham. 

E.  V.  Cooper,  Killanne,  Co.  Wexford. 
R.  H.  CreighTon,  M.B.,  Ballyshannon. 

H.  K.  G.  CuThberT,  Blackrock,  Co.  Dublin. 

J.  H.  Da  VIES,  Lisburn. 

REV.  A.  H.  Dei^ap,  M.A.,  Strabane. 

J.  E.  DuERDEN,  A.R.CSc,  Kingston,  Jamaica. 

G.  P.  Farran,  Templeogue,  Co.  Dublin. 

Percy  E.  Freke,  Borris,  Co.  Carlow. 

Rev.  H11.DERIC  Friend,  F.i^.S.,  Ocker  Hill,  Staffordshire. 

F.  W.  Gambi^E,  m.sc,  Owens  College,  Manchester. 
Rev.  T.  B.  Gibson,  m.a.,  Ferns,  Co.  Wexford. 
Rev.  W.  S.  Green,  Dublin. 

J.  N.  Hai^berT,  Science  and  Art  Museum,  Dublin. 
W.  A.  Hamii^TON,  Ballyshannon. 

G.  V.  Hart,   q.C,  1.1..D.,  Dublin. 

H.  C.  Hart,  b.a.,  F.i,.S.,  Letterkenny. 
Miss  R.  Hensman,  Dublin. 
R.  F.  HiBBERT,  ScarifF,  Co.  Glare. 
C.  B.  HORSBRUGH. 

J.  Hunter,  Woodenbridge,  Co.  Wicklow, 

C.  Herbert  Hurst,  ph.d.,  Dublin. 

H.  Lyster  Jameson,  b.a.  ,  Castlebellingham. 

Prof.  T.  Johnson,  d.sc,  f.i,.s..  Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin. 

Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson,  m.a.,  f.e.s.,  Poyntzpass. 

W.  F.  DE  V.  Kane,  m.a.,  f.e.S.,  Drumreaske,  Co.  Monaghan. 

C.  Langham,  Enniskillen. 


iv  Contribiitors, 

Rev.  H.  W.  Lett,  m.a.,  Loughbrickland,  Co.  Down. 

H.  C.  LEVINGE,  F.Iv.9.,  Knockdrin  Castle,  MuUingar. 

C.  J.  Lil^ivY,  Larne. 

Rev.  E.  F.  Linton,  m.a.,  f.i,.s.,  Bournemouth. 

F.  W.  LOCKWOOD,  Belfast. 

W.  MacmilIvAN,  Enniskillen. 

E.  A.  MarTEIv,  Paris. 

David  M'ArdIvE,  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Glasnevin. 

J.  M.  M' Bride,  Westport. 

Prof.  E.  J.  McWeeney,  m.a.,  m.d.,  Dublin. 

C.  B.  Moffat,  Ballyhyland,  Co.  Wexford. 

Miss  F.  S.  O'Connor,  Ballycastle. 

J.  E.  Pai^mer,  Dublin. 

R.  A.  PHII.I.IPS,  Ashburton,  Co.  Cork. 

Greenwood  Pim,  m.a.,  f.i,.s.,  Monkstown,  Dublin. 

R.  Lloyd  Praeger,  b.a.,  b.e.,  m.r.i.a.,  Dublin. 

P.  RAI.FE,  Laxey,  Isle  of  Man. 

Rev.  Canon  C  D.  Russei<i„  m.a.,  Geashill,  King's  Co. 

T.  Ryan,  Castlewellan,  Co.  Down. 

R.  F.  SCHARFF,  B.sc.,  PH.D.,  M.R.I.A.,  Dublin. 

J.  A.  Scott,  m.d.,  f.r.c.s.i.,  Dublin. 

W.  Sinclair,  Strabane. 

W.  F.  Sinclair,  London. 

R.  STanden,  Manchester. 

S.  A.  Stewart,  Belfast. 

A.  P.  Swan,  f.l.S.,  Bandon. 

R.  J.  USSHER,  J.P.,  Cappagh,  Co.  Waterford. 

Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  b.d.,  Saintfield,  Co.  Down. 

Miss  A.  Warren,  Ballina. 

Robert  Warren,  j.p.,  Ballina. 

R.  Welch,  Belfast. 

E.  Williams,  Dublin. 

A.  G.  Wilson,  Belfast. 

Harry  F.  Witherby,  f.z.s.,  London. 


IN  DEX. 


Acherontia  atropos,  Sy,  191,  317. 
Acrocephahis  iicevius,  191. 
Aculeate  Hymeiioptera,  39,  294. 
Adams'   British  Land   and   Fresh- 
water Mollusca  (Review),  285. 
Alchemilla  vulgaris,  296. 
AlgcE  from  Belfast  Lough,  252. 
Allis  Shad,  191,  248. 
Allium  triquetrum,  167. 
American  Robin  in  Conuaught,  214. 
Andesitic  volcanic  tuff,  245. 
Ascetta  primordialis,  109. 
Asperococcus  compressus,  244. 
Asteroscopus  sphinx,  317. 
Atypus  in  King's  Co.,  213. 

Barrett-Hamilton,  G.  E-  H.— Irish 
Hare  going  to  ground,  119  ;  Great 
Auk  as  an  Irish  Bird,  121. 

Barrington,  R.  M. — Wasps  catching 
flies  on  cattle,  272. 

Barrington,  W.  B. — Bird-notes  from 
Cork,  320. 

Barton,  H.  D.  M.— Razorbill  on 
Lough  Neagh,  214;  Stock-dove 
in  Co.  Down,  214. 

Belfast  Club  and  its  work,  209. 

Belfast  Natural  History  and  Phi- 
losophical Society,  19,  82,  109. 

Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  20, 
52,  82,  109,  138,  183,  209,  215,  245, 
264,  295,314. 

Bellas,  J. — Stray  Snake  near  Cole- 
raine,  168. 

Bird-notes,  55,  191,  192. 

Bird-notes  from  Co.  Cork,  320. 

Birds  of  Gonnemara,  i,  88,  299,  319. 

Black  Guillemots,  nesting,  117. 

Blake-Knox,  E. — Wood-sandpiper 
in  Co.  Wicklow,  275. 

Bone  pins,  81. 

Botanical  Subdivision  of  Ireland, 

29,  73- 

Botany  at  Dublin  University,  105. 

Botany  of  Dublin  School  Play- 
ground, 277. 

Brambling  in  Vale  of  Avoca,  28. 

Brenan,  S.  A. — Irish  Hawkwxeds, 
27  ;  Notes  from  Cushendun,  166. 

Brolemann,  H.W. — Lithobiusvarie- 
gatus,  12. 

Browne,  B.T. — Medusae  of  Valentia 
Harbour,  179. 

Bullock,  H.— Quail  in  Co.  Dublin, 

275. 


Campbell,  D.  C— Spring  Migrants, 
168;  Crane  at  Inch,  214;  Cato- 
cala  fraxini  at  Londonderry,  318  ; 
Fork-tailed  Petrel  near  Lon- 
donderry, 320. 

Caniptogramma  bilineata,  74. 

Canis  vulpes  melanogaster,  178. 

Carabus  clathratus,  191. 

Carex  teretiuscula,  270, 

Carpenter,  G.  H. —  Mingling  of 
North  and  South,  57  ;  Atypus  in 
King's  Go.,  167  ;  Spiders  of  Clon- 
brock,  225  ;  Abundance  of  Acher- 
ontia atropos,  317. 

Carrion  Crow  in  Co.  Antrim,  319. 

Casuals  in  Go.  Antrim,  309. 

Catocala  fraxini,  31S. 

Cavan,  Field  Glubs  in,  193. 

Gave,  longest  in  British  Islands, 
276. 

Cave  at  Westport,  320. 

Caves,  Irish,  123. 

Caves  in  Go.  Leitrim,  276. 

Caves  of  Enniskillen  and  Mitchels- 
town,  93,  10 1. 

Cephalozia  Turneri,  136. 

Chermes  phaleratus,  215. 

Chlorochytrium  inclusum,  51. 

Chromatium  Okenii,  313. 

Clonbrock,  Flora  and  Fauna  of, 
217. 

Coccidium  oriforme,  53, 

Cole,  G.  A.  J.— Shell  of  Helix 
nemoralis,  47 ;  Geological  Studies 
in  the  North,  48  ;  Oldhamia  in 
America,  254 ;  Alleged  Burite  of 
Lisnamandra,  276. 

Coleoptera  of  Glonbrock,  230. 

Colgan,  N. —  Early  flowering  of 
Lathraea  squamaria,  115;  Scro- 
phularia  umbrosa,  182  ;  Flora  of 
Ox  Mountains,  301. 

Colliguaja  odorifera,  51. 

ColHnge,  W.  E.— Slugs  from  N.W. 
Ireland,  144;  Slugs  of  Ireland, 
318. 

Columba  senas,  192,  214. 

Cooper,  E.  V.— Pinguicula  grandi- 
flora  introduced  in  C^,o.  Wexford, 
212. 

Copepoda,  27,  298. 

Cork  Cuvierian  Society,  26. 

Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  24, 
84,  III,  164,  1S6,  216,  267,  317. 

Cormorants  in  Co.  Donegal,  214. 


37 /a 


VI 


Index, 


Corvus  corone,  319. 

Crane  on  Lough  Swilly,  214. 

Creighton,  R,  H. — Kntomostraca, 

89. 
Crithmum  maritimum,  297. 
Crossbills,  28. 
Curlews,  117. 
Cuthbert,;H.  K.  G.— Carabus  clath- 

ratus  in  Co.  Wicklow,  191. 
Cyathus  vernicosus,  55,  115. 

Davies,  J.  H. — Carex  teretiuscula 
in  Co.  Down,  270;  Casuals  in  Co. 
Antrim,  309. 

Death's  Head  Moth.  87,  191,  317. 

Delap,  A.  H. — Lathrasa  squamaria 
167  ;  Formica  rufa,  167. 

Denudation  of  the  Chalk,  56. 

Dilsea  edulis,  51. 

Directory  of  Irish  Naturalists,  107. 

Dobson,  G.  E. — Obituary  notice  of, 

73- 
Donegal  Plants,  298. 
Dryas  octopetala,  269. 
Dublin  Microscopical  Club,  17,  50, 

81,  108,  136,  183,  215,  244,  312, 
Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  23, 

52,  83,  no,  141,  185,  216,  266,  295, 

316. 
Duck,  Longtailed,  in  Co.  Clare,  28. 
Duerden,  J.  E. — Rock-pools  of  Bun- 

doran,  153. 

Early  Emergence,  87. 

Early  Hawthorn,  143. 

Earth-stars,  55. 

Earth w^orms,  69;  of  Clonbrock,  222. 

Entomological  Notes  from  Poyntz- 

pass,   190;    from  N.   E.    Ireland, 

272. 
Entomostraca,  89. 
Eurite  of  Co.  Cavan,  276. 
Eurotium  herbariorum,  183. 

Farran,  G.  P.— Grasshopper  War- 
bler in  Go.  Dublin,  191 ;  Asteros- 
copus  sphinx  in  Co.  Dublin,  317. 

Fauna  of  Belfast  Lough,  271. 

Fauna  and  Flora  of  Clonbrock,  217. 

Feathered  Pensioners,  118. 

Field  Clubs  in  Gavan,  193. 

Field  Club  News,  26,  54,  86,  113, 
142,  165,  181,  267,  300. 

Flora  of  N.  E.  Ireland,  188;  of 
Clonbrock,  217;  of  Lough  Derg, 
269 ;  of  Connemara  Lakes,  292 ; 
of  Ox  Mountains.  Co.  Sligo,  301. 

Flowering  Plants  and  Vascular 
Cryptogams  of  Clonbrock,  239. 

Formica  rufa,  143,  167. 


Nesting  of    Black 


Freke,  P.  E. — Irish  Hymenoptera 
Aculeata,  39,  294, 

Freshwater  Worms,  125,  189. 

Friend,  H.— Earthworms  of  Ire- 
land, 69;  Irish  Fresh waterWorms, 
125,  189;  Earthworms  of  Clon- 
brock, 222. 

Fringilla  montifringilla,  28. 

Fungi  from  Brackenstown,  Co. 
Dublin,  6 ;  of  Clonbrock,  234 ; 
New  Irish,  268 ;  of  Brittas  Bay, 
268. 

Gamble,  F.  W. — Shore-collecting 
and  dredging  at  Valentia,  124. 

Geaster  fimbriatus,  55. 

Geological  Studies  in  the  North,  48. 

Geology  of  the  Curran,  Larne,  120. 

Gibson,  T.  B.— Botany  of  School 
Playground  in  Dublin,  277. 

Glacial  Geology,  255. 

Gladiolus  tristis,  108. 

Gonepteryx  rhamni,  87. 

Grasshopper  Warbler  in  Co.  Dub- 
lin, 191. 

Great  Auk,  121. 

Green,   W.    S. - 
Guillemot,  118 

Grus  communis,  214. 

Gulls  of  Killala  Bay,  169. 

Halbert,  J.  N. — Insects  from  Lug- 
naquilla  and  Glenmalur,  210; 
Hemiptera  of  Clonbrock,  229 ; 
Coleoptera  of  Clonbrock,  230. 

Hamilton,  W.  A. — Spring  migrants, 
144. 

Hare,  Irish,  119. 

Hareldd  glacialis,  28. 

Hart,  G.  V. — Gonepteryx  rhamni 
in  Queen's  Co.,  87 ;  An  early  emer- 
gence, 87  :  Mixodia  palustrana  in 
Co.  Wicklow,  318. 

Hart,  H.  C.  —  Flora  of  N.  E.  Ire- 
land, 188;  Measurement  of  a 
Scotch  Fir  stump,  189. 

Hawkweeds,  27. 

Helix  arbustorum,  213,  318;  H. 
fusca,  318;  H.  nemoralis,  47, 

Hemiptera  of  Clonbrock,  229. 

Hensman,  Miss,  and  Johnson,  T. — 
Algae  from  Belfast  Lough,  252. 

Hepaticoe  of  Co.  Carlow,  200 ;  of 
Clonbrock,  235. 

Hibbert,  R.  P\— Longtailed  Duck 
in  Co.  Clare,  28  ;  Stock-dove  in 
Co.  Galway,  192. 

Hornblende-Schist,  137. 

Horsbrugh,  C.  B, — Night-heron  in 
Co.  Cork,  276. 


Index. 


Vii 


Hottonia  palustris,  115. 

Hunter,  J. — Brambling  in  Vale  of 

Ovoca,  28  ;  Crossbills  in  do.,  28. 
Hurst,    C.    H.— Fauna    of   Belfast 

Lough,  271. 
Hydroids  and  Medusae,  298, 
Hyella  nitida,  81. 
Hj'menoptera  aculeata,   Irish,    39, 

116,  294. 
Hypersthene,  18. 

Iceland  Gull,  192. 

Insects  of  Lugnaquilla  and  Glen- 

malur,  210. 
Irish  Field  Club  Union,  215. 
Island- Flora  of  Connemara  Lakes, 

292. 
Isopods  of  Clonbrock,  225. 
Ixodes  marginatus,  17. 

Jameson,  H.  L. — Oaves  of  Ennis- 
killen  and  Mitchelstown,  93  ; 
Caves  in  Co.  Leitrim,  276. 

Johnson,  T.,  and  Hensman,  Miss — 
Algae  from  north  side  of  Belfast 
Lough,  252. 

Johnson,  W.  F. — Irish  Hymenop- 
tera  aculeata,  116;  Draba  verna 
at  Poyntzpass,  188  ;  Entomo- 
logical Notes  from  Poyntzpass, 
190  ;  from  N.E.  Ireland,  273  ; 
Acherontia  atropos  at  Bessbrook, 
191 ;  Spring  Migrants  at  Poyntz- 
pass, 191 ;  Vespa  norvegica  at 
Omeath,  213. 

Jungermannia  exsecta,  245. 

Kane,  W.  F.  de  V. — Pine  Marten  in 
Ireland,  28;  Melanism  in  Canipto- 
gramma  bilineata,  74. 

Killala  Bay  Terns,  145;  Gulls,  169; 
Skuas,  248. 

Kingfisher  in  Co.  Dublin,  318. 

Land-locked  Salmon,  16. 
Land-planarians  and    Leeches    of 

Clonbrock,  221. 
Land-rail,  168. 
Langham,  C. — Iceland  Gull  on  the 

Sligo  Coast,  192. 
Larus  leucopterus,  192. 
Lathrsea  squamaria,  115,  166,  167. 
L^pidium  Draba,  212. 
Leptyphantes  pallidus,  51. 
Lett,  H.  W. — Lathraea  squamaria, 

156  ;     Dryas    octopetala    in    Co. 

Antrim,  269. 
Levinge,  H.  C Plants  of  West- 

meath,  44;    Obituary  notice  of, 

107. 


Lilly,  C.  J.— Flora  of  Lough  Derg, 

269. 
Limerick  Naturalists'  Field  Club 

25,  85. 
Limosella  aquatica,  297. 
Linton,  E.  F. — Alchemilla  vulgaris, 

296. 
Lithobius  variegatus,  12. 
Littorin-a  obtusata,  248. 
Lockwood,  F.  W. — Geology  of  the 

Curran,  Larne,  120. 
Loxia  curvirostris,  28. 

M'Ardle,  D.— Co.  Carlo w  Hepati- 
cae,  200  ;  Mosses  and  Hepaticae  of 
Clonbrock,  235. 

M 'Bride,  J.  M.— Cave  at  Westport, 
320. 

Macraillan,  W.  —  Globe-flower  in 
Co.  Fermanagh,  188 ;  Quail  in 
Co.  Monaghan,  214. 

M'Weeney,  E.  J. — Fungi  from 
Brackenstown,  6  ;  Fungi  of  Clon- 
brock, 234;  New  Irish  Fungi, 
268  ;  Fungi  of  Brittas  Bay,  268. 

M'Weeney,  E.  J.,  and  Praeger,  R. 
LI. — Fauna  and  Flora  of  Clon- 
brock, Prefator}'  Note,  217. 

Magpie  in  Isle  of  Man,  168,  189. 

Marine  Mollusca  of  Co.  Gaiway,274 

Martel,  E-  A.— Mitchelstown  Cave, 

lOI. 

Martens,  28. 

Matricaria  discoidea,  290. 

Medicago  sylvestris,  249,  298. 

Medusae  of  Valentia  Harbour,  179. 

Melanism  in  Camptogramma  bili- 
neata, 74. 

Melobesia  confinis,  18 ;  M.  farinosa, 
82. 

Mercurialis  perennis,  212. 

Meyrick's  British  Lepidoptera 
(Review),  290. 

Mildness  of  season,  87. 

Mingling  of  North  and  South,  67, 
116. 

Mitchelstown  Cave,  loi. 

Mixodia  palustrana,  318. 

Moffat,  C.  B.— Mingling  of  North 
and  South,  116;  Migration  of 
Curlews,  117;  P'ormica  rufa  in  Co. 
Wexford,  143 ;  Our  introduced 
species,  189 ;  Quail  in  Ireland,  203. 

Mollusca  of  West  of  Ireland,  213. 
248  ;  of  Cavan  Excursion,  274  ; 
of  Clonbrock,  223. 

Molophilus  ater,  137. 

Moss  Exchange  Club,  55,  296. 

Mosses  and  Hepatics  of  Clonbrock, 
235- 


Vlll 


Index. 


Natural  History  Papers,  Recent,  1 62. 
Nectria  aurantium,  136 ;  N.  sangui- 

nea,  137.       .     ^      ^     , 
Night-Heron  in  Co.  Cork,  276. 
Nitophyllum  reptans,  51. 

Obituary  Notices.— G.  E.   Dobson, 

73  ;  H.  C.  Levinge,  107. 
Oceanodroma  leucorrhoa,  320. 
O'Connor,   Miss.— Spider  carrying 

snail-shell,  299. 
Oldhamia  in  America,  254. 
Onesinda  minutissima,  312. 
Opal-bearing  rhyolite,  137. 
Ox  Mountains,  Flora  of,  301. 

Palmer,  J.  E— Birds  ofConnemara, 
88. 

Peziza  sclerotium,  313. 

Phillips,  R.  A.— Ranunculus  tripar- 
titus,  an  addition  to  the  Irish 
Flora,  166;  Allium  triquetrumin 
Co.  Cork,  167. 

Phonolite,  215. 

Phvllactinia  guttata,  51. 

Phyllosiphon  arisari,  137. 

Pirn,  G.— Cyathus  vernicosus,  115; 
Early  Hawthorn,  143  ;  Limosella 
aquatica  in  Clare,  297;  King- 
fisher in  Co.  Dublin,  318. 

Pinguicula  grandiflora,  212. 

Plagiochila  asplenioides,  51. 

Plants  of  Westmeath,  44 ;  Irish,  1 88 ; 
of  Co.  Down,  142  ;  of  Inismurray, 
177. 

Praeger,  R.  LI. — Botanical  Sub- 
division of  Ireland,  29;  Birds- 
nest  Fungus  new  to  Ireland,  55  ; 
Earth-stars  in  Co.  Tipperary,  55  ; 
Directory  of  Irish  Naturalists, 
107 ;  Early  flowering  of  Hottonia 
palustris,  115;  Raised  Beach  at 
Fort  Stewart,  119;  Irish  Caves, 
123  ;  Submerged  Pine-forest,  155  ; 
Plants  of  Inismurray,  177  -,  Field 
Clubs  in  Gavan,  193;  Teesdalia 
nudicaulis  in  Ireland,  212  ;  Mer- 
curialis  perennis  in  Co.  Monag- 
han,  2 1 2  •,  I^lora  and  Fauna  of  Clon- 
brock,  217,239;  Veronica  pere- 
grina  in  Ireland,  247;  Scirpus 
parvulus,247;  Medicago  sylvestris 
in  Ireland,  249  ;  in  Scotland,  298  ; 
Island-flora  of  Connemara  lakes, 
292  ;  Stachys  Betonicain  Antrim, 
297;  Matricaria  discoidea  at 
Howth,  298. 

Praeger's  Bibliography  of  Irish 
Glacial  Geology  (Review),  257. 

Puccinia  Lapsanse,  136. 


Quail  in  Cork,  192  ;  in  Ireland,  203  ; 

""in   Co.   Monaghan,  214;    in   Co. 

Dublin,  275  ;  in  Co.  Down,  299. 


Ralfe,  P. — Magpie  in  Isle  of  Man, 
168. 

Raised  Beach  at  Fort  Stewart,  119. 

Ramulina,  81. 

Ranunculus  tripartitus,  166. 

Razorbill,  214. 

Reviews.— Geological  Studies  in 
the  North,  48;  Botany  at  Dublin 
University,  155  ;  Witcheirs  Evo- 
lution of  Bird- song,  160;  Recent 
Natural  History  Papers,  162; 
Swann's  Handbook  of  British 
Birds,  207  ;  Proceedings  of  Belfast 
Naturalists'  Field  Club,  209  ; 
Sollas'  Distribution  of  Eskers  in 
Ireland,  255 ;  Praeger's  Biblio- 
graphy of  Irish  Glacial  and  Post- 
Glacial  Geology,  257  ;  Adams' 
Manual  of  British  Land  and 
Freshwater  Mollusca,  285  ;  Tutfs 
British  Butterflies,  287 ;  Mey- 
rick's  British  Lepidoptera,  290. 

Riccardia  latifrons,  18. 

Rock-pools  of  Bundoran,  153. 

Rooks,  feathers  of,  18. 

Royal  Irish  Academy,  187. 

Royal  Zoological  Society,  17,  50,  80, 

.  108,  136,  164,  183,  215,  244,  263, 
294,  312. 

Russell,  C.  D.— Lathrseasquamana 
in  King's  Co.,  167. 

Ryan,  T. — Lathrsea  squamaria  in 
Co.  Down,  142. 


Salmon,  supposed  land-locked,  16. 

Scapania  compacta,  137 ;  S.  um- 
brosa,  183. 

Scharff",  R.  F.— Supposed  land- 
locked Salmon,  16;  Canis  vulpes 
melanogaster  in  Ireland,  178; 
Land  planarians  and  Leeches  of 
Clonbrock,  221  \  Land  and  P'resh- 
water  Mollusca  of  Clonbrock,  223; 
Isopods  of  Clonbrock,  225. 

Scisena  aquila,  275. 

Scirpus  parvulus,  247. 

Scotch  Fir  stump,  189. 

Scott,  J.  A.— Death's-head  Moth  in 
Dublin,  87. 

Scrophularia  umbrosa,  182. 

Seasonable  Notes  from  Cushendun, 
166. 

Selaginella  oregana   108. 

Shade-fish,  275. 


hidcx 


IX 


Sinclair,   W. — Allis  shad  in   Irish 

waters,  248. 
Sinclair,  W.  F. — Submerged  Peat- 
bogs in  Co.  Donegal,  192. 
Sisyrinchium  californicum,  269. 
Skuas  of  Killala  Bay,  268. 
Slugs,  144,  31S. 
Snakes,  28,  168. 
Sollas'    Distribution      of     Kskers 

(Review),  255. 
Song  of  Birds,  160. 
Sphaerostilbe  flavoviridis,  215. 
Sphagnum  papillosum,   108. 
Spiders  of  Clonbrock,  225. 
Spider  carrying  snail-shell,  299. 
Spirialis  retroversus,  248. 
Spring  migrants,  144,  168,  191. 
Stachys  Betonica,  297. 
Standen,  R. — Carrion  Crow  in  Co. 

Antrim,  319. 
Stewart,  S.  A. — Crithmum  mariti- 

mum  in  Co.  Down,  297  ;  Prof.  R. 

Tate's  visit  to  Belfast,  308. 
Stockdoves,  28,  191,  214. 
Submerged  Peat-bogs  192. 
Submerged  Pine-forest,  155. 
Swan,  A.    P. — Quail  in   Co.    Cork, 

192. 
Swann's  Handbook  of  British  Birds 

(Review),  207. 


Teesdalia  nudicaulis,  212. 
Terns  of  Killala  Bay,  145. 
Totanus  glareola,  275. 
Tribolium  ferrugineum,  248. 
Trichoniscus  roseus,  213. 
Trollius  europoeus,  188. 


Trumbull,  J.— Stockdoves   in  Co. 

Dublin,  28. 
Tuberculina  persicina,  18. 
Turdus  migratorius,  214. 
Tutt's  British  Butterflies  (Review), 

287. 

Ussher,  R.  J. — American  Robin  in 
Connaught,  214;  Birds  of  Conne- 
mara,  319. 

Veronica  peregrina,  247. 
Vespa  norvegica,  213. 
Volcanic  bomb,  81. 

Waddell,  C.  H.— Scarcity  of  Land- 
rail, 168. 
Warren,  Miss — Spirialis  retroversus 

in  Killala  Bay,  248. 
Warren,  R. — Terns   of  Killala  Bay, 

145 ;  Gulls  of  Killala   Bay,    169 ; 

Skuas  of  Killala  Bay,  258. 
Wasps  catching  flies  on  cattle,  272. 
Welch,     R. — Trichoniscus    roseus, 

213;  Helix  arbustorum,  213,  318; 

H.  fusca,  318;   Marine   Mollusca 

of  Co.  Galway,  274;   Mollusca  of 

Cavan  Excursion,  274. 
White  Swallow,  319. 
Williams,  E. — Irish  Bird-notes,  55. 
Wilson,  A.  G.— Ouartzite,  56;   Lit- 

torina  obtusata  at  Bunowen,  248. 
Witch  ell's  Evolution  of  Bird-song 

(Review),  160. 
Witherby,  H.  F,— Birds  of  Conne- 

mara,  i,  299. 
Wood-sandpip.er,  275. 


PI.ATES  AND  II,I,USTRATI0NS. 

Ireland  divided  into  Counties  and  Vice-Counties  (Plate  i),  To  face  p.    29 
Mitchelstown  Cave  (Plate  2),       .  .  .  .  To  face  p.  loi 

Section  of  glacial  beds  and  submerged  forest  at  Bray,  .  .  p.  156 

Section  of  post-glacial  beds  at  Belfast,  .  .  .  .  .p.   i^y 

Pardosa  herbigrada  (Plate  3),      .  .  .  .  To  face  p.  227 


ERRATA. 

Page  51,  lines  11  and  13,  for  "  leaves"  read  "hairs." 
„     137,  line  6,  for  "  March  "  read  "  Aprii,." 
,,     179,  line  21,  for  "  ZT.  allaria  "  read  "  H.  alii  aria:' 
„    231,  line  23,  for  '' Necordes''  read  '' Necrodes:: 


/. 


i  2-  (  <^  i  ?  ^  A  R  Y  U    ' 


33 1 


TO   THE    BINDER. 


Plate  2   (Mitchelstown  Cave)    was  inserted  in  the  number  by   error 
opposite  page  loo.     It  should  face  page  loi. 


VOLUME    V. 


A    FORTNIGHT    WITH   THE   BIRDS    OF 
CONNEMARA. 

BY  HARRY   F.   WITHERBY,    F.Z.S. 


On  May  i8th  last,  I  arrived  in  the  town  of  Galway  intent  on 
exploring  Connemara.  My  sole  object  in  so  doing  being  to 
find  out  as  far  as  possible  what  birds  were  there,  and  to  note 
their  habits  and  breeding-haunts. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  say  at  once  that  the  following  record  is 
very  incomplete  as  regards  inland  birds,  chiefly  because, 
finding  the  country  uninteresting  and  the  birds  few,  I  made 
my  way  as  quickly  as  possible  to  the  coast.  Consequently 
this  paper  must  not  in  any  way  be  taken  as  a  record  of  all  the 
birds  to  be  found  in  Connemara,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  these  few  notes  may  be  of  some  interest  to  Irish 
ornithologists. 

Birds  are  fairly  numerous  round  Galway  town.  Yellow 
Hammers,  Blackbirds,  Thrushes,  Robins,  Wheatears, 
Chafiinches,  Willow  Wrens,  Cuckoos,  Corncrakes,  Jackdaws, 
and  Magpies  abound.  All  through  Connemara  I  was  struck  by 
the  numbers  of  Corncrakes  and  Jackdaws.  The  absence  of 
the  Whinchat,  and  more  especially  of  the  Stonechat,  and  the 
omnipresence  of  the  Wheatear,  are  also  remarkable. 

After  one  day  only  in  Galway  I  went  on  to  Oughterard,  but 
as  I  confined  my  attentions  to  I^ough  Corrib  and  its  islands, 
which  have  already  been  explored  by  Mr.  Ussher,  there  will 
be  little  important  to  say  of  my  stay  there.  Of  small  birds  I 
found  the  Reed,  Common  and  Yellow  Buntings,  Chaffinches, 
and  Blackbirds  tolerably  common  on  the  islands,  and  Sedge- 
warblers  especially  so.  A  Reed-bunting's  nest  with  eggs 
several  feet  up  a  tree  was  peculiar.  Some  of  the  islands 
boajited  a  pair  of  Magpies,  while  others  literally  swarmed 
with  nesting  Wood  Pigeons,     On  one  island  I  came  across  a 

A 


2  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Jan. 

remarkable  eccentricity,  which  has  already  been  reported  to 
the  Zoologist. 

"The  island  to  which  I  refer  was  thickly  wooded  with  small 
firs,  oaks,  willows,  and  other  trees  and  shrubs.  Round  the 
edges  of  the  wood  there  was  a  line  of  high  heather.  Wood 
Pigeons  were  breeding  in  considerable  numbers  in  the  wood  ; 
but  as  I  was  going  round  the  edge  of  the  island  I  almost 
stamped  on  a  Wood  Pigeon  which  rose  from  out  of  some  high 
heather.  Thinking  that  this  was  a  curious  place  for  the  bird 
to  be  feeding,  I  looked  down  amongst  the  heather.  In  the 
midst  of  a  thick  clump  of  tall  heather  was  a  Pigeon's  nest, 
composed  of  a  few  sticks  placed  literally  on  the  ground.  The 
nest  contained  one  Q.%g.  This  seemed  very  strange,  but  I 
thought  it  must  be  an  accident.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
island,  however,  I  flushed  another  Pigeon  in  the  same  way, 
and  found  another  nest  in  exactly  the  same  sort  of  position, 
but  this  nest  contained  quite  a  big  young  one.  There  seems 
no  accounting  for  this  curious  fact.  The  birds  must  have 
nested  in  this  position  by  deliberate  intent.  Yet  there  were 
plenty  of  good  trees  for  their  purpose,  where  other  Pigeons 
were  breeding." 

As  regards  sea-birds  on  Lough  Corrib — the  Black-headed 
and  Lesser  Black-backed  Gulls  I  found  breeding  on  several 
islands,  and  the  Merganser  {Merg2is  sc7'rato7^  was  no  doubt 
nesting,  as  I  saw  several  pairs  but  found  no'eggs.  This  bird  is 
locally  known  on  Lough  Corrib  as  the  Shield-duck.  A  number 
of  Dunlin,  some  of  which  were  singing  beautifully,  were  flying 
about  in  small  flocks,  and  the  Common  Sandpiper  was 
breeding  fairly  plentifully.  A  few  Cormorants  visit  the  lake 
every  morning  and  evening  to  feed.  The  Wild  Duck  (A?ias 
doschas)  was  breeding  fairly  numerously,  but  although  I  heard 
various  rumours  from  the  fishermen  of  Widgeon  and  Pochard 
I  was  unable  to  confirm  them. 

Recess,  in  the  centre  of  Connemara,  was  my  next  stopping 
place.  A  more  barren  country  for  birds  I  never  came  across. 
The  scarcity  of  birds  is  no  doubt  due  to  the  scarcity  of  food. 
The  mountains — the  celebrated  Twelve  Pins — are  stony  and 
barren,  and  can  support  nothing.  The  rest  of  the  country  is 
a  flat  plateau  of  bog,  studded  with  small  lakes.  One  would 
expect  to  find  the  bog  swarming  with  Snipe,  but  not  a  single 
one  could  be  seen,  and  I  was  told  that  even  in  the  hardest 


1S96.  [  WiTHKRBY. — Birds  of  Co7i7iemara.  3 

winters  they  were  very  scarce.  A  few  pairs  of  Golden  Plovers 
and  innumerable  Larks  were  nesting  on  this  dreary  expanse 
of  miles  and  miles  of  flat  bog,  but  beyond  these,  and  now  and 
then  a  Hawk  sweeping  by  in  the  far  distance,  not  a  bird  was 
visible.  All  the  bird-life  seemed  to  be  concentrated  in  the 
lakes,  every  one  ofwhich  has  one  or  more  islands,  and,  curious 
to  say,  in  the  midst  of  this  treeless,  shrubless  waste,  these 
islands  are  thickly  covered  with  heather,  willows,  dwarfed 
oaks,  and  other  trees.  It  would,  no  doubt,  repay  anj^one  who 
would  take  the  trouble  to  explore  these  islands.  It  is,  how- 
ever, no  easy  matter  to  get  out  to  them,  as  most  of  the  lakes 
are  too  deep  to  wade,  and  hidden  snags  make  swimming  to 
them  dangerous.  An  india-rubber  boat  would  be  valuable  as 
a  means  of  reaching  the  islands.  With  no  such  adjunct  I  was 
able  to  explore  but  a  few  out  of  a  great  number.  The  only 
birds  I  found  were  Wild  Duck  and  Teal,  but  my  guide  told  me 
that  Hooded  Crows  and  Herons  used  to  nest  on  the  islands. 
I  began  to  believe  that  anything  might  be  on  the  islands, 
which  we  could  only  view  from  a  distance,  as  my  guide's 
invariable  answer  to  the  question  '*  Does  such  and  such  a  bird 
breed  here  ?"  was,  ''  It  moight  be  on  the  island,  sor,  but  faith  I 
don't  know !"  Otters  seem  very  plentiful  here  from  the 
number  of  their  tracks,  and  doubtless  the  manj^  underground 
channels  connecting  the  lakes  are  much  to  their  liking.  A 
Corncrake  rattled  incessantly  all  night  just  under  my 
window. 

At  Clifden  a  fair  absorbed  my  first  day,  and  on  the  next  I 
visited  Cruagh  and  High  Islands.  I  found  a  small  colony  of 
Great  Black-backed  Gulls  on  Cruagh,  but  nothing  else  of  note. 
On  High  Island  Black  Guillemots  were  breeding,  and  I  saw 
also  a  pair  of  both  Peregine  Falcons  and  Ravens.  The  latter 
had  a  young  one,  and  a  skirmish  between  the  male  Peregine 
and  one  of  the  Ravens  was  extremely  interesting.  The 
Peregine  beat  the  Raven  at  all  points,  whirling  up  into  the 
air  and  dashing  down  upon  it  like  a  stone.  The  Raven  indeed 
only  saved  itself  from  the  Falcon's  savage  onslaught  by 
clinging  closely  to  the  cliff,  and  thus  sneaking  away.  For  a 
long  time  the  Falcon  flew  round  crying  shrilly  as  a  guinea 
pig,  and  whenever  the  Raven  showed  itself  it  made  its  life  a 
burden.    That  Raven  would  do  well  to  shift  its  quarters.     On 


^  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Jan. 

so  small  an  island  it  must  be  difficult  to  keep  the  peace.  It  is 
the  home  of  a  good  many  Rabbits  and  Rock  Doves,  and  they, 
no  doubt,  form  good  food  for  the  Peregine. 

At  this  part  of  the  coast,  and  north  as  far  as  Clare  Island  I 
think,  there  are  no  convenient  nesting-ledges  for  Guillemots 
and   Razorbills,  consequently   one    misses  these  birds;    but 
their  genus  is  represented  by  the  Black  Guillemot,  which  is  very 
fairly  numerous.     On  both  of  these  islands  (High  and  Cruagh) 
I  found  a  great  number  of  dead  birds.     They  chiefly  consisted 
of  Starlings,  but  there  were  also  a  good  many  Snipe  and  a  few 
Curlew.     Would  the  exceptional  gales  and  hard  weather  of 
last  winter  account  for  this  ?     Or  may  the  birds  have  been 
driven  out  to  the  west  by  one  of  those  inexplicable  eruptive 
migration  fevers  only  to  return  and  die  on  the  nearest  land  ? 
On  some  of  the  low  flat  islands  ofi"  Renvyle  (my  next  stopping 
place),  the  Black  Guillemots  seemed  to  be  laying  their  eggs 
under  the  large  boulders  scattered  about.     I  saw  several  at 
different  times  fly  out  from  amongst  them,  but  could  not  reach 
the  eggs.     Another  curious  nesting  habit  I  noted  was,  that 
the  Oyster-catchers,  which  were  numerous,  invariably  nested 
on  the  rocks  or  turf  even  on  islands  where  there  was  shingle 
in  every  v/ay  suitable  for  them.     This    fact  would  seem  to 
show  that  rock  and  not  shingle  is  their  original,  or  at  all  events 
their  favourite  nesting  site,  and  yet  one  never  finds  their  eggs 
without  pebbles  or  some  such  substitute  as  rabbits'  excrement, 
heads  of  Sea  Campion,  shells,  or  bits  of  wood  underneath  them. 
Terns,  both  Common  and  Arctic,  were  just  commencing  to  lay 
on    the  lowest    and  smallest  of  the    islands.     It    might    be 
mentioned  that  off  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  as  here,  the  Terns 
seem  to  prefer  the  low  islands  for  nesting.     Cormorants  and 
Shags,  both  young  and  old,  were  swarming  everywhere. 

On  Inishturk  I  came  across  a  large  colony  of  Sparrows 
breeding  in  an  ivy-covered  cliff  by  the  harbour.  Had  it  not 
been  so  far  west  one  would  have  expected  these  to  have  h^^nPasser 
viontanus,  but  they  were  all  the  homely  domesticus,  at  least  as 
far  as  I  could  see.  It  seems  curious  that  there  should  be  such 
a  large  colony  of  House  Sparrows  on  this  barren  island  con- 
taining but  a  score  or  so  of  houses,  while  throughout  Con- 
nemara  it  is  a  comparatively  uncommon  bird.  Indeed  I  saw 
more  Sparrows  in  a  day  on  Inishturk  than  I  did  in  a  fortnight 
in  the  rest  of  Connemara.    On  Inishturk  the  Wheatear  and 


1896.  J  WiTHERBY. — Birds  of  Connemara,  S 

Sedge-warbler  were  common,  very  far  west  for  these  migrants. 
Yellow  Buntings  and  Twites  were  also  present,  and  of  course 
the  Rock  Pipit.  I  was  surprised  to  find  on  the  top  of  a  small 
but  fairly  high  island  a  little  fresh-water  lake,  and  still  more 
surprised  to  find  it  inhabited  by  a  Moorhen. 

I  will  conclude  these  incomplete  notes  with  an  account  of 
two  interesting  migrants  which  I  found  lingering  in  the  south 
so  late  in  the  3^ear.  Curiously  enough  they  were  both  on  the 
same  island  (Inishdalla).  The  date  of  my  visit  to  this  island 
was  May  30,  and  the  two  species  I  refer  to  were  the  Turnstone 
and  the  Purple  Sandpiper.  The  first  of  these  was  represented 
by  a  small  flock  of  six  birds  in  nuptial  dress.  Since  they  are 
known  to  commence  laying  in  the  first  part  of  June  it  seems 
strange  that  these  birds  should  have  been  in  a  flock  on  May 

30- 

Before  I  landed  on  the  island  I  had  caught  a  glimpse  of 

what  I  thought  must  be  a  Purple  Sandpiper,  and  soon  after 
landing  I  found  two  of  them.  Thinking  that  by  some  lucky 
chance  they  might  be  nesting  on  this  island,  I  watched  them 
for  a  long  time,  and  then  searched  the  whole  island  through, 
but  without  success.  As  I  spent  nearly  the  whole  day  in 
searching  for  their  eggs,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  I  shall  be  for- 
given for  shooting  the  birds.  By  this  I  was  able  to  find  that 
they  were  a  pair,  and  that  the  ovaries  of  the  female  were 
fairly  advanced.  The  presence  of  a  pair  of  these  birds  in  full 
breeding  plumage  in  a  place  which  was  apparently  in  every 
way  suitable  for  breeding  purposes,  seemed  to  me  to  be  a 
hopeful  sign  that  it  might  some  day  be  added  to  the  British 
list  of  breeding  and  resident  birds.  But  this  hope  was  damped 
when  Mr.  Harvie-Brown  pointed  out  to  me  that  in  the  Faroes 
this  bird  does  not  breed  near  the  sea-level  or  on  grassy  holms, 
but  on  the  tops  of  the  highest  hills.  Therefore,  if  they  do 
breed  in  Ireland,  it  would  not  probably  be  lower  than  2,000 
feet  altitude. 

Altogether  Connemara  is  not  in  my  opinion  a  tempting 
place  for  the  ornithologist.  Bird-life  there  is  woefully  scarce, 
both  in  species  and  numbers.  Kven  the  Hooded  Crow  and 
the  Redshank  seemed  to  be  absent  from  Connemara. 


The  Irish  Naturalist,  [  Jan. 

FUNGI  FROM    BRACKENSTOWN,  CO.  DUBLIN. 

BY   K.   J.    M'WEKNEY,  M.A.,    M.D. 


(Excursion  of  the  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Glub,  5th  October,  1895.) 
When,  after  many  hours  of  sorting  and  dissecting  and  mount- 
ing and  gazing  down  through  the  microscope,  and  measuring 
of  spores  and  comparing  of  authorities,  there  confronted  me  at 
last  the  repulsive-looking  list  herewith  presented,  I  conceived 
the  idea  of  writing  something  which  might  render  it  intelli- 
gible to  the  large  majority  of  Irish  field-naturalists,  and 
prevent  it  from  remaining  a  useless  monument  of  cacophonous 
terminology. 

I  am  hardly  entitled,  however,  to  use  the  term  cacophonous 
in  connection  with  the  first  part  of  the  list.  For  this  com- 
prises the  Agaricini,  the  most  highly  organised  of  all  the 
Fungi — the  division  which  has  been  classified  by  the  illustrious 
Swedish  botanist,  BHas  Fries,  who  was  certainly  one  of  the 
most  skilful  inventors  of  well-sounding  generic  names  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  Fries'  classification  of  the  mushroom- 
tribe  is  a  triumph  of  ingenuity.  Taking  as  his  criterion  the 
colour  of  the  spores,  he  divided  the  hundreds  of  toadstool- 
species,  which  had  hitherto  lain  inextricably  jumbled,  into  five 
series : — 

Those  with  white  spores,  or  Leiicosporce. 

Those  with  pink  spores,  or  Rhodosporcs. 

Those  with  brown  spores,  or  Ochrosporce. 

Those  with  purple  spores,  or  Porphyrosporcr,  and 

Those  with  black  spores,  or  Mela7iospora. 

What  is  very  remarkable  about  this  curious  division  is  that 
the  species  in  each  group  run  parallel,  or  nearly  so,  to  the 
homologous  species  in  the  other  groups,  and  that,  generally 
speaking,  there  is  a  gradual  ascent  in  the  evolution  of  the 
type  from  the  lowest,  least  well-organized  forms,  which  are  in 
the  black-spored  series,  to  the  highest  best  organized  ones  in 
the  white-spored  division.  Fries  places  the  majority  of 
mushroom-like  plants  in  the  one  great  genus  Agaricus,  which 
he  then  divides,  as  above  stated,  into  series,  and  each  series  is 
then  further  split  up  by  certain  characters  into  a  number  of 
sub-genera,  the  names  of  which  are  placed  between  brackets 
after  the  generic  name  Agaricus  and  before  the  name  of  the 


1896.]     MWekney. — Fimgi  fro7?t  Bmckenstow?ij  Co.  Dubli7i.  7 

species.      An    example  will  serve  to  show  how    this    plan 
works.     lyet  us  take  an  agaric  with  the  gills  free  from  {i.e.  not 
touching)  the  stem.      If  such  a  specimen  had  white  spores  it 
would  be  in  sub-genus  Lepiota,  if  pink,  then  ChamcEota,  if  brown, 
ihenPholiota,  if  purple,  then  Psalliota.     Again,  an  agaric  with 
**  sinuate"  gills  is,  if  white-spored,  in    Tricholoma,  if  pink,  in 
Entolojna;  if  brown,  in  Hebelovia,  and  if  purple,  in  Hypholonta. 
Neither  character  is  represented  in  the  black-spored  series. 
Thus  we  have  explained  the   names   in   brackets  with  which 
most  Fungus-lists  commence.     In  the  present  case  the  species 
Q>i  Agaricus  2iVidL    its  allies   are  remarkably  few,  not  a   single 
specimen    of    the    large     genera    Russula,    Lactaruis,    and 
Cortinariiis  having  been  found.     The  reason  would  seem  to  be 
that  the  warm  wet  weather  in   August  brought  these  great 
toadstools  to  maturity  six  weeks  earlier  than  usual,  and  that 
they  had  already  ripened   their  spores  and  died  by  the  com- 
mencement of  October.    That  this  is  not  mere  supposition  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  in  mid- August,  whilst  cycling  through 
the  beautiful  wood  near  Glenealy,  having  been  compelled  to 
dismount   and  shelter  from   a  tremendous  downpour,  I  col- 
lected   twenty    species    of  the  largest    Agarics    within   the 
sheltered  space  under  my  own  and  a  few  neighbouring  trees, 
as  well  as  such  a  host  of  smaller  sorts  that  all  the  available 
pieces  of  letters,  envelope-backs,  &c.,  which  I  had  about  me, 
were  insufficient  to  write  down  the  names.     I  emptied  the  con- 
tents of  the  tool-bag   into  my  pockets  and  filled  it  with  the 
smaller  species.    The  hour  and  three  quarters  I  spent  under 
these  trees  was  well  emplo3^ed. 

Passing  by  Agaricus  and  its  grimy  poor  relation  Coprhms,  a 
black-spored  genus  which,  white    and  tender  when  placed  in 
the  vasculum,  emerges  from  it  next  morning  an  inky  mass  of 
loathsome   deliquescence — we   come    next    to    a    couple    of 
species  of  Tremella.  Fungus-jelly  they  might  be  called,  the  first 
bright  yellow,  the  second,  as  its  name  indicates,  a  dingy  grey. 
We  find  them  on  dead  branches,  the  tough  bark  of  which  they 
are  able  to  crack,  gelatinous  as  they  are,  in  their  efforts  to 
expand.       The  puff-balls  come  next,  Lycoperdon  and  Sclera^ 
derma.    We  found  them  in  all  stages,  from  a  tiny  nodule,  not 
bigger  than  a  pin's  head,  just  emerging  from  the    mycelial 
cord — fit  research  material  for  the  student  of  development — 


S  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  Jan. 

up   to  over-ripe  specimens  of  Z.  gigaiiteicm,  larger  than  one's 
head,  and  by  this  time  fluffy,  brown  and  dusty — very  different 
to  the  creamy  delicious  specimens   which  some  of  us  hoary- 
headed  original  members  can   still  call  to  mind  as  they  lay 
during  a  Club  tea  at  the  International  Hotel  in  Bray.     That 
was  in  1886.     I  believe  some  enthusiastic  mycophagist  wanted 
to  eat  some  then  and  there,  and  if  m}^  recollection  serves  me 
aright,  our  whilom  Secretary,   Mr.  Pim,  did  actually  remove 
the    said    specimens    for  the  expressed    purpose  of  feeding 
thereon.  I  have  since  repeated  his  experiment —on  specimens 
found  near  Glensouthwell,  and  which  were  so   big  that   my 
carrying  them  home  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  excited  comment 
— with  most  satisfactory  results.  The  recipe  for  cooking  them, 
however,  I  am  under  an  honourable  obligation  to  keep  secret. 
Next  we  come  to  the  Rusts  and  their  allies  (Uredinei)  which 
grow  parasitically  on  flowering  plants.     These  are  anything 
but  well  represented,  and  with  them  we   need  not  stay  long, 
pausing,    however,    an    instant   to    glance    at    the    curious 
Tuberculi7ia^  a  parasite  of  a  parasite.      It  covers  the  Coltsfoot- 
Cluster-cup  with  its  brownish-violet  spore-beds.     The  Cluster- 
cup  fungus  is  a  parasite  on  the  Coltsfoot,  and  the  Tuberculina 
is  a  parasite  on  the  Cluster-cup.      At  Brackenstown,  however, 
we  found  it,  not  on  the  Cluster-cup,  which  had  long  since  dis- 
appeared, but  on  its  relative  and  successor  the  Coleosporium— 
a  fact  which  deserves  to  be  noted.     Synchytriimi  taraxaci,  next 
on  the  list,  is  also  a  parasite.     It  forms  orange-red  crusts  on 
leaves  of  Dandelion,  and  is  as  far  below  those  just  named  in 
point   of   structure   as    they  are   below  the    Agarics.     The 
mysterious  group  Chytridieae,  to  which   it  belongs,  have  not 
even  got  the  length  of  forming  a  mycelium,  and  if  we  exclude 
the  Myxomycetes  and  Bacteria,  stand  at  the  very  bottom  of 
known  Fungi,  whilst  their  strange  sporangia  and  tiny,  active, 
flagellate    swarm- spores   possess    a    deep    interest    for   the 
microscopist,  whose  command  of  high  powers  permits  him  to 
trace  the  developmental  cycle  of  these  intra-cellular  para- 
sites.    Four  years  ago,    on   Dalkey   Hill,  I   found   the  first 
recorded  Irish  specimen  of  S.  taraxaci,  and  to-day  the  species 
still  remains  the  only  one  on  our  Irish  list.       Will  any  sharp- 
sighted  reader  find  me  the  one  on  the  Scabious  ?  or  the  species 
that  inhabit  Perennial  Mercury,  or  Self-heal,  or  Chickweed  ? 


1896.]    M'Weknky. — Fungi  from  Brackenstown^  Co.  Dublin.  9 

We  are  now  amongst  the  Mould-fungi,  Hyphomycetes,  and 
the  very  first  we  come  to,  Oospora  Crustacea,  is  only  placed  here 
provisionally,  as  the  specimen  does  not  quite  agree  with  the 
description.  It  formed  bright  red  patches  the  size  of  a  pin's 
head  on  some  old  rotting  cloth  which  I  picked  up  and  put  in 
a  bottle.  The  spots  were  not  there  when  the  specimen  was 
collected,  but  developed  whilst  the  contents  of  the  bottle  were 
awaiting  examination.  Several  other  strange  organisms  there 
were  on  this  same  old  cloth,  which  I  could  not  identify  and 
whose  development,  from  want  of  time,  I  had  to  leave  untraced. 
Bactridium  flavum — a  new  Irish  record — puzzled  me  for  long, 
and  I  had  to  appeal  to  the  superior  knowledge  of  my  friend, 
Mr.  Massee,  of  Kew,  before  finding  a  place  for  it.  It  has  the 
largest  spores  of  any  fungus  I  have  ever  seen — about  ^V-ii^^^l^ 
long,  club-shaped,  and  divided  by  partitions  into  compart- 
ments. The  fungus  forms  little  yellow  dots  on  rotten  wood, 
and  seems  to  be  a  speciality  of  this  locality,  for  several 
members  brought  me  specimens,  including  Mr.  Jameson, 
who  found  it  most  abundantly  on  a  fallen  trunk  in  a  swamp. 
The  next  species,  Mo7iotospora  sphcE7Vcephala,  is  like  a  tiny 
round-headed  black  pin  /^  of  an  inch  high.  Hundreds  of 
these  stand  up  stiffly  from  the  piece  of  rotten  bark  which  they 
cover  like  bristles. 

The  moulds  finished,  we  pass,  with  Erysiphe,  over  into  the 
Ascomycetes — fungi  that  produce  their  spores  in  little  sacs 
called  asci.  The  species  first  mentioned,  together  with  its  ally 
the  Fhyllacti7iia,  collected  on  Hazel  by  Mr.  Jennings,  are  good 
examples  of  those  forms  that  grow  parasitically  on  green 
plants,  and  are  called  mildews.  We  hardly  sympathize  with 
a  strong  coarse  weed  like  the  Hog- weed  {Heracleuni)  when  it 
suffers  from  this  disease ;  but  many  a  cottage  gardener  has 
good  reason  to  bewail  the  fate  of  his  late  peas  when  they  fall 
victims  to  E.  Martii,  In  early  summer  we  see  a  sort  of  grey 
bloom  overspreading  the  leaves.  In  autumn  this  is  still  there 
but  covered  with  tiny  black  grains  like  gunpowder — the  fruit 
of  the  fungus.  These  are  like  little  brown  spherical  boxes,  the 
wall  of  which  is  composed  of  hexagonal  plates,  and  which  are 
fastened  on  to  the  leaf  by  delicate  mycelial  threads  which  are 
often  beautifully  branched.  Inside  the  boxes  are  the  asci,  each 
containing  four  to  eight  spores.  The  other  ascomycetes  must 
not  delay  us  long.     Hyynenoscypha  and  Mollisia  are  small  disc- 

A  3 


lo  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Jan. 

shaped  fungi,  the  former  with  a  stalk,  the  latter  without  one. 
The  next  fungus  is  also  a  Peziza — as  these  disc-shaped  species 
are  called — and  is  a  much  prettier  object,  its  blood-red  disc 
being  surrounded  with  a  circlet  of  brown  bristles.  It  grew  at 
Brackenstown  more  abundantly  than  I  had  ever  seen  it  pre- 
viously, and  was  found  on  the  fallen  stumps  by  nearly  every 
member  of  the  party.  The  two  Ascoboli,  despite  their  lowly 
habitat,  are  also  handsome  objects.  Their  spores  are  large, 
violet,  and  adorned  with  a  beautiful  raised  tracery,  whilst  there 
is  besides  the  peculiar  character  that  the  ascus  as  well  as  the 
spores  is  ejected  at  maturity.  The  spore-bag,  however,  is 
not  quite  dislodged,  but  projects  above  the  surface  of  the 
hymenium,  and  opens  at  the  top  by  a  dainty  little  lid, 
and  so  allows  the  spores  to  issue  forth.  I^astly,  we  have 
Sk^nonitis,  a  representative  of  that  strange  order  intermediate 
between  plants  and  animals,  the  Slime-fungi  (Myxomycetes), 
which  at  one  time  appear  as  shapeless,  creamy,  or  foamy 
masses  of  living  jelly — pure  undifferentiated  protoplasm,  the 
very  naked  and  unadorned  basis  of  life — whilst  the  next  day 
they  have  turned  into  little  spore-cases  of  various  and  dis- 
tinct shapes.  Sow  the  spores  in  a  drop  of  water,  and  you 
will  see  them  presently  burst.  A  tiny,  shapeless  mass  of 
jelly  will  crawl  forth,  and,  meeting  another  such  *'  amoeba," 
the  two  will  flowtogether,  and  others  will  thenjoin  the  company 
until  ultimately  a  large  mass  of  protoplasm,  quite  easily  seen, 
is  the  result.  This  crawls  about,  feeds,  grows,  becomes 
changed  into  spore  cases,  and  thus  the  appointed  cj'cle  goes 
round. 

Before  concluding  this  little  paper,  in  which  I  hope  to  have 
said  something  to  clothe  the  dry  bones  of  our  Brackenstown 
fungus-list  with  a  living  interest,  I  must  express  my  warmest 
thanks  to  my  friend  Prof.  Johnson,  whose  liberality  in  giving 
me  access  to  the  fungus-literature  at  his  disposal,  has  placed, 
me  in  a  position  to  determine  many  of  the  species. 

Agarlcus  (CoIIybfa)  radicatus,  Relh.— One  specimen  had  the 
stem  9  inches  long,  exchisive  of  the  root,  which  was,  unfortunately, 
broken  off  short.     The  pileus  was  6  inches  across. 

A.  (Clltocybc)  Infundibuliformls,  Sch. 

A.  (Wlyccna)  tintinnabulum,  Fr, 

A.  (M.)  corticola,  vSchum. 

A.  (IVl.)  tcnerrimus,  Bk. 

[Two  other  species,  o^  Mycena  were  collected,  but  not  identified.] 

A.  (PIcurotus)  cortlcatus,  Fr. 


1896.]  W^v.^^v.\.—Fii7igi  from  Brackenstown,  Co.  Diiblm.    11 


A.  (Flammula)  lentus,  Fr.— Short-stemmed  form. 

A,    (PhoIIota)    aureus,    Matt.— A   smaller   form,    with    stem   very 
bulbous  beneath. 

A.   (Hypholoma)  vclutlnus,  Pers. 

A.  (Psathyra)  corrugis,  Pers. 

Coprlnus  pllcatllls,  Fr. 

Tremclla  mescntcrica,  Retz. 

T.  Indecorata,  Schum. 

Lycopcrdon  perlatum,  Pers. 

L.   bovlsta,   Linn. — V oxrrx  gigantaari. 

L.  pyrlforme,  Schaeff. 

Scleroderma  vulgare,  Fr. 

Pucclnia  veronlcarum,  DC. 

Coleosporlum  sonchi,  V&xs,.—On  Petasites. 

Tubercullna  vinosa,  Sacc— On  the  last  species. 

SynchytrluiYi  taraxaci,  De  By. 

Oospora  Crustacea,  Sacc. .' — This  curious  red  mould  on  old  rotting 
cloth  may  prove  distinct. 

Cyllndrlum  heteronemum,  Sacc. — On  Beech  mast. 

Cyllndrlum  sp.  ? — On  hymenium  oi Lachnea  scutellata. 

Cyllndrlum. — Another  sp.  as  yet  unidentified. 

Fuslsporlum  sp. — Seemingly  distinct. 

Bactrldlum  flavum,  K.  &  S. 

Monotospora  sphcerocephala,  B.  &  Br. 

Ramularia  urtlcse,  Pers. 

Torula  expansa,  Pers. 

Pllobolus  longrlpeSf  Van  Tiegh. — Mr.  Jameson — on  rat's  excrement. 

Eryslphe    umbelllferarum,    Lev.      (=£".    Martii   var.    E.)    On 

Heradeiim. 
Ascochytagramlnicola,  Sacc. 
Septorla  veronlcae,  Desm. 
Hymenoscypha  tuba,  Bolt. 
MoIIlsla  cinerea,  Batsch. 
Lachnea  scutellata,  Linn. 
Ascobolus  furfuraceus,  Pers. 
A.  glaber,  Pers.— In  company  with  the  last. 
Dlatrypedlsclformls,  Hoffm. 
Xylarla  polymorpha,  Grev. 
Hypoxylon  multiforme,  Fr. 
Stemonltls  ferruglnea,  Ehrb. 

Mr.  Pirn  has  kindly  supplied  me  with  the  following  addi- 
tional species : — 
Phyllactlnla  guttata.  Lev.— On  Ash  leaves,  plentiful,  Mr.  Jennings. 
Lachnea  stercorea,  Fr. 
Helotlum  cltrlnum,  Hedw. 
Sphaeria  canescens,  P- 
Valsa  sp.— On  beech  mast. 


12 


The  Irish  Naturalist. 


[Jan. 


I.ITHOBIUS   VARIEGATUS,    LEACH. 

BY   HENRY   W.    BROLEMANN. 


Since  Mr.  R.  I.  Pocock's  "  Notes  on  some  Irish  Myriapoda" 
appeared  in  the  Irish  Naturalist  (vol.  ii.,  December,  1893)  I 
do  not  know  that  any  paper  has  been  published  on  the  matter, 
and  the  list,  amounting  to  twenty-two  species,  given  by  him 
has  not  since  been  increased.^ 

Thanks  to  the  extreme  kindness  of  Prof.  D'Arcy  W. 
Thompson,  of  University  College,  Dundee,  I  have  been 
enabled  to  examine  the  material  collected  by  him  in  the 
County  of  Galway  and  was  fortunate  enough  to  find,  amongst 
other  species,  four  Myriapods,  the  presence  of  which  in  Ireland 
has  not  been  mentioned,  which  brings  the  number  of  known 
Irish  forms  up  to  twenty-six. 

Recapitulating  briefly  the  species  alluded  to  in  Mr.  Pocock's 
paper,  I  mark  with  a  *  the  species  which  were  not  represented 
in  Prof.  Thompson's  collection,  and  which  I  have  not  been 
able  to  examine,  thus  : — 


Lithohius  forjicatus,  L- 
L.  vanegatus,  lycach. 
L.  melanops,  Newport. 
*L.  microps,  Meinert. 
Cryptops       hortensis, 

Leach. 
Geopkilus      longicornis, 

I^each. 
G.  carpophagus,  lycach. 
Scolioplanes  crassipes,  C. 

Koch. 


S.  mariiimus,  lyCach. 
Stigmatog  aster     suhtei'- 

ramus,  Leach. 
^PoJyxenus  lagiirus,  L- 
Glomeris       marginata, 

Villi  ers. 
Polydeamus  complanatus, 

L. 
P.  gaUicus,  Latzel. 
Brachydesmus    superus, 

Latzel. 


*A  tractosoma    polydes- 

vioides,  Leach. 
*Blaniulus  fuscus,  Am- 
Stein. 
lulus  britannicus,  Ver- 

hoeff. 
*/.  pilosus,  Newport. 
*/.  alhipes,  C.  Koch. 
/.  sabulosus.  L- 


To  these  I  add  : — 

Geophilus  gracilis,  Meinert,     Blaniulus  guttulatus,  Bosc, 
G.  proxi?mis,  C  Koch,  luhis  {Leptoiuhis),  sp.  incerta. 


^  Since  the  present  paper  was  written,  there  appeared  in  the  special 
number  of  the  "Irish  Naturalist,"  vol.  iv.,  No.  9,  September,  1895,  Mr. 
George  H.  Carpenter's  list  of  the  Myriapoda  collected  in  Galway  during 
the  excursion  of  the  Irish  Field  Club  Union,  where  Scolopendrella  inwiacu- 
lata,  Newport,  was  recorded. 


1896. J  Brolemann. — Lithobius  variegatus,  Leach.  13 

The  following  is  to  be  observed  in  reference  to  the 
Myriapods  here  mentioned  : — 

Ceophllus  proximus,  C.  Koch.— One  specimen  has  very  short 
maxiUipedes,  which,  when  closed,  do  not  reach  the  point  of  the  head. 
Whether  this  is  accidental  or  not,  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain. 

Polydesmus  complanatus,  I^. — The  males  I  examined  belong  to 
the  variety  named  angtislus  by  Dr.  R.  Latzel. 

Polydesmus  gral ileus,  Latzel. — The  Irish  specimens,  though  un- 
mistakably belonging  to  Dr.  Ivatzel's  species,  are  much  more  narrow 
than  the  type  of  the  south  of  France,  with  which  I  have  compared  them, 
the  former  measuring!  a  mm.  to  2-20  mm.,  while  the  latter  reach  280 
mm.  to  3  mm. 

lulus  Orltannlcus,  Verhoeff. — Certainly  represents  the  form  indi- 
cated by  Mr.  Pocock  under  the  name  of  luhts  luscus,  Meinert. 

lulus  (Leptolulus),  sp.  incerta. — Having  seen  no  male,  I  do  not  risk 
a  specific  name  for  the  female  specimens  of  this  form,  owing  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  recognizing  the  species  of  this  group,  even  when  males  are  at 
hand.  These  probably  belong  to  the  same  species  which  Mr.  Pocock 
has  called  by  Newport's  name,  /.  pilosus ;  but  as  Newport's  description 
can  equally  well  be  applied  almost  to  any  of  the  species  of  the  Leptoiulus 
subgenus,  his  denomination  has  no  meaning,  and  I  find  it  unnecessary 
to  retain  it. 

This  paper,  thus  lacking  in  interest,  would  never  have  seen 
light,  had  it  not  been  for  the  opportunity  offered  to  me  to 
examine  specimens  oi Lithobius  variegatus-,  I^each. 

Described  for  the  first  time  in  1817  by  I^each^  in  a  very 
abbreviated  way,  the  species  was  mentioned  afterwards  by 
Newport  and  others,  who  added  little  to  the  knowledge  we 
had  of  this,  so  far  purely  British  form.  Recently  Mr.  Pocock, 
in  his  above-mentioned  pamphlet,  reassuming  the  characters 
given  by  I^each,  adds  some  particulars,  but  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  distinguishing  it  from  the  common  species  Litho- 
bius forficatus,  ly.,  and  omits  the  main  point,  which  throws 
some  light  on  the  place  this  species  has  to  occupy  in  the 
numerous  list  of  congeneric  forms,  viz.,  the  fact  that  the 
posterior  angles  of  the  seventh  dorsal  plate  are  produced, 
causing  L,  variegatus  to  belong  to  the  group  of  Lithobius 
termed  Neolithobius  by  Stuxberg.  However,  the  obtuse  shape 
of  the  angles  might,  to  a  certain  extent,  account  for  this 
omission. 


^  For  bibliographical  indications,  see  description  of  Z.  variegatus. 

A4 


14  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [  Jan 

It  is  therefore  advisable  to  piiblisli  a  new  description,  which 
will  read  as  follows  : — 

Genus,  LITHOBIUS. 
Subgenus,  Oi,igobothrus. 
LIthoblus  varlcgatus,  Leach,  1817, 
Leach— The  Zoological  Miscellany,  iii.,  London,  xii.,  1817,  p.  40. 
Do. — Edinburgh  Encyclop:,  vii.,  p.  409. 
Gervais —Etudes  p.  servirk  I'Hist.  Nat.  des  Myriapodes— ^««.  d.  Sci.  Nat. 

(2),  viL,  1837,  p.  49. 
Lucas— Hist.  Nat.  des  Animaux  Articules,  i.,  Paris,  1840,  p.  543. 
Walker— Notes  on  Myriapoda. — Nrjuman's  Entomol.,  January,  1842,  p. 

238. 
Newport— A  list  of  the   species  of  Myriapoda,  order  Chilopoda,   &c. 
Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist,  (i),  xiii.,  1844,  p.  98. 
Do.— Monograph  of  the  Class  Myriapoda,  Order  Chilopoda,  &c.    Trans. 
Linn.  Soc,  London,  xix.,  1845,  p.  363. 
Gervais  — Hist.  Nat.  des  Insectes  Apteres,  iv.,  Paris,  1847,  P-  231- 
Newport  and  Gray— Catalogue  of  the  Myriapoda  in  the  collection  of 

the  B.  M.,  London,  1856,  p.  15. 
R.  I.  Pocock— Notes  upon    some   Irish   Myriapoda.— /m/5  Naturalist, 
vol.  ii,  1893,  p.  310. 

I^ength  and  width  nearly  as  in  i^.  forficatus. 

Robust,  parallel-sided,  flattened. 

Cephalic  plate  rounded  anteriorly,  posterior  angles  blunt, 
surface  not  punctate,  but  bearing  two  distinct  longitudinal 
furrows  near  the  posterior  margin.  Ocelli  condensed,  number- 
ing 16  or  17,  disposed  i  -f  4.5.4.3.,  the  posterior  ocellus  very 
large,  eliptical  in  shape,  the  three  first  ocelli  of  the  upper  row 
large,  more  or  less  rounded,  the  rows  somewhat  curved  and 
irregular.  Antennae  long,  reaching  the  posterior  border  of 
the  fifth  dorsal  plate,  pilose,  36-42  jointed,  the  last  joint  alone 
as  long  as  the  two  preceding  joints,  or  even  longer.  Coxae 
of  maxillipedes  with  anterior  margin  wide,  almost  straight, 
slightly  notched  in  the  middle,  armed  with  6  -f-  7  or  7  -h  7 
black,  small,  blunt  teeth ;  surface  of  coxae  punctate,  the 
punctures  well  marked  and  dense  towards  the  anterior  margin, 
becoming  scattered  and  gradually  fading  away  posteriorly, 
medial  sulcus  deep. 

Dorsal  plates  shiny,  uneven  in  the  sides  ;  plates  no.  3,  5, 
8,  10,  and  12,  marked  laterally  with  a  transverse  impression, 
almost  equally  distant  from  both  angles,  or  nearer  to  the 
posterior  angle  ;   14th  dorsal  plate  with  two  rough  impressions 


1896.]  BROI.EMANN. — Lithobius  variegatus,  Leach,  15 

near  the  posterior  angles,  posterior  margin  somewhat  concave. 
The  above-mentioned  sculpture  or  roughness  having  often 
been  noticed  on  immature  specimens  of  L.  forficatus,  cannot 
be  considered  as  characteristic  of  L.  variegatus. 

The  posterior  angles  of  the  7th  dorsal  plate,  though  not 
much  developed,  project  somewhat  on  the  line  of  the  posterior 
margin,  and  the  posterior  angles  of  the  9th,  nth,  and  r3th 
dorsal  plates  are  acutely  produced. 

The  two  last  pairs  of  legs  are  thin  and  long.  The  following 
details  are  to  be  observed  as  well  on  female  as  on  male 
specimens,  but  are  more  marked  on  the  15th  than  on  the  14th 
pair  of  legs.  The  superior  inside  edge  of  the  third  joint  is 
hollowed  longitudinally,  the  furrow  being  wider  at  the  back 
end  ;  also  the  superior  outside  edge  is  sulcate,  the  furrow 
being  only  noticeable  on  the  posterior  two-thirds  of  the  joint ; 
the  superior  surface  is  thus  reduced  to  a  rounded  ridge.  These 
two  furrows  are  continued  on  the  following  joint,  the  fourth, 
being  narrow  and  deep  :  on  the  fifth  joint,  only  the  inside 
furrow  is  to  be  found,  being  much  attenuated.  On  the  inferior 
surface  of  the  third  joint  a  rounded  ridge  runs  longitudinally 
between  two  furrows,  the  outer  of  which  is  often  shortened. 

The  spines  of  the  ist,  14th,  and  15th  pairs  of  legs  are 
disposed  as  follows  : — 

,  .         0.0.2.1 0.1 O.       ,  VI  1 

ist  pair, ,  double  claw. 

0.0.0.    2.       I. 

14th  pair,       '^'  '  ',  double  claw. 
0.1.3.3.2. 

15th  pair, ,  single  claw. 

0.1.3.3. 1. 

The  spine  of  the  fifth  joint,  below,  occupies  the  medial 
position. 

Female  genitalia  armed  with  2-1-2  strong  spines,  the  outer 
pair  of  which  .is  the  larger  ;  claw  strong  but  narrow,  with  a 
blunt  tooth  on  the  inside  edge. 

Coxal  pores  large,  circular,  disposed  on  one  line,  numbering 

6-5-5-5-,  5444- 

This  species  much  resembles  L.  leptopus,  I^atzel,  from  which 

it  is  easily  distinguished  by  the  arrangement  and  number  of 

coxal  pores. 


1 6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Jan. 

A  SUPPOSED    LAND-LOCKED  SALMON. 

BY   R.    F.    SCHARFF,    PH.D. 


On  the  21st  of  November  last  Mr.  R.  J.  Ussher,  of  Cappagh, 
County  Waterford,  forwarded  a  fish  to  the  Dublin  Natural 
History  Museum,  which  was  found  on  the  iron  grating  of  a 
large  sewer,  through  which  flows  the  watercourse  supplying 
his  premises.  On  examination  the  fish  proved  to  be  a  Salmon 
grilse  twenty-three  inches  long  and  weighing  3lbs.  150Z. 
The  prominent  hook  on  the  lower  jaw  indicated  that  it  was  a 
male  fish  in  the  breeding  stage,  and  this  was  moreover  proved 
by  the  condition  of  the  reproductive  organs,  which  were  full 
of  ripe  milt.  In  colour  it  was  trout-like,  being  covered  with  red 
spots  and  bars,  a  condition  which  has  been  observed,  accord- 
ing to  the  late  Dr.  Day,  in  some  of  the  land-locked  Salmon 
raised  at  Howietoun,  in  Scotland.  The  question  arises  there- 
fore whether  we  have  in  Mr.  Ussher's  fish  a  case  of  a  true  wild 
land-locked  Salmon  ?  To  those  who  may  not  have  heard  of 
the  interesting  experiments  which  have  been  carried  on  at 
Howietoun  by  Sir  James  Maitland,  the  idea  of  a  land-locked 
Salmon  may  seem  an  impossibility,  but  Dr.  Day  fully  recog- 
nised the  trustworthiness  of  these  experiments,  and  says  in 
his  work  on  the  British  and  Irish  Salmonidse,  (p.  103)  *'  They 
afford  incontestible  evidence  that  a  sojourn  in  salt  water  is 
not  necessar}^  in  order  for  a  grilse  to  develop  eggs,  and  that 
migratory  Salmon  are  able  to  reproduce  their  kind  in  fresh 
water  without  migrating  to  the  sea,  thus  removing  one  great 
obstacle  which  has  stood  in  the  way  of  ichthyologists  admitting 
that  a  land-locked  Salmon  can  beget  a  race  of  Salmo  salary 
He  moreover  refers  to  the  following  Irish  case  (p.  loi)  : — 
"  Mr.  Douglas  Ogilby  turned  some  Salmon  smolts  into 
Lough  Ash  (County  TjTone),  which  has  no  access  to  the  sea, 
in  1881.  In  April,  1883,  he  captured  a  grilse  14J  inches  long 
in  this  lake,  where  salmon  had  not  previously  been  seen,  and 
it  was  so  distended  with  eggs  that  he  considered  it  would  have 
spawned  very  shortly."  This  specimen,  according  to  Dr.  Day, 
is  now  in  the  Natural  History  Museum,  London,  and  is  evi- 
dently a  true  Salmo  salar.  These  are  instances  of  the  artifi- 
cial production  of  land-locked  Salmon.  But  Dr.  Day  states 
that  Lake  Wenern,  in  Sweden,  is  inhabited  by  a  wild  land- 
Ipeked  race  of  true  Salmon,  though  Dr.  GUnther  does  not 
admit  that  the  species  is  S.  salar. 


1896.1      SCHARFF. — A  Supposed  Lajid-Lockcd  Salmo?t.  17 

To  return  to  Mr.  Ussher's  specimen,  it  would  appear  from 
information  kindly  given  me  by  the  discoverer,  that  during 
the  usual  condition  of  the  small  stream  a  Salmon  ascending 
from  the  sea  would  be  stopped  not  only  by  the  grating 
referred  to,  but  also  by  another  equally  formidable  obstacle. 
The  stream  after  leaving  Mr.  Ussher's  premises  sinks  into 
a  limestone  cavern  and  runs  underground  for  more  than 
a  mile,  so  that  as  he  remarks  "  by  no  possibility  could  a  fish 
come  up  this  stream  from  the  sea."  During  floods,  however, 
it  occasionally  happens,  that  a  separate  communication  is 
formed  between  the  upper  part  of  the  small  stream  and  the 
river  Finisk  into  which  it  flows,  so  that  fish  could  then  come 
up,  and  Salmon  peaP  have  actually  been  known  to  reach  the 
glen  above  Mr.  Ussher's  house  in  this  way.  Several  such  fish 
were  seen  in  a  deep  part  of  the  stream  about  two  years  ago, 
and  Mr.  Ussher  thinks  the  present  specimen  may  be  one  of 
these,  having  being  confined  in  the  stream  during  that  time. 

Although  this  cannot  be  considered  an  undoubted  instance 
of  a  Salmon  reaching  maturity  in  fresh  water,  I  think  the  case 
deserves  special  mention,  and  its  record  may  lead  to  continued 
observations  on  the  habits  of  the  salmon  tribe  in  Ireland. 

^Though  a  young  Sea  Trout  is  generally  known  as  a  "  peal,"  the  term 
is  often  indiscriminately  applied  to  it  as  well  as  to  young  Salmon. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  IRISH   SOCIETIES. 


RoYAi,  Zooi^oGiCAi,  Society. 

A  Sparrow-Hawk  has  been  presented  to  the  Gardens  by  J.  Oglesby, 
Esq.,  and  a  large  baboon  deposited  by  M.  J.  Kerr,  Esq.  Three  Angora 
Goats  and  six  Shovellers  have  been  purchased. 

5,400  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  November. 


Dubinin  Microscopicai,  Ci,ub. 
November  21st.— The  Club  met  at  Mr.  G.  H.  Carpenter's,  who  showed 
specimens  of  Ixodes  marginatus,  Leach,  which  he  had  received  from  Dr. 
Scott,  who  reported  that  these  ticks  were  so  extremely  abundant  in  the 
west  of  Ireland  during  the  past  summer  as  to  be  a  serious  annoyance, 
persons  venturing  to  lie  on  heath  in  certain  places  becoming  covered  with 


1 8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Jan. 

them.  These  ticks  are  believed  to  live  on  plants  of  various  kinds,  but 
wherever  opportunity  offers,  they  attach  themselves  to  an  animal  body, 
and  suck  blood  voraciously.  The  mouth-organs,  adapted  for  this  pur- 
pose, consisting  of  a  pair  of  maxillae  united  to  form  a  channeled 
rostrum  with  toothed  edges,  and  a  pair  of  retractile  chelicerse  with  com- 
plicated barbed  processes  at  the  extremity,  were  shown  under  a  high 
power.     Mr.  A.  D.  Michael  has  kindly  confirmed  the  identification. 

Professor  GRENVII.1.E  C01.E  showed  rhyolite-obsidian  from  Sandy 
Braes,  Co.  Antrim,  containing  a  crystal  of  hypersthene.  The  minute 
structure  of  the  glassy  ground  shows  a  delicate  intermingling  of  little 
rods,  each  formed  of  a  row  of  globular  crystallites.  These  are  excellent 
t)^pes  of  what  Vogelsang  called  "margarites,"  from  their  resemblance  to 
strings  of  pearls.  In  this  slide  a  strongly  pleochroic  rhombic  pyroxene 
(hypersthene)  occurs.  This  mineral  has  not  previously  been  recorded 
from  the  Antrim  rhyolites,  and  has  possibly  in  this  case  been  picked  up 
from  a  more  basic  lava. 

Mr.  Greenwood  Pim  exhibited  Tuberculina  persicina,  a  curious  parasitic 
fungus  growing  on  another  fungus  {Coleospofium  tussilaginis)  on  leaves  of 
Tussilago  at  Brackenstown,  near  Swords.  It  forms  compact  little 
cushions,  surmounted  by  minute  spores,  and  these  cushions  are  seated 
on  the  Coleosporiwn  pustules.  In  Plowright's  book  on  the  Uredines  it  is 
described  as  parasitic  on  the  ALcidhim  which  occurs  very  abundantly  on 
Tussilago  in  spring,  so  that  it  also  occurring  on  the  Coleosporium  is  worth 
recording.  The  plant  is  very  readily  passed  over  as  a  specimen  of  the 
host  fungus  partially  decayed. 

Prof.  T.  Johnson  exhibited  Melobesia  confinis,  Crn.,  a  calcareous  red 
alga,  growing  on  Corallina  officinalis ^  on  which,  as  also  on  limpet  shells,  it 
forms  small  slightly  thickened  hard  swellings.  A  preparation  showing 
the  characteristic  bisporous  tetrasporangia  and  the  vertically  elongated 
thallus-cells  was  exhibited.  The  material  was  gathered  by  the  exhibitor 
in  1891,  at  Frenchfort,  Co.  Mayo,  when  with  Mr.  Green  in  ss. 
•'Harlequin  "  (R.D.S.  Fishery  Survey).  M.  confinis  is  recorded  hitherto 
from  the  coast  of  Brittany  only. 

Mr.  M'ARDiyE  exhibited  a  specimen  of  Riccardia  latifrons,  Lindberg, 
bearing  the  large  perianth  and  capsule,  with  the  andrcecium  at  the  base 
of  the  perianth,  showing  the  paroecious  character  of  the  plant.  The 
specimens  were  collected  in  I^ord  Howth's  demesne  last  March.  This 
rare  liverwort  was  first  detected  by  Professor  Lindberg,  who  collected 
it  at  O'Sullivan's  Cascade,  Killarney,  in  company  with  the  late  Dr.  D. 
Moore,  in  1873.     It  is  an  addition  to  the  Co.  Dublin  list  of  Hepaticae. 

Mr.  H.  Lyster  Jameson  showed  feathers  from  the  base  of  beak  of 
adult  and  immature  Rooks,  showing  the  frequent  presence  of  unpig- 
mented  feathers  in  the  young  bird,  and  the  aborted  or  abraded  feathers 
in  this  region  in  adult  Rooks,  which  gives  the  well-known  appearance  of 
a  bare  patch  round  the  base  of  the  bill.  Mr.  Jameson  referred  to  the 
theory  that  these  feathers  are  mechanically  rubbed  away  by  the  Rook 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  19 

in  digging  for  worms,  which  was  urged  by  Weismann  as  a  case  of  an 
acquired  character  which  is  not  transmitted.  The  meaning  of  the 
unpigmented  feathers  in  the  young  Rook  was  discussed.  The  presence 
of  these  white  feathers  was  first  observed  by  Mr.  T.  H.  Gurney,  of 
Norwich. 


Bei^fast  Naturai,  History  and  Phii^osophicai,  Society. 

November  5th, — The  opening  meeting  of  the  seventy-fifth  session 
was  held  in  the  Museum.  There  was  a  large  attendance  of  members 
and  friends. 

Mr.  Robert  IvI.oyd  Patterson,  F.L.S.,  President  of  the  Society,  in 
opening  the  proceedings,  said  his  thanks  were  due  to  his  fellow-members 
of  the  Council  for  electing  him  again  their  President. 

The  Honorary  Secretary  (Mr.  R.  M.  YouNG,  B.A.),  announced  the 
receipt  of  several  donations  to  the  Museum,  and  a  cordial  vote  of  thanks 
was  accorded  the  donors. 

The  President  then  proceeded  to  deliver  an  address  on  the  Migration 
of  Birds,  which  was  effectively  illustrated  by  a  large  series  of  special 
photo-lantern  slides,  shown  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Hogg.  Mr.  Patterson  com- 
menced his  paper  by  stating  that  of  the  large  number  of  birds  which 
have  now — many  of  them,  in  his  opinion,  wrongly — been  placed  on  the 
British  list,  some  are  mere  accidental  stragglers;  and  others,  although  met 
with  regularly,  do  not  occur  with  sufficient  frequency  to  be  called 
common  ;  so  that  the  number  of  different  species  of  our  well-known 
every-day  birds  is  probably  considerably  below  200.  Of  these  some  occur 
only  in  summer,  and  others  again  only  in  winter,  these  two  sub-divisions 
going  to  form  the  division  of  migratory  birds ;  as  compared  with  the 
other  division,  the  permanent  residents.  The  lecturer  next  proceeded 
to  point  out  that  even  among  our  so-called  permanently  resident  birds 
migration  prevails  to  a  large  extent  ;  and  he  illustrated  this  by  reference 
to  the  habits  of  the  Curlew,  the  Starling,  the  Skylark,  and  others.  The 
questions  of  what  began  the  migration  movement  and  what  leads  to  its 
continuance  were  next  discussed  at  some  length,  and  the  theories  of 
different  authorities  on  the  subject  alluded  to  in  detail.  He  next  pro- 
ceeded to  give  a  comprehensive  sketch  of  the  great  migratory  movement 
— "  the  mystery  of  migration,"  as  he  not  inaptly  termed  it— as  observed 
in  various  places,  paying  a  high  compliment  to  Mr.  Seebohm  and  Mr. 
Harvie-Brown  for  their  investigations  in  this  direction.  Mr  Seebohm 
he  alluded  to  most  particularly  as  having  undertaken  a  journey  of  over 
15,000  miles  to  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  great  Siberian  rivers— the 
Yenesay,  falling  into  the  Arctic  Ocean— in  his  endeavours  to  track  some 
of  our  migrants  to  their  summer  homes.  The  scenes  witnessed  by  the 
intrepid  travellers  were  graphically  described,  and  were  admirably 
illustrated  by  the  lantern-slides.  Migration  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
but  in  Ireland  in  particular,  and  in  Continental  Europe,  was  next 
alluded  to,  the  lecturer  concluding  with  a  description  of  the  wonderful 
migration  which  occurs  in  Heligoland , as  recorded  in  a  recently-pub- 
lished translation  of  the  great  work  on  the  birds  of  that  island  by  a 


20  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Jan. 

veteran  resident  there,  Mr.  Gatke.  The  nesting  habits  of  some  of  the 
birds  were  described,  and  views  of  some  favourite  nesting-places 
exhibited,  these  and  the  other  views  adding  an  artistic  attraction  to  an 
interesting  and  instructive  lecture,  which  was  listened  to  with  attention 
throughout  by  a  most  appreciative  audience. 

Dr.  Redfern  had  pleasure  in  moving  a  very  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to 
the  President.  Mr.  J.  F.  Shii^i^ington  seconded  the  motion.  Mr. 
Patterson  pointed  out  that  it  was  not  their  custom  to  pass  votes 
of  thanks  to  their  own  members,  but  he  was  very  grateful  for  the  kind, 
words  used  by  Dr.  Redfern  and  Mr.  Shillington. 

December  3rd. — Mr.  George  Coifey,  B.L.,  lectured  to  a  large  audience 
on  the  subject  "  P'rom  Egypt  to  Ireland  :  a  chapter  in  the  History  of 
Ornament." 


BEI.FAST  NATURAI.ISTS'   FlETvD  CivUB. 

November  19th. — The  opening  meeting  was  held,  when  the  Presi- 
dent (Mr.  F.  W.  LOCKWOOD.  C.E.),  delivered  his  inaugural  address.  Mr. 
Ivockwood  took  as  his  subject,  "  The  Interdependence  of  the  various 
Branches  of  the  Club's  Work."  The  address  first  touched  upon  the  in- 
creasing prosperity  of  the  Club,  as  indicated  by  the  activity  of  the  various 
sections,  and  though  some  of  the  older  members  had  doubts  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  recent  changes,  Mr.  Lockwood  himself  felt  none.  The 
President  then  referred  to  the  different  nature  of  the  work  done  now  to 
what  was  open  to  the  students  of  thirty  years  ago,  which  necessitated 
sometimes  a  change  in  method.  He  then  went  on  to  show  the  depen- 
dence the  various  branches  had  upon  each  other.  To  take  an  instance, 
that  pursuit  which  has  brought  the  Club  a  very  considerable  reputation, 
microscopy,  and  more  especially  that  branch  so  successfully  pursued  by 
Mr.  Joseph  Wright,  the  foraminifera,  he  (the  President)  thought  it 
certain  that  Mr.  Wright  little  considered  his  investigations  into  the  white 
chalk  powder  in  the  flints  would  ultimately  lead  to  discoveries  necessi- 
tating careful  reconsideration  of  the  theories  as  to  the  origin  of  boulder 
clay.  Mr.  Lockwood  then  referred  to  the  careful  and  minute  work 
required  in  tracing  out  the  erratic  blocks  to  their  parent  formation. 
Broad  questions  of  meteorology  are  well  worth  working  at  in  order  to 
help  to  solve  such  problems  as  why  Greenland  should  be  covered  with 
an  ice-cap  and  Siberia  quite  dry.  The  President  next  touched  upon  the 
engrossing  subject  of  botany,  and  pointed  out  that  although  such  work 
as  that  done  by  Messrs.  Stewart,  Corry,  and  Praeger  cannot  be  done  over 
again,  very  valuable  results,  indeed,  could  be  obtained  from  the  almost 
unknown  deposits  of  plant-remains  between  the  lava- flows  of  the  upper 
and  lower  basalts.  Good  work  also  remains  to  be  done  in  tabulating 
these  outflows,  such  as  the  rhyoHtes  and  pitchstones.  Referring  to  the 
work  done  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  Starkie  Gardner,  and  some  of  the  Club's 
members,  Mr.  Lockwood  suggested  that  the  fauna  be  especially  searched 
for  in  these  old  lake-bottoms.  The  Carboniferous  period  should  also 
yield  further  results,  from  the  Tyrone  and  Ballycastle  coal-measures,  and 


1896.]  Procccdifigs  of  Irish  Societies.  21 

from  the  results  of  such  exploration  as  this  to  form,  perhaps,  some  idea 
of  the  ancient  coast-lines,  and  whether  or  not  the  main  continental  out- 
lines have  ever  been  mvicli  as  they  are  now.  The  next  point  considered 
was  archaeology,  including  ethnography  and  the  Celtic  department,  and 
Mr.  Lockwood  suggested  lines  of  work  on  the  palaeolithic  remains  and 
the  ancient  races  of  inhabitants  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Ivockwood  concluded 
by  saying  that  he  trusted  he  had  said  enough  to  show  that  there  was 
plenty  of  work  to  do  still,  and  that  all  the  branches  of  the  Club  were 
mutually  interdependent. 

Mr.  Wright,  F.G.S.,  in  response  to  Mr.  Lockwood,  described  his 
early  experiences  in  searching  for  foraminifera,  and  concluded  by  criti- 
cising some  of  the  arrangements  with  the  Irish  Field  Club  Union. 

Mr.  Wm.  Gray,  M.R.I.A.,  gave  a  report  on  the  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  at  Ipswich,  to  which  he  went  as  a  delegate  from  the  Club. 
Mr.  Gray  described  the  mode  of  arrangement  of  the  various  sections,  and 
pointed  out  the  value  of  minute  and  detailed  work  in  all  subjects,  even 
temperatures,  rainfalls,  floods,  and  tides,  also  such  work  as  the  Club 
is  now  busily  engaged  in,  in  tracking  down  the  erratic  blocks  in  the 
boulder  clay.  He  then  spoke  strongly  against  the  all  too  prevalent 
custom  of  digging  up  rare  plants,  and  thus  destroying  them,  and 
especially  entreated  everyone  not  to  buy  the  ferns  offered  for  sale  by  the 
peasantry.  Mr.  Gray  then  referred  to  the  excursions  made  to  the 
deposits  of  the  Red  Crag  at  Ipswich,  with  its  extraordinarily  numerous 
fossils,  of  which  a  considerable  number  were  on  view,  including  the 
peculiar  left-handed  spiral  so  rare  now,  and  apparently  so  common  then 
in  Ftisus,  and  also  the  modern  flint  works  at  Brandon,  from  which  Mr. 
Gray  had  brought  a  number  of  very  beautiful  copies  of  old  axes,  celts, 
spear-heads,  and  flakes  made  by  the  quarrymen. 

Mr.  Lockwood  briefly  described  some  of  his  experiences  in  the  Red 
Crag  district,  pointing  out  the  layer  of  rolled  fossils  found  below  it,  con- 
taining very  numerous  mammalian  remains,  and  also  the  curious  cutting 
down  into  the  Crag  by  a  recent  stream,  the  bed  of  which  is  sometimes 
refilled  with  recent  alluvium,  forming  a  deceptive  deposit  unless  care- 
fully noticed. 

December  nth. — The  Geological  Section  met,  when  Mr.  F.  W. 
Lockwood  contributed  some  notes  on  the  Tarns  of  the  Mourne 
Mountains.  He  first  described  the  action  of  running  water  in  canons 
and  deep  gorges,  and  then  the  modification  caused  by  the  action  of  frost 
on  the  sides  of  valleys.  Running  water  and  frost  are  the  cutting  instru- 
ments of  nature,  ice  in  the  mass  is  a  planing  and  smoothing  instrument. 
Before  the  Glacial  Epoch  the  hills  were  more  rugged  and  the  valleys 
deeper  than  at  present.  Four  out  of  the  five  lakelets  of  the  Mourne 
district  are  extremely  small  and  shallow,  the  fifth,  Lough  Shannagh,  is 
the  only  one  of  importance,  but  it  also  is  small.  They  all  lie  upon 
ledges  or  shelves  of  rock  a  great  height  above  the  general  level  of  the 
valleys,  and  have  steep  cliflis  above  them.  There  is  no  clear  indication 
that  they  are  true  rock  basins  such  as  most  of  the  tarns  in  Cumberland 


22  The  Irish  Naturalist  [  Jan. 

and  Westmoreland  undoubtedly  are,  but  Lough  Shannagli  maybe  in  part. 
The  others  are  probably  formed  by  dams  of  boulder  clay  squeezed  up 
on  the  side  of  the  ice-stream  of  the  main  valleys.  A  most  interesting 
feature  is  the  rugged  character  of  the  hill-.tops  generally  in  the  British 
Isles  above  a  level  of  something  about  2,500  feet,  showing  that  the  ice, 
from  whatever  source  derived,  did  not  rise  above  that  level.  The  sum- 
mits of  Sea  Fell,  Helvellyn,  Ben  Nevis,  and  Slieve  Donard  are  all  a  mass 
of  large  boulders  apparently  the  result  of  sub-aerial  weathering,  the 
lower  hills  have  all  been  swept  bare.  In  the  course  of  the  subsequent 
discussion,  Mr.  J.  O.  CampbEI.1.  mentioned  finding  Ailsa  Craig  eurite  as 
an  erratic  in  the  Spinkwee  valley  of  the  Mourne  mountains,  also  an 
apparently  Antrim  flint  on  the  Aran  Islands.  A  portion  of  the  British 
Association  "  Erratic  Blocks  "  report,  containing  a  reference  to  glacial 
work  done  by  the  Club,  was  followed  by  a  paper  on  the  Silurian  rocks  of 
Pomeroy,  by  Mr.  R.  Bei<I/,  who  also  contributed  erratics  from  boulder 
clay  at  an  elevation  of  1,300  feet  between  Divis  and  Black  Mountain, 
including  Ailsa  and  Tormamoney  eurite.  Rock  specimens  were  pre- 
sented by  the  Hon.  Sec. 

November  30th.— The  opening  meeting  of  the  new  Botanical  Sec- 
tion of  the  Club  was  held  in  the  Club  Rooms  at  the  Museum,  on 
Saturday  afternoon.  It  was  decided  to  meet  on  the  last  Saturday  in 
each  month  at  four  o'clock,  and  to  devote  the  first  hour  to  structural 
botany  and  practical  work  with  the  microscope,  and  the  remaining  time 
to  the  study  of  the  natural  orders  of  British  plants.  Some  notes  were 
then  given  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  on  protoplasm  and  chlorophyll. 
Papers  and  short  notes  have  been  promised  on  "  Sedges,"  "  Hieracia," 
"  Alien  plants,"  "Duckweeds,"  &c.  The  meetings  are  open  to  all  who 
are  interested  in  botany,  and  the  names  of  any  persons  who  wish  to 
join  should  be  sent  in  to  the  Secretary,  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  Saintfield. 

December  13th.— Microscopicai,  SECTiON.—Dr.  Lorrain  Smith  lec- 
tured on  "  The  Study  of  Bacteriology." 

December  17th. — The  President  (Mr.  F.  W.  Lockwood)  in  the  chair. 
The  President  read  a  short  note  on  the  gravels  at  Lame,  Co.  Antrim, 
which  will  appear  in  our  next  issue. 

Miss  Nora  Steen  contributed  a  short  paper  on  Craiganogh  cave, 
Co.  Antrim,  which  we  hope  to  publish  shortly. 

Mr.  Robert  BE1.1.  read  a  paper  entitled  "A  Day  among  the  Silurian 
Shales  of  Pomeroy."  The  paper  dealt  with  the  results  of  a  visit  in  last 
July.  These  shales  are  very  interesting,  being  the  nearest  place  where 
those  characteristic  Palaeozoic  crustaceans,  the  trilobites,  can  be 
obtained.  Mr.  Bell's  experience  in  expending  half  the  time  at  his  dis- 
posal in  searching  for  the  beds,  in  spite  of  full  instructions  kindly  given 
by  Mr.  M'Henry,  M.R.I. A.,  is  one  common  to  many  geologists.  The 
rough  fossiliferous  grits,  with  marks  resembling  sea-weeds  and  worm- 
tubes,  lie  south  of  the  granite  hill  at  Bardahessiagh  ;  newer  sandy  beds 
have  been  deposited  uncomformably  upon  them.  The  trilobites  occur 
in  a  section  cut  by  the  river  near  Dickson's  house  and  the  slate  quarry. 
The  fossils  found  were  on  view  during  the  evening. 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  23 

Mr.  Ai,EC  G.  Wii^sON  described  the  geological  features  of  the  Galway 
Conference,  illustrating  his  remarks  by  numerous  fine  lantern-slides 
from  photographs  taken  on  the  excursion,  by  Messrs.  Welch,  Gray,  and 
Fennell.  A  report  on  the  geology  of  this  excursion,  by  Miss  S.  M. 
Thompson,  has  already  appeared  in  our  September  number. 

Miss  S.  M.  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Geological  Section,  read  a  report 
on  the  Geological  excursions  of  the  past  season.  We  hope  to  comment 
upon  this  paper  in  our  next  issue.  On  the  table  there  was  a  fine  display 
of  rocks,  fossils,  and  glacial  erratics,  collected  on  the  excursions  referred 
to,  and  microscopic  sections  of  rocks  were  also  shown. 


Dubinin  Naturai^ists'  FieIvD  Club. 

November  19- — The  first  business  meeting  was  held.  The  PRESIDENT 
(Mr.  G.  H.  Carpenter)  in  the  chair.  The  Secretary  exhibited  on  be- 
half of  Mrs.  Ross  a  number  of  prize  chrysanthemums.  Professor  Johnson 
exhibited  a  beautifully  dried  series  of  alpine  plants  prepared  by  Lady 
Rachel  Saunderson.  Mr.  F.  W.  Burbidge  and  Mr.  Praeger  spoke  in 
praise  of  the  exquisite  preservation  of  these  specimens.  The  ViCE- 
PrESIdent  (Professor  Goi^E)  having  taken  the  chair,  the  President 
delivered  an  address  on  the  subject,  "  The  Mingling  of  the  North  and 
South."  He  first  referred  to  the  recent  formation  of  the  Irish  Field 
Club  Union,  by  means  of  which  the  members  of  the  various  Naturalists' 
Field  Clubs  were  getting  to  know  each  other  and  to  assist  each  other  in 
their  work.  Reference  was  then  made  to  the  Field  Club  Conference 
held  at  Galway  in  July  last,  in  which  all  the  Irish  Clubs  and  a  number 
of  English  scientific  societies  took  part.  The  districts  visited  on  that 
occasion,  it  was  pointed  out,  furnished  a  very  remarkable  mingling  of 
northern  and  southern  types  of  animal  and  plants.  The  various  hypo- 
theses that  have  been  put  forward  to  account  for  the  strange  overlapping 
of  types  were  reviewed,  and  the  evidence  in  support  of  various  theories 
considered.  The  address,  which  was  illustrated  by  zoological  and 
botanical  specimens  and  by  many  lantern  slides  of  plants,  animals, 
maps  and  scenery,  will  shortly  appear  in  our  pages.  An  interesting  dis- 
cussion on  the  paper  ensued. 

Prof.  T.  Johnson  complimented  the  President  on  his  address,  and 
referred  to  the  tradition  that  some  of  the  Iberian  plants  had  been  intro- 
duced by  the  Spaniards.  Mr.  Praeger  stated  that  he  had  been  often 
struck  by  the  way  these  western  Irish  species  did  not  spread,  in  spite  of 
their  abundance  in  places,  and  the  prevalence  of  strong  winds.  He 
thought  this  went  against  any  theory  of  their  introduction.  Mr. 
M'Ardi^e  referred  to  the  peculiar  tropical  distribution  of  a  number  of 
the  south-west  Irish  liverworts.  Mr.  F.  W.  Burbidge  also  discussed 
the  question  of  artificial  introduction  of  species ;  and  remarked  that  it 
did  not  appear  correct  to  assume  that  an  ice  age  would  sweep  all  vege- 
tation off  the  face  of  the  country,  since  some  of  the  species  which  flourish 
at  sea-level  in  the  west  of  Ireland  had  been  found  to  grow  up  as  far  north 
as  man  has  yet  penetrated.  Mr.  H.  Lyster  Jameson  referred  to  the 
importance  of  studying  these  questions  of  past  and  present  distribution. 


24  Ihe  Irish  Naturalist,  [  Jan. 

Mr.  HAI.BERT  remarked  that  as  the  late  A.  H.  Haliday  had  not  found 
Otiorrhynchus  auroptmctalus,  it  might  be  thought  by  some  that  that  beetle 
had  been  recently  introduced.  Dr.  C.  H.  HuRST  said  that  the  success 
or  failure  of  such  attempts  depended  on  a  very  large  number  of  circum- 
stances, and  that  there  were  many  inter-relations  between  plants  and 
animals  that  had  important  bearing  on  the  question.  Prof.  C01.E  pointed 
out  that  in  considering  the  possible  ancient  routes  by  which  migration 
had  taken  place,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  North-western  Europe 
was  really  the  ancient  Europe,  and  was  dryland  while  the  more  southern 
tracts  were  again  and  again  submerged. 

Mr.  Praeger  subsequently  exhibited  a  number  of  additional  photo- 
graphs taken  on  the  Calway  excursion.  The  following  were  elected 
members  of  the  Club  :— Miss  Lilias  J.  Aimers,  b.a.  ;  D.  R.  Alcock,  J.  J. 
Alcorn,  F.  H.  R.  Brady,  Miss  Ida  Carolin,  W.  V.  Coppinger,  Alec  Gray, 
M.A.,  C.  Herbert  Hurst,  ph.d.  ;  A.  Vaughan  Jennings,  E.G.S. ;  Miss  Laird, 
Geo.  F.  Mahon,  Gonolly  Norman,  f.r.c.p.i.  ;  Kenneth  C,  Ogilvie,  A. 
Ward,  C.K. ;  and  Rev.  C.  A.  Williamson. 

December  loth.— Mr.  Wii,i.iam  Gray,  m.r.i.a.,  delegate  from  the 
Belfast  Naturalists*  Field  Club,  lectured  on  "  The  Physical  Features  and 
Scenery  of  County  Antrim."  The  chair  was  occupied  by  the  President 
(G.  H.  Carpenter,  B.  Sc),  and  there  was  a  crowded  attendance.  Some 
formal  business  having  been  transacted,  Mr.  Gray  proceeded  with  his 
lecture,  which  was  illustrated  by  a  magnificent  set  of  lantern  views. 
He  first  described  the  geology  of  the  district,  and  dealt  with  the  various 
formations  in  their  order  of  succession.  Special  notice  was  taken  of  the 
basaltic  rocks,  which  form  the  leading  feature  of  Antrim  geolog)'  and 
scenery.  The  Chalk,  Greensand  and  Lias  also  came  in  for  due  attention. 
Afterwards  the  various  headlands,  bays  and  glens  were  described  and 
illustrated.  A  vote  of  thanks  to  the  lecturer  was  proposed  by  Prof.  G. 
A.J.  C01.E,  F.G.S.,  seconded  by  Greenwood  Pim,  m.a.,  and  carried  by 
acclamation.  Frederick  T.  Eason  and  Wm.  F.  Henderson  were  elected 
members  of  the  Club. 

Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club. 
November  28th. — A  lecture  was  delivered  by  Mr.  R.  Ll«OYD  Praeger, 
B.A.,  B.E.,  the  President  of  the  Club  (Mr.  W.  H.  Shaw,  m.a.)  in  the  chair. 
The  lecture  hall  of  the  School  of  Science  was  crammed,  and  the 
lecture,  which  treated  of  the  Galway  Field  Club  Conference  in  1895, 
and  which  was  illustrated  by  an  optical  lantern,  was  followed  with 
attention.  Mr.  Praeger  first  dealt  with  the  visit  of  the  members  of  the 
Conference,  which  included  representatives  from  Belfast,  Dublin,  Cork, 
Limerick,  and  important  centres  in  England,  to  Galway  City,  and  pointed 
out  the  chief  places  of  interest  in  that  district.  Connemara,  Burren  and 
the  Aran  Islands  were  duly  described,  and  many  views  taken  by  members 
were  shown.  The  peculiar  flora  of  these  districts  was  next  described, 
and  in  conclusion  the  lecturer  pointed  out  the  important  results  of  the 
Conference,  and  exhorted  the  members  of  the  Cork  Club  to  renewed 
exertions  in  their  own  sphere  of  work.  At  the  close  of  the  lecture  a 
disciission  took  place,  and  seven  new  members  joined  the  Club, 


1896.]  Proceedings  0/  Irish  Societies.  25 

Decembkr  13th.— Mr.  Wm.  Gray,  m.r.i-a.,  of  Belfast,  delivered  a 
lecture  in  the  Ball  Room,  Imperial  Hotel,  to  the  members  of 
the  Cork  Literary  and  Scientific  Society,  and  the  Cork  Naturalists' 
Field  Club  on  '*The  Physical  Features  and  Scenery  of  the  County 
Antrim."  Mr.  Wm.  Lane,  j.p,,  President  of  the  Society,  occupied  the 
chair,  and  there  was  a  full  attendance  of  members.  The  lecturer,  who 
is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  stated  he 
attended  under  the  auspices  of  the  Naturalists'  Field  Clubs  of  Dublin, 
Belfast,  Limerick,  and  Cork,  as  well  as  of  the  Literary  and  Scientific 
Society,  to  describe  some  portions  of  the  field  of  investigation  of  their 
Club  in  Antrim.  By  means  of  lantern-slides  the  lecturer  illustrated  the 
geological  strata  of  the  county,  and  dwelt  at  length  on  the  trap,  Chalk, 
Greensand,  Lias,  and  New  Red  Sandstone — giving  their  origin,  their 
characteristic  features,  and  their  action  of  the  various  natural  influences 
on  them.  He  pointed  out  in  detail  the  formation  of  the  Giant's  Causeway, 
which  was  of  volcanic  origin,  and  the  columns  of  which  were  naturally 
formed  by  a  process  of  cooling  under  pressure,  and  amongst  the  other 
principal  natural  phenomena  treated  of  were  the  Cave  Hill,  the  columns 
at  Fair  Head,  and  the  sea-stacks  to  be  found  round  the  coast.  The 
address  was  delivered  in  a  more  or  less  conversational  style,  and  the 
interest  of  the  audience  was  quickened  by  a  copious  supply  of  lantern- 
slides.  The  Chairman,  at  the  conclusion,  conveyed  the  warm  thanks  of 
the  Society  to  the  lecturer- 


Limerick  Natukai.ists'  F1E1.D  CIvUb. 

November  27th. — Mr.  R.  Lloyd  Praeger  delivered  a  lecture  under  the 
Field  Club  Union  Scheme,  his  subject  being  "  The  Galway  Field  Club 
Conference,  1895,  with  notes  on  the  Flora  of  the  districts  visited."  Dr. 
Fogerty  occupied  the  chair,  and  there  was  a  good  attendance.  Mr.  Praeger 
first  touched  on  the  history  of  the  various  Field  Clubs  of  Ireland,  and  the 
formation  of  the  Field  Club  Union.  The  excursions  carried  out  during 
the  Galway  conference  were  next  described,  illustrated  by  a  large  series 
of  lantern-slides  from  photographs  of  the  districts  visited  taken  by 
members.  The  peculiar  flora  of  Connemara  and  Barren  were  considered, 
and  a  series  of  characteristic  plants  exhibited,  and  finally  the  part 
played  by  the  Limerick  Club  was  dwelt  on,  and  the  duty  that  rested  with 
members  of  helping  the  growth  and  progress  of  their  Club  in  every 
possible  way. 

December  nth.— Mr.  Wii,i,iAM  Gray  lectured  on  "  The  Physical 
Features  and  Scenery  of  County  Antrim."  He  said  he  came  as  the 
representative  of  the  Belfast  Club,  under  the  Field  Club  Union  Scheme, 
to  tell  them  of  that  part  of  the  sphere  of  work  of  the  Belfast  Club  which 
dealt  with  geology  and  physical  geography.  With  the  help  of  a  large 
series  of  lantern-views,  he  described  the  structure  of  the  county,  and  the 
characters  and  mode  of  origin  of  the  Basalts,  Chalk,  Greensand,  Lias,  New 
Red  Sandstone,  and  older  rocks.  The  peculiar  features  of  the  Giants' 
Causeway  were  treated  of  in  detail.  The  features  of  the  coast  were 
described,  with  numerous  illustrations  of  the  headlands,  bays,  and 
valleys. 


26  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Jan. 


FIELD    CLUB    NEWS. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Cork  Field 
Club.  A  speaker  referred  to  the  Cork  Cuverian  Society,  which  did 
much  good  work  in  the  middle  of  the  century,  as  being  "  as  extinct  as  the 
Irish  Elk."  Whereupon  uprose  a  member  of  the  said  Society,  to  state  that 
the  Cork  Cuverian  Society  was  not  dead,  but  hybernating ;  he  had 
attended  the  last  meeting  which  the  Society  held,  some  twenty  years 
ago,  which  was  adjourned  sine  die.  He  objected  to  be  relegated  to  the 
Pleistocene  period.  As  a  consequence  of  the  discussion  which  ensued 
there  is  talk  of  reviving  the  Cuverian  Society,  or  of  amalgamating  it  with 
the  Cork  Field  Club. 

Lectures  under  the  Field  Club  Union  Scheme  are  being  energetically 
carried  out.  During  the  past  month  Mr.  W.  Gray,  a  veteran  member 
of  the  Belfast  Club,  lectured  before  the  Clubs  at  Dublin,  Cork  and 
Limerick,  and  in  November  Mr.  Praeger,  as  representative  of  the  Dublin 
Club,  lectured  at  Cork  and  Limerick. 

The  Committee  of  the  Dublin  Club  have  nominated  Professor  Cole, 
F.G.S.,  as  President  for  1896,  and  Mr.  N.  Colgan  as  Vice-President.  Mr. 
Colgan  is  well-known  to  Irish  botanists  by  his  papers  on  the  flora  of 
County  Dublin. 

A  party  composed  chiefly  of  members  of  the  Belfast  and  Dublin  Field 
Clubs  intend  visiting  Connemara  next  spring,  with  the  object  of  investi- 
gating the  kitchen-middens  along  the  coast. 

The  Belfast  Club  do  not  intend  to  let  the  stimulus  given  to  the  study 
of  geology  and  botany  by  the  recent  courses  of  lectures  by  Prof.  Cole  and 
Prof.  Johnson  die  away  for  want  of  encouragement.  The  geological 
section  is  holding  frequent  meetings,  both  in  the  field  and  in  the  cosy 
workroom,  and  with  regard  to  botany,  a  series  of  informal  meetings  is 
being  held  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  for  practical 
botanical  work. 

The  Rev.  W.  V.  Johnson,  so  well  known  to  all  Irish  naturalists  through 
his  work  on  the  G  oleoptera  and  other  insects,  has  removed  from  Winder- 
terrace,  Armagh,  to  Acton  Rectory,  Poyntzpass,  Newry.  We  have  no 
doubt  that  Mr.  Johnson's  researches  in  this  new  field  will  largely  add  to 
our  knowledge  of  Irish  insects.  Correspondents  will  please  note  the 
change  of  address. 

Prof.  Johnson,  D.Sc,  has  kindly  offered  to  give  a  course  of  practical 
work  to  serve  as  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  sea- weeds,  for  the  benefit 
of  members  of  the  Dublin  Club.  The  course  would  be  held  during  the 
spring  months. 


1896.]  Notes.  27 

The  next  undertaking  of  the  Field  Club  Union  will  be  a  Directory  of 
Irish  Naturalists,  the  publication  of  which  should  do  much  to  facilitate 
intercourse  between  Field  Club  members  of  similar  tastes  residing  in 
different  parts  of  the  country.  The  preliminary  steps  are  being  now 
taken,  and  a  printed  form  to  be  filled  by  persons  wishing  to  be  included 
in  the  Directory  will  be  shortly  sent  to  all  Field  Club  members  and  sub- 
scribers to  this  Journal. 


NOTES. 

Col.  G.  T.  Plunkett,  R.E.,has  been  appointed  Director  of  the  Science  and 
Art  Institutions  in  Ireland.  He  will  therefore  take  up  the  late  Dr.  Ball's 
work  in  Leinster  House,  and  also  continue  his  former  duties  as  Secretary 
to  the  Royal  College  of  Science. 

Prof.  Sollas,  F.R.S.,  of  Dublin,  will  leave  in  March  for  Sydney,  to  take 
charge  of  an  expedition  that  is  being  despatched  to  make  deep  borings 
in  a  coral  atoll.  The  scheme,  which  is  supported  by  a  strong  scientific 
committee,  has  been  financed  by  the  Royal  Society  to  the  extent  of 
;^8oo ;  and  the  Government  are  placing  a  gunboat  at  the  disposal  of  the 
party,  to  convey  them  from  Sydney  to  Funifuti,  in  the  Central  Pacific, 
which  has  been  selected  as  the  scene  of  operations. 

BOTANY. 


PHANEROGAMS. 
Irish  Hawkweeds,  &c.— The  following  plants  were  collected  by  me 
during  the  summer  of  1895,  and  verified  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Hanbury : — 

Hieracium  Schmidtii,  Tausch,  Ballintoy,  Co.  Antrim  ;  //.  nnworum,  var.  c, 
microdadium^  Newtowncrommelin  and  Garvagh,  Co.  Derry ;  ZT.  iricum, 
Fr.,  Lisoughter,  near  Recess,  Co.  Galway ;  Cai-ex  Goodenovii  b.  Jnncella, 
Fr.,  and  Scirpus  ruftts,   Schrad.,  Ballintoy,  Co.  Antrim. 

S.  A.  Brenan,  Knocknacarry. 

ZOOLOGY. 


CRUSTACEA. 
New  Species  of  Copepoda  from  the  South-west  of  Ireland. 

— In  the  Ann.  Mag.  Nat.  Hist,  for  November,  1895,  p.  359,  &c.,  Messrs. 
T.  and  A.  Scott  describe  with  figures  three  new  forms  of  parasitic 
crustaceans  obtained  at  Valentia  by  Messrs.  W.  I.  Beaumont  and  F.  W. 
Gamble.  Two  of  these,  found  on  ascidians,  are  referred  with  some  doubt 
to  the  genus  Enterocola  and  named  E.  hibernica  and  E.  Beau7nontii.  For 
the  third,  which  was  found  as  a  parasite  on  the  nudibranch  Lomanotus 
genii,  a  new  genus  Lotnanoticola  is  proposed,  the  species  being  designated 
Z.  insolens.  This  last  form  shows  great  degradation,  there  being  no 
apparent  segmentation  of  the  fore-body,  andtheantennules,  antennae  and 
mouth-organs  being  absent.  Except  for  the  hindmost  segment  of  the 
abdomen  with  its  two  curious  egg-sacs,  the  parasite  was  completely 
buried  in  the  body  of  the  nudibranch, 


28  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  Jan.  1896. 

REPTILES. 
A  Stray  Snake  neat*  Cork. — A  recent  issue  of  the  Cork  Constitution 
records  the  occurrence  of  a  snake  near  Blarney.  The  reptile  was  en- 
countered crossing  a  grass  field  and  is  said  to  have  been  at  first  mistaken 
for  an  eel !  It  was  promptly  knocked  on  the  head,  a  fate  which  meets 
all  the  members  of  its  order,  which  purposely  or  accidentally  are  let  loose 
in  Ireland. 


BIRDS. 

The  Brambllngr  (Fringllla  montlfrlngllla)  In  the  Vale  of 

Ovoca. — On  December  8th,  a  specimen  of  this  rare  winter  visitor  was 

shot  quite  close  to  here  by  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Robinson,  Rector  of  Ovoca, 

who  kindly  presented  it  to  me  ;  it  is  now  with  Messrs.  Williams  &  Son  of 

Dame-street  for  preservation. 

J.  Hunter,  Wooden  Bridge. 

Crossbills  breeding  In  the  Vale  of   Ovoca.— This  year,  1895, 

Crossbills  {Loxia  curvirostris)  bred  in  this  neighbourhood.     On  April  1st 

I  secured  an  old  and  young  bird,  which  are  in  the  collection  of  Mr. 

Harrington,  Fassaroe,  Bray. 

J.  Hunter. 

Crossbills  In  Queen's  County. — The  presence  of  a  flock  of  these 
interesting  birds  in  Queen's  Co.  is  noted  in  the  Field  for  November  i6th. 

Stock-Doves  in  Co.  Dublin.— On  the  19th  of  November,  my 
brother  shot  two  Stock- Doves  {Colwnha  txnas)  at  Carrick  Hill  near  Mala- 
hide.  They  were  first  noticed  in  this  district  in  November,  1893,  when 
a  flock  of  twelve  remained  for  about  a  fortnight. 

J.  Trumbui,!,,  Malahide.  ^/ 

Longrtalled  Duck  In  Co.  Clare. — I  shot  an  immature  Longtailed 

Duck  {^Harelda  glacialis)  on  Lough  Derg  on  Monday  last,  December  2nd. 

The  bird  was  one  of  a  pair.      I  also  shot  two  more  out  of  three  (also 

immature  birds)  on  the  27th  December,  1890.     These  are  the  only  two 

occasions  on  which  I  have  seen  them  since  I  came  here  in  1888.     As  they 

are  by  no  means  common   so  far  south  {vide  Seebohm)  the  fact  seems 

worthy  of  record. 

R.  F.  HiBBERT,  Scariff,  Co.  Clare. 

Longr-talled  Duck  In  Co.  Wexford, — Mr.  H.  R,  Guiness  records, 
in  the  Field  of  November  i6th,  an  adult  male  of  Harelda  ^lacialis,  shot  on 
Tacumshin  Lake. 


MAMMALS. 

Pine  Martens  recently   taken  In   Ireland During  the  last 

twelve  months  I  know  of  three  specimens  having  been  trapped  or  shot ; 
as  follows: — One  last  winter  in  Lord  Clonbrock's  Demesne,  Co.  Galway. 
One  in  the  spring  at  Castle  Taylor,  Ardrahan,  in  the  same  county. 
One  this  autumn  at  Enuiscor,  on  the  shores  of  L.  Conn,  by  the  game- 
keeper of  Joseph  Pratt,  Esq.,  Co.  Mayo. 

Wm.  F.  de  V.  Kane,  Monaghau, 


Irish  Naturalist,  Voi,.  v.] 


{Plate  I. 


Feb.  1896.]  29 

ON  THE    BOTANICAL  SUBDIVISION    OF   IRKI.AND. 

BY  R.   I.I.OYD  PRAEGKR,   B.E). 


(PIRATE  I.) 

Thirty-seven  years  have  now  elapsed  since,  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Dublin  University  Zoological  and  Botanical  Association, 
a  paper  by  Charles  C.  Babington  was  read,  entitled  "  Hints 
towards  a  Cybele  Hibernica.'"  In  this  communication,  the 
author  put  forward  a  scheme  for  the  subdivision  of  Ireland 
into  twelve  provinces  and  thirty-seven  counties  and  vice- 
counties,  on  the  plan  of  Watson's  Cybele  Britannica  ;  and  as 
the  paper  is  not  readily  accessible  to  most  botanists,  the 
suggested  division  may  be  reprinted  here  : — 

XIX.  SOUTH  ATIvANTIC— 113.    South  Kerry ;  114,    North   Kerry; 
115.  South  Cork. 

XX.  BLAG  KWATER.— 116.  North  Cork  ;  117.    Wexford;  118.  South 
Tipperary. 

XXI.  BARROW.— 119.  Kilkenny;  120.  Carlow;  121,  Queen's  Co. 

XXII.  LEINSTER  COAST.--122.  Wexford;  123.  Wicklow. 

XXIII.  LIFFEY    AND    BOYNE— 124.    Kildare;    125.    Dubhn ;    126. 
Meath;  127.  Louth. 

XXIV.  LOWER  SHANNON.— 128.    Limerick;  129.  Clare;  130.    East 
Galway. 

XXV.  UPPER  SHANNON.— 131.  North  Tipperary ;  132.    King's  Go.  ; 
133,  Westmeath ;  134.  Longford. 

XXVI.  NORTH  ATLANTIC— 135.  West  Galway ;  136.  West  Mayo. 
XXVIL  NORTH  CONNAUGHT.— 137.  East  Mayo;  138.  Sligo  ;  139. 

Leitrim  ;  140.  Roscommon. 

XXVIIL  ERNE.— 141.  Fermanagh ;  142.  Cavan ;  143.  Monaghan  ; 
144.  Tyrone;  145.  Armagh. 

XXIX.  DONEGAL.— 146.  Donegal. 

XXX.  ULSTER  COAST.— 147.  Down  ;  148.  Antrim ;  149.  Derry. 

Following  Watson,  Babington  founded  his  twelve  provinces 
as  far  as  possible  on  the  principal  river-basins  of  the  country. 
Ireland  does  not  readily  lend  itself  to  such  a  plan  of  division. 
The  Shannon  valley  occupies  about  one-sixth  of  the  entire 
island,  and  other  river-basins  are  small  in  comparison.  Also, 
the  mountain-chains  being  mostly  near  the  coast,  considerable 
areas  are  drained  by  small  rivers  only.  The  consequence 
was  that  in  many  cases  river-basin  provinces  were  not 
practicable,  and  this  gave  an  opportunity  for  the  using  of 

»  Nat,  Hist  Review,^  vi.,  pt  2,  1859.      Proc.  D,  U.  Zool  and  Bot,  Assoc^  i. 

A 


30  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb. 

natural  botanical  divisions,  such  as  Kerry  and  South  Cork, 
Connemara  and  West  Mayo,  and  Donegal.  So  that,  although 
the  partition  of  Ireland  by  river-basins  is  not  satisfactory, 
nevertheless  Babington's  twelve  provinces  appear  to  be  as 
good  as  could  have  been  selected. 

Seven  years  after  the  publication  of  Babington's  paper, 
Cybele  Hibernica  appeared,  under  the  authorship  of  Dr.  David 
Moore,  and  Mr.  A.  G.  More.  In  this  work  the  twelve  pro- 
vinces suggested  by  Babington  were  adopted,  the  only 
alteration  being  that  they  w^ere  called  "  Districts,"  and 
were  numbered  i  to  12,  instead  of  XIX  to  XXX. — of  which 
more  anon.  In  his  British  Rubi,  published  three  years  later 
(1869),  Babington  used  the  twelve  provinces  he  proposed ; 
indeed,  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  distribution  of 
the  Rubi  that  he  first  undertook  the  botanical  division  of  Ire- 
land ;  as  he  himself  modestly  says  ' — "  I  should  not  have 
intruded  myself  into  a  work  which  seems  especially  Irish, 
had  it  not  become  necessary  for  me  to  subdivide  the  country 
for  the  purpose  of  recording  the  distribution  of  the  Irish  Rubi, 
as  a  part  of  my  projected,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  com- 
pleted, treatise  upon  the  Rubi  of  the  United  Kingdom."  So 
much  for  the  proposed  twelve  botanical  divisions  of  Ireland  ; 
they  have  been  adopted  by  the  leaders  of  Irish  botany,  and 
the  large  amount  of  botanical  survey  work  carried  out  since 
they  were  first  suggested  has  not  in  any  way  shaken  our  faith 
in  their  scientific  usefulness  and  practical  convenience. 

Next,  as  regards  the  second  part  of  Babington's  scheme — 
the  subdivision  into  counties  and  vice-counties.  We  have  not 
yet  in  Ireland  got  so  far  as  a  Topographical  Bota7iy ;  and, 
although  the  publication  of  Cybele  Hibernica  marked  the  com- 
mencement of  a  large  amount  of  field-work,  this  was  in  most 
cases  confined  to  small  areas,  and  Babington's  county  list  lay 
unused  and  apparently  almost  forgotten  till  1884,  when  Prof 
W.  R.  M'Nab  read  before  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  a  ''  Short 
Note  on  the  Botanical  Topographical  Divisions  of  Ireland  " 
which  is  printed  in  their  Proceedings.''  This  paper  purports 
to  be  a  revision  and  extension  of  Babington's  scheme,  but 
the    suggCvStions    put    forward — the     Roman     numerals    for 

» Hints  towards  a  Cybele  Hibernica,  /.  c. 
',  Set.  Fro^^  Ji:.D.S.,  U.S.,  iv.  i^T  {iSSs). 


1896.]  Prakger. — Botanical  Subdivision  of  Irelajid.  31^^, 

the  provinces,  the  use  of  the  word  "province"  instead  of 
"  district "  (which  was  used  in  Cybcle  Hibernica),  the  giving 
of  names  to  the  provinces,  and  the  numbering  of  the  vice- 
counties— all  these  had  been  already  published  in  Babington's 
paper;  and  M'Nab's  table  of  provinces  and  counties  is  iden- 
tical with  that  of  Babington,  except  that  he  commences  the 
numbering  of  provinces  and  of  counties  with  I.,  and  that  he 
does  not  subdivide  the  county  of  Kerry. 

No  further  reference  to  or  use  of  Babington's  county- 
division  scheme  appears  until  the  j^ear  1895,  when  Messrs. 
Groves  employed  it  in  their  valuable  paper  on  *'  The  Dis- 
tribution of  the  CharacecB  in  Ireland,'"  in  which  the  distribution 
of  the  species  and  varieties  is  shown  in  list  form,  on  the  plan 
of  Watson's  Topographical  Botany. 

For  some  time  past,  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  com- 
mencing the  large  amount  of  field-w^ork  that  must  be  carried 
out  before  an  Irish  Topographical  Botany  become  a  possibility, 
has  been  steadily  growing  in  my  mind ;  and  this  led  me 
some  months  ago  to  go  carefully  into  the  question  of  the  most 
advantageous  subdivision  of  the  country  into  counties  and 
vice-counties.  As  regards  about  twenty-four  out  of  the  thirty- 
two  Irish  counties,  I  had  the  benefit  of  at  least  some  personal 
knowledge,  topographical  and  botanical ;  and  regarding  others, 
I  have  had  the  great  advantage  of  the  opinions  of  botanists 
whose  special  acquaintance  with  the  flora  of  these  counties 
is  well  known.  The  first  result  of  my  enquiry  has  been  the 
conviction  that  the  subdivision  of  the  larger  counties  as 
proposed  by  Babington  can  be  now  improved  upon ;  and 
indeed  this  is  not  a  matter  for  surprise,  when  we  consider  the 
enormous  advance  made  during  the  intervening  period  of 
thirty-seven  years  in  our  knowledge  of  Irish  botanical  topo- 
graphy (though  that  knowledge  is  yet  very  far  from  complete). 
I  am  also  convinced  that  the  order  in  which  the  counties  and 
vice-counties  are  numbered  in  Babington's  scheme  is  not  the 
most  convenient  or  useful  one  that  can  be  devised :  and  in 
this  view  I  am  glad  to  have  the  support  of  several  of  the  most 
practical  Irish  botanists.  It  is  manifestly  important  that  some 
scheme  of  county  division  and  county-numbering  should 
be  fixed  once  for  all,  according  to  which  future  records  may 


*  Irish  Naturalist-^  Jan.  and  Feb.,  1895. 

A  2 


32  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [i^eb. 

be  systematically  noted.  This  is  especially  desirable  at  the 
present  time,  when  there  appears  to  be  a  distinct  increase  of 
activity  as  regards  Irish  botany,  as  shown  not  only  by  the 
work  which  is  being  dene  by  home  workers,  but  also  by  the 
welcome  visits  which  we  have  had  during  the  past  two  seasons 
from  quite  a  number  of  the  leading  field  botanists  of  England. 
And  if  any  alteration  is  to  be  made  in  the  only  county-division 
scheme  that  has  been  put  forward,  then  the  sooner  it  is  made 
the  better.  Since  they  were  proposed  thirty-seven  years  ago, 
the  only  published  paper  in  which  Babington's  county -numbers 
have  been  used  is  that  of  Messrs.  Groves,  already  quoted. 
The  scheme,  in  fact,  has  not  been  generally  adopted,  so  that 
no  great  inconvenience  can  result  from  a  revision  of  the  county 
list  :  though  if  this  scheme  had  already  been  used  in  a  number 
of  papers,  it  would  be  a  question  whether  the  inconvenience 
of  any  alteration  of  the  county-numbering  would  not  out- 
weigh the  advantages  of  an  improved  subdivision. 

These  considerations  have  led  me  to  put  forward  without 
further  delay  the  following  revised  scheme,  not  without  a  full 
enquiry  as  to  the  value  of  each  of  the  alterations  which  is 
suggested,  and  careful  consideration  of  its  desirability.  It 
will  be  most  convenient  to  give  the  list  first,  and  state  the 
reason  for  the  changes  afterwards. — 

1.  South  Kerry.  21.  Dublin. 

2.  North  Kerry.  22.  Meath. 

3.  West  Cork;  23.  Westmeath. 

4.  Mid  Cork.  24.  Longford. 

5.  East  Cork.  25.  Roscommon. 

6.  Waterford.  26.  East  Mayo. 

7.  South  Tipperary.  27.  West  Mayo. 

8.  Limerick.  28.  Sligo. 

9.  Glare.  29.  Leitrim. 

10.  North  Tipperary.  30.  Cavan. 

11.  Kilkenny.  31.  Louth. 

12.  Wexford.  32.  Monaghan. 

13.  Carlo w.  33.  Fermanagh. 

14.  Queen's  County.  34.  South  Donegal. 
'    15.  South-east  Galway.  35.  North  Donegal. 

J 6.  West  Galway.  36.  T3Tone. 

17.  North-east  Galway.  37.  Armagh. 

18.  King's  County.  38.  Down. 

19.  Kildare.  39.  Antrim. 

20.  Wicklow.  40.  Derry. 


1896.]  Prakger. — Botanical  Subdivision  of  Irelayid.  33 

It  may  be  stated  at  once  that  this  arrangement  differs  from 
that  of  Babingtoii,  first,  as  regards  the  subdivision  of  the 
counties  of  Cork,  Kerry,  Galway,  and  Donegal ;  and  secondly, 
in  the  renumbering  of  the  counties  and  vice-counties  according 
to  a  different  plan.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  figures  ascend 
regularly  from  the  extreme  south-west  of  the  country  to  the 
extreme  north-east,  the  numbering  following  a  backwards- 
and-forwards  line,  irrespective  of  the  *'  province  "  boundaries. 

In  working  out  the  above  scheme,  the  following  considera- 
tions influenced   the  subdivision  of  the   larger   counties  : — 

Natural  Bou7idaries.—WhQre  clearly-defined  natural  bound- 
aries, botanical,  geological,  or  physical,  exist,  it  is  manifestly 
advantageous  that  they  should  be  followed ;  but  it  is  not  always 
possible  to  follow  them,  on  account  of  other  considerations. 
The  convenience  of  county-divisions  is  so  great,  that  except 
in  the  subdividing  of  a  large  county,  it  does  not  appear 
desirable  to  forsake  county  boundaries. 

Eq2calizatio7i  of  Areas. — It  is  also  desirable  that,  so  far  as 
possible,  the  country  should  be  divided  into  portions  of 
approximately  equal  area  ;  but  here  again,  the  less  the 
arrangement  by  counties  is  disturbed  the  better. 

Utilization  of  past  or  future  botanical  Work. — It  is  manifestly 
desirable  that  the  scheme  as  regards  subdivision  of  counties 
should  harmonize  with  the  subdivisions  used,  or  to  be  used, 
in  published  or  future  county  or  local  floras;  since  this  will 
save  a  large  amount  of  labour,  when  it  comes  to  working  out 
the  flora  of  each  vice-county. 

Nature  of  Boundaries. — Where  a  new  boundary-line  is  re- 
quired, it  is  desirable  that  it  should  be  something  conspicuous 
— a  railway,  road,  or  river — in  order  that  it  may  be  easily  found 
in  the  field  ;  an  imaginary  line,  such  as  a  straight  line  between 
two  places,  though  it  looks  very  well  on  a  map,  is  often 
difficult  to  trace  in  the  field. 

lyCt  me  now  take  up  in  turn  each  of  the  cases  in  which  the 
plan  suggested  differs  from  that  proposed  by  Babington,  ex- 
plain the  nature  of  the  change,  and  give  the  reasons. 

Cork. — Is  now  divided  into  three  vice- counties  (3,  4,  5),  by  two  N.W. 
and  S.E.  lines.  Babington  divided  it  into  two  vice-counties,  one  much 
larger  than  the  other,  by  the  east  and  west  course  of  the  River  Sullane 
and  its  continuation  the  River  Lee.  In  that  useful  little  flora.  The 
Flowering  Plants  and  Ferns    of  the   County   Cork  (1883),  the  author,   Rev, 


34  ^       The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb. 

Thomas  Allin,  departs  from  Babington's  boundary,  and  adopts  instead 
"  a  line  drawn  along  the  Killarney  Junction  Railway  from  the  border  of 
Co.  Kerry  to  Millstreet,  thence  running  across  the  country  in  a  straight 
line  to  Macroom,  thence  in  a  similar  line  to  Bandon  and  from  that  town, 
following  the  Bandon  River,  to  the  sea.  "*  This  line  appears  to  have  been 
wisely  chosen,  dividing  the  western  mountainous  portion  of  the  county, 
with  its  Atlantic,  Highland,  and  American  plants,  from  the  more  level 
tract,  with  its  calcicole  and  Germanic  species.  The  latter  district  (1,747 
square  miles)  being  still  considerably  larger  than  the  largest  of  the 
counties  which  it  is  not  proposed  to  subdivide,  is  conveniently  divided 
into  two  by  the  Great  Southern  and  Western  Railway  from  Charleville 
fo  Cork,  and  thence  by  the  western  shore  of  Cork  Harbour  to  the 
ocean ;  this  line  forms  approximately  the  western  boundary  of  the 
Carboniferous  limestone.  The  great  county  of  Cork  is  thus  divided  into 
three  parts  of  almost  equal  area,  the  size  of  each  being  about  that  of  an 
average  Irish  county.  As  regards  the  division  of  Co.  Cork,  I  have 
had  the  advantage  of  the  hearty  co-operation  of  Mr.  R.  A.  Phillips,  whose 
knowledge  of  the  Cork  flora  is  well-known,  and  who  suggested  to  me 
the  sub-division  of  the  county  adopted  in  this  paper. 

Kerry. — In  Babington's  scheme  Kerry  is  divided  into  two  vice- 
counties  by  a  line  following  the  River  Flesk,  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Lower  Lake  of  Killarney,  and  the  River  Laune.  Mr.  R.  W.  Scully,  F.i,.s., 
whose  researches  in  the  Kerry  flora  readers  of  this  Journal  well  know, 
has  kindl}'  favoured  me  with  his  views.  He  points  out  that  the  Dingle  pro- 
montory, which  Babington  includes  in  North  Kerry,  belongs  botanically 
to  South  Kerry;  and  this,  indeed,  Babington  himself  admits  in  his 
paper.  ^  Mr.  Scully  also  kindly  informs  me  that  when  his  forthcoming 
/^/^^-^^A^rry  is  published,  the  distribution  of  species  will  probably  be  shown 
by  baronies  ;  it  will  therefore  be  an  advantage  to  use  barony  boundaries 
in  fixing  the  Kerry  vice-counties ;  and  the  best  division  is  evidently  a 
line  separating  the  baronies  of  Magunihy  and  Trughanacmy  on  the  one 
hand  from  Glanarought,  Dunkerron,  Iveragh,  and  Corkaguiu}^  on  the 
other;  this  forms  roughly  a  N.W.  and  S.E.  line,  and  divides  the  county 
into  a  mountainous  south-western  part,  composed  of  Silurian  and 
Devonian  rocks,  intersected  by  deep  bays,  and  rich  in  alpine  and  Atlantic 
plants,  and  a  more  level  and  less  maritime  north-eastern  portion,  com- 
posed of  Carboniferous  limestone,  and  Coal-measures.  Mr.  Scully  agrees 
as  to  this  being  the  best  division  of  Kerry  into  two  vice-counties. 

GaIvWAY. — Connemara  forms  a  division  in  every  way  distinct,  and 
Babington's  line  correctly  cuts  off  the  mountainous  metamorphic 
maritime  district  lying  west  of  Lough  Corrib,  with  its  peculiar  flora, 
from  the  inland  limestone  plain  of  East  Galway.  The  latter  area  is  so 
very  extensive  (1,613  square  miles,  twice  the  size  of  an  average  county), 
that  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  desirability  of  forming  it  into  two 
vice-counties,  and  a  convenient  east  and  west  dividing  line  is  formed  by 


Cp.  cit.,  Introduction,  p.  xii.  ^p.  536,  line  1-3. 


1896.]  Pra:EGp:r. — Botanical  Subdivision  of  Ireland.  35 

the  Midland  Great  Western  Railway  from  Oranmore,  at  the  head  of 
Galway  Ray,  to  Ballinasloe  on  the  River  Suck,  the  eastern  boundary  of 
the  county.  It  may  Ije  remarked  here  that  the  Aran  Islands,  though 
part  of  Co.  Galway,  belong  botanically  to  Co.  Clare,  and  are  so  treated 
in  Cybde  Ilibcrnica  ;  and  that  Inishbofin,  formerly  included  in  Co.  Mayo, 
is  now  a  part  of  West  Galway,  to  which  it  naturally  belongs. 

DoNEGAiy. — This  large  county  (1,870  square  miles)  should  evidently 
form  two  vice-counties,  in  order  to  keep  the  variation  of  size  of  our 
ultimate  divisions  within  reasonable  limits,  and  thus  ensure  that  a 
statement  of  the  number  of  county-divisions  in  which  a  plant  occurs  in 
the  country  may  be  a  tolerably  correct  indication  of  its  area  of  distri- 
bution. 

The  boundary  which  I  suggest  is  the  roughly  east  and  west  line  which 
separates  the  baronies  of  Inishowen  and  Kilmacrenan  on  the  north 
from  Raphoe  and  Bo^dagh  on  the  south.  This  line  crosses  the  Inishowen 
isthmus  at  its  narrowest  point,  follows  the  shore  of  Lough  Swilly,  and 
then  the  River  Swilly  almost  to  its  source,  and  descends  to  the  western 
ocean  along  the  course  of  the  Gweedore  River  ;  and  it  divides  the  county 
into  two  almost  equal  parts. 

The  whole  of  Ireland,  32,513  square  miles,  is  thus  divided 
into  40  portions  of  as  nearly  equal  size  as  conditions  will  per- 
mit, the  average  area  of  these  portions  being  813  square  miles. 
This  size  is  almost  identical  with  the  average  size  of  Watson's 
112  vice-counties  of  Great  Britain,  which  is  804  square  miles. 

Next,  as  to  the  order  in  which  the  counties  and  vice-counties 
should  be  numbered.  Watson  numbered  the  British  provinces 
I.  to  XVIII.,  commencing  with  S.W.  England  and  ending 
with  the  extreme  north  of  Scotland.  The  vice-counties  he 
numbered  in  the  same  order,  those  included  in  Province  I. 
being  numbered  i  to  6,  those  of  Province  II.  7  to  14,  and  so  on. 
Babington  proposed  a  similar  method  for  Ireland,  but  the 
result  is  not  satisfactory^  The  Irish  "  provinces "  are  not 
numbered  regularly  from  south  to  north,  but  the  numbering 
runs  first  up  the  east  coast,  and  then  drops  back  into  the 
south-west ;  and  this  absence  of  regular  progression  becomes 
accentuated  if  the  vice- counties  are  numbered  in  the  sequence 
of  the  provinces  ;  when,  for  instance,  we  suddently  pass  from 
lyouth  (127)  120  miles  south-westward  to  Limerick  (128). 
It  will  be  generally  admitted  that  the  best  scheme,  and  the 
most  natural,  is  one  which  will  show  a  regular  progression 
from  south  to  north — from  a  higher  temperature  to  a  lower : 
with  such  a  system,  the  largeness  or  smallness  of  the  numbers 
in  the  list  showing  the  county-distribution  of  a  species,  will 


36  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Feb. 

themselves  be  a  key  to  the  northward  or  southward  range  of 
the  plant.  Thus,  if  out  of  say  40  vice-counties  we  find  the 
range  of  a  plant  is  from  i  to  20,  we  shall  immediately  know 
that  it  is  confined  to  the  southern  half  of  Ireland.  It  appears 
to  me  that  the  practical  advantages  of  such  a  plan  are  much 
greater  than  those  which  arise  from  a  consecutive  numbering 
for  the  vice-counties  of  each  "  province  ;"  and  the  scheme  which 
I  suggest  therefore  embodies  this  principle.  A  glance  at  the 
botanical  map  in  Cybele  Hibernica  shows  that  the  character- 
istic plants  of  Ireland  are  distributed  according  to  lines  which 
have  a  general  trend  north-west  and  south-east,  rather  than 
west  and  east ;  this  is  also  the  course  followed  by  the  iso- 
thermal lines  of  winter  and  spring ;  and  I  have  adopted  a 
system  of  numbering  that  follows  these  natural  lines,  and 
proceeds  in  a  regular  manner  from  the  extreme  south-west  of 
the  country  to  the  extreme  north-east.  Such  a  plan  does  not 
prevent  the  vice-counties  being  grouped  under  the  *'  provinces  " 
if  for  any  reason  this  is  desired.  We  should  then  have  the 
following  table  ;  for  the  ''provinces"  I  give  the  numbering 
used  by  Moore  and  More  in  Cybele  Hibernica  : — 
I.  South  Atlantic, 


II.  Blackwater,    . 

III.  Barrow, 

IV.  Leinster  Coast, 
V.  Liffey  and  Boyne, 

VI.  Lower  Shannon, 

VII.  Upper  Shannon, 


I. 

South  Kerry. 

2. 

North  Kerry. 

3- 

West  Cork. 

4- 

Mid.  Cork. 

5- 

East  Cork. 

6. 

Waterford. 

7- 

South  Tipperary. 

II. 

Kilkenny. 

13- 

Carlo  w. 

14. 

Queen's  County. 

12. 

Wexford. 

20. 

Wicklow. 

19. 

Kildare. 

21. 

Dublin. 

22. 

Meath. 

31. 

Ivouth. 

8. 

Limerick. 

9- 

Clare. 

15- 

South-east  Galway. 

17- 

North-east  Galway. 

10. 

North  Tipperary. 

18. 

King's  County. 

23- 

Westmeath 

24. 

Longford. 

1896.]  Prae:ger. — Botanical  Subdivisio7i  of  Ireland.  37 

Vril.  North  Atlantic,         .  .  -16.  West  Gal  way. 

27.  West  Mayo. 
IX.  North  Connaiight,    .            •            .26.  East  Mayo. 

28.  Sligo. 

29.  Leitrim. 

25.     Roscommon. 
X.  Erne,  .  •  •    33-     Fermanagh. 

30.  Cavan. 

32.     Monaghan. 

36.  Tyrone. 

37.  Armagh. 

XL  Donegal,        .  .  .  •34-  South  DonegaL 

35.  North  Donegal. 

XII.  Ulster  Coast,  .  .  .    -38.  Down 

39.  Antrim. 

40.  Derry. 

Lastlj^  a  word  as  to  the  numerals  used  to  denote  the  dis- 
tricts and  county-divisions.  Babington  numbered  his  first 
Irish  province  (South  Atlantic)  XIX,  being  the  number 
following  that  of  the  last  province  of  Great  Britain  (North 
Isles),  and  similarly  numbered  the  first  vice-county  (South 
Kerry)  113  ;  and  the  sequence  involved  in  the  latter  has  been 
used  by  Messrs.  Groves  in  their  recent  paper  on  Irish  Characecs, 
their  reason,  as  given  in  a  friendly  note  to  the  writer,  being 
that  the  British  Isles  form  a  natural  botanical  district,  of 
which  Ireland  is  a  part.  Quite  so ;  but  let  us  look  more 
closely  into  this  matter.  According  to  Watson's  arrangement, 
as  first  put  forward  in  Cybele  Britan?iica,  and  now  universally 
adopted,  the  vice- county  numbering  in  Great  Britain  com- 
mences in  the  Atlantic  counties  of  Cornwall  and  Devon,  which 
in  all  Britain  have  botanically  the  nearest  affinit}^  to  the 
characteristic  flora  of  Ireland  ;  yet  in  the  county  list  they  are 
removed  from  the  allied  districts  of  Ireland  by  the  whole 
length  and  breadth  of  England,  Wales,  and  Scotland.  The 
county-numbers  in  Great  Britain  led  us  gradually  northward, 
from  Cornwall  right  up  to  the  Shetlands,  and  the  largeness  or 
smallness  of  the  figures  themselves  thus  afford  a  useful  clue  to 
the  northern  or  southern  range  of  a  .species ;  but,  according 
to  this  scheme  of  continuous  numbering,  the  moment  we  pass 
112  we  plunge  from  the  almost  Scandinavian  flora  of  Shetland 
into  the  luxuriant  southern  flora  of  Killarney,  thence  to 
proceed  by  degrees  to  the  more  northern  flora  of  Derry.     A 

A  3 


^8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb. 

continuous  numbering  for  the  whole  of  the  British  Islands 
would  be  certainly  a  desideratum ;  but  one  which  passes 
without  a  break  or  indication  of  a  change  from  Shetland  to 
Killarney  is  too  unnatural  to  commend  itself  Botanists  will 
form  their  own  opinions  on  this  point ;  for  my  part,  I  prefer 
to  follow  the  lead  set  by  the  careful  and  able  authors  of  Cybele 
Hibernica,  who  numbered  the  Irish  districts  i  to  12,  not  XIX 
to  XXX  ;  and  I  have  numbered  the  counties  and  vice-counties 
of  Ireland  i  to  40. 

Another  point  requiring  a  passing  notice  is  the  use  of  the 
words  "province"  and  ''district."  Babington,  following 
Watson,  called  the  twelve  Irish  botanical  divisions  "provinces" ;' 
the  authors  of  Cybele Hibe>7iica  used  the  term  "district"  in- 
stead; M'Nab  proposed  to  return  to  the  word  "province." 
Considering  that  Ireland  is  divided  geographically  into  four 
provinces — Ulster,  Munster,  lycinster,  and  Connaught, — and 
that  in  Ireland  the  term  "  province  "  is  invariably  used  in  this 
sense  only,  I  believe  its  use  to  signify  the  twelve  botanical 
divisions  of  the  country  would  lead  to  confusion  ;  and  I  follow 
Moore  and  More,  who  (probably  on  the  same  consideration ) 
called  them  "  districts." 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  acknowledge  the  ready  and  willing 
assistance  which  I  received  from  many  Irish  botanists  in  the 
inquiries  made  for  the  purposes  of  the  present  paper  ;  and  I 
would  specially  offer  my  thanks  to  Messrs.  N.  Colgan,  m.r.i.a., 
R.  A.  Phillips,  R.  W.  Scully,  f.l.s.,  S-  A.  Stewart,  f.b.s.k.,  and 
Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  b.d.,  for  information  and  for  useful 
criticism  given  in  correspondence,  or  in  conversation. 


^  Babington's  Irish  "  provinces"  correspond  in  size  and  importance 
to  Watson's  "  vice-provinces,"  rather  than  to  his  "  provinces,"  and  might 
preferably  have  been  numbered  XXXIX  to  L.  in  continuation  of  the 
last  British  vice-province  (Shetland),  rather  than  XIX  to  XXX. 


1896.] 


39 


A  LIST  OF  IRISH  HYMENOPTERA  ACUEEATA. 

BY   PERCY   K.    FREKE. 


I  OFFER  the  following  paper  on  the  Aculeate  Hymenoptera 
of  Ireland,  not  with  any  pretentions  to  its  being  a  complete 
list  of  that  part  of  our  fauna,  but  as  a  first  effort  towards  a 
more  complete  knowledge  of  the  number  and  distribution  of 
its  members. 

When  taking  up  lately  the  study  of  this  subject  I  found  no 
list  of  our  Irish  Aculeate  Hymenoptera  to  guide  me  with 
reference  to  occurrences  or  the  distribution  of  such  insects  as 
I  obtained,  and  it  is  with  a  view  to  establishing  some  such 
record,  and  inducing  others  to  aid  us  with  more  complete 
information,  that  I  now  propose  the  following  list  as  a  basis 
on  which  to  commence. 

I  regret  that  my  notes  cover  but  a  part  only  of  this  country  ; 
from  much  of  the  western  side  of  Ireland  I  have  no  records  ; 
and  even  the  eastern  side,  with  the  exception  of  what  might 
be  termed  the  Dublin  district,  has  hitherto  been  worked  in  a 
most  casual  manner.  When  others  who  have  better 
opportunities  than  I  have  had,  can  be  induced  to  record 
their  captures,  the  number  of  species  in  my  list  will  probably 
be  very  much  increased,  and  many  that  I  have  met  with  but 
sparingly  may  be  found  abundant  in  other  localities. 

I  must  here  offer  my  warmest  thanks  to  Mr.  Edward 
Saunders,  for  the  patience  and  kindness  he  has  shown  me  in 
naming  insects  which  I  have  sent  for  his  determination  ;  to 
Mr.  Carpenter  and  Mr.  Halbert,  of  the  Irish  National  Museum, 
for  their  unfailing  kindness  and  courtesy  in  giving  me  on  all 
occasions  the  benefit  of  their  experience,  and  allowing  me  to 
inspect  the  insects  in  the  National  collection ;  and  to  my 
coadjutor,  Mr.  H.  G.  Cuthbert.  in  freely  furnishing  me  with 
records  of  his  many  captures,  and  in  largely  adding  to  the 
material  of  my  collection.  I  have  also  to  thank  the  Flora  and 
Fauna  Committee  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  for  the  records 
of  specimens  collected  under  their  auspices. 

The  letter  (M)  signifies  that  the  specimen  is  in  the  Dublin 
Museum  collection.  The  name  of  the  collector  or  authority 
is  added  in  all  but  the  common  species  of  general  distribution* 


40  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Feb. 

FORMICID^. 

Formica  rufa,  Linn.— (Haliday,  M.)  Churchill,  Co.  Armagh  (Rev.  W. 
F.  Johnson,  M.) 

F.  f  usca,  Linn. — Common  and  generally  distributed. 
Lasius  f  lavus,  De  Geer. — Very  common  everywhere. 
L.  fuligrlnosus,  Latr.— Lismore  (Halbert). 
L.  nigrei*,  Linn. — Common  in  suitable  localities. 

Lcptothorax  accrvorum,  Fab.— Carlingford  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson, 

M.) ;  Oughterard  (Carpenter). 
IVIyrmica  rubra,  Linn. — 

Race  ruginodis — Very  common  everywhere. 

lavinodis — Coolmore,  Co.  Donegal  (Rev.  W.    F.  Johnson,  M.)  ; 

Carrickmines,  Lucan,  Go.  Dublin;  Dingle  (Halbert). 
scabrinodis — Less  common  than  ruginodis  ;   Castletown-Bere,  Co. 
Cork   (Carpenter,  M.) ;  Armagh  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson,  M.); 
Greystones  (M.)  ;  Dalkey  (M.) ;  Courtown,  Co.  Wexford,  and 
Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 
lobicornis — Armagh  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson,  M.) 

SPHEGIDj^. 
Pompilus  rufipes,  Linn. — I  took  three  specimens  at  Courtown,  Co. 
Wexford,  last  year.     This  season  I  have  looked  for  them  in  the  same 
place  in  vain. 

P.  plumbeus.  Fab. — Very  common  in  most  sandy  localities  along  the 

coast. 

P.  nig:er,  Fab.— Glencullen,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert) ;  Co.  Kildare  (Freke) ; 

common  at  Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
P.  g°ibbus,  Fab. — Common  and  generally  distributed. 

Salius  fuscus,   Linn.— (Haliday,  M.) ;  Armagh  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson. 

M.);  Friarstown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 
S.  exaltatus,  Fab.— (Haliday,  M.)  (Dr.  A.  W.  Foot,  in  Proc.  Nat.  Hist. 
Soc.  of  Dublin,  vol.  vi.,  pt.  i,  p.  83). 

Ceropales  maculata,  Fab. — Fairly  common  in  suitable  localities  on 
the  sea-coast. 

Astatus  boops,  Schr. — Donabate,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 

Tachytes  pectin  I  pes,  Linn. — Very  common  in  suitable  localities  on 
the  sea-coast. 

Atnmophila  tiirsuta,  Scop. — I  took  two  specimens  last  season  near 
Arklow,  Co.  Wicklow. 

Spilomena  trog'Ioclytes,  V.  de  Lind. — (Haliday,  M). 

Pemphredon  lug-ubris,  Fab. — Monkstown,  Co.  Dublin,  and  Cour- 
town, Co.  Wexford  (Cuthbert). 

P.  Shuckardi,  Moraw. — Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 

P.  Wesmaell,  Moraw.— Monkstown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 

P.  lethifer,  Shuck.— Courtown,  Co.  Wexford,  and  Laytown,  Co.  Dublin 
(Cuthbert). 

Passalcecus  monllicornis,  Dbm.— ^(Haliday,  M.) 

IVIlmesa  unicolar,  V.  de  Lind.— Laytown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 

Psen  pal II pes,  Panz.— Monkstown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert) 

Corytes  mystaceus,  Linn.— (Haliday,  M.) 

Nysson  splnosus,  Fab.— Glencullen,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 

IVIelllnus  arvensis,  Linn.— Common  in  suitable  localities  on  the  sea 
coast. 


1896.]  FREKE.—/m^  Hyjneyioptera  Aadeata.  41 

Oxybelus  unlglumis,  Linn.— Bundoran  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson,  M.); 
Ivaytown,  Co.  Dublin;  near  Drogheda ;  and  Roscarberry,  Co' Cork 
(Cuthbert). 

Crabro  tibialis.  Fab.— (Haliday,  M.) 

C.  clavlpes,  Linn.— (Haliday,  M.),  Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 

C.  leucostomus,  Linn. — Not  uncommon. 

C.  palmlpes,  Linn. — Not  uncommon.  Portmarnock  and  Glencullen, 
Co.  Dublin ;  Arklow,  Co.  Wicklow ;  and  Courtown,  Co.  Wexford 
(Freke) ;  Laytown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 

C.  varlus,  Lep.— Not  uncommon  on  sandhills  on  the  east  coast. 
C.  Wesmaell,  V.  de  Lind.— Dundrum,  Co,  Dublin  (Freke) ;  Lavtown 
Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert).  ^  j         :  ^ 

C.  quadrl-maculatus,  Fab.— Courtown,  Co,  Wexford  (Freke),  an 
unusual  dark  form. 

C.  dlmldlatus,  P'ab.— Bruckless,  Co.  Donegal  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson) ; 
Sandyford,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert);  Scalp,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke) ;  an 
unusual  dark  form. 

C.  cephalotes,  Panz. — Not  uncommon. 

C.  vag:us,  Linn.— Monkstown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 

C.  peltarlus,  Schreb. — Common  on  sandhills  on  the  sea-coast. 


VESPID^, 

Vespa  vulgaris,  Linn. — Very  common  everywhere. 

V.  srermanlca,  Fab. — Very  common  everywhere. 

V.  rufa,  Linn. — Less  common  than  the  two  preceding,  but  generally 
distributed,  at  least  from  Dublin  southward, 

V.  austrlaca,  Panz. — Local  and  not  very  uncommon  in  the  Dublin 
district.     Females  only  recorded. 

V.  sylvcstris,  Scop. — Common.  ^ 

V.  norvegica.  Fab. — Common. 

Odynerus  splnlpes,  Linn.— Killiney,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 

O.  parietum,  Linn.— Not  uncommon. 

O.  pictusy  Curt. — Common. 

O.  trimarglnatus,    Zett.— (Haliday,   M.);    Courtown,    Co.   Wexford 

(Cuthbert),    Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  ;  a  variety  with  spotted  tibia 

(Cuthbert). 

O.  parletlnuSf  Linn. — Common. 

APID^. 

CoIIetes  succlncta,    Linn.— (Haliday,  M.);  Rosscarberry,   Co.  Cork 

(Cuthbert). 
C.  fodlcns,  Kirb, — Courtown,  Co.  Wexford  (Cuthbert). 
C.  plcistlgma,  Thoms.— Common  at  Courtown,  Co.  Wexford  (Freke). 
C.    davlcsana,   Sm. — Killiney,    and    Sandyford,    and    Laytown,    Co. 

Dublin;    Courtown,    Co.    Wexford;    and    Rosscarberry,    Co.    Cork 

(Cuthbert). 
Prosopis  confusa,  Nul. — (Haliday,  M.,  as  punctatissima)  \  Glencullen, 

Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert) ;  Corey,  Co.  Wexford  (Freke). 
Sphecodes   grlbbus,  Linn.— Glencullen,   Co.   Dublin  (Cuthbert  and 

Freke). 
S.  subQuadratus,  Sm. — Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
S.  splnulosus,  Hag.— Kilkenny  (Rev.  T.  B.  Gibson,  M.) 

A4 


42  llie  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb. 

Sphecodes  plllfrons,  Thorns.— Kilkenny  (Rev.  T.  B.  Gibson,  M.); 
Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 

S.  sfmllis,  Westm.— Glencullen,  Co.  Dublin,  and  Courtown,  Co.  Wex- 
ford (Freke). 

S.  varSeiratus,  Hag.— Sandyford  and  Glencullen,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 

S.  aimidlatus.  Hag.— Sandyford,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert  and  Freke). 

S.  affinis.  Hag.— Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 

Hallctus  rublcundus,  Chr.— Common  everywhere. 

H.  sexnotatus,  Kirb. — Saunders  in  his  book  on  British  Hymenoptera 
Aculeata,  p.  214,  states  that  it  has  been  taken  here  by  Haliday.  I 
cannot  trace  the  specimen  in  the  Irish  Nat.  Museum. 

H.  cylindricus.  Fab. — Common  everywhere. 

H,  albipes,  Kirb.— (Haliday,  M.) ;  Kilkenny  (Rev,  T.  B.  Gibson); 
Kildare  (^ Freke) ;  Lucan,  Go,  Dublin  (Halbert). 

H.  subfasclatus,  Nyl.— (Haliday,  M.) ;  Coolmore,  Co.  Donegal  (Rev. 
W.  F.  Johnson);  Kildare  (Freke);  Tallaght,  Go.  Dublin  (Halbertj). 

H.  vi  Mosul  us,  Kirb.— (Haliday,  M.);  Courtown,  Co.  Wexford,  and  Ross- 
carberry, Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert) ;  common  in  Kildare  (Freke) ;  Killaloe 
(Halbert). 

H,  minutus,  Kirb.— Courtown,  Co.  Wexford  (Cuthbert). 

H.   nitidlusculus,  Kirb.— (Haliday,  M.) ;  Dunsink,  Co.  Dublin  (H.  B. 

Rathborne,  M.)  ;  Monkstown,  Co.  Dublin;  Courtown,  Co.  Wexford; 

and  Rosscarberry.  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
H.  tutnulorum,  Linn.— (Haliday,  M.)  ;  Golden  Ball,  Co.  Dublin,  and 

Courtown,  Co.  Wexford  (Cuthbert)  ;  Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke)  ; 

Ivucan  and  Tallaght,  Go.  Dublin  (Halbert). 

H.  sineathmanellus,  Kirb.— Tallaght,  Co.  Dublin  (Halbert). 

H.    tnorlo,  Fab. — Common. 

H.  leucopus,  Kirb.— Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 

Andrena  albicans,  Kirb. — Common  everywhere. 

A.  atrlceps,  Kirb.— Kilkenny  (Rev.  T.  B.  Gibson,  M.) 

A.  rosaB,  var.  trimmerana,  Kirb. — Common  everywhere. 

A.  cineraria,  Linn. — Armagh  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson,  M.) ;  Rostrevor, 

Co.  Down  (W.  Hooper,  M.) 
A.  thoracica.  Fab. — Armagh  (Rev.  W.  F.Johnson,  M.) 
A.  nitida,  P'ourc- Kilkenny  (Rev.  T.  B.Gibson,  M.)  ;  Courtown,  Co. 

Wexford  (Cuthbert). 

A.  clarkclla,  Kirb. — "United  Kingdom"  (Smith,  p.    40);  "all  over 

our  islands  "  (Saunders,  p.  242).     I  have  not  hitherto  met  with  it 

myself. 
A.  nigroaenea,  Kirb. — Common. 

A.  gwynana,  Kirb. — Not  uncommon  and  generally  distributed. 
A.  hclveola,  Linn. — Blanchardstown,  Go.  Dublin  (Halbert). 
A.  f  ucata.  Smith. — Skerries,  Co.  Dublin  ;  and  Courtown,  Co.  Wexford 

(Cuthbert)  ;  Portmarnock,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 
A.  denticulata,  Kirb. — Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
A.  fulvicrus,    Kirb.— Dunsink,   Co.    Dublin   (Rathborne,   M.)  ;    near 

Dublin  (Cuthbert). 
A.  albicrus,  Kirb. — Sandyford  and  Laytown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert) ; 

Portmarnock,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 
A.  analls,  Panz. — Ireland  (Smith,  p.  65). 
A.  coltana,  Kirb. — Limerick  (Halbert). 
A.  minutula,  Kirb. — Common  and  generally  distributed. 


1896.]  Freke. — Irish  Hymenoptera  Aculcata.  43 

Andrena  nana,  Kirb.  — Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
A.  afzeliella,  Kirb.— Killiney,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert). 

A.  wllkella,    Kirb. — Common     and      generally    distributed;      found 
stylopized  by  Cuthbert 

Nomada  solidagrlnls,  Panz. — (Haliday,  M.) 

N.  succlncta,  Panz. — (Haliday,  M.);  Dunsink,  Co.  Dublin  (Rathborne) ; 

Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke) ;  Portmarnock,  Go.  Dublin  (Halbert), 
N.  altcrnata,  Kirb. — Very  common  and  generally  distributed. 
N.  ruflcornis,  Ivinn. — Common  and  generally  distributed . 
N.  borealls,     Zett— (Haliday,    M.);     Stillorgan     Park,    Co.     Dublin 

(Cuthbert). 
N.  bifida,    Thoms.— Courtown,     Co.    Wexford,    and    Glencullen,  Co. 

Dublin  (Cuthbert)  ;  Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke). 
N.  ochrostoma,   Kirb.— (Dr.   A.  W.  Foot,  /.^.)  ;  Stillorgan   Park,  Co. 

Dublin,  and  Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert)  ;  Howth,  Santry,  etc., 

Go.  Dublin  (Halbert). 
N.  obtusifrons,  Nyl. — (Haliday,  M.) 

N,  ferrug'inata,  Kirb. — Glencullen,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert), 
N.  fabriciana,  Linn. — (Haliday,  M.) 
N.  flavoguttata,  Kirb.— (Haliday,  M.)  ;  Courtown,  Co.  Wexford,  and 

Monkstown,  Co.  Dublin  (Cuthbert) ;  Glencullen,  Go.  Dublin  (Freke) ; 

Santry  and  Tallaght,  Go.  Dublin  (Halbert). 
N.  furva,  Panz.— (Haliday,  M.) 
Coelioxys  elongrata,  Lep.— Not  very  uncommon.     Fermoy,  Co.  Cork 

(Halbert) ;    Monkstown,   Co.    Dublin,    and   Rosscarberry,   Co.    Cork 

(Cuthbert)  ;  Counties  Wexford,  Dublin,  Kildare,  and  King's  (Freke). 

Meirachile    centuncularis,    Linn.— Common     and    generally    dis- 
tributed. 
Anthophora  pilipes,    Fab.— "  United   Kingdom"  (Smith,  p.  191,  as 

acervortim). 
Psithyrus  rupestris.  Fab.— Limerick  (F.  Neale,  M.)  ;  Courtown,  Co. 

Wexford  (Freke)  ;  Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
P.  vestal  Is,  Fourc— Dundrum  and  Tallaght,  Co.  Dublin,  and  Courtown, 

Co.  Wexford  (Freke) ;  Sandyford,  Co.  Dublin,  and  Rosscarberry,  Co. 

Cork  (Cuthbert). 
P.  barbutellus,  Kirb.— Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin  (Freke);  Rosscarberry, 

Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
P.  campestris,  Panz.— (Dr.  A.  W.  Foot, /.c.)  ;  Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork 

(Cuthbert) ;  Ireland  (Smith,  p.  224). 
Bombus  cognatus,  Steph — Very  common  and  generally  distributed. 

B.  muscorum,  Linn.— Very  common  and  generally  distributed. 

B.  latraeillellus,  var.   d Istlngucnd us,  Mor.— Courtown  and  Gorey, 

Co.  Wexford,  and  Arklow,  Co.  Wicklow  (Freke). 
B.  hortorum,  Linn.— Common  and  generally  distributed. 
B.  schrimshlranus,Kirb.—Carrickmines  and  Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin 

(Freke)  ;     Rosscarberry,    Co.   Cork  (Cuthbert). 
B.  sy  I  varum,  Linn.— Port  Ballintrae,  Co.  Antrim  (Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson) ; 

Courtown,  Co.  Wexford,  and  Rosscarberry,  Co.  Cork  (Cuthbert). 
B.  dcrhamellus,  Kirb.— Coolmore,  Co.  Donegal  (Rev.  W.  F.Johnson). 
B.  lapldarius,  Linn.— Very  common  and  generally  distributed. 
B.  tcrrcstris,    Linn.— Both    forms   lucorum    and    virginalis    are  very 

common  and  generally  distributed. 


44  1^^^  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb, 

THE    PLANTS    OF  WKSTMBATH. 

BY   H.    C.    I^BVINGE,    D.I.. 


During  the  past  season  a  considerable  number  of  species  and 
varieties  of  plants  not  previously  recorded  from  this  county, 
or  from  District  VII.  of  Cydele  Hibernica,  have  been  discovered, 
almost  altogether  by  my  friends  the  Revds.  E-  F.  Linton, 
W.  R.  lyinton,  and  E-  S.  Marshall,  who  paid  me  a  visit  in 
July  last,  and  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  much  valuable 
information  kindly  afforded. 

Among:  the  Rubi  especially,  as  might  be  expected  in  a 
country  which  had  not  previously  been  examined  for  the 
genus  in  any  but  the  most  casual  manner,  many  interesting 
discoveries  were  made  by  the  Messrs.  Linton,  so  much  so 
indeed  that  several  of  the  species  collected  have  not  as  yet 
been  finally  determined. 

LIST  OF  SPECIES. 
Caltha    palustrls,    L.,   var.    procumbens.  Beck   (VII.)    fide    An 

Bennett. — Shores  of  Brittas  Lake,  Knock  Drin.     This  plant  appears 

to  be  very  near  C.   radicans,  Forster,  rooting  at  the  nodes  of  the 

branches,  and  with  deltoid  toothed  leaves. 
AquIIe^ia  vulgaris,  L. — Shore  of  L.  Derevaragh  near  Knock  Body. 

This  plant  has  been  already  recorded  from  the  county ;  but  in  the 

present  locality    it   has    every    appearance    of   being    indigenous, 

whereas  in  those  previously  mentioned  it  is  doubtfully  so.] 
Papavcr  dubiunn,    L.,  var.  Lecoqii,    Lamotte   (VII.) — Shore   of  ly. 

Derevaragh  at  Lake  House. 
Viola  Reichenbachiana,  Bor.  (VII.) — Knock  Ross. 
Vlcia  cracca,  L.,  var.  Incana,  Thuill.  (VII.)— N.W.  end  of  L.  Owel. 
Prunus  Insititia,  Huds.    (VII.)— Roadside  hedge,  Gararee,   Knock 

Drin. 
P.  cerasus,  L.  (VII.) — Knock  Drin  wood. 
Rubus  Idseus,  L.,  var.  asperrlmus,  Lees  (VII.).   Growing  with  the 

type,  Knock  Drin  wood. 
R.    pllcatus,   W.    and   N.,    form    with    pink   petals. — Drinmore    and 

Crooked  Wood— rather  plentiful  in  the  latter  locality. 
R.  opacus,  Focke  (VII.)— Crooked  Wood. 
R.  carplnlfollus,  W.  and  N.  (VII.)— Crooked  Wood. 
R.  vlllicaulls,  Koehl.,var.  Selmeri,  Lindeb.  (VII.)— Clonave ;  N.W. 

end  of  L.  Derevaragh,  also  in  boundary  hedge  between  Ballynegall 

and  Loughanstown. 
R.  hirtlfollus,  Muell.  and  Wirtz.,  hairy  form  (VII.)— Knock  Drin. 
var.  danicus,  Focke  (VII.)— Knock  Drin  woods. 


1S96.]  Levinge. —  The  Pla7its  0f  Wcstmeath.  45 

R.    leucostachys,   Schleicli    (VII.),  form    with    spreading    sepals.— 

Crooked  Wood  and  Knock  Ross. 
[R.    Drcjcrl,  G.  Jansen,  included  previously  among  the  Westmeath 

plants  i^Irish  Naturalist  for  May,  1894,  p.  98),  must  now  be  struck  out 

of  the  list.     It  has  been   excluded   from    the  gtli   edition    of  the 

London  Catalogue,  R.  Leyamis,  Rogers,  having  taken  its  place ;  but 

careful    examination   of  the  Westmeath    plant    has  satisfied    Mr. 

Rogers  that  it  is  not  his  K.  Leyamis^  and  it  must,  for  the  present, 

remain  undetermined.] 
R.   radula,  Weihe,  form  tending  towards  var.  echanitoides  (VII.) 

—Knock  Drin. — Var.  echinitoides,  Rogers  (VII.)— Knock  Body. 
R.  oligoclados,  Muell  and  Lefv.,var.  Ncw)t)oIdii,Bab.(VII.)-Crooked 

Wood,  a  somewhat  less  glandular  form  than  the  type ;  but  otherwise 

not  differing  from  it. 
R.  scaber,  W.  and  N.  (VII.)— Crooked  Wood,  Knock  Ross,  and  Knock 

Drin. 
R.  fuscus,  W.  and  N.,  var.   macrostachys,    R  J.   Muell  (VII.)— 

Knock  Ross. 
R.  fuscus  X  incurvatus.— Crooked  Wood.     A  well-marked  hybrid. 
R.  thyrsigcr,  Bab.  (VII.)— Knock  Drin.    Mr.  Rogers  remarks  that  this 

differs  from  the  type  in  the  want  of  hairy  clothing,  and  in   the 

slightly    less    irregular    serrature    of  the    leaves,    and    rather   less 

armature. 
R.   rosaceus,   W.   and   N.,   var.   silvestris,    R.    R    Murray  (VII.)— 

Knock  Drin ;   this  is   considered   to   be  only  a   shade-grown  form 

oi  R.  hystrix. 
N.B. — Besides  the  above-mentioned  Rubi,  about  a  dozen  species  were 
collected  last  summer  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Lakes,  and  at  Knock 
Drin,  including  several  of  the  hirtiis-viridis  group,  which  have  not  as  yet 
been  finally  determined. 
Potcntilla    procumbcns,    Sibth. — Shore    of    L.    Derevaragh    near 

Knock  Body  wood.     Not  previously  definitely  recorded  from  this 

county;    but    found  in  the  Co.    Longford    (Dist.  VII.)  by  Messrs. 

Barrington  and  Vowell. 
P.  procutnbens  x  sylvestris  (VII.) — Same  locality  as,  and  growing 

with,  the  last. 
Rosa  scpiuiTi,Thuill.  (VII.) — Shores  of  L-  Derevaragh  at  Knock  Eyon 

and  Knock  Body  ;  rather  plentiful. 
R.  canina,  L.,  var.   urbica,  Leman  (VII.) — Shore  of  L.  Derevaragh  at 

Knock  Body. 
R.  canina,  L.,  var.  dumalis  (Bechst.)  (VII.)— Near  the  plantation  at 

Clonave.     Shore  of  L.  Derevaragh. 
[Lythrum  Salicarla,  L.— Shore  of  L.  Owel  at  Clonhugh,  all  three  forms 

— i.e.,  with  long,  short,  and  intermediate  length  style — were  collected, 

growing  together.] 
Epilobium  obscurum  x  palustre  (VIL) — Bog  of  Lynn. 
Apium  nodiflorum,  Reiclib.   fil.,  var.  ochreatum,   Bab.  (VIL)— 

Shore   of  L-    Owel  at  Clonhugh— and  shore  of  L.  Derevaragh    at 

Donore.    Not  uncommon. 


4^  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb. 

Ganum  palustre,  L.,  van  Wlttieringii,  Sm.  (VII.)— Bog  of  Lynn 
and  shore  of  Brittas  L.,  Knock  Drin.  Not  previously  definitely  re- 
ported from  the  county;  but  said  to  be  common  about  L.  Ree 
(Barrington  and  Vowell). 

Leontodon  hispidus,  L.— Shores  of  L.  Derevaragh  at  Knock  Ej'on 
and  Donore — new  localities.  Previously  reported  from  Creggan 
Lough,  near  L.  Ree,  by  Messrs.  Barrington  and  Vowell. 

Taraxicum  officinale,  Web.,  var.  udum,  Jord.  (VII.)— Knock  Drin 

Scrophularla  aquatica,  L.,  var.  cinerea,  Dum.  (VII.)— Shore  of 
L.  Derevaragh  at  Donore. 

Veronica  anagallis-aquatica,  L.,  var.  anag^alllformls,  Bor 
(VII.)— Knock  Drin,  and  Scraw  Bog,  Loughanstown. 

Euphrasia  ofTIcinalis,  L,  var.  Rostkoviana,  Hayne  (VII.) — Bog 
of  Lynn. 

Rhinanthus  Crista-Calli,  L.,  var.  fallax,  Wimm.  and  Grat.  (VII.) 
— Bog  of  Lynn. 

lYIelampyrum  pratense,  L.,  forma  latifolia,  Bab. — Knock  Eyon. 
This  is  given  as  a  variety  in  the  London  Catalogue  ;  but  it  appears 
to  run  into  the  type. 

Utricular ia  intermedia,  Hayne  (VII.) — Tullaghan  Bog— a  very 
interesting  discovery  by  Mr.  E.  F.  Linton. 

Chenopodium  ruUrum,  L.  (VII.) — Shore  of  L.  Derevaragh  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Yellow  River,  and  shore  of  L.  Drin. 

Polygonum  maculatum,  Trim,  and  Dyer  (VII.) — Shore  of  L.  Dere- 
varagh near  Knock  Body. 

Rumex  crispus  x  obtuslfolius  (^.  acutus,  L.)  (VII.)— Knock  Drin 
—vide  remarks  in  Cybele  Hibernica^  p.  252. 

'''Humulus  lupulus,  L.— Naturalized  and  well  established  in  hedges 
near  Mayne— Lady  Katharine  Pakenham. 

Saiix  triandra,  L-  (VIL)— Roadside,  Quarry  Bog,  Knock  Drin. 

S.  cinerea,  L.,  var.  oleifolia,  Sm.  (VIL)— Bog  of  Lynn. 

S.  aurita  x  cinerea  (6*.  lutescens,  A.  Kern.)  (VII.)— Near  the  mouth  of 
the  Yellow  River,  at  L-  Derevaragh. 

S.  aurita  x  caprea  {S.  capreola,  J.  Keon)  (VII.)— Shore  of  L- 
Derevaragh  at  Donore. 

8.  aurita  x  repens  {S.  ambigua,  Ehrh.)  (VII.)— Scraw  Bog,  Loughans- 
town. 

Near  the   mouth   of    the  Yellow 

River,  L.  Derevaragh.  Were  intro- 
duced by  the  Earl  of  Longford  when 
planting  a  strip  of  the  foreshore  of 


[*S.  nigricans,  Sm.  (VIL), 


*S.  ptiylicifolia,  L.  (VII.),  ,  ^^^  j^j^^  ^f^^j.  ^^  ^^g  lowered.    This 

*S.  aurita  X  nigricans  (VII.),^  ^^^^  ^g  mentioned  here  for  the  infor- 

*S.  nigricans  x  phylicifolia    j^ation  of  any  botanists  who  may 

(^-'^^•)  hereafter  meet  with  these  plants  in 

this  locality,  and  consider  them  to 
^be  indigenous  j 


1896.]  l^nYmo^.— The  Plants  of  Westmcath.  47 

S.  vimlnalls  x  caprea  {S.  Smithiana,  Willd.)— Roadside,  Quarry  Bog, 

near  Mullingar. 
Epipactis  media,  Fries.  (VII.)— Knock  Drin  wood. 
Orchis  Incarnata,  L.  (VII.)— Bog  of  Lynn;  vide  remarks  regarding 

this  plant  in  the  Cyb.  Hib.,  p.  281. 
Sparg^anlum  ramosum,  Huds.,  var.  mlcrocarpum,  Newm.  (VII. 

—Quarry  and  Tullaghan  Bogs. 
Potamogcton    rufescens,   Schrad.  -Drain   from   Iv.    Drin.     A  new 

locality  for  this  uncommon  Westmeath  plant.     It  is  recorded  from 

Iv.  Ennel  (Belvedere  Lake)  in  the  Cyb.  Htb.—and  was   again    found 

there  this  year ;  also  from   near  L.  Ree  by  Messrs.  Barrington  and 

Vowell. 
P.  deciplens,  Nolte.  {=F.  hicens  x perfoliatus)  (VIL) — L.  Derevaragh. 
P.  Frlcsil,    Rupr.   (VIL)~In  a  dense  mass  in    Lord  Longford's  boat 

harbour  at  L.  Derevaragh  ;  also  at  L.  Ennel. 
Carex  dlvulsa  (Good.)  (VII.) — Knock  Ross. 
C.  Coodenovil,  J.   Gay.,  var.   Juncella,  T.  M.  Fries  (VII.)— Bog  of 

Lj'nn. 
AgTostis  canina,  h.,  forma  mutica,  Doll.  (VII.) — Drinmore. 
Phragmitcs  communis,  Trin.,   var.  nigricans,   Gren.  and  Godr 

(VII.)~N.W.  end  of  L.  Owel. 
Poa  pratensis,  1,.,  forma  subcoerulea,  Sni.  (VII.)— Bog  of  Lynn. 
Glycerea  plicata,  Fr.  (VII.) — In  drains,  Knock  Drin. 
Athyrium  Filix-fcemina,  Roth.,  var.  convcxum,  Newman  (VII.) — 

Knock  Drin. 
Lastrea  Filix-mas,  Presl.,  var.  afFinis,  Bab.  (VIL)— Knock  Drin. 
var.  paleacea,  Moore  (VII.) — Knock  Drin. 

Chara  vulgaris,  L-,  var.  longibracteata,  Kuetz.  (VIL)— L.  Ennel. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


The  Shell  of  Helix  nemoralis. 

Sir, — In  the  admirable  issue  of  the  Irish  NaUiralist  for  September,  1895, 
Mr.  R.  Standen  describes  (p.  270)  the  shells  of  the  sub-fossil  Helix 
ne7noralis  of  Dog's  Bay  as  being  "  not  calcareous  as  in  recent  examples, 
but  more  of  the  nature  of  aragonite."  We  have  passed  out  of  the  days, 
let  us  hope,  when  shells  were  commonly  said  to  consist  of  "  lime  "  ;  but 
the  above  statement  is  so  surprising  that  it  should  not  remain  without 
comment.  What  is  aragonite  if  it  is  not  calcareous  }  And  how  can  a 
substance  be  "  more  of  the  nature  of"  a  well  defined  mineral  species  } 
I  presume  that  the  shell  of  Helix  nemoralis  has  been  proved  to  consist  of 
calcite  in  fresh  specimens. 

Grenvii.i,e:  a.  J.  C01.E. 


48  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Feb. 

GEOLOGICAI.  STUDIES  IN  THE  NORTH. 

Messrs.  R.  Tate,  Wm.  Gray,  Swanston,  Wright,  and  Stewart,  have 
always  been  known  to  their  brother-geologists  by  their  active  researches 
in  the  field ;  but  the  meeting  of  the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  held 
on  December  17th,  1895,  deserves  special  comment,  as  affording  so 
remarkable  a  proof  of  the  spread  of  geological  observation  in  the  north. 
Miss  Steen  described  the  contents  of  a  newly  opened  cave  ;  Mr.  Robert 
Bell  gave  the  results  of  his  patient  search  among  the  Silurian  shales  of 
Pomeroy  ;  and  Mr.  A.  G.  Wilson  detailed  the  geological  features  seen  on 
the  great  Galway  excursion.  But  the  paper  requiring  separate  attention 
is  that  by  Miss  S.  M.  Thompson,  secretary  of  the  geological  section  of  the 
Club,  in  which  the  series  of  excursions  held  by  that  section  were 
described,  with  the  accompaniment  of  critical  notes  upon  the  districts 
studied. 

The  area  covered  by  the  field-work  of  the  section,  from  Annalong  to 
Ballycastle,  enabled  the  fourteen  or  fifteen  excursions  in  themselves  to 
form  an  admirable /re^zj-  of  geology.      As  one  reads  the  report,  one  sighs 
to  think  of  the  hundreds  of  students  to  whom  the  subject  is  still  one  of 
diagrams  and  text-books,  and  who  have  to  study  in  regions  far  removed 
from  the  enthusiastic   guidance  of  Miss  Thompson.       On  March  23rd, 
glacial  and  marine  post-Pliocene  beds  were  visited,  in  a  new  sea-swept 
exDOSure,  at  Ballyholme.     The  numerical  work  of  the  boulder-recorders 
was  continued ;  and  the  submerged  peat,  intermediate  in  age  between 
the  glacial  and  the  "estuarine"  clays,  was  found  exposed  on  a  second 
visit.     This  study  of  "  post- Pliocene  diastrophism,"  as  our  Californian 
friends  term   it,   was  completed    by  an   excursion  to   the   fossiliferous 
boulder-clay  on  Divis,  some  1,350  ft.  above  the  sea-     It  is  typical  of  the 
energy  of  these  northern  workers  that  one  unsuccessful  visit  was  made  to 
this  mountain-plateau  during  a  storm,  and  was  followed  six  weeks  later 
by  a  fruitful  one  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Stewart,  the  veteran  dis- 
coverer of  the  deposit.     Miss  Thompson  comments  on  the  abundance  of 
chalk  boulders  at  these  high  levels,  far  above  their  parent  masses.     One 
would  be  glad  to  know  how  far  the  former  chalk  surface  spread  to  east- 
ward ;  was  the  eurite  of  Ailsa  Craig  intruded  into  a  highland  of  Cretaceous 
rocks,  on  the  lower  and  western  slopes  of  which  the  basalt  vents  had 
already  opened  ?     The  hardened   chalk   and   northern     igneous  rocks 
might  then  have  come  rolling  down  these  slopes  in  glacial  times,   to 
become  mingled  in   the  boulder-clays  on  the  denuded  surface  of  the 
basalts.     The  frequent  discovery  of  large  blocks  of  the  Ailsa  rock  in  Co. 
Down  and  Co.  Antrim  points  to  its  having  at  one  time  formed  a  moun- 
tainous and  snow-covered  mass  comparable  to  the  Mournes  themselves. 
There  is  always  the  possibility,  however,  that  some  of  the  riebeckite- 
rocks  have  been  derived  from  those  in  Skye  :  and  the  Belfast  geological 
section  should  endeavour  to  obtain  from  the  Survey  Office  in  London  a 
sample  of  the  more  northern  variety,  which  should  be  kept,  with  a  sec- 
tion, for  purposes  of  close  identification.      As  to  the  Upper  and  Middle 
Lias  fossils,  however,  which  form  one  of  the  most  brilliant  discoveries  of 
Prof  Sollas  and  Mr.  Praeger  at  Kill-o'-the-Grange  near  Dublin,  I  feel 


1896.J  Geological  Studies  i7i  the  North.  49 

by  no  means  "  driven  to  the  Hebridean  islands  "  ^  for  their  source  ;  there 
seems  no  reason  why  higher  Liassic  beds  shouhl  not  have  existed  in  Co. 
Antrim,  and  even,  with  a  capping  of  Cretaceous  strata,  in  Co.  DubHn. 
We  often  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  every  fragment  of  detrital  material 
found  in  one  spot  means  that  so  much  has  vanished  away  from  another 
spot ;  occasionally,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Inch  conglomerate  near  Dingle 
and  the  diamonds  of  Golconda.  it  is  only  the  detritus  that  remains. 

On  Easter  Tuesday,  the  geological  section  visited  Tardree,  and  this 
interesting  rhyolitic  area  has  been  subsequently  attacked  several  times. 
Mr.  J .  J.  Phillips's  photographs  of  the  quarries  vie  with  the  best  successes 
of  Mr.  Welch  as  scientific  works  of  art.  Miss  Thompson,  in  her  paper, 
reviewed  the  controversy  as  to  the  relative  ages  of  the  rhyolites  and  the 
basalts.  On  Oct.  26th,  an  expedition  was  made  to  Templepatrick  quarry, 
to  follow  out  the  observations  of  Mr,  M'Henry,^  and  a  number  of  photo- 
graphs were  taken.  Miss  M.  K.  Andrews  securing  a  series  of  four,  illus- 
trating the  whole  north  face.  Changes  at  the  east  end  were  noted,  due  to 
quarrying  since  the  date  (1888)  ofMr.M'Henry's  drawing.  Miss  Thompson 
showed  how  the  surface  of  the  Chalk  falls  northward,  and  allows  the 
overlying  rhyolite  to  thicken  in  that  direction.  The  well  to  which  she 
referred  is,  however,  west,  not  north  of  the  quarry,  and  the  fact  that  the 
rhyolite  is  intrusive — in  part,  at  any  rate — may  give  it  a  very  variable 
lower  boundary  with  the  Chalk.  Miss  Thompson  was  able,  in  perfect 
fairness,  to  communicate  the  analysis  of  the  rhyolite  of  Cloughwater, 
near  Ballymena,  made  by  Mr.  A.  P.  Hoskins,  F.I.C.,  as  one  of  the  out- 
comes of  the  geological  activity  of  the  Belfast  Field  Club.  From  the 
determination  of  species  of  fossil  foraminifera  to  original  chemical 
work,  it  is  clear  that  the  geological  section  will  soon  be  competent  to 
form  a  "bureau  "  for  the  survey  of  the  county.  It  is  not  often  that 
government  offices,  for  special  purposes,  are  so  well  equipped  with 
specialists. 

Another  excursion  described  was  that  to  Coalpit  Bay,  near  Donagha- 
dee,  where  Mr.  Swanston  worked  in  the  earlier  days  of  field-club  enter- 
prise. Graptolites  fortunately  rewarded  the  expedition.  The  beautiful 
little  sections  in  Jurassic  and  Cretaceous  rocks  at  Woodburn,  where  the 
Greensand  is  so  green  that  the  term  can  be  no  longer  scoffed  at,  occupied 
another  good  May  day.  On  June  8th,  the  glacial  beds  near  Ballycastle 
were  examined;  on  the  22nd,  Liassic  fossils  were  being  unearthed  at 
Island  Magee ;  and  the  week  spent  in  the  north  of  Ireland  by  the 
Geologists'  Association  owed  much  of  its  organisation  and  success  to  the 
experience  of  the  geological  section.  The  dykes  of  the  Mourne  coast 
were  visited  on  August  31st,  and  Miss  Thompson  made  some  interesting 
notes  on  intrusive  rocks  at  Castlewellan. 

Now  that  so  much  experience  as  to  general  geological  features  has  been 
obtained,  may  I  suggest,  as  an  addition  to  the  winter  work,  the  collect- 
ing and,  where  necessary,  the  abstracting,  of  all  papers  relating  to  or 
bearing  closely  on  the  geology  of  Co.  Antrim,  so  that  this  literature  may 

1  Irish  Naturalist,  Dec,  1895,  p.  328.         2  Geological  Magazine,  June,  1895, 


50  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb. 

be  permanently  accessible  to  the  Club  ?  Chronological  order  need  not 
be  observed,  provided  that  each  pamphlet  receives  a  number,  and  a 
triple  index,  arranged  according  to  date,  authors,  and  subjects,  be  kept 
going.  Thus  Jean  Fran9ois  Berger's  papers  in  the  early  Transactions  of 
the  Geological  Society  of  London — containing,  by-the-by,  the  best 
account  hitherto  published  of  the  rocks  of  Sandy  Braes— the  works  of 
Sir  A,  Geikie  on  Tertiary  volcanic  activity  in  our  islands,  Prof.  Judd's 
three  papers  on  the  Secondary  rocks  of  Scotland,  and  separate  copies  of 
geological  papers  in  the  Field  Club's  own  Proceedings,  should  be 
collected  whenever  opportunity  occurs.  Second-hand  catalogues  will 
help,  in  the  case  of  authors  who  are  no  longer  living  or  who  are  unable 
to  spare  copies  of  their  papers.  The  Geological  Section  has  now  estab- 
lished its  position  ;  every  field-worker  in  our  islands  will  be  happy  to 
assist  in  observations  so  brightly  and  energetically  carried  out. 

GRENVir,i,E  A.  J.  C01.K. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  IRISH  SOCIETIES. 


ROYAI,  ZOOI^OGICAI,  SOCIE'TY. 

Recent  donations  comprise  a  Squirrel  and  a  Plover  from  Master  Des- 
pard  ;  a  pair  of  Wolves  and  a  pair  of  Storks  have  been  purchased. 
3,170  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  December. 


Dubinin  Microscopicai,  Ci.ub. 

DeckmbKR  19th.— The  Club  met  at  Mr.  Matthew  Hedi^Ky's,  who 
exhibited  a  section  of  the  intestine  of  a  Lamb  in  which  the  presence  of  a 
large  number  of  coccidia  was  evident.  Coccidiosis  or  psorospermosis  of 
the  liver  of  the  domestic  Rabbit  is  comparatively  common,  and  the  disease 
is  not  rare  among  wild  Rabbits.  In  that  form  in  which  the  liver  is  at- 
tacked, the  parasite  has  been  designated  Coccidiiiru  oviforme.  Besides  this 
there  is  another  form,  which  attacks  both  Pheasants  and  Rabbits  almost 
identical,  and  which  invades  the  intestinal  epithelium,  named  Coccidium 
pcrfornns.  It  is  probable  that  the  Lamb,  in  the  instance  under  discussion, 
was  affected  by  the  C.  perforans.  The  Coccidia  belong  to  the  class  Sporozoa, 
and  like  the  others  of  that  class  are  reproduced  by  spores  ;  there  is  an 
absence  of  flagella,  cilia  or  suckers.  They  are  parasitic  in  habit,  and  in 
the  adult  stage  possess  a  capsule  or  shell.  Mr.  Hedley  laid  on  the  table 
a  large  number  of  transparencies  which  illustrated  the  characteristics 
and  life  history,  so  far  as  such  is  known,  of  this  interesting  division  of 
Sporozoa.  For  these  transparencies  and  slides  he  expressed  indebtednes? 
.to  Professor  M'Fadyean,  of  London. 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  51 

JNIr  G.  H.  Carpenter  showed  a  female  spider,  Leplyptantes  pallidtis,  Cb., 
collected  in  the  Mitchelstown  cave  in  Jul}-  last  by  Mr,  H.  L.  Jameson.  It 
is  an  addition  to  the  Irish  fauna.  Although  possessing  well-developed 
ej-es,  this  spider  is  stated  by  M.  Simon  to  be,  in  France,  an  inhabitant  of 
caves.  It  has  been  found  in  similar  situations  in  Bavaria.  Mr.  Cambridge 
took  the  t3'pe  specimen  at  roots  of  Heather  in  Dorset. 

Mr.  Moore  exhibited  root-hairs  of  a  plant  which  had  been  received  at 
(jlasnevin,  as  CoUigtiaja  oJo]-ifcra,  but  which  was  not  this  species.  The 
plant  produced  slender  green  stems,  bearing  rather  fleshy  leaves. 
From  the  epidermal  tissue  around  these  leaves  a  dense  cushion  of 
unicellular  delicate  white  root-leaves  were  produced,  and  later  on  from 
this  cushion,  in  the  axil  of  the  leaves,  an  adventitious  root  was  developed. 
The  appearance  of  this  cushion  of  fine  leaves  was  very  remarkable.  The 
hairs  had  protoplasmic  contents. 

Mr.  Greenwood  Pim  showed  Phyllactinia  guttata.  Lev.,  an  interesting 
mildew  which  occurred  in  great  abundance  on  Ash  leaves  at  Brackens- 
town. 

Prof.  T.  Johnson  exhibited  a  section  of  Dilsea  edttlis,  Stackli.,  a  red 
alga  to  be  found  at  low  water  all  round  the  Irish  and  English  coasts. 
The  section  showed  growing,  in  the  Dilsea  thallus,  a  small  green  alga, 
Chlorochytrinm  inchisuni,  Kjell.,  and,  on  its  surface,  a  red  alga  Nitophylliun 
reptans,  Crn.,  which  creeps  over  the  Dilsea  thallus,  clinging  to  it  by  short 
multicellular  crampons  (sucker-like  bodies).  The  endophyte,  C.  inclusiim, 
and  the  epiphyte,  N.  reptans,  are  additions  to  the  Irish  marine  flora. 
Both  are  recorded  from  the  south  coast  of  England,  and  N.  reptans  from 
the  east  coast  of  Scotland.  The  specimens  (of  which  spirit  material  was 
also  exhibited),  were  gathered  in  September,  1895,  on  the  west  coast  of 
Sherkin  Island  (Co.  Cork).  Judging  from  Kjellman's  remarks  ("  Algae  of 
the  Arctic  Seas  "),  C.  imluswn  should  be  found  wherever  D.  edulis  occurs. 
C.  inclusiwi  is  a  good  illustration  of  a  '  raum-parasite.'  N.  reptans  was  also 
found  on  Laniinaria  stalk,  its  more  usual  anchorage. 

Mr.  M'ArdIvE  exhibited  the  reproductive  organs  of  Plagiochila  asple- 
nioides,  L-,  which  he  collected  recently  in  Howtli  demesne.  This  widel}" 
distributed  liverwort  is  rarely  found  in  fruiting  condition.  One  specimen 
under  the  microscope  showed  the  fully  grown  perianth,  cut  longitudi- 
nally and  folded  back,  exposing  several  unfertilised  archegonia  at  the 
base.  The  antheridia  exhibited  were  large,  obovate  to  sphserical  in  shape, 
with  a  well-marked  hyaline  marginal  ring,  stalks  or  pseudopodia  as  long 
as  the  antheridia,  of  which  there  were  three  enclosed  in  the  saccate  base 
of  each  altered  leaf,  the  whole  amentse  is  formed  of  from  four  to  seven 
pairs,  situated  at  the  apex  of  each  stem,  which  becomes  incurved  during 
growth  in  a  remarkable  manner.  The  male  plant  is  much  smaller  than 
the  female,  and  was  growing  apart  from  it,  this  may  account  in  some 
measure  for  the  scarcity  of  the  fruit,  although  it  has  been  reported  to  be 
found  with  both  organs  on  the  one  plant  (monoecious). 


52  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb. 

BEI.FAST  NaTURAIvISTS'   FiEI^D  Ci^UB. 

January  8th. — The  Geological  section  met,  when  Alec  G.  Wilson,  Hon. 
Sec.  of  the  Club,  gave  some  notes  on  a  recent  visit  to  Dungiven,  The 
Cretaceous  rocks  exposed  there  are  specially  interesting,  being  believed 
to  represent  a  higher  zone  than  is  found  in  County  Antrim ;  and  are 
noted  for  the  numerous  gastropods  which  they  contain.  A  series  of 
fossils  obtained  during  the  visit  was  exhibited.  Much  interest  was 
aroused  by  some  specimens  of  the  porphyritic  Rhyolite  which  occurs  near 
Hillsborough,  exhibited  by  Mr.  Wilson,  who  succeeded  in  obtaining  this 
rock,  which  is  rather  difficult  to  discover  or  obtain,  as  the  quarry  is 
flooded  and  no  longer  worked,  and  consequently  overgrown  with  herbage. 
Extracts  from  an  important  pamphlet  by  P.  F.  Kendall,  F.G.S.,  on  the 
Glacial  Geology  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  were  also  read.  Rock  specimens  were 
presented  by  A.  G.  Wilson  and  R.  Bell,  who  also  presented  a  rock  section 
for  the  microscope  of  the  dyke  of  basaltic  Andesite  found  by  him  at 
Ballygomartin. 

January  21st. — The  President  (Mr.  F.  W.  Lockwood)  in  the  chair. 
Mr.  G.  H.  Carpenter,  delegate  from  the  Dublin  Naturalists'  P'ield  Club, 
lectured  on  "Our  Plants  and  Animals:  Old  Inhabitants  and  New  Arrivals.' 
The  lecture,  illustrated  by  lantern  slides  of  specimens  and  scenery,  dealt 
with  the  problems  of  geographical  distribution,  and  covered  much  the 
same  ground  as  the  address  to  the  Dublin  Club  to  be  printed  in  full  in 
our  next  issue. 

The  President  expressed  the  pleasure  it  had  given  the  Belfast  Club 
to  hear  Mr.  Carpenter's  views  on  such  an  interesting  subject. 

Mr.  W.  Gray  was  sure  that  Mr.  Carpenter  had  not  put  forward  his 
theories  in  a  dogmatic  spirit,  but  with  a  view  to  stimulate  research.  It 
was  possible  that  the  absence  of  records  of  a  species  from  a  certain  dis- 
trict meant  only  that  no  one  had  looked  for  it  there. 

Prof.  Symington  said  that  no  laboratory  worker  could  disparage  the 
labours  of  a  systematic  or  faunistic  naturalist,  with  the  example  of  Darwin 
in  view. 

Mr.  Carpenter,  in  reply,  thanked  the  Club  for  their  kind  reception. 
He  quite  agreed  with  Mr.  Gray  that  there  was  need  for  caution,  and 
remarked  that  such  speculations  as  he  had  put  forward,  must  rest  on  the 
records  of  animals  and  plants  whose  range  had  been  fairly  ascertained. 


Dubinin  Naturawsts'  Fiei.d  Ci,ub. 
January  14th. — The  Annual  General  Meeting  was  held  at  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy  House.  The  President  (G.  H.  Carpenter,  B.Sc.)  occupied 
the  chair,  and  there  was  a  good  attendance  of  members.  The  Secre- 
tary, in  response  to  a  call  from  the  chair,  read  the  Annual  Report, 
which  showed  that  during  the  year  the  membership  had  risen  from  158 
to  194.  Reference  was  made  to  the  decease  of  two  original  members  of 
Committee— Dr.  V.  Ball  and  Mr.  A.  G.  More.  During  the  year  six  busi- 
ness meetings  and  seven  excursions  were  held,  and  a  conversazione  in 
addition.     Special  reference  was  made  to  the  good  work  done  on  the 


1896.]  Proceedhigs  of  Irish  Societies.  5;J 

excursions,  the  results  including  many  species  of  plants  and  animals 
not  hitherto  found  in  Ireland.  The  most  important  event  of  the  year  was 
the  week's  Conference  and  Excursion  of  all  the  Irish  Field  Clubs,  held  at 
Galway  in  July,  which  has  been  fully  reported  in  the  Irish  Naturalist. 
Under  the  Field  Club  Union  an  interchange  of  lecturers  between  the 
different  Clubs  was  carried  out.  The  Committee  voted  a  sum  of  money 
towards  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  Union,  and  propose  an  addition  to 
the  Rules  of  the  Club  which  will  render  membership  of  the  different  Clubs 
interchangeable.  The  Report  of  the  Flora  Committee  showed  good  pro- 
gress during  the  year.  The  Committee  recommended  a  grant  of  ^^5  to  the 
Irish  Naturalist.  The  Treasurer  (Prof  T.  Johnson,  D.Sc.)  next  submitted 
his  report,  which  showed  an  increase  of  ^^13  in  the  balance  on  hand, 
and  a  thoroughl}'  sound  financial  condition.  The  adoption  of  the 
report  and  accounts  was  moved  by  Prof  Haddon  and  seconded  by 
Mr.  W.  F.  DE  V.  Kane,  and  passed  after  a  discussion  in  which  Mr.  J.  J. 
Dowling,  the  President,  Secretary,  and  Treasurer  took  part.  In  accord- 
ance wnth  the  Rules,  the  following  officers  for  1896  were  declared 
elected— President,  Prof.  G.  A.J.  Cole,  F.G.S. ;  Vice-President,  N.  Colgan 
M.R.I. A.  ;  Treasurer,  Prof.  T.  Johnson,  D.Sc.  ;  Secretary,  R.  Lloyd 
Praeger,  B.A.,  B.E. ;  Committee,  G.  H.  Carpenter,  B.Sc,  H.  K.  G.  Cuth- 
bert,  J.  J.  Dowling,  Rev.  T.  B.  Gibson,  M-A.,  Mrs.  W.  S.  Green,  Miss 
Hensman,  H.  Lyster  Jameson,  Miss  E.  J.  Kelsall,  D.  M'Ardle,  K.  J. 
M'Weeney,  M.A.,  M  D.,  Greenwood  Pim,  M.A.,  Mrs.  J.  T.  Tatlow. 
Prof.  Coi^E  having  taken  the  chair,  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr. 
Carpenter  for  his  care  and  attention  during  the  two  years  of  his  P  re- 
sidency was  passed,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  H.  C.  Ramage,  seconded  by 
H.  Lyster  Jameson.  The  Secretary  moved  an  addition  to  Rule  V., 
providing  "  that  Members  of  other  Irish  Field  Clubs  residing  temporarily 
or  permanently  in  or  near  Dublin  may  be  enrolled  members  of  the  Club 
without  election  or  entrance  fee  on  production  of  a  voucher  of  member- 
ship of  another  Glub,  and  without  subscription  for  the  current  year  on 
production  of  a  receipt  showing  that  such  subscription  has  been  paid  to 
another  Club.  Failing  the  production  of  such  receipt,  the  usual  sub- 
scription for  the  current  year  to  be  paid  to  the  Treasurer  on  enrolment. 
The  names  of  members  so  admitted  to  the  Club  to  be  published  with  the 
notice  of  meeting  following  the  date  of  their  enrolment."  Mr.  Carpenter 
seconded  the  motion,  which  was  passed  after  a  short  discussion.  The 
thanks  of  the  Club  were  voted  to  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy 
for  the  use  of  the  rooms,  and  to  the  press  for  their  kindness  in  reporting 
the  proceedings.  A  general  discussion  ensued  on  the  improvement 
of  the  Club,  next  Summer's  excursions,  and  other  matters.  Prof.  Haddon 
subsequently  addressed  the  meeting  on  the  importance  of  studying  the 
fresh-water  fauna  of  Ireland,  pointing  out  the  interesting  discoveries 
that  have  already  been  made,  and  the  large  field  open  for  future  research. 
The  Secretary  exhibited,  on  behalf  of  Mrs  Lawrenson,  a  number  of 
beautiful  Christmas  Roses  of  her  own  raising,  which  were  much  admired. 
Mr.  H.  Roycroft  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Club. 


54  The  Irish  Naturalist .  [Feb. 

FIKI.D    CI.UB    NEWS. 


The  accounts  of  the  Galway  Conference  are  only  now  finally  closed. 
They  show  a  turn-over  of  over  ;^5oo  during  the  week,  and,  all  charges  being 
paid,  a  balance  of  just  i6s.  remains  in  the  Secretary's  hands.  A  still  closer 
cut  was  made  in  the  case  of  the  Dublin  Club's  Excursion  account  for  the 
past  year,  which,  with  a  total  turn-over  of  ^210,  shows  a  balance  on 
hands  of  2d. ! 

The  Cork  Field  Club  purpose  holding  a  Conversazione  on  March  loth, 
in  conjunction  with  the  I^iterary  and  Scientific  Society.  Arrangements 
are  being  made  whereby  all  the  Irish  Field  Clubs  will  be  represented 
personally  or  by  exhibits. 

When,  two  years  ago,  the  Belfast  Club  decided  to  make  a  collection  of 
specimens  of  the  rocks  of  their  district,  a  hope  was  expressed  that 
microscopic  sections  of  many  of  the  rocks  would  also  be  presented.  Mr. 
Robert  Bell  has  given  the  first  section  as  yet  received,  being  a  portion  of 
the  dyke  of  basaltic  andesite  which  he  recently  discovered  at  Ballygo- 
martin,  and  other  members  have  intimated  their  intention  of  bestowing 
similar  gifts.  The  possession  of  a  representative  collection  of  rocks  of 
their  district  will  probably  commend  itself  to  all  our  Clubs,  whose 
members  recall  the  great  advantage  which  they  experienced  during  the 
Galway  Conference  in  seeing  the  fine  collection  of  local  specimens  in 
the  Queen's  College  Museum. 

Arrangements  are  now  complete  for  the  course  of  lectures  on  Sea- weeds 
by  Professor  T.  Johnson,  d.sc,  which  we  mentioned  in  our  last  issue. 
The  lectures  will  be  given  on  Wednesday  and  Saturday  afternoons, 
commencing,  on  Saturday,  March  7th,  and  several  will  take  the  form  of 
excursions  for  the  study  of  Sea-weeds  in  their  native  haunts.  Inquiries 
about  the  course  (the  fee  for  which  is  only  10s.  for  the  twelve  lectures) 
should  be  addressed  to  Professor  Johnson  at  the  College  of  Science, 
Stephen's  Green. 

Professor  J.  W.  Carr,  M.A.,  lectured  to  a  large  audience  of  the  Notting- 
ham Naturalists'  Society  on  January  14th,  on  the  Field  Club  Union 
Excursion  to  Galway  last  July.  The  President  (W.  Stafford,  m.b.)  occu- 
pied the  chair.  The  lecture  was  illustrated  by  the  beautiful  series  of 
lantern  views  of  the  excursion  by  Mr.  R.  Welch,  which  most  of  our 
readers  have  already  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing,  and  by  a  fine  set  of 
plants  collected  on  the  trip.  The  lecture  was  followed  with  deep 
interest,  and  very  high  praise  was  bestowed  on  the  slides  by  experts 
who  were  present. 

Dr.  R.  F.  Scharff  has  contributed  to  the  Mcmoircs  of  the  Socitte. 
Zoologi'que  de  France  a  most  valuable  paper,  Etude siir  les  Mammifh-es  dela  Rigion 
Holarcticpie  et  Ictirs  Relations  avec  cetix des  Regions  voisines,  for  which  the  Czar's 
prize  was  awarded  at  the  Moscow  International  Zoological  Congress. 
The  present  and  past  distribution  of  each  animal  is  dealt  with  in  turn, 
and  conclusions  are  drawn  therefrom  regarding  the  geological  history 
of  Europe  during  Tertiary  times. 


1896.]  55 

NOTES. 

BOTANY. 

FUNGI. 
A  Blrd's-nest  Fungus  nc\v  to  Ireland. — Some  few  years  ago, 
and  again  last  month,  I  received  from  Mr.  James  Thompson,  Macedon, 
Belfast,  specimens  of  a  small  Bird's-nest  Fungus,  which  Dr.  M'Weeney 
has  identified  for  me  as  Cyathus  vernicosus,  DC,  of  which,  he  remarks,  he 
has  no  previous  record  from  Ireland.  Miss  S.  M.  Thompson  has  kindly 
supplied  particulars  about  its  occurrence.  The  fungus  comes  up  jear  by 
yearinpotsof  CrassuIa.Pciunia,  Carnation,  &c.,  in  a  cold  house  at  Macedon; 
and  its  occurrence  there  has  been  noticed  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
As  some  interest  attaches  to  this  very  curious  group  of  Fungi,  I  have 
deposited  the  specimens  in  the  Herbarium  at  the  Science  and  Art 
Museum,  where  they  may  be  examined. 

R.  Li/OYD  Prakger. 

Earth-Stars  in  Co.  Tippcrary,— Last  month  Rev.  J.  W.  ffrench 
Sheppard,  m.a.,  sent  me  from  Rodeen,  Borrisokane,  three  specimens  of 
one  of  the  strange-looking  Earth-stars.  They  were  found  in  a  fir-wood. 
The  specific  characters  of  this  group  of  PHmgi  appear  to  be  somewhat 
slight,  but  Mr.  Greenwood  Pini,  who  has  kindly  examined  the  specimens, 
has  little  hesitation  in  referring  them  to  Geastcr  fimbriatus,  Fries. 

R.  Li^OYD  PraegER. 


MUSCINEM. 
IVIoss  Exchange  Club.— It  is  proposed  to  form  an  Exchange  Club 
for  Mosses  and  Hepaticae  somewhdt  on  the  lines  of  those  at  present  in 
existence  for  exchanging  and  recording  Phanerogams.  Any  persons 
interested  in  Bryology  who  would  wish  to  become  members  are  invited 
to  send  in  their  names  to  Rev.  C  H.  Waddell,  Saintfield,  Co.  Down. 


ZOOLOGY. 
BIRDS. 

Irish  Bird  Notes. — GreEn  Sandpiper  (7!?/a««j  ciT/^r^/wj). — During 
the  month  of  August  several  specimens  of  this  bird  have  been  obtained 
in  difi^^erent  parts  of  Ireland,  one  so  early  as  August  8th,  shot  at  Kinnegad, 
Co.  Meath,  one  on  the  2oth  at  Broadford,  Co.  Clare,  and  a  third  obtained 
at  Mount  Charles,  Donegal. 

Bi,ACKTAii,ED  GoDWiT  {Limosa  cegocephala). — Have  been  very  numerous 
this  autumn.  A  small  flock  frequented  Baldoyle  Estuary  the  latter  end 
of  September,  but  I  failed  to  obtain  a  specimen ;  one  shot  on  27th  August, 
Rathangan,  another  at  Clare  Castle;  several,  Rosslare,  Wexford,  24th 
August. 

BARTAiTyED  GODWiT  {Limosa  lapponicd). — An  individual  of  this  species 
shot  at  Dundalk,  September  7,  retaining  a  good  deal  of  the  red  summer 
plumage. 

AvoCET  {Recurvirosira  avocettd). — A  specimen  of  this  exceedingly  rare 
visitor  to  Ireland  was  obtained  by  Mr.  Gibbon,  junr.,  at  Rosslare, 
Wexford,  on  the  27th  August ;  it  was  a  young  bird  of  the  year. 


56  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Feb.  1896. 

Hoopoe  {Upupa  epops).—On&  from  Rosslea,  Co.  Fermanagh,  19th 
September,  a  very  curious  date  for  the  occurreuce  of  this  bird,  as  it  is 
generally  on  the  spring  migration  and  usually  in  the  south  of  Ireland 
that  it  occurs. 

Richardson's  Skua  {Stenomrius  crepidatus).—M\  the  specimens  of  this 
bird  I  have  met  this  autumn  belonged  to  the  dark  form ;  one  obtained 
Rathangan,  13th  August,  a  good  many  from  Cliifoney,  Sligo,  during 
September ;  amongst  them  a  curious  variety  with  patches  of  pure  white 
on  wings  and  breast. 

POMATORHINE  Skua  {Stercorarius  pomatorhinus). — One  from  Killarney, 
October  loth,  one  on  14th,  Ballinfull,  Sligo,  and  another  captured  whilst 
eating  a  good-sized  chicken  at  Ballinastragh,  Gorey,  Co.  Wexford. 

Squacco  Heron  {Anka  ralloides). — A  beautiful  specimen  of  this  bird 
was  shot  at  Waterville,  Co.  Kerry,  17th  September,  a  young  male  in 
second  year's  plumage ;  the  stomach  was  filled  with  remains  of  small 
Crustacea  ;  I  have  heard  of  another  shot  in  Co.C^ork  same  time,  but  have 
not  particulars. 

Great  Northern  Diver  {Colymbus  glacialis). — In  full  summer  plum- 
age, oDtained  so  late  as  i6th  October,  without  a  trace  of  the  winter  moult, 
Kylemore,  Connemara. 

A  variety  of  the   Bai,d   Coot   {Ftdica   atra),   with    almost  half    the 

plumage  pure  white  was  obtained  near  Bnniskillen,   and  a  Rock  Pipit 

{Anthus  obscurus)  with  head,  wings,  and  part  of  breast  white,  was  shot 

near  Bray. 

Edward  Wii.i,iams,  Dublin. 

GEOLOGY. 
Quartzltei — It  might,  perhaps,  be  worth  mentioning  that  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  excursion  to  Co.  Donegal 
last  year,  I  secured  in  the  quartzite  specimens  of  suncracks,  ripple- 
marks,  and  raindrop  marks,  the  two  first  being  especially  characteristic. 
All  three  are  small  hand-specimens  chipped  off  large  slabs  of  the 
formation,  and  were  obtained  in  or  close  to  the  Seven  Arches  Cave, 
Portsalon.  Should  they  be  thought  of  suflEicient  interest  either  Mr. 
Watts  or  Mr.  Kinahan  are  very  welcome  to  examine  them.  Their 
general  appearance,  excepting,  of  course,  the  material,  is  wonderfully 
like  the  Triassic  sandstones  of  Scrabo,  near  Newtownards,  Co.  Down, 
as  the  markings  seem  to  occur  chiefly  on  thin  fine-grained  bands,  which 
are  of  mud,  in  the  Triassic  stones.  A  lucky  chance  might  even  hit  on 
a  fossil  in  some  of  these  less  altered  deposits. 

Ai,EC.  G.  WiivSON,   Belfast. 

The  Denudation  of  the  Chalk. — Prof.  Cole  contributes  a  paper 
on  this  subj  ect  to  the  Geological  Magazine  for  December,  1895.  Particular  re- 
ference is  made  to  the  startling  photograph,  by  Mr.  R.  Welch,  showing 
the  condition  of  White  Park  Bay,  Co.  Antrim,  after  the  great  stOrni  of 
December,  1894— a  chaotic  expanse  of  great  blocks  of  Chalk,  resting  on  a 
floor  of  I/ias,  where  on  the  previous  day,  and  for  years  previously,  an 
uninterrupted  expanse  of  smooth  sand  had  stretched. 


March,  1896.]  5y 

THE  MINGLING  OF  THE  NORTH  AND  THE  SOUTH. 

BY  GEORGK  H.  CARPKNTER,  B.SC. 


(Presidential  Address  to  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  Dec.  loth,  1895), 

The  last  few  years  have  been  noteworthy  in  the  annals  of 
natural  science  in  Ireland.  Signs  of  renewed  interest  among^ 
the  people  in  the  studies  which  we  hold  dear,  and  the  steady 
progress  of  zoological,  botanical,  and  geological  research  in 
the  country  have  combined  to  cheer  us  ;  though  we  feel  deeply 
how  much  more  of  this  western  land  of  scientific  promise  still 
remains  to  be  possessed.  But  the  one  feature  which  helps  to 
make  the  last  two  years  memorable,  is  the  realisation  of  fellow- 
ship  among  our  workers  in  different  parts  of  the  country  which 
has  culminated  in  the  establishment  of  the  Irish  Field  Club 
Union.  It  is  a  hopeful  sign  that  the  differences,  which  in 
Ireland  array  province  against  province  and  race  against  race, 
have  no  power  to  hinder  the  mingling  of  the  naturalists  of 
the  north  with  their  brethren  of  the  south.  Mr.  Praeger's 
series  of  papers  on  the  Irish  Field  Clubs^  taught  those  societies 
each  other's  histories,  and  in  his  concluding  remarks  he  pre- 
saged the  foundation  of  the  Union  which  this  year  has  seen 
accomplished.  In  his  history  of  our  own  Club,  he  reminded 
us  how  on  several  occasions  we  had  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
a  joint  excursion  with  our  elder  sister  of  Belfast.  Last  year^, 
however,  saw  not  only  a  most  successful  reunion  of  these  two 
Clubs  (and  of  a  contingent  of  the  North  Staffordshire  Club)  at 
Drogheda,  but  a  highly  satisfactory  gathering  of  the  Dublin, 
Cork,  and  Limerick  Clubs  at  Fermoy,  where  the  Union  was 
first  proposed.  During  last  winter,  the  Committees  of  all  four 
Irish  Clubs  definitely  constituted  it  by  each  appointing  its 
President  and  Secretary  to  serve  on  a  central  Committee ;  and 
this  year^  has  seen  the  first  conference  of  the  federated  Clubs 
held  at  Galway,  the  meeting  being  rich  both  in  edifying  dis- 
cussion and  good  practical  work  in  the  field.  The  pleasure 
and  profit  of  the  gathering  were  enhanced  by  the  presence 
of  many  naturalists  from  England.  How  heartily  they  joined 
with  us  in  exploring  the  natural  treasures  of  the  far  west,  and 
what  results  followed  from  the  united  labours  of  our  harmo- 

^  Irish  Naiiiralist,  vol.  iii.,  1894.  ^  1894.  3  1895. 

4 


SB  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

nious  party  have  been  fuU^  recorded/  Among  the  noteworthy 
utterances  at  that  conference,  I  would  recall  and  heartily  wish 
fulfilment  to  the  hope  expressed  by  the  Hon.  R.  E.  Dillon — 
whose  recent  remarkable  discoveries  among  the  lepidopterawill 
be  fresh  in  all  our  minds — that  Galway  may  soon  have  a  Field 
Club  of  its  own.  And  I  would  also  venture  to  echo  Mr.  F.  J. 
Bigger's  hope  that  the  Union  may  be  the  means  of  knitting 
the  various  Clubs  even  closer  together,  until  there  shall  be 
but  one  Naturalists'  Society  for  the  entire  country.  The 
mingling  of  the  north  and  the  south  in  the  west,  last  July  will, 
we  trust,  have  far-reaching  and  beneficial  effects.  None  could 
be  present  at  such  a  gathering  without  realising  the  unity 
which  binds  together  the  naturalists  of  the  country,  cheers 
them  for  renewed  effort,  and  makes  them  feel  that  all  are 
working  towards  the  same  great  end. 

But  is  the  end  which  field  naturalists  set  before  themselves 
indeed  great  ?  Who  is  the  better  or  the  wiser  for  knowing 
that  some  weed  or  beetle  has  been  found  in  a  county — or  an 
island- -where  it  had  not  been  found  before?  Or  for  being 
able  to  decide  whether  the  particles  in  a  lump  of  clay  were 
dropped  from  an  ice-berg,  left  by  a  glacier,  or  carried  by  a 
current  ?  In  a  recent  charming  book^  one  of  our  most  eminent 
English  entomologists  has  expressed  the  wish  that  more  field 
naturalists  would  leave  their  records  of  "  parochial  distribu- 
tion "  and  turn  their  attention  to  life-histories.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  such  a  rebuke  is  timely ;  and  yet  it  is  not  the 
study  of  parochial  distribution,  but  the  study  of  distribution 
in  a  parochial  spirit  that  deserves  rebuke.  The  result 
obtained  by  the  man  who,  after  3^ears  of  patient  research  with 
scalpel  and  microscope,  calls  up  for  us,  from  the  vanished 
ages  of  the  past,  the  image  of  the  ancestor  of  the  vertebrates 
or  the  arthropods  '*  in  fashion  as  he  lived,"  appeals  to  the 
dullest  mind  as  a  veritable  ''fairy-tale  of  science."  But  can 
this  be  said  of  the  product  of  the  worker  whose  years  of  toil 
are* rewarded  by  a  list  of  long  Eatin  names,  meaningless  to 
nine-tenths  of  the  people  who  glance  at  them  ?  If  the  list 
were  the  end,  perhaps  not.  But  each  worker  however  humble, 
at  the  flora  or  fauna  of  a  district  however  small,   may  realise, 

*  Irish  Naturalist,  vol.  iv.  (Sept.  1895). 

2  ly.  C.  Wi2\\,— Natural  History  of  Aquatic  Insects.     I^ondon,  1895, 


1S95.]      Carpenter. — Mingling  of  the  North  and  South.        59 

if  he  will,  that  the  list  is  not  the  end  :  that  each  step  towards 
a  more  complete  knowledge  of  the  geographical  distribution 
of  animals  or  plants  is  a  step  towards  a  more  complete  know- 
ledge  of  the  past  history  of  the  species  he  has  studied,  of  their 
original  home,  their  emigrations  and  immigrations,  their 
advances  and  retreats  ;  a  more  complete  knowledge  of  the 
nature  and  positions  of  the  old  lands  over  which  they  passed, 
of  the  old  seas,  lakes,  or  rivers  by  whose  margins  they  wan- 
dered. These  are  the  problems  which  the  combined  work  of 
the  systematic  and  distributional  naturalist  and  of  the  field 
geologist — may  they  ever  work  side  by  side — must  help  to 
solve.  And  when  the  problems  have  been  solved,  we  shall 
see  not  only  the  hypothetical  ancestor ;  we  shall  restore  in 
imagination  the  sunken  continent  wherein  he  lived,  and  the 
severed  isthmuses  which  his  descendants  crossed. 

The  members  of  our  Galway  Conference  might  have 
furnished  material  to  the  ethnographist  for  an  interesting 
study.  Gathered  in  that  old  western  city  were  men  and 
women  representing  varying  types  of  race,  and  speaking  with 
differing  accents  their  common  English  tongue.  A  true 
Irishman  whose  ancestors  have  lived  in  the  land  since  the  days 
of  the  mythical  heroes  of  the  old  folk-tales ;  an  Ulsterman 
whose  name  is  evidence  that  his  forbears  came  from  the  ''  land 
of  the  mountain  and  the  flood  "  ;  a  member  of  one  of  those  old 
Anglo-Norman  families  whose  long  sojourn  in  this  island  is 
said  to  have  made  them  ''more  Irish  than  the  Irish";  a 
Dubliner,  settled  since  a  few  generations  on  Irish  soil,  though 
his  name  and  sympathies  mark  him  for  a  Teuton  ;  an  unmis- 
takably English  immigrant,  who  seems  nevertheless  to  have 
come  here  to  stay ;  another  Englishman  who  will  return  to 
his  own  country  when  the  Conference  ends  : — all  these  types 
might  have  been  noted  by  the  Connemara  roadside  or  on  the 
deck  of  the  Duras.  And  the  thoughtful  naturalist  could  not 
fail  to  consider  how  this  mixed  assembly  was  typical  of  the 
fauna  and  flora  of  Ireland,  made  up  as  they  are  of  varying 
elements  which  have  entered  the  country  at  different  times 
and  by  different  roads — at  what  times  and  by  what  roads  it  is 
our  business  to  find  out/  We  might  present  each  of  these 
typical  naturalists  with  an  appropriate  animal  or  plant,  whose 

'  C.  Kingslej'— "  On  Bio-Geology  "  (1871)  in  "Scientific  Lectures  and 
Kssays."      London,  1880. 

A  2 


6o  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [  March, 

place  of  origin  roughly  resembles  his  own,  but  whose  age  of 
family  vastly  exceeds  his.  The  true  Irish  native  who  believes 
he  came  from  Spain  will  be  suited  with  St.  Patrick's  Cabbage  ; 
the  Ulsterman  with  the  Varying  Hare ;  the  Anglo-Norman 
with  TrifoUum  repens — clover  in  England,  but  shamrock  in 
Ireland.  To  the  settler  from  England  of  some  generations' 
standing,  the  Common  Frog  (if  we  are  to  trust  tradition)  would 
be  a  happy  zoological  partner.  The  English  immigrant  who 
has  recently  come  to  stay  may  be  compared  to  the  Magpie, 
and  the  visitor  who  will  flit  back  straightway  across  St. 
George's  Channel  to  the  solitary  Nightingale  that  once  was 
seen  on  Irish  soil — only  that  visitor  was  shot. 

This  recognition  of  distributional  types  among  Irish 
animals  and  plants  calls  us  to  remember  famous  men.  We 
have  this  year  mourned  the  loss  of  two  naturalists  w^ho  did 
much  for  Irish  science.  Of  the  value  of  Alexander  G.  More's 
work  there  is  no  need  for  me  to  speak,  but  it  would  be  un- 
gracious not  to  recall  the  philosophical  spirit  in  which  he 
approached  the  study  of  distribution,  and  the  importance  of 
his  work  in  applying  Watson's  botanical  distributional  types' 
to  two  groups  of  animals,  the  Birds^  and  the  Butterflies. ^  The 
name  of  Valentine  Ball  I  would  mention,  not  only  as  that  of  a 
hearty  friend  and  original  member  of  our  Club,  but  as  a  direct 
link  with  the  naturalists  of  a  past  generation.  His  father's 
house  was  the  meeting-place  of  a  group  of  men  whose  brilliant 
labours  threw  a  halo  round  British  science  in  the  first  half  of 
this  century.  Prominent  among  these  men  was  Edward 
Forbes,  and  no  one  who  takes  up  this  subject  of  distribution 
can  afford  to  neglect  his  classical  paper"*  in  which  the  vSpecial 
features  of  the  Irish  flora  are  treated  w4th  so  masterly  a  hand. 
Into  the  labours  of  such  men — Forbes  and  Thompson,  Haliday 
and  Jukes,  we  have  entered.     May  we  be  worthy  of  our  trust. 

Of  the  various  problems  presented  by  the  distribution  of 
animals  and  plants  in  Ireland,  I  wish  to  dwell  on  the  remark- 
abl'e  mingling  of  northern  and  southern  forms,  so  well 
typified  by  the  mingling  of  the  northern  and  southern  Ckibs 
of  the  new  Union.     This  mingling  has  been  often  alluded  to 

'  H.  C.  Watson — "  Cybele  Britannica."     I^ondon,  1847. 

=*  Ibis  {2),  vol.  i.,  1865.  2  Zoologist,  vol.  xvi.,  185S,  p.  6018. 

<  Mem.  Geo!.  Surv,  Gi.  Brit.,  vol.  i.,  1846. 


1896.]      Carpente:r. — Mingling  of  the  North  ajid  South.        6i 

by  the  originator  of  this  Club,  Prof.  Haddon,'  as  characteristic 
of  the  marine  invertebrates  of  the  west  coast,  and,  as  I  have 
remarked  in  a  recent  paper,^  the  southern  forms  often  range 
northwards  up  the  coast  as  far  as  Donegal,  the  northern  ones 
southwards  as  far  as  Cork.  Within  the  last  few  months  has 
been  issued  by  the  Royal  Dublin  Society  the  full  report  by 
Messrs.  Holt  and  Calderwood^  on  the  rare  fish  found  during 
the  survey  of  the  western  fishing  grounds  in  1 890-1.  The 
mingling  of  the  north  and  the  south  is  most  markedly  shown 
here,  so  that  the  vertebrate  and  invertebrate  marine  faunas  are 
seen  to  present  similar  characters. 

Such  a  mingling  of  northern  and  southern  species  is  to  be 
noted  also  among  the  land  animals  and  plants,  especially  in 
the  west.  The  wonderful  assemblage  of  Pyrenean  and 
Spanish  plants,  found  in  Cork,  Kerry,  and  Galway,  and 
nowhere  else  in  the  British  Isles — the  Saxifrages,  the  Arbutus, 
the  peculiar  Connemara  Heaths  are  doubtless  familiar  to  us  all. 
Mingled  with  such  southern  forms  as  these,  our  Galway 
party  noticed  growing  on  Gentian  Hill  and  elsewhere,  hardly 
above  sea-level,  such  characteristically  arctic  and  alpine 
species  as  Dry  as  octopetala,  Ardostaphylos  uva-ursi,  and  Lobelia 
dortmanna.  And  it  is  well  known  that  in  the  western  counties 
are  also  to  be  found  a  few  plants  of  North  American  origin — 
Eriocaulon  septangulare,  Naias  Jlexilis,  Sisyriiichiurn  a7iceps, 
Spiranthes  romansoviana,  the  two  latter  unknown  elsewhere 
in  Europe,  the  first-named  occurring  also  in  Skye  and  other 
isles  of  the  Hebrides,  and  the  second  in  Perthshire.  Dis- 
coveries within  the  last  few  years  by  Mr.  Praeger  and  Mrs. 
Leebody  have  extended  the  range  of  the  Spiranthes  northwards 
to  Armagh^  and  Derry.^ 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  see  how  Irish  animals  can  be  referred 
to  distributional  types  corresponding  with  those  of  the  plants 
just  mentioned.  Only  this  year  has  the  assembly  of  North- 
American  plants  been  matched  among  animals  by  Dr. 
Hanitsch's  researches  into  our  Freshwater  Sponges,^  showing 
that  lakes  in  the  west  of  Ireland  possess  three  North-American 
sponges  hitherto  unknown  in  Europe. 

1  Froc.  R.LA.  (3),  vol.  i.^  p.  42.  ^  Irish  Nat.,  vol.  iv.,  1S95,  p.  297. 

^  Set.  Trans.  R,  D>  Soc.  (2),  vol.  v.,  1895,  pp.  361-512. 
*  Irish  Nat,  vol.  ii.,  1893,  p.  159.  s  Uc,  p.  228. 

^  Irish  Naturalist y  vol.  iv.,  1895,  p.  122= 


62  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

Turning  to  the  group  of  southern  or  Pyrenean  plants  we 
find  a  corresponding  group  of  animals.  The  Kerry  slug — 
Geomalacus  maculosus,  confined  to  a  few  square  miles  in  the 
south-west  and  only  known  elsewhere  from  Portugal ;  Mesites 
Tardyi,  a  beetle  of  a  Mediterranean  and  Atlantic  Island  genus, 
distributed  nearly  all  over  Ireland,  and  occurring  also  at  a 
few  points  in  the  west  of  Great  Britain  ;  the  house-spider 
{legenarta  hibernlca)  of  Dublin  and  Cork — unknown  in  Great 
Britain  and  closely  related  to  a  Pyrenean  species ;  and  the 
new  ^x\\A'&\i'SN^^'S!V^{Otiorrhy7ichusaiuvpunctatus^2Xso  a  Pyrenean 
species,  discovered  by  Messrs.  Halbert  and  Cuthbert  along  the 
coast  north  of  Dublin,  are  a  few  examples  of  this  group. 
Striking  additions  to  it  have  lately  been  made  by  Mr.  Pocock's 
record  of  the  millipede  Polydesmus  gallicus,^  and  Mr.  Friend's 
discovery  of  two  Mediterranean  earthworms,  Allolobophora 
vejieta  and  ^.  Gcorgiiin  Ireland."  It  is  remarkable  and  puzzling, 
however,  that  while  the  Pyrenean  plants  keep  strictly  to  the  west 
of  Ireland,  most  of  these  animals  range  to  the  east  and  some  are 
not  found  in  the  west  at  all.  There  is  a  western  species, 
however,  which  I  have  no  doubt  should  be  reckoned  as  be- 
longing to  this  southern  group.  I,ast  year  a  former  member 
of  this  Club — Rev.  R.  M'Clean — took  on  a  mountain  behind 
Sligo  a  specimen  of  Erebla  epiphroii — a  butterfly  unknown  in 
Ireland  since  Birchall  took  it  thirty  years  ago  on  Croagh 
Patrick.  As  this  is  a  Scottish  and  north  of  England  insect, 
it  has  been  believed  that  it  came  into  Ireland  from  the  north. 
But  when  we  consider  that  it  is  confined  to  the  mountains  of 
southern  Europe:  Pyrenees,  Alps,  Vosges,  &c.,and  is  unknown 
in  Scandinavia,  we  must  believe  that  it  came  to  us  with  the 
Pyrenean  flora  and  passed  northward  from  us  into  Scotland. 

But  there  is  another  and  very  distinct  southern  fauna  in 
western  Ireland.  In  a  study  of  the  distribution  of  British 
butterflies  on  which  I  am  now  engaged,  I  find  that  all  the 
species  of  southern  range  in  Great  Britain  have  a  southern 
or  western  range  in  Ireland.  Our  collections  made  in  Gal  way 
furnish  some  striking  parallels  in  other  groups  to  this  obser- 
vation. The  Rose-chafer  {Cetonia  aurata)  which  we  found  in 
numbers  on  Inishmore  might  not  be  seen  in  a  walk  of  two 
hundred  miles  across  Ireland.     It  seems  only  to  be  at  all  plen- 

'  Irish  Nat,  vol.  ii.,  1893,  p.  309.       =  See  pp.  70  and  72  of  current  number. 


1896.]      Carp^nI^KR. — Mingling  of  the  Morth  and  South.        63 

tiful  along  the  south  and  south-west  coasts.  Yet  on  Aran, 
this  insect — characteristic  of  the  well-wooded  and  highly 
cultivated  south  of  England — was  abundant.  On  Aran  too 
we  got  three  species  of  Attidcs  or  jumping-spiders — a  family 
which  in  tropical  countries  outnumbers  all  other  spiders — 
though  but  seven  species  are,  as  yet,  known  in  Ireland.  Most 
striking  of  all  however  is  the  fact  that  some  of  the  western 
Irish  animals  have  a  south-eastern  range  in  Great  Britain, 
and  would  be  confidently  referred  to  Watson's  Germanic  type 
of  distribution.  Such  are  some  of  Mr.  Dillon's  most  startling 
Clonbrock  lepidoptera' — Zeuzera  pyrina^  Macrogaster  castanecs^ 
and  Limacodes  testudo.  And  it  is  possible  that  two  of  the 
most  conspicuous  animals  which  attracted  our  attention  around 
Galway — the  large  %x2i^^\i.Q'^'^^x Mccostethtis grossus,2Ci\^\h.^  great 
wolf-spider  Dolomedes  Jivibriatits — must  be  reckoned  as  corre- 
sponding to  these,  though  their  continental  range  might 
indicate  a  northern  origin.  With  little  doubt  we  may  place 
alongside  them  the  lyough  Corrib  jumping-spider — Attus 
floricola — perhaps  the  most  remarkable  zoological  find  of  the 
excursion,  a  German  species,  possibly  occurring  in  France,  but 
unknown  in  Great  Britain.  And  here  also  belongs  a  discovery 
made  by  Messrs.  F.  Neale  and  J.  N,  Halbert  near  Limerick  this 
year :  Panagceus  crux-major,  a  handsome  ground  beetle  con- 
fined in  Great  Britain  to  south-eastern  England,  and  ranging 
over  Europe  into  the  south  of  Siberia. 

So  much  for  the  south.  What  had  the  Galway  excursion 
to  tell  us  of  northern  animals  ?  On  the  summit  of  Ben  Eettery, 
it  was  my  good  fortune  to  take  a  specimen  of  the  rare  alpine 
ground-beetle,  Leistus  mo7ita7ius,  not  occurring  in  Great  Britain 
south  of  Cumberland.  By  lyough  Corrib  shore,  Mr.  Halbert 
found  another  mountain  beetle  of  the  same  family —  Carabus 
clathratus — which  inhabits  various  localities  in  Scotland,  is 
unknown  in  England,  Wales,  or  eastern  Ireland,  but  is  found 
on  the  mountains  of  the  west  as  far  south  as  Bantry  Bay. 
But  most  striking  of  all  was  another  ground-beetle  which  Mr. 
Halbert  took  on  Eough  Corrib  shore :  Pelophila  borealis.  By 
many  an  Irish  lake  is  this  beetle  to  be  found,  from  Killarney 
to  Armagh  and  Donegal.  On  the  mainland  of  Great  Britain 
it  is  quite  unknown  ;  but  it  reappears  in  the  Orkneys,  and 

'  Etttom.y  1894. 


^4  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

occurs  all  through  the  northern,  sub-arctic  regions  of  Europe 
and  Siberia,  another  species  of  the  genus  being  found  in 
Alaska.  This  beetle  yields  in  interest  to  no  member  of  our 
fauna,  and  the  occurrence  of  such  a  practically  arctic  animal 
within  a  few  yards  of  Mesites  Tardyi  or  Geomalacus  maculosus 
is  as  striking  an  instance  as  can  be  found  of  the  mingling  of 
the  north  and  the  south  which  Ireland  presents. 

In  our  excursions  of  the  year  nearer  home,  we  have  also 
found  examples  of  the  mingling.  The  Braganstown  expedi- 
tion in  August  will  be  remembered  by  us,  not  only  because 
of  Mr.  Garstin's  kind  hospitality  to  our  party,  but  on  account 
of  Dr.  M'Weeney's  discovery  of  Stysa?ius  ulinarice,  a  new  species 
of  fungus  whose  nearest  relation  is  to  be  found  in  Ceylon. 
This  recalls  to  mind  the  remarkable  tropical  affinities  of  many 
of  the  Irish  mosses  and  liverworts'  with  which  Mr.  M'Ardle 
has  made  us  familiar.  And,  on  this  same  Braganstown  ex- 
cursion, Mr.  Halbert  added  to  the  Irish  list  of  Hemiptera 
Teratocoris  Saundersii,  a  Russian  and  Scandinavian  species, 
which  in  Great  Britain  is  known  only  from  Aberdeen,  Nor- 
folk, and  Kent.  The  continental  range  of  this  bug  recalls 
that  of  the  sedge  Carex  rhy7ichophysa,  which  Mr.  Praeger  in  his 
investigation  of  the  flora  of  Co.  Armagh""  added  to  the  British 
flora  three  years  ago. 

Such  are  some  of  the  facts  which  ask  for  an  explanation 
from  us,  students  of  the  natural  histor>^  of  Ireland.  Is  it 
wise,  as  yet,  to  attempt  to  explain  them  ?  Not  if  our  expla- 
nation be  dogmatic,  but  surely  research  will  be  stimulated  by 
our  endeavours  to  get  an  inkling  of  how  these  things  have 
come  to  be.  I,et  us  theorise,  and  then  test  our  theories  by  the 
light  of  the  fresh  facts  with  which  the  labours  of  years  to 
come  will  surely  supply  us. 

In  the  classical  work  of  Forbes,  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made,  the  group  of  southern  plants  characteristic 
of  western  and  south-western  Ireland  was  considered  the 
oldest  group  in  our  flora,  and  was  explained  by  the  supposi- 
tion of  a  Miocene  Atlantic  continent  reaching  to  beyond  the 
Azores.     The  boreal  and  alpine  flora  was  believed  to  be  a 


1  A.  R.  Wallace^"  Island  Life,"  2ndKd.  (p.  366).    London,  1892. 
"^  Irish  Naturalisti  vol.  ii.,  1893,  p.  184. 


1896.]      Carpenter. — Mhifj^ling  of  the  North  and  South.        65 

remnant  of  the  Ice  Age.  The  plants  of  Watson's  British, 
English,  and  Germanic  t3'pes  were  all  referred  by  Forbes  to 
one  great  Germanic  invasion  which,  after  the  -Ice  Age,  over- 
spread most  of  our  islands.  To  decide  the  time  of  the 
incoming  of  the  various  groups  of  our  animals  and  plants  is 
however  very  difficult.  Mr.  A.  G.  More'  considers  our  entire 
flora,  including  the  Pyrenean  species,  to  have  come  in  since 
the  Pleistocene  cold  period,  while  Dr.  Scharff  =  believes  that 
the  whole  of  our  fauna  entered  Ireland  in  Pliocene  times. 

Forbes'  theory  of  an  Atlantis  is  now  generally  held  to  be 
beset  with  insuperable  difficulties,  though  there  is  a  ver}^ 
general  belief  in  the  former  extension  of  the  European  con- 
tinent to  the  100  fathom  line  to  the  west  of  our  present 
Atlantic  shore.  Whatever  view  may  be  held  as  to  the  abso- 
lute ages  of  the  three  groups  of  our  flora  which  I  have 
mentioned,  the  comparative  ages  assigned  to  them  by  Forbes 
are  highly  probable.  L,et  us  see  how  they  work  with  the 
corresponding  groups  of  animals.  It  seems  verj^  likely 
that  the  Pyrenean  animals  are  the  oldest  members  of  the 
British  fauna,  because  the}^  have  been  driven  so  far  westwards, 
being  almost  confined  to  Ireland,  a  few  occurring  in  the 
west  of  Great  Britain.  Most  of  the  alpine  and  northern 
animals  are  less  characteristically  Irish  than  Scotch,  and 
seem  to  have  entered  this  country  from  Scotland.  An 
apparent  exception  to  the  first  of  these  statements  we  have 
seen  in  Erebia  epiphrori,  a  southern  insect  which,  not  rare  in 
Scotland,  is  almost  extinct  in  Ireland  through  which  it  must 
have  passed  northwards  ;  and  to  the  second  in  Pelophila  borealis, 
an  arctic  beetle  not  rare  in  Ireland,  but  apparently  extinct  in 
Scotland  through  which  it  passed  southwards. 

If,  as  I  consider  well-nigh  certain,  the  Pyrenean  fauna  at 
least  must  be  supposed  to  have  come  to  us  from  a  time  before 
the  Ice  Age,  we  are  met  with  the  question  :  how  did  the  animals 
(and  plants)  survive  ?  It  may  be  that  they  did  not  survive  in 
any  part  of  the  present  Irish  area,  but  in  some  old  land  tract 
to  the  south  or  west  where  the  conditions  w^ere  less  severe. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  highest  north  which 
explorers  have  reached  an  abundance  of  life  marks  the  short 
summer.^ 

^  Joiirn.  of  Botany ^  vol.  xxxi.,  1893,  p.  299. 

^  Proc.  R.f.A.  (3)  iii.,  1894,  p.  479  ;  Man.  Soc.  Zool.  France,  1895,  pp.  436-474. 

3  See  also  G.  W.  Bulman  in  Nat,  Science,  vol.  iii.,  p.  261. 

A3 


66  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [March, 

In  arranging  a  small  museum  case  to  show  the  comparative 
distribution  of  British  animals/  I  have  applied  the  term  Celtic 
to  the  combined  older  Northern  and  Pyrenean  faunas,  and 
Teutonic  to  the  animals  characteristic  of  eastern  and  south- 
eastern England,  while  recognising  a  general  British  fauna 
of  more  extended  range  over  our  islands,  presumably 
older  than  the  Teutonic,  but  more  recent  than  the  Celtic 
group.  That  this  'general  British  fauna  was  later  than 
the  Pyrenean  or  the  Northern  is  admitted  on  all  hands,  as  the 
existence  of  the  older  faunas  in  western  districts,  only  or 
chiefly,  is  probably  due  to  the  pressure  of  new  invaders 
having  exterminated  them  in  regions  further  to  the  east  which 
there  can  be  little  doubt  they  once  held.  This  consideration 
also  gives  us  a  clue  to  the  mingling  of  the  old  northern  and 
southern  faunas  in  Ireland  only.  It  seems  to  me  that  no 
peculiar  climatic  conditions  are  needed  to  explain  how  this 
can  be.  Both  are  with  us  because  the  eastern  invasion  was 
so  largely  kept  out  of  Ireland  by  the  breaking  down  of  the 
land  connection  to  our  south-east.  In  North  America  Dr. 
Hart  Merrianr  has  mapped  the  areas  occupied  by  the  Boreal 
and  Sonoran  faunas  with  a  transition  zone  300  miles  wide  in 
which  they  overlap.  I  would  conceive  of  a  time  when  a  some- 
what similar  state  of  things  prevailed  in  Western  Europe, 
when  all  along  the  tract  to  the  south  of  the  glaciated  area 
there  was  such  a  mingling  of  the  north  and  the  south  as  we 
have  only  in  Ireland  to-day.  The  great  eastern  invasion  then 
came  in  and  drove  like  a  wedge  between  the  two.  Over  most 
of  the  common  area  which  the  two  old  faunas  once  occupied 
together,  they  were  exterminated  ;  the  one  was  driven  to  the 
north  and  to  the  Alps,  the  other  to  the  south,  wliile  both 
were  pushed  to  the  west,  where  in  Ireland  they  found  some- 
thing of  a  protected  area  to  which  only  part  of  the  incoming 
host  was  able  to  pursue  them.  This  thought  suggests  a 
return  to  our  ethnographical  illustration,  for  have  not  suc- 
cessive races  of  men  been  driven  to  north,  south,  and  west 
by  invaders  from  the  east  ?  Dun  Aengus,  that  last  strong- 
hold of  a  vanished  people  on  the  ocean  cliff  of  Inishmore, 
has  a  lesson  for  the  naturalist  as  well  as  for  the  antiquarian. 


■*  Rep.  Museums  Assoc,  1894;  also  L-ish  Nat.,  1S95,  p.  215. 
2  Proc.  Biol.  Soc.  Washim'tou,  vol.  vii.,  1891. 


1896.]      CarpENTKR. — Miufrling  of  the  North  and  South.         67 

There  remains  to  be  considered  the  newer  southern  fauna 
which  we  saw  to  be  so  unexpectedly  represented  round 
Galway,  those  animals  of  Knglish  or  Germanic  type  which 
seem  so  strangel}'  out  of  place  in  the  west  of  Ireland.  Forbes, 
as  has  been  said,  considered  the  plants  of  the  British,  English, 
and  Germanic  types  of  Watson  to  form  but  one  great  flora  ; 
and  though  many  of  our  British  animals  have  a  range  readily 
referable  to  one  of  these  three  types,  others  show  a  gradual 
transition  from  Germanic  to  E^nglish  or  from  English  to 
British.  There  is  much  reason  therefore  for  considering 
these  three  't3^pes  to  be  all  sections  of  one  great  Central 
European  fauna,  some  of  which  have  attained  in  the  British 
Isles  a  wider  predominance  than  others. 

Most  of  the  animals  of  the  British  type  of  distribution, 
being  found  all  over  Ireland,  may  be  presumed  to  have  come 
in  from  the  east  across  the  valley  which  now  forms  St.  George's 
Channel.  But  this  assemblage  of  animals  we  are  specially 
considering,  of  English  or  Germanic  type  in  Great  Britain, 
are  not  found  in  the  east  of  Ireland.  It  seems  a  general  rule 
that  members  of  this  newer  fauna  which  are  confined  to  the 
south  of  Britain  are  confined  to  the  south  or  west  of  Ireland. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  Forbes  separated,  as  distinct 
from  the  Germanic  flora,  a  small  group  of  plants  characteristic 
of  the  Chalk  districts  of  south-eastern  England,  thinking 
them  much  older,  older  indeed  than  the  Northern  flora.  But 
even  if  we  compare  with  these  the  western  Irish  animals  that 
we  are  discussing,  we  must  hold  them  to  be  more  recent  than 
the  Pyrenean  group. 

The  explanation  of  the  facts,  which  I  now  suggest,  is 
that  this  section  of  the  newer  fauna  broke  through  the  line  of 
the  older,  and,  in  the  west  of  Ireland,  was  able  to  take  the 
country  of  the  latter  in  the  rear,  and  spread  from  west  to  east. 
It  will  be  generally  admitted  that  the  anilmas  of  this  fauna 
would  spread  more  rapidly  over  plains  and  along  valleys  than 
among  hills.  And  the  line  of  least  resistance  in  our  area  was 
the  wide-spreading  valley  which  must  at  some  time  have  led 
westward  along  the  present  area  of  the  English  Channel  and 
to  the  south  of  Ireland.  Down  this  valley,  I  suggest  that 
this  migration  passed,  and  arrived  at  the  south-west  corner  of 

A4 


68  "^h^  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

the  present  Irish  area  ;  thence  a  limestone  plain  stretched 
west  and  north-west  as  far  as  the  present  loo-fathom  line  of 
the  Atlantic.  Established  in  this  plain  the  colony  invaded 
our  present  Ireland  from  the  west.  And  so  we  have  around 
Galway,  Limerick,  and  Cork  these  animals,  which  are  un- 
known near  Dublin,  where  we  might  rather  expect  to  find 
them.  The  Aran  Isles  are  the  remnants  of  the  former  ex- 
tension of  the  limestone  plain,  and  preserve  for  us  some 
survivors  of  this  colony  which  made  so  gallant  an  invasion  of 
the  far  west. 

I  must,  in  conclusion,  ask  your  pardon  for  having  put  before 
you  at  such  length  these  tentative  speculations.     If  they  have 
done  anything  to  indicate  the  great  questions  which  lie  behind 
the  work  of  the  humblest  field  naturalist,  I  shall  be  satisfied. 
We  doubtless  all  recall  the  noble  passage  at  the  close  of  the 
**  Origin  of  Species,"  in  which  Darwin  dwells  on  the  intense 
interest  of  some  bank,  covered  with  tangled  vegetation,  peopled 
with  singing  birds,  hovering  insects,  and  crawling  worms,  in 
the  light  of  the  descent  of  all  these  from  "  the  few  forms  or  one 
into  which  life  was  first  breathed."     I^ooking  back  to  a  past, 
distant  though  less  remote,  we  may  regard  our  animals  and 
plants  as  travellers  which  at  different  times  and  by  various 
roads  have  come  to  the  spot  where  we  now  find  them  ;  as 
members  of  armies  whose  battles  for  the  possession  of  our  fair 
land  have  been  fought  through  ages,  compared  with  whose 
length  the  duration  of  the  struggle  of  Teuton  with  Celt  has 
been  but  as  a  da3\ 


IS96.]  69 

THE  EARTHWORMS  OF  IRELAND. 

BY    REV.    HII^DKRIC    FRIEND,    F.E.S. 


During  the  past  j^ear  we  have  witnessed  the  publication  of  a 
work  on  Oligochaeta  which  is  of  the  first  importance.  Much 
fragmentary  matter  previously  existed  in  sundry  magazines 
and  journals,  but  for  a  systematic  treatment  of  the  Order  it 
was  necessary  for  the  student  to  consult  the  Continental 
memoirs  of  Rosa,  Vejdovsk}^,  or  Vaillant.  And  even  these 
did  not  attempt  to  cover  all  the  ground.  Now,  however,  the 
collector  can  consult  Beddard's  *'  Monograph  of  the  Order 
Oeigochaeta  "^ — a  work  which  merits  the  warmest  com- 
mendation. 

It  will  naturally  be  asked — What  does  the  latest  work  on  the 
subject  say  on  the  question  of  Irish  Earthworms  ?  I  will 
endeavour  to  answer.  Though  I  have  received  sundry  speci- 
mens from  Ireland  which  belong  to  other  genera  than  Lum- 
briciis,  Allolobophora,  or  A  Hums,  these  have  never  been 
described,  because  the  specimens  were  either  solitary  or 
immature,  and  science  gains  nothing  by  the  rash  publication 
of  imperfect  matter.  Consequently  to  the  three  genera  above- 
named  alone  we  have  to  look  for  information.  It  is  rather 
curious  to  find  (p.  723)  that  Lumhriais  papillosus,  Friend,  is 
still  entirely  unknown  outside  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Beddard  gives 
it  an  undisputed  place  in  his  list.  His  definition,  quoted  from 
my  original  account,  is — 

"Length,  100  mm, ;  diameter,  8  mm. ;  number  of  segments,  130;  colour, 
ruddy  brown ;  clitellum,  xxxiii.-xxxvii.  ;  tubercula  pubertatis,  xxxiv., 
XXXV.,  xxxvi.,  xxxvii. ;  first  dorsal  pore,  ix.-x.     Hab. — Ireland." 

The  most  interesting  point  about  this  species  is  the  fact  that 
it  exactly  fills  a  gap  in  the  graduated  series  based  upon  the 
numbers  of  the  segments  which  bear  the  tubercula  pubertatis. 
This  is  the  only  species  of  Liunbricics  peculiar  to  Ireland. 

The  number  of  species  of  ^//(9/^(^6>//z^r<2  recorded  by  Beddard 
is  fifty-two,  as  against  seven  oi  Lumbricus.  Among  these  one 
only  calls  for  special  notice,  namety,  Allolobophora  ve7ieta,  Rosa, 
p.  713.  It  will,  perhaps,  be  well  to  transcribe  the  whole 
account,  which  is  prefaced  by  a  list  of  synonyms. 

^  Oxford,  Clarendon  Press,  1895. 


70  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

"A.  veneta,  Rosa,  Boll.  Mus.  Zool.  l^rino,  1886,  No.  3. 

''A.  siibrnbiciinda^  forma  hortcnsis^  Michaelseii,  /.  B,  HamO.  IViss.  AusL, 
vii.,  1890,  p.  15. 

"'A.  {Notogaind)  veneta,  Rosa,  Boll.  Mus.  Zool.  Torino,  1893,  No.  160,  p.  2. 

-'A.  hibernica,  Friend,  P.  R.  Irish  Acad.,  1893,  p-  402. 

"  Definition.  Length,  70  mm.  ;  breadth,  5  mm. ;  number  of  segments, 
153;  clitellum,  xxvi.,  xxvii.-xxxii..  xxxiii.  Set^e  paired,  but  not  strictly, 
the  setee  of  ventral  pair  more  separated  than  those  of  dorsal  pairs. 
Tubercula  pubertatis  on  xxx.,  xxxi.  Spermathecae,  two  pairs  in  ix.,  x., 
opening  posteriorly.    Habitat — Venice;  Argentina;  Portugal;  Palestine. 

"This  species  comes  very  near  to  A.  fietida,  with  which  it  agrees 
absolutely  in  colour.  It  is  to  be  distinguished  by  the  position  of  the 
tubercula  pubertatis.  The  spermathecae  open  close  to  the  dorsal  middle 
line,  as  in  the  species  mentioned.  The  Portuguese  specimens  form  a 
variety  which  is  marked  by  its  smaller  size,  and  by  the  more  strictly 
paired  setae.  This  same  variety  is  found  in  Liguria  and  in  the  Argentine 
(whither  it  has  been  probably  accidentally  imported).  It  is  not  certain 
w^hether  A.  subtnontana  of  Vejdovsky  is  reall}'  different.  The  clitellum 
seems  to  have  a  different  position  {i-e.,  xxiv.-xxxiii. ),  but  the  structure 
of  the  worm  is  not  fully  known," 

It  will  be  observed  that  no  allusion  is  made  to  its  Irish 
habitat.  Is  this  a  pure  oversight,  or  did.  the  author  not  wish 
to  commit  himself  to  an  opinion  respecting  its  indigenous  or 
imported  character  ?  ^  I  must  point  out  that  whatever  may  be 
said  of  Rosa's  original  specimens,  those  which  he  sent  to  me 
in  spirits,  and  those  which  I  received  alive  from  Ireland,  bore 
no  colour-resemblance  to  A.  fcetida  whatever,  so  that  the  strong 
affirmation  of  Beddard  is  misleading. 

Turning  now  to  Alluriis,  we  find  otirselves  on  debateable 
ground,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  different  species  which 
have  at  variotis  times  been  recorded  are  insufficiently  described 
and  figured.     After  discussing  the  views  of  Michaelsen  and 

Rosa  the  author  adds  (p.  696)  :  — 

'•'  Friend  has  added  three  other  species,  viz.,  A.  ietragonurtis,  A.  flavus, 
and  A.  inacrurus.  Pending  further  information,  A.  niacriirtts  seems  to  be 
a  valid  species,  on  account  of  the  very  forward  position  of  the  clitellum 
(xv.-xxii.).  A.  tetragon  lints  is  probabl}^,  as  Rosa  thinks,  merely  a  form 
of  Tetragonuriis  pnpa^'' 

The  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that  both  A.  macrurus 
and  A.  tetragonurits  are  based  upon  solitary  specimens.  I 
have  not  the  least  doubt  about  the  genuineness  of^.  macrurus  ; 


1  In  studying  the  "  Monograph  "  more  carefully  I  find  that,  by  an 
unfortunate  oversight,  Beddard  has  not  been  made  aware  of  Ihe  pub- 
lication of  my  researches  in  the  Irish  Naturalist.  Hence  the  absence  of 
all  allusion  to  Irish  worms  not  recorded  in  the  Proc,  R.I  A. 


1896.]  Friend. —  The  Earthworvis  oj  Ireland.  71 

A.  flaims  is  probably  only  a  variety  of  A.  tetraedrus,  while 
Rosa's  supposition  may  or  may  not  be  correct  respecting  A. 
tetrago7iuriis. 

On  page  3  the  writer  calls  attention  to  the  "  remarkable 
extension  backwards  of  the  prostomium  (in  Allolobophora 
chlorotica),  which  reaches  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  fourth  seg- 
ment," to  which  I  drew  attention  in  Nature'  on  the  strength 
of  material  received  from  Ireland. 

It  may  be  well  in  conclusion  to  supply  an  amended  list  of 
Irish  Worms"  so  far  as  known  at  the  end  of  1895,  following  the 
nomenclature  adopted  by  Beddard,  with  such  modifications  as 
my  judgment  leads  me  to  think  necessary. 

Allurus  tetraedrus  (Savigny).— Tipperary.    Also  var. y?a!z/«j (not noted 
by  Beddard)  from  the  same  locality  ;  also  found  in  Mitchelstown  Cave. 
A.  macrurus,  Friend. — Dublin. 
Allolobophora  caligrnosa,  (Savigny). 
A,  turgrida,  Eisen. 

I  cannot  but  think  Mr.  Beddard  ill-advised  in  putting  the 
two  very  distinct  species  formerly  known  as  trapczoides  and 
ticrglda  under  one  heading  (A.  calignosaj .  I  have  examined 
many  hundreds  of  specimens  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
and  could  tell  at  a  glance  the  one  from  the  other.  The  author 
makes  a  point  of  Michaelsen's  discovery  of  an  "intermediate 
form  which  showed  on  one  side  of  the  body  the  character  of 
one  species,  and  on  the  other  the  character  of  the  other 
vSpecies."  I  have  often  observed  the  same  thing,  and  wonder 
it  has  not  occurred  to  Mr.  Beddard  to  ask  what  bearing  such 
facts  have  on  the  question  of  hybridity — a  question  which, 
though  treated  by  Rosa  and  myself,  seems  to  have  been  en- 
tirely overlooked  in  the  present  memoir. 

A.  terrestris  (Savigny).— Takes  the  place    of  the  old    A.  longa,  Ude. 
It  is,  however,  not  given  by  Beddard  as  an  Irish  species.     I  have  re- 
ceived it  from  Cork,  Tipperary,  and  elsewhere. 
A.  foetida  (Savigny). — Cork  and  Valencia. 
A.  chlorotica  (Savigny). — Cork  and  Tipperary. 

A.  Eiseni  (Lrevinsen).— Takes  the  place  of  Dendrobcma  Eiseni.  Found 
in  Dublin.  The  author  has  done  well  for  the  present,  no  doubt,  to 
sink  several  of  the  generic  terms  which  had  been  adopted  by  various 
authors,  for  this  and  other  species.  I  think,  however,  that  the  genus 
will  bear  division  into  three  or  four  sub-genera. 
A*  subrubicunda,  Eisen. — Tipperary. 

^  Vol.  xlvii>,  p»  316.  '  See  Irish  Nat,,  vol.  ii.,  1S93. 


7  2  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

A.  profuga,  Rosa. — Not  even  entered  as  British  by  Beddard.  I  have 
recorded  it  for  several  English  counties,  and  for  North  Wales.  It  is 
abundant  in  my  garden  in  Cumberland,  and  I  had  specimens  from 
Malahide  in  1893,  as  well  as  written  descriptions.  I  believe  the  Irish 
form  differs  from  the  continental  in  some  particulars,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  about  the  worm  being  Irish  and  English. 
A.    veneta,   Rosa. — Dublin    and    Louth.      Not  entered  as  British  by 

Beddard,  though  he  records  my  paper  in  Proc.  R.I.A. 
A.  rosea  (Savigny). — P'ormerly  entered  as  A.  mucosa.     Tipperary  and 

Malahide. 
A.  GeoriTiiy  Mich. — Co.  Clare.^    (Not  recorded  as  British  by  Beddard). 
Lumbricus  rubellus,  Hoffmeister. — Cork,  Kerry,  Tipperary. 
L.  castaneus  (Savigny). — Same  as  L.  pwfttreus.   Cork,  Kerry,  Antrim, 

Tipperary. 
L.  papillosus,  Friend. — Unknown  at  present  out  of  Ireland.    Received 
first  from  co.  Dublin.     Later  from  Cork  with  spermatophores,  Kerry 
and  Tipperary.  ^ 
L.    herculeus  (Savigny). — Takes  the  place  of  L.  terrestris.    Received 
from  Cork,  Tipperary,  and  Kerry. 
Ireland,  therefore,  at  present  possesses  seventeen  well  de- 
fined species  of  Earthworm,  and  I  am  convinced  that  at  least 
two  or  three  other  species  could  be  found  if  those  parts  of  the 
country  from  which  specimens  have  never  yet  been  received 
were  carefully  worked. 

I  have  received  specimens  from  the  Mitchelstown  Cave,  but 
while  it  was  easy  to  identify  Alluriis,  the  others  were  too  small 
and  immature  for  determination,  though  there  did  not  seem 
to  be  any  ground  for  supposing  them  to  represent  new  species. 
From  time  to  time  there  have  reached  me,  among  the  many 
interesting  consignments  which  I  have  received  from  a  large 
band  of  willing  co-workers,  a  number  of  specimens  not  usually 
classed  as  Earthworms,  but  still  belonging  to  the  great  oligochaet 
order.  The  publication  of  Mr.  Beddard's  monograph  having 
necessitated  the  searching  up  of  old  notes,  records,  and  speci- 
mens, I  have  fottnd  some  facts  which  have  never  yet  been 
published  relating  to  these  lesser  species  of  Worms.  It  is  my 
wish  and  purpose,  therefore,  to  work  out  this  material,  and  I 
shall  'be  grateful  if  collectors  will  supply  me  with  specimens 
as  before.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  ooze  of  rivers,  ponds, 
lakes,  and  ditches,  in  wells,  reservoirs,  and  tanks,  among 
decaying  matter  and  debris,  and  generally  distributed  where 
there  is  moisture  enough  to  enable  them  to  live.     They  vary 

'^ Irish  Nat.,  vol,  iii.,  1894,  p.  39. 


1S96.]  ^^rE^T>.—^The  Earthivorms  of  Ireland.  73 

in  colour  from  white  and  cream  to  yellow,  red,  green,  and 
dirty  brown,  and  from  a  quarter  of  an  inch  to  three  or  four 
inches  in  length,  generally  no  larger  round  than  a  thread. 
They  may  be  sent  in  wide  mouthed  bottles  or  tins  with  damp 
moss,  but  should  not  be  packed  in  earth,  as  they  are  too 
delicate  to  endure  the  battering  which  results  from  their 
transit  when  so  dispatched.  If  the  specimens  are  decidedly 
aquatic,  the  moss  may  be  well  saturated  with  water  when 
a  well  corked  bottle  is  used.  Here  is  an  entirely  new  field 
for  working  naturalists,  and  one  may  reasonably  hope  that 
the  present  3^ear  will  add  many  interesting  species  to  the 
Irish  fauna. 


OBITUARY. 

George  Edward  Dobson,  m.d.,  f.r.s. 
We  regret  that  pressure  on  our  space  has  so  long  delayed  reference  to 
the  death  of  this  distinguished  zoologist  of  Irish  birth,  who  passed  away 
on  November  26tli,  1895,  at  the  age  of  fifty-one.  After  an  exceptionally 
brilliant  course  in  arts,  natural  science,  and  medicine  at  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  he  entered  the  Army  Medical  Service  in  1868,  and  after  twenty 
years'  activity,  mostly  spent  in  India,  was  obliged  to  retire  on  account  of 
ill-health,  with  the  rank  of  Surgeon-Major.  He  was  the  highest  British 
authority  on  the  small  Mammals : — Rodents,  Insectivores,  and  Bats 
In  1876  he  published  a  monograph  of  the  Asiatic  Cheiroptera,  and  two 
years  later  the  British  Museum  Catalogue  of  that  order.  He  projected 
a  magnificent  monograph  of  the  Insectivora  in  which  anatomical  and 
systematic  studies  were  to  be  combined,  but,  to  the  great  loss  of  science, 
only  the  first  two  parts  ever  appeared  (in  1882-3).  Some  years  ago  he 
presented  some  of  his  most  valuable  type  specimens  of  Insectivores  and 
Bats  to  the  Dublin  Museum. 


THE  BOTANICAL  SUB-DIVISION  OF  IRELAND. 

Mr.  Praeger  wishes  it  known  that  he  has  retained  the  block  from 
which  the  map  of  Ireland  divided  into  vice-counties  was  printed  in  our 
last  issue,  as  it  may  be  useful  to  naturalists  working  out  the  distribution 
of  plants  or  animals  in  Ireland :  and  he  will  be  glad  to  arrange  for 
supplying  any  number  of  copies  to  those  desiring  them. 


74  The  Irish  NatitraUst.  [  March, 

OBSERVATIONS    ON    THE     DEVEEOPMENT    OF 
MELANISM  IN  CAMPTOGRAMMA  BIEINEATA. 


BY  WIIyl^IAM  F.  DE  V.  KANE,  M.A.,  F.E.S. 
[Report  to  the  R.I. A.  Flora  and  Fauna  Committee]. 
Many  species  of  Eepidoptera  are  polymorphic,  and  exhibit 
an  invStability  of  character  in  the  imaginal  stage  which  appears 
to  arise  from  constitutional  tendencies  rather  than  immediate 
environmental  influence.  Their  varieties  are  not  restricted 
to  locality,  but  occur  in  the  same  brood  with  the  type,  and  in 
wide  distribution.  Liiperina  testacea  and  Apamea  didyma  may 
be  cited  as  typical  examples  of  this  heterogeneous  polymor- 
phism. 

There  are  other  species,  however,  which,  while  showing 
considerable  instability  of  coloration  and  pattern  in  most 
localities,  apparently  respond  more  or  less  directly  to  external 
influences,  and  produce  topomorphic  varieties.  These  last 
offer  peculiar  opportunities  for  studying  the  influence  of 
environment  and  natural  selection  in  stereotyping  aberrations 
into  local  races,  or  eliciting  new  forms.  The  Geometer  Camp- 
togramiiia  bilineata  is  a  notable  example  in  point.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  widely  spread  and  numerous  of  our  common 
species.  Feeding  on  low  plants  and  grasses,  it  is  in  no  way 
restricted  to  locality  by  the  necessities  of  food  supply,  and 
its  constitution  apparently  enables  it  to  acclimatise  itself  over 
a  wide  distributional  range,  being  found  in  North  Scandinavia, 
as  well  as  in  Syria  and  Siberia.  In  almost  every  British 
locality  the  yellow  ground-colour  is  variable  in  strength  of 
tint  in  different  specimens,  and  the  pattern  of  dark  waved  lines 
is  sometimes  distinctly  marked,  btit  often  almost  obsolete, 
prodttcing  a  rather  unicolorous  form.  Similarly  the  white 
waved  lines  are  sometimes  strongly  represented,  and  often  quite 
absent.  The  median  band  often  present,  especially  in  the 
females,  is  also  very  variable  in  strength,  and  a  well  known 
aberration  occurs  in  which  its  exterior  edge  is  darkly 
shaded,  and  defined  sharply  externally  but  suffused  internally. 
The  inner  margin  of  the  band  in  some  examples  is  also 
similarly  shaded.  This  form  with  its  various  phases  I  shall 
call  the  '*  banded  aberration."  It  occurs  very  widely,  btit  is 
usually  somewhat  scarce. 


1896.]         Y^s.-^n.—Mcla7iism  in  Campiogravwia  bilhicata.         75 

A  second  form  which  I  took  some  years  ago  at  Dursey 
Island  and  Ballinskelligs  Bay,  Co.  Kerry,  has  the  whole  ground- 
colour of  the  fore-wings,  and  in  a  less  degree  that  of  the  hind 
wings  darkened,  closely  approximating  to  suffused  specimens 
described  by  the  late  Mr.  Jenner  Weir  from  Unst,  one  of  the 
Shetland  Islands,  but  more  melanic.  This  I  shall  call  ab. 
infuscata.  Mr.  G.  H.  Carpenter  in  a  subsequent  year  got  an- 
other specimen  also  at  Dursey  Island  which  confirms  its  local- 
isation there,  and  indicates  that  my  specimens  were  not  the 
result  of  any  particular  seasonal  influence.  In  the  year  1892, 
however,  on  the  same  coast  I  got  20  examples  of  a  most 
remarkable  local  variety,  with  all  four  wings  of  a  uniform 
sooty  black,  a  trace  of  yellowish  being  perceivable  on  the 
hind  wings  of  one  or  two  only.  No  typical  or  intermediate 
forms  were  seen,  and  subsequent  searches  have  proved  that 
this  melanic  form  has  wholly  superseded  the  type  in  that 
locality.     It  may  be  described  as  follows  : 

Var.  isolata. — With  all  the  wings  of  a  sooty  black,  upon  which 
the  waved  strigse  and  median  band  are  marked  in  darker  tone. 
The  hind  wings  in  some  instances  are  shot  with  a  yellowish  tone. 
The  body  and  underside  of  the  wings  are  also  of  a  sooty  black. 
The  size  is  above  the  average,  being  in  many  examples 
if  inches  from  tip  to  tip,  which  is  a  proof  that  the  blacken- 
ing is  not  a  result  of  dwarfing  or  diseased  conditions. 

In  1893  I  secured  about  forty  examples,  but  in  the  following- 
summer  very  few  were  to  be  had,  but  I  got  a  batch  of  ova 
from  some  females.  The  larvse  were  healthy  and  fed  freel}* 
on  grass  and  I  left  them  in  the  care  of  a  friend,  but  most 
unfortunately  the  experiment  was  not  conducted  to  a  successful 
issue,  and  no  moths  were  bred.  Through  this  misfortune  I 
fear  the  opportunity  of  procuring  good  specimens  has  been 
lost,  as  the  race  seems  to  have  come  to  an  untimely  end. 
The  place  of  their  occurrence  is  a  small  rock-islet  off  the  coast 
of  Kerry.  Formerly  there  were  considerable  tracts  of  sward 
between  the  rocky  heights,  and  Sile7ie  niaritima  as  well  as  a 
limited  number  of  other  maritime  plants  were  to  be  found  in 
the  crevices  and  ledges.  But  the  winter  of  1893-4  was  fear- 
fully stormy  in  those  parts,  and  all  the  headlands  of  Kerry 
were  perpetually  swept  by  enormous  Atlantic  waves,  which 
breaking  on  the  cliffs  dashed  floods  of  water  high  into  the  air  ; 
the  salt  brine  was  carried  by  the  fierce  gales  over  heights  100 


76  The  Irish  Nahcralist.  [  March, 

feet  above  the  sea-level  in  some  instances,  so  that  the  islet  in 
question  must  have  been  continuously  soaked  by  the  deluge 
of  sea-water,  and  a  hot  dry  season  succeeding  in   1894,  ^^^ 
thrift  and  grass  became  brown  and  dead,  and  the  Silene  showed 
no  signs  of  life.     By  careful  searching  onl}"  a  few  C.  bilineata 
were  to  be  found  on  the  rocks,  from  some  of  which  I  secured 
ova,  the  fate  of  which  I  have  already  narrated.     At  the  end  of 
June,  1895, 1  could  find  no  specimens ;  and  only  in  one  sheltered 
nook  a  little  grass  had  sprung  up.    Some  Silene,  however,  had 
sprouted  again  from  the  roots  and  produced  foliage  and  flowers, 
and  a  little  Sea  Camomile  and  other  small  sea-plants  had  also 
survived.     It  is  therefore  to  be  feared  that  this  interesting 
race  has  been   extirpated,  unless  perhaps  a  few  individuals 
may  have  survived  the  famine  by  feeding  on  the  plants  above- 
mentioned.      There  is  also    a  chance  that  on   other  larger 
islands  the  variety  may  exist.       It  now  remains  for  me  to 
analyse  the  circumstances  and  environment  which  have  given 
rise  to  this  extreme  case  of  melanism.      The  cliffs  and  islands 
which  are  found  on  this  part  of  the  coasts  of  Cork  and  Kerry 
are  of  a  dark  slate  formation,  and  in  some  cases  of  dark  con- 
glomerate.    I  have  taken   a   considerable  series   of  Cavipto- 
gravivia  bilineata  from  various  points  of  this  coast-line,  and 
find  the  ordinary  bright  yellow  type  frequent,  but  among  them 
unusual    numbers  of  the    banded  form,   and  also  numerous 
specimens  with  the  dark  scaling  of  the  waved  lines  much  in- 
creased, and  an  evident  tendency  toward  darkened  suffusion, 
producing  a  great  variety  of  dingy  and  dark  striated  aberra- 
tions. 

The  deepest  mainland  form,  that  of  ab.  infuscata,  is  rare, 
and  occurs  with  the  rest,  and  not  isolated,  at  Ballinskelligs 
Bay  and  Dursey  Island.  This  shows  a  further  advance  toward 
melanism,  and  is  in  excess  of  any  previously  noted  in  the 
British  Islands,  as  stated  {i7i  lilt.)  by  Mr.  Barrett,  to  v/hom  I 
sent  the  first  specimen  taken.  In  it  the  yellow  forewings  of 
the  type  are  darkened  throughout  by  the  mixture  of  dark 
scales,  giving  them  a  dark  yellowish  brown  hue,  with  the 
central  band  and  outer  margin  more  darkly  shaded ;  the  hind 
wings  being  either  a  dingy  brown  or  dull  yellow.  In  all  the 
transitional  aberrations  taken  (i.e.,  between  the  type  and  the 
V.  isolata),  the  hind  wings  were  variable  and  apparently 
responded  partially  only  in  a  small  number  of  instances  to  the 


1896.]        Ka^f:.  —JIfe/anzsm  in  Camp  to  gramma  biii7ieata.  77 

melanic  tendency.  I  have  specimens  from  Unst  which  are 
similar  to  some  of  the  Kerry  coast  forms,  but  are  not  so  dark 
as  ab.  mfiiscata.  No  remarkable  aberrations  occur  inland  at 
Killarney  or  Kenmare,  but  on  the  shores  of  Dingle  Bay,  about 
Dingle  and  Slea  Head,  a  large  proportion  of  very  striking 
banded  and  suffused  forms  are  to  be  found.  On  the  coast  of 
Donegal  and  at  Killary  Bay  clouded  forms  occur  also.  It 
would  therefore  appear  that  a  tendency  to  dark  suffusion  shows 
itself  in  the  vicinity  of  the  dark  rocky  shores  of  the  south-west, 
from  Bantry  Bay  to  Valentia  on  the  mainland ;  and  when 
isolated  the  phenomenon  becomes  accentuated  to  an  extreme 
degree,  and  a  stable  melanic  variety  arises  and  wholly  super- 
sedes the  type.  It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  stress  of  the 
environment  in  an  island  such  as  I  have  described.  The 
herbage  is  sparse  and  the  turf  close- shaven  by  the  wind, 
affording  little  or  no  shelter  for  moths  to  hide  in,  and  small  in 
comparison  with  the  rock-surface.  It  is  haunted  by  bats  and 
insectivorous  birds  such  as  Rock  Pipits,  Wheatears,  and  the 
smaller  gulls,  which  are  most  active  in  pursuit  of  insects,  both 
larvae  and  imagines.  These  no  doubt  thinned  out  the  paler 
immigrants  from  time  to  time  as  they  were  conspicuous  on 
the  dark  rocks,  the  darkest  escaping  in  greater  proportion, 
and  surviving  to  continue  the  progeny.  Probably  also  similar 
catastrophes  to  that  of  1893,  perhaps  in  less  degree,  occurred, 
by  which  the  stock  was  almost  eliminated,  so  that  a  close  in- 
and-in  breeding  resulted  in  the  selected  race.  The  conclusion, 
therefore,  I  have  arrived  at  is,  that  on  the  rocky  portions  of 
the  mainland  this  species  is  acquiring  a  melanic  tendency  as 
a  protective  adaptation,  and  chat  isolation  on  a  small  area  out 
at  sea,  and  a  severe  struggle  to  maintain  their  existence  has 
brought  about  the  survival  of  the  most  melanic  forms.  On  the 
pale  grey  limestone  tracts  of  the  Co.  Clare  forming  the  shore 
of  Galway  Bay,  and  in  the  Aran  Islands  I  noticed  that  this 
species  had  assumed  a  very  washed-out  and  patternless  form, 
a  protective  adaptation  in  the  opposite  direction.  Those  who 
lay  much  stress  on  moisture  as  a  factor  in  the  production  of 
melanism,  over  and  above  its  influence  in  temporarily 
darkening  rock  and  tree  surfaces,  will  doubtless  be  inclined  to 
point  to  the  great  rainfall  for  w^hich  Kerry  is  notorious.  And 
indeed  :io  more  crucial  test  could  be  produced  than  the  results 


78  The  Irish  Nahiralht.  [March, 

observable  on  the  lepidopterous  fauna  of  that  county.     Yet  I 
found  on  the  east  slope  of  Mangerton,  where  the  recorded 
annual  rainfall  often   considerably  exceeds  60   in.  as  against 
about  46  in  Co.   Cork  and  41  in  Co.  SHgo,  that  the  normal 
typical  coloration  prevailed,  and  likewise  at  Killarney ;  while 
darkly  clouded  forms  seem  to  be  strictly  localised  on  the  coast, 
which  militates  strongly  against  the  theory  in  respect  of  this 
unstable  species.     If  we  accept  the  view  I  have  put  forward  as 
to  the  selective  agencies  at  work  in  producing  these  melanic 
forms,  the  inquiry  suggests  itself  whether  in  similar  localities 
the  same  influences  have  affected  other  species  in  like  manner. 
Owing   to   the   dangers  and  difficulties    which   beset    the 
collector  in  such  rugged  and  inaccessible  spots  I  have  not  very 
much  evidence   to   produce.     But  remarkable  examples   are 
not    w^anting.       We    should    remember     however    that   the 
Geometridae  from  their  habit  of  resting  with  outspread  wings 
on  rock  faces  are  likely  to  be  more  pliable  than  Noctuse   in 
assuming    protective   coloration,  and   of  these    I   have  been 
unable  to  secure  any  examples  on  the  islands  on  the  south- 
west coast,    except  a  few  Melaiiippe  fluctitata  from    Durse3% 
dark  forms,    but  not   numerous    enough  to   be   accepte  1  as 
evidence.      Probably  very  few  immigrants  would  be  able  to 
survive  the  selective  ordeal.    Dursey  Island  is  easily  accessible, 
but    being   separated  from  the  mainland  by  only  a   narrow 
sound,  and  being  some  three   miles  in    length,  and   having 
a   large   proportion    of    grass  and  herbage    in     comparison 
to  cliff  and  rock,  does  not  afford  a  field  in  which  the  selective 
agencies  referred  to  exercise  a  very  severe  test.       If  it  were 
possible  to  explore  carefully  the  fauna  of  such  places  as  Sher- 
kin  Island  off  Baltimore,  The  Cow,  The  Bull,  the  two  Hogs  off 
Kenmare    Bay,    The   Skelligs,    Pufiin    Island,    Inishna-bro, 
Inishtearaght,  Inishvickillaune,  etc.,   the  result  would,  I  am 
sure,  prove  of  the  utmost  scientific  interest.     I  append  a  few 
results  of  my  attempts  in  this  direction   on  three  of  them. 
Agrotis  hicernea  is  extremely  black.      Hadena  oleracea,  darker 
than  u.sual,  with  the  stigma  reduced  in  size  and  dark  yellow, 
and  the  white  subterminal  line  attenuated.     Dianthcp.cia  cccsia, 
very  dark,  but  D.   nana  (one  specimen   only  taken)  tj'pical. 
DianthcEcia  capsophila,  however,  shows  remarkable  melanism 
in  the  three  examples  captured,     The  ground-colour  is  very 


1S96.]        Kane. — Melanism  in  Camptogranuna  bilineata.  79 

black,  with  the  usual  white  pattern  obliterated  excepting  pale 
outlines  round  the  stigmata,  and  gre3^ish  discontinuous  traces 
on  the  costa,  subterminal  band,  and  nervures,  not  however 
inclining  to  ochreous  as  in  D.  carpophaga.  This  is  a  form  of 
great  interest,  as  in  all  ni}^  experience  of  this  species  hitherto 
I  have  found  it  but  slightly  variable  in  colour  and  markings 
round  the  Irish  coast.  That  a  purely  maritime  species  (in 
Great  Britain),  maintaining  a  fairly  constant  character  in  its 
distribution  over  all  varieties  of  our  rock-formations  and 
climatic  conditions,  should  here  develop  well-marked  melan- 
ism would  vsuggest  the  operation  of  some  special  local 
influence.  But  on  the  cliffs  of  the  mainland  opposite,  of 
similar  rock,  a  few  miles  distant  onl};,  I  have  taken  specimens 
of  the  type.  Isolation  therefore,  as  in  the  case  of  Campto- 
gi'amma  bi/i7ieata,  seems  to  be  the  chief  probable  factor  at 
work.  Xylophasia  monoglypha  also  offers  remarkable  testi- 
mony in  the  same  direction.  Hitherto  I  have  been  unable 
to  detect  any  topomorphism  in  the  occurrence  of  the  varieties 
of  this  polymorphic  species.  But  on  two  of  these  islands  I 
found  no  pale  forms  among  over  forty  examples  secured. 
Most  belonged  to  the  v.  brunnea,  Tutt,  and  varied  to  black 
forms.  A  few  were  of  paler  brown  with  the  whitish  markings 
usually  present  in  the  commonest  forms  reproduced  in  paler 
tone  of  the  ground  colour.  The  melanochroism  is  most  ap- 
parent in  the  absence  from  this  series  of  any  gre}'  marked 
specimens. 

Camptogramina  bilineata  shows  a  tendency  to  develop  dark 
scaling  not  only  on  the  cliffs  of  Kerr}^  but  also  in  the  vast 
tracts  of  bog  and  moor  of  Connemara.  It  is  not  found  in  the 
wet  swamps,  but  occurs  on  the  broken  banks  of  cut-out  peat, 
and  on  dry  heather  slopes  of  rising  ground.  Near  Aasleagh 
and  Glendalough  the  varieties  of  the  banded  form  with  black 
edges  are  very  striking  and  numerous,  and  with  them  clouded 
and  black  striated  forms  are  frequent,  similar  to  those  of  Unst. 
A  parallel  phenomenon  is  presented  by  the  dark  variety  scotica 
of  MelitcEa  aurinia,  which,  in  Ireland,  I  have  only  noticed  to 
occur  on  the  margins  of  heathery  bogs  of  ample  extent ;  while 
the  very  brightly  coloured  v.  prcsclara  affects  green  marshes 
and  wet  pastures.  It  therefore  seems  probable  that  a  propor- 
tion of  the  variable  species  that  occur  in  any  dark  moorland 


8o  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [March, 

district  (if  we  exclude  from  our  consideration  such  as  are 
strickly  confined  to  heathery  habitats)  may  be  expected  to 
assume  dark  characters  for  protection,  as  I  have  noticed  is 
the  case  with  Cidaria  immanata.  If  this  prove  to  be  so,  it 
would  in  part  account  for  the  greater  abundance  of  clouded 
forms  in  Scotland,  as  compared  with  England  (exclusive  of 
smoke-vStained  districts). 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  IRISH   SOCIETIES. 


RoYAi.  Z001.0GICAI.  Society.  ^ 

Recent  donations  include  a  pair  of  Polecats  from  A.  H.  Cocks,  Esq.,  a 
Tawny  Owl  from  J.  Boland,  Esq.,  a  monkey  from  Miss  Meldon,  a  Kestrel 
from  H,  K.  Richardson,  Esq.  4,129  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in 
January. 

January  28th. — The  Annual  meeting  was  held  at  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians,  when  the  Report  and  accounts  for  the  past  year  were 
submitted.  The  financial  condition  of  the  Society  is  satisfactory,  the 
income  for  1895  being  larger  than  that  for  any  year  since  1882.  Reference 
is  made  to  the  loss  sustained  by  the  Society  in  the  death  of  Dr.  V.  Ball, 
who  acted  for  so  many  years  as  honorary  secretary,  and  a  hearty  tribute 
is  paid  to  the  work  which  he  did  in  improving  the  Gardens.  During  the 
year  two  islands  have  been  built  in  the  lake ;  these  will  afford  a  welcome 
nesting-place  for  the  water-fowl.  In  the  excavation  left  on  the  lake  shore 
by  the  removal  of  material  for  these  islands,  a  rockery  and  goat-house  is  to 
be  formed.  But  one  litter  of  Lion  cubs  (two  males  and  a  female)  were  born 
in  the  Gardens  in  1895,  but  these  are  thriving.  Ten  Puma  cubs,  in  three 
litters,  were  born  during  the  year  ;  of  these,  five  have  died  and  two  are 
weakly,  but  the  last  litter  (of  three)  are  doing  very  well.  The  fine 
Burchell's  Zebra,  which  had  lived  twenty-one  years  in  the  Gardens,  died 
of  old  age  in  October.  Another  serious  loss  is  that  of  the  female  Ostrich, 
which  died  of  a  ruptured  aorta.  Anthropoid  Apes  are  at  present  repre- 
sented by  a  fine  male  Chimpanzee  and  a  male  Gibbon  {Hylobates  hacnarus). 
The  latter  is  an  exceptionally  rare  and  valuable  animal,  no  European 
having  ever  studied  it  in  its  native  haunts.  A  white-tailed  Gnu,  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  South  African  Antelopes,  has  been  obtained  by 
exchange  from  the  London  Gardens.  The  appendix  to  the  Report 
contains  some  valuable  suggestions  for  the  further  improvement  of  the 
Gardens,  such  as  the  enlargement  and  ventilation  of  the  Anthropoid 
house  and  the  removal  of  the  reptiles  now  housed  there  to  new  quarters 
in  the  Aquarium.  A  new  paddock  for  Marsupials  and  another  for 
"Llamas  and  Camels  are  also  contemplated  at  some  future  time. 


1896O  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  Si 


Dubinin  Microscopicai,  Ci^ub. 

January  i6th.— The  Club  met  at  Dr.  Frazer's,  who  exhibited  micro- 
scopic sections  made  from  bone  pins  of  large  size  found  in  a  fragmentary 
state  and  bearing  evidences  of  exposure  to  strong  heat  causing  charring. 
They  were  obtained  by  B.  Crofton  Rotheram,  Esq.,  in  recent  explora- 
tions of  cairn  R-  at  Slieve  na  Calliagh,  Co.  Meath.  Some  of  these 
portions  of  bone  are  figured  in  th.e  Journal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries 
of  Ireland,  vol.  v.,  1895,  p.  313,  by  Mr.  Rotheram.  The  bone  implements 
had  sharp  points  and  blunt  semi-conical  heads,  and  may  have  been  used 
for  pins.  Fragments  of  similar  objects  (three  in  number)  were  obtained 
by  Colonel  Wood-Martin  some  years  since  from  a  cairn  in  Co.  Sligo,  and 
are  figured  in  his  work  on  the  "  Rude  Stone  Monuments  of  Sligo."  Dr. 
Frazer  had  examined  these,  and  was  induced  to  believe  they  were  of 
Cetacean  origin,  but  the  re- examination  of  his  former  preparations  and 
sections  made  from  the  Co.  Meath  find  demonstrated  that  they  were  all 
obtained  from  the  antlers  of  the  Red  Deer,  once  so  widely  distributed  in 
all  parts  of  the  country,  and  now  almost  extinct.  Dr.  Frazer  likewise 
exhibited  careful  drawings  of  all  the  fragments  obtained  in  Sligo  and 
Meath.  No  less  than  eleven  of  the  bone  implements  were  found  at 
Lough  Crew  cairn  judging  by  that  number  of  the  blunt  semicircular  top 
portions  discovered  amongst  the  fragments. 

Prof.  G.  A.  J.  Cole  showed  a  section  of  a  remarkably  unaltered  and 
scoriaceous  volcanic  bomb  from  the  Silurian  tuffs  north  of  Clogher  Head 
in  the  Dingle  promontory.  In  this  region  a  handsome  series  of  bombs 
occurs,  precisely  resembling  those  of  the  Petit  Pu.y-de-D6me,in  Auvergne  ; 
they  have  been  preserved  without  infilling  of  their  cavities,  and  present 
a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  other  volcanic  rocks  interstratified  with 
them. 

Prof.  T.  Johnson  exhibited  Hyella  nitida,  Batt.  in  litt^  a  shell-perforat- 
ing alga,  new  to  science,  found  on  the  Merrion  strand  this  last  Decem- 
ber, after  the  storm  which  caused  the  Kingstown  life-boat  disaster.  The 
Hyella  nitida  was  shown  accompanied  by  Conchocelis  rosea,  Batt.,  both  of 
which  were  gnawing  away  the  Razor-shell.  The  differences  between  the 
two  species  were  pointed  out. 

Mr.  a.  Vaughan  Jennings  showed  a  specimen  of  the  Foraminiferal 
genus  Raimilina  growing  within  a  chamber  of  the  large  Foraminifer 
Carpenteria  rhaphidodendron  Mobius.  The  slide  was  from  the  collection  of 
the  late  Dr.  W.  B.  Carpenter,  and  had  in  1880  been  the  subject  of  a  paper 
in  XhQ  Journal  of  the  Royal  Microscopic  Society  by  the  late  Dr.  Martin  Duncan, 
who  described  the  Ramulina  as  a  calcareous  sponge  and  gave  to  it  the 
name  oi  Mobiusispongia  parasitica.  The  specimen  njight  be  regarded  as 
raising  the  question  whether  any  of  the  Foraminifera  have  the  power  of 
boring  through  calcareous  shells  ;  but  in  the  case  in  question  it  is  more 
probable  that  the  Ramulina  was  at  first  growing  on  the  outside  of  the 
Carpenteria  and  was  subsequently  enclosed  by  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
latter.  A  note  on  the  subject  was  communicated  to  the  Linnean  Society 
in  June,  1895. 


82  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [  March 

Dr.  C.  Herbert  Hurst  showed  preparations  of  the  auditory  organ 
situated  in  the  swollen  basal  joint  of  the  antenna  of  the  gnat  {Culex) 
which  he  described  and  figured  in  the  Trans.  Manchester  Micros.  Soc,  1890. 

Prof.  A.  C  Haddon  showed  preparations  illustrating  the  nauplius  and 
cypris  stages  in  the  development  of  Balamis  balanoides. 

Mr.  R.  J.  MiTCHEiyiv  exhibited  a  microscopic  preparation  and  micro- 
photograph  of  Melohesia  farinosa  ?  The  distinction  of  some  of  the  species 
of  Melobesia  is  based  on  minute  characters  in  the  structure  of  the 
thallus ;  the  use  of  microphotographs  in  indicating  these  microscopic 
differences  was  noted. 


Bei<fast  Naturai,  History  and  Phii^osophicai.  Society. 

January  7th. — Mr.  Joseph  BarcrofT  lectured  on  "  The  Properties  of 
the  Surface  of  Liquids." 

February  4th. — Mr.  S.  F.  Mii<i,igan  lectured  on  "  Antiquities,  Social 
Customs,  and  Folk-lore  of  Tory,  Inismurray,  and  the  South  Islands  of 
Aran." 


Bei<fAvST  Naturai^ists'  Fiei<d  Ci,ub. 

January  25th,  Botanicai,  Section. — The  proceedings  commenced 
with  an  account  of  the  vascular  structure  of  plants  by  Rev.  C.  H. 
WADDEiyi/,  who  showed  how  the  various  forms  of  vessels  formed  the 
skeleton  of  plants,  while  at  the  same  time  serving  as  a  system  of 
circulation. 

Mr.  R.  L1.0YD  Praeger  then  gave  a  very  complete  account  of  the 
various  species  of  British  ferns,  illustrated  by  a  fine  set  of  mounted 
plants,  which  were  handed  round.  He  pointed  out  the  means  of  dis- 
tinguishing some  of  the  closely  allied  species  which  are  often  mistaken 
by  amateurs.  Among  the  most  interesting  M'ere  some  plants  of  Adder's- 
tongue  with  several  fertile  spikes,  and  some  fronds  of  Hymenophyllum 
grown  under  glass,  which  had  produced  several  years'  innovations  from 
the  ends  of  the  old  fronds  instead  of  dying  down  as  usual. 

GEOI.OGICAI,  Section.— Mr.  Praeger  gave  an  address  upon  "The 
Glacial  Series  at  Belfast  and  Dublin— A  Contrast."  The  subject  was  of 
special  interest,  as  the  Club  is  investigating  the  glacial  geology  of  the 
district,  whilst  Professor  Sollas  and  Mr.  Praeger  are  working  out  the 
Dublin  drift  deposits.  Mr.  Praeger  described  the  beds  in  Wexford  as  being 
of  late  Pliocene  age,  the  ancient  sea-beach  at  Ballyrudder  being  our 
earliest  glacial  beds,  being  overlaid  by  lower  boulder  clays.  Marine  shells 
are  much  more  abundant  in  the  Dublin  series  than  in  the  north  ;  fossils, 
derived  from  Lias,  being  also  singularly  plentiful  in  beds  at  Kill-o'-the- 
Grange.  The  splendid  series  of  sands  and  gravels  about  Dublin  were 
described,  which  overlie,  and  are  intercalated  with  boulder  clay,  Mr. 
Praeger  suggesting  their  being  probably  represented  in  the  North  by 
the  sands  and  gravels  of  Neill's  Hill  and  the  Dundonald  Valley,  which, 
he  thought,  should  be  thoroughly  investigated.  The  existence  of  an 
upper  boulder  clay,  less  hard  and  more  sandy  and  earthy,  with  plenti- 
.ful  marine  shells  in  places,  was  mentioned  as  being  now  accepted  in  the 
metropolitan  district,  although  local  geologists  fail  to  find  such  a  dis- 


1S96.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  Z^i 

tinction  in  the  Belfast  neighbourhood.  This  clay  contains  fewer  large 
boulders  than  the  lower  boulder  clay  beds.  Mr.  Praeger  concluded  by 
referring  to  an  investigation  into  the  historical  succession  of  our  northern 
fauna,  which  indicated  an  almost  arctic  climate,  ameliorating  slightly  in 
the  boulder  clays,  and  showing  a  distinctly  southern  facies  in  the  estuarine 
clays  and  raised  beaches,  whilst  dredgings  in  this  century  show  a  recur- 
rence of  colder  conditions. 

In  the  subsequent  discussion  Mr.  Praeger  mentioned  that  although 
perfect  shells  with  the  valves  still  united  had  been  found  near  Dublin  as 
well  as  in  the  north,  yet  they  are  very  rare,  the  usual  condition  being 
much  broken  and  worn.  Specimens  were  handed  round  for  inspection,  as 
well  as  a  selection  of  rocks  found  in  the  glacial  beds  about  Dublin,  which 
Mr.  Praeger  subsequently  presented  to  the  Club.  Amongst  them  were 
a  Cushendall  rock  and  the  well-known  Ailsa  Craig  rock.  Miss  S.  M. 
Thompson  expressed  a  hope  that  rocks  with  riebeckite  might  even  yet 
be  found  in  Co.  Down,  as  a  series  of  very  diverse-looking  erratics 
recently  submitted  to  Prof.  Cole  all  proved  to  contain  that  mineral ; 
some  of  these  fragments  were  found  in  the  bed  of  boulder-clay  in  the 
banks  of  the  stream  between  Divis  and  Black  Mountain,  mentioned  in 
the  January  number  of  the  Irish  Naiziralist,  whose  elevation  is  found  not 
to  be  as  much  as  was  at  first  supposed  (1,300  feet),  but  whose  precise 
height  has  yet  to  be  determined.  Mr.  Iv.  M.  Be;i,i,  drew  attention  to  the 
great  difference  between  the  boulder- clays  in  Antrim  and  Down,  the 
latter  being  much  looser  in  texture,  resembling  the  upper  boulder-clay 
described  by  Mr.  Praeger.  A  collection  of  rock-specimens  was  presented 
by  Miss  M.  K.  Andrews. 

January  31st. — A  special  meeting  was  held  in  the  Museum— the 
President  (Mr.  F.  W.  Lockwood,  G.E.)  in  the  chair,  when  Mr.  W. 
Gray,  M.R.I.A.,  delivered  his  lecture,  '^  To  Galway  by  Sea  and  I^and," 
being  an  account  of  the  Excursion  last  summer  of  the  Irish  Field  Clubs 
and  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  to  Galway. 

February  i8th. — The  President  in  the  Chair.  Mr.  W.  H.  Patterson 
read  a  Paper  on  "  Gaelic  Charms,  Incantations,  and  Curses." 

Dubinin  Naturai^ists'  Fiei.d  Ci,ub. 
February  loth.— The  Chair  was  taken  by  the  President  (Prof.  G.  A. 
J.  Cole,  F.G.S.)  There  was  a  large  attendance  of  members  and  friends. 
After  the  signing  of  the  minutes,  the  Vice-President  (Mr.  N.  Coi^gan) 
took  the  Chair,  while  Prof.  Coi,E  delivered  his  address  on  "Some 
Problems  in  the  Geology  of  Co.  Dublin  and  Co.  Wicklow."  He  said 
that  by  indicating  how  many  points  of  interest  still  remained  unsettled 
in  the  geology  of  Co.  Dublin  and  Co.  Wicklow,  he  hoped  to  attract  some 
of  the  energy  of  the  Club  towards  the  study  of  these  matters  in  the  field. 
He  dwelt  on  the  possibility  of  the  discovery  of  fragmental,  but  service- 
able, organic  remains  in  the  slates  of  Bray  or  Howth  ;  on  the  dubious 
position  of  Oldhamia  ;  on  the  desirability  of  checking  and  adding  to  the 
old  determinations  of  species  from  the  Ordovician  limestone  of  Portrane ; 
and  on  the  paucity  of  graptolites  hitherto  discovered  in  the  associated 
shales.  The  minerals  of  the  contact-zone  along  the  flanks  of  the 
Leinster  granite  may  attract  other  observers ;  and  the  suggestion,  made 


84  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

by  Prof.  SoUas,  that  the  granite  is  a  laccolitic  mass  overlying  the  Howth 
and  Bray  series,  requires  further  investigation.  The  zones  in  the  Car- 
boniferous Limestone  have  yet  to  be  indicated  by  a  study  of  the  fossils 
on  various  horizons ;  and  attention  was  called  to  the  blocks  of  older 
rocks  found  embedded  in  the  limestone ;  finally,  the  author  referred  to 
the  difficulties  taised  by  the  abundant  shelly  gravels  associated  with  the 
glacial  epoch.  He  himself  was  inclined  again  to  urge,  as  he  had  done 
in  an  early  number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist^  that  the  shells  in  these  gravels 
represent  a  late  Pliocene  (Astian)  submergence,  and  that  they  were 
brought  into  their  present  positions  by  the  action  of  glacial  and  other 
streams  during  the  cold  period  that  succeeded. 

Rev.  Maxwei,!^  H.  CIvOSK,  in  a  happy  and  effective  speech,  reviewed 
the  history  of  many  of  the  controversies  that  had  been  touched  on  by 
the  President.  He  described  the  interesting  discovery  of  well-rounded 
quartzite  and  granite  boulders  in  the  Carboniferous  Limestone  at 
Stillorgan,  during  the  making  of  the  reservoir  there,  the  other  records 
being  granite  boulders  on  the  south  of  Dublin,  and  pieces  of  Ordovician 
schist,  unrounded,  at  Blackrock.  Mr.  Close  described  himself  as  a 
sceptic,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  with  regard  to  the  causes  which 
had  laid  down  the  shelly  gravels  as  we  now  find  them.  He  was  quite 
unconvinced,  however,  by  Prof  Carvill  Lewis,  who  urged,  when  in  the 
field  with  him  at  BallyedmondufF,  that  the  gravels  had  been  pushed 
uphill  before  a  gigantic  glacier.  Mr.  Colgan  and  Mr.  PraeGER  also 
discussed  the  paper,  after  which  Prof.  C  oi^E  replied. 

Mr,  H.  Lyster  Jameson  then  read  his  account  of  his  explorations  of 
the  caves  at  Mitchelstown  and  Knniskillen,  undertaken  on  behalf  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy  Fauna  and  Flora  Committee.  The  paper,  which 
was  of  much  interest,  and  will  shortly  be  published  in  extenso  in  our 
pages,  was  prefaced  by  some  remarks  on  the  animals  obtained,  by  Mr.  G. 
H.  Carpenter;  the  subject-matter  of  his  communication  will  appear  in 
Mr.  Jameson's  paper.  A  short  discussion  ensued.  The  following  were 
declared  elected  members  of  the  Club :— Miss  Dixon,  Rev.  C.  W.  Follis, 
B.A.,  Joseph  Maguire,  B.L.,  Miss  Sweeny. 


Cork  Naturai^ists'  Fiei^d  Ci,ub. 

February  loth. — The  President  (W.  H.  Shaw)  in  the  chair.  A  very  in- 
teresting paper  was  read  by  Mr.  Wm.  Mii,i,er— "The  Climate  of  Cork," 
and  a  lively  discussion  followed. 

Professor  HarTog  read  a  note  on  Mr.  Rousselet's  method  of  preserv- 
ing Rotifera.  He  pointed  out  the  need  of  keeping  specimens  for 
comparison  of  microscopic  organisms,  as  is  done  for  larger  animals  and 
plants,  in  order  to  avoid  the  doubt  due  to  imperfect  descriptions  and 
sketches.  As  examples  he  cited  the  cases  of  Hcxarthra^  a  Rotifer  with 
six  articulated  limbs,  so  described  by  Schmarda  as  to  render  it  impossible 
to  say  whether  it  is  or  is  not  identical  with  Hudson's  genus  Fedalion,  and 
of  Flaesoma,  a  genus  founded  by  Herrick  twelve  years  ago,  and  since 
described  under  no  less  than  jive  oth^x  new  generic  names  1  The  first 
requisite  is  to  stupefy  the  active  animals ;  this  is  conveniently  done  by 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  ^^ 

first  fishing  them  out  into  clean  water,  and  then  adding  drop  by  drop 
the  following  solution  of  cocain  ; — 

A.  Cocaine  Hydrochlorate,  i  gram. 
Water,  50  cc. 

Methylated  spirit  (without  petroleum),  12  cq. 
This  solution  keeps  indefinitely. 

B.  Solution  A,  4  cc. 
Water,  6  cc. 

To  1)0  made  as  required. 
The  solution  must  be  added  gradually  at  intervals  of  a  few  minutes. 
When  the  animals  are  sufficiently  sluggish  the  addition  of  a  drop  or  two 
ofosmicacid  solution^  percent,  fixes  them.  They  must  then  be  re- 
moved by  a  medicine  dropper  to  clean  water,  and  thence  to  a  cell 
containing  a  2  to  2|  per  cent,  solution  of  commercial  formalin  (also 
called  ''formol"  and  "  formal"  =  a  solution  of  40  per  cent,  formic  aldehyde 
in  water ;  or  equal  volumes  of  ^o  P^r  cent,  mercuric  chloride  and  I  per 
cent,  sodium  chloride).  The  cells  used  are  the  hollowed  glass  slides  to 
be  obtained  from  any  optician.  The  cover  is  sealed  down  with  Miller's 
caoutchouc  cement,  and  finished  with  a  ring  of  asphaltum,  &c.  (See 
Journal  of  the  Ouekett  Microscopic  Club,  vol.  v.,  ser.  ii.,  March,  1895). 
Five  slides  of  Mr.  Rousselet's  preparation  were  shown  : — Asplanchna 
Brightwellii,  Synchcvta  iavina,  Cyrtonia  tuba,  Pedalion  miruni,  and  Plccsoma 
Hndsoni. 

The  Secretary  called  members'  attention  to  Mr.  Praeger's  article  in 
current  number  of  the  Irish  Natiwalist,  and  hoped  it  would  prove  a  stimulus 
to  the  botanists  in  the  coming  year,  and  also  gave  particulars  regarding 
the  conversazione,  arrangements  for  which  are  progressing  rapidly. 
Four  new  members  joined  the  Club,  which  has  received  substantial 
increase  since  the  lectures  under  the  auspices  of  the  Field  Club  Union. 

Limerick  Naturai^ists'  Fiei.d  Ci^ub. 

January  23rd. — The  annual  meeting  unanimously  adopted  a  suggestion 
of  the  Committee,  recommending  that  the  Club  should  cease  to  hold  its 
meetings  in  a  private  room,  and  admit  the  public  to  membership,  with 
the  result  that  an  immediate  increase  often  members  took  place,  and  at 
least  as  many  more  are  likely  to  be  added  by  next  meeting,  which  is  to 
be  held  in  the  Board  Room  of  the  City  Library,  kindly  given  to  the  Club, 
free  of  all  charges,  for  its  future  gatherings,  by  the  Corporation  Library 
Committee.  The  Club  now  numbers  upwards  of  sixty  members,  and 
under  its  new  conditions  should  be  capable  of  doing  good  work  in  its 
hitherto  almost  virgin  locality. 

The  report  of  Committee  for  1895,  mentioned  the  occurrence  of 
several  interesting  records,  amongst  them  being  a  male  specimen  of  the 
large  Footman  {Gnophria  qtiadrd)  from  Adare,  an  example  of  a  ground 
beetle  {Patiagaus  crux-major)  from  Finlough,  Co.  Clare,  this  insect  being 
an  addition  to  the  Irish  list  ;  a  Red  Squirrel  (SciJirus  vulgaris)  from  Cratloe 
Wood  ;  and  amongst  Lepidoptera  the  Secretary  reported  having  taken 
the  Holly  Blue  {Lyccena  argiohis)  for  the  first  time  in  May,  1895. 


86  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  March, 

FIKI.D    CIvUB    NEWS. 


Mr.  R.  Welch,  of  the  Belfast  Field  Club,  sends  us  a  second  supplement 
to  his  Catalogue  of  Geological  Photographs.  We  have  had  the  advantage 
of  examining  this  beautiful  series,  and  can  say  that  it  includes  many  views 
of  the  highest  interest  and  importance.  First  come  some  illustrations  of 
coast  denudation,  including  the  remarkable  scene  in  White  Park  Bay. 
described  by  Professor  Cole  in  the  Geological  Magazine  for  Dec,  1895. 
Then  follow  photographs  of  raised  beaches,  and  of  Palaeozoic  and 
Mesozoic  strata.  The  Roundstone  kitchen-middens  come  next,  and 
finally  we  have  the  beautiful  series  of  mountain  views  taken  in  Con- 
nemara  and  Clare  on  the  Field  Club  Union  Excursion,  which  most  of 
our  readers  have  already  seen  and  admired. 

The  arrangements  for  the  Cork  Field  Club  Conversazione  on  March 
loth,  are  rapidly  progressing,  and  the  function  promises  to  be  a  very 
interesting  one.  A  number  of  new  members  have  lately  joined  this 
Club,  which  appears  to  have  now  firmly  taken  root,  and  to  have  a 
successful  future  before  it. 

In  a  course  of  live  lectures  on  Ireland,  at  the  Dublin  Coffee  Palace 
last  month,  three  members  of  the  Dublin  Field  Club  have  taken  part 
Dr.  M'Weeney  lectured  on  "  Invisible  Natives  " — bacteria  ;  Professor 
Cole  on  "  The  Land  and  the  Landscape,"  and  Mr.  Carpenter  on  "Wild 
Life  in  Ireland."  The  other  lectures  of  the  course  were  "  Ancient  Irish 
Crosses"  by  Rev.  D.  Murphy  ;  and  "The  People  of  Ireland  "  by  Rev. 
Canon  Carmichael. 

In  the  Royal  Dublin  Society's  course  of  afternoon  lectures.  Natural 
Science  is  represented  by  "The  Bath  Sponge"  (Prof  Sollas),  "The 
Glaciers  of  the  Alps  "  (Rev.  Monsignor  Molloy),  "  Irish  Animals  Old  and 
New"  (G.  H.  Carpenter),  "The  Food  of  Plants"  and  "The  Making  of 
Timber  "  (Prof.  T.  Johnson). 

The  Limerick  Field  Club  has  now  felt  strong  enough  to  forsake  the 
protecting  wing  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  to  start 
on  an  independent  career.  The  result  of  this  action  is  to  throw  the 
benefits  of  the  Club  open  to  all  sections  of  the  public,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence an  immediate  rise  of  membership  has  taken  place.  The  Corpora- 
tion Library  Committee  has  generously  placed  the  Board-room  of  the 
City  Library  at  the  disposal  of  the  Club  for  its  future  meetings,  free  of 
charge.  We  have  no  doubt  that  on  this  wider  basis  the  Club  will  con- 
tinue to  prosper,  and  will  increase  in  numbers  and  in  activity. 

The  Geological  section  of  the  Belfast  Club  are  arranging  for  a  con- 
tinuous  week's  study  of  geology  during  the  month  of  March  under 
Professor  Cole,  F.G.s.  The  forenoons  are  to  be  devoted  to  field  geology, 
and  each  evening  a  class  for  the  study  of  petrography  will  meet  in  the 
Club's  rooms  at  the  Belfast  Museum.  This  new  scheme  should  prove 
highly  valuable,  as  geological  students  are  well  aware  of  the  diflBculty  of 
recognising  rocks  in  the  field  with  which  they  are  perfectly  familiar  in 
museum  collections.  This  is  the  third  year  in  which  the  Club  have  had 
the  great  advantage  of  studying  under  Professor  Cole. 


1896.]  87 

NOTES. 

IVI I  Id  ness  of  the  Season, —Many  reports  reach  us  illustrating  the 
remarkable  mildness  of  the  present  season.  Mr.  E.  A.  Praeger  reports 
a  Blackbird's  nest  with  two  eggs  found  at  Hol3^wood,  Co.  Down,  on  29th 
January;  at  the  same  date  the  Rooks  at  Cultra  rookery  were  busily 
engaged  in  building  their  nests.  Vcspa  germanica  was  observed  on  the 
wing  at  Limerick,  as  early  as  nth  February,  a  specimen  having  been 
taken  on  that  date  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Limerick  Club.  The  weather 
had  been  very  fine  and  mild  for  some  days  previously.  Among  several 
reports  of  early  flowers,  we  may  mention  that  on  2nd  February  the 
Scurvy-grass  (Cocklearia  officinalis)  was  flowering  abundantly  on  Howth, 
the  blossoms  set  in  luxuriant  tufts  of  succulent  glossy  foliage. 


ZOOLOGY. 


INSECTS. 
Death's  Head  Wloth  in  Dublin. —A  dead  but  perfect  specimen, 
except  for  the  antennae,  of  the  Death's  Head  Moth  {Acherontia  atropos)  was 
found  by  the  children  of  the  caretaker  of  the  now  disused  Carmichael 
College  of  Medicine,  Aungier  St.,  Dublin.  It  lay  on  the  floor  of  the 
former  dissecting  room,  and  from  inquiries  as  to  the  dates  on  which  the 
room  was  swept,  &c.,  I  believe  that  earlier  in  this  or  last  year  it  sought 
shelter  in  some  cranny  and  was  recently  dislodged  by  the  strong  winds 
prevailing  about  Christmas.  The  windows  are  generally  open,  and  in  sum- 
mer the  room  is  much  frequented  by  the  children  looking  for  flies,  bees, 
wasps,  &c.,  constantly  to  be  found  there  dead.  Their  father,  a  pensioner, 
who  used  to  collect  butterflies,  &c.,  in  the  tropics  when  on  service,  recog- 
nised the  specimen  and  saved  it  from  destruction. 

J.  AivFRED  Scott,  Dublin. 

Conepteryx  rhamni  in  Queen's  County. — Miss  Bewley  captured 
a  fine  specimen  of  this  butterfly  about  the  end  of  August  last  at  Dun- 
more  in  the  Queen's  County,  which  appears  to  be  a  new  locality,  as  Mr. 
Kane  in  his  catalogue  only  gives  Kerry,  Galway,  and  an  island  in  Lough 
Ree,  Co.  Longford  {Entotnologist,  vol.  xxvi.,  p.  120).  Another  specimen  is 
said  to  have  been  seen  on  the  wing  at  the  same  time  and  place.  This 
discovery  is  interesting,  as  the  Queen's  County  has  been  known  as  a 
habitat  for  this  insect's  food-plant,  the  Buckthorn  {Rhammis  catharticus)^ 
which  grows  on  the  banks  of  the  Barrow. 

Georges  V.  Hart,  Dublin. 

An  Early  Emerg^ence. — A  specimen  oi Phlogophora  metiadosa  emerged 
at  Howth  on  the  ist  January.  The  pupa  was  in  a  flowerpot  in  the 
open  air.     This  bears  witness  to  the  mildness  of  the  season. 

GEORGE  V.  Hart. 


38  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [  March,  1896, 

BIRDS. 

Birds  of  Conncmara. — In  Mr.  Witlierby's  account  of  Connemara 
birds  in  the  January  issue  of  the  Irish  Naturalist\i^  states  that  "  a  number 
of  Dunlin,  some  of  which  were  singing  beautifully,  were  flying  about 
in  small  flocks"  on  Lough  Corrib.  I  should  like  to  ask  Mr.  Witherby 
whether  it  was  beyond  doubt  the  Dunlin  {Tringa  alpina)  that  he  refers 
to,  and  not  the  Ringed  Plover  {yEgialilis  hiaticiild),  which  is  locally  called 
the  Dunlin  in  some  parts  of  England.  The  islands  of  Lough  Corrib  are 
hardly  the  kind  of  habitat  for  the  Dunlin  during  the  nesting  season. 
Several  years  ago  I  spent  two  days  on  Lough  Corrib  and  its  islands  for 
ornithological  purposes  at  the  middle  of  May,  and  I  saw  no  Dunlins ; 
but  on  every  island  that  had  any  shinglj'  shore — and  I  landed  on  about 
sixteen  or  eighteen  such — there  was  at  least  one  pair  of  Ringed  Plovers. 
Mr.  Witherby's  other  observations  relating  to  Lough  Corrib  coincide 
with  mine  to  a  remarkable  degree  ;  and  as  the  Ringed  Plover  is  fairly 
plentiful  on  the  islands  during  the  nesting  season  he  can  hardly  have 
failed  to  observe  it, as  he  has  noted  nearly  all  the  other  birds  to  be  expected ; 
but  he  makes  no  mention  whatever  of  it.  Many  who  know  the  pleasing 
whistling  notes  of  the  Ringed  Plover  will  probably  agree  that  "  singing 
beautifully"  seems  a  not  inappropriate  description  of  them.  Altogether 
it  rather  looks  as  though  it  was  the  Ringed  Plover  Mr.  Witherby  re- 
ferred to,  not  the  Dunlin  ;  but  should  it  prove  to  be  the  latter,  it  would 
of  course  be  an  occurrence  of  interest  to  Irish  ornithologists. 

Mr.  Witherby  also  states  that  "  on  some  of  the  low  flat  islands  of 
Renvyle  the  Black  Guillemots  seemed  to  be  laying  their  eggs  under  the 
large  boulders  scattered  about,"  and  that  he  *'  saw  several  at  different 
times  fly  out  from  amongst  them,  but  could  not  reach  their  eggs."  It 
is  well  known  that  various  birds  occasionally  nest  in  situations  very 
different  from  the  sites  usually  chosen  ;  and  it  would  be  interesting  to 
know  whether  Black  Guillemots  were  really  nesting  in  the  situation 
described.  Can  Mr-  Witherby  or  anyone  else  throw  further  light  on  the 
question.?  Mr,  Witherby  says:  ''Another  curious  nesting  habit  I 
noted  was,  that  the  Oystercatchers,  which  were  numerous,  invariably 
nested  on  the  rocks  or  turf  even  on  islands  where  there  was  shingle  in 
every  way  suitable  for  them."  Perhaps  West  of  Ireland  Oystercatchers 
may  have  found  that  it  is  not  always  safe  to  nest  on  the  vShingle  within 
possible  reach  of  an  unusually  high  Atlantic  wave,  and  have  conse- 
quently gone  to  higher  and  safer  situations.  At  all  events  the  site 
mentioned  hardly  seems  an  unusual  one  with  these  birds  in  the  West  of 
Ireland.  In  1894,  during  the  first  week  of  July,  on  Inishkeeragh — the 
island  between  North  Inishkea  and  Inishgloria — off  the  west  coast  of 
Co.  Mayo,  I  found  two  Oystercatchers'  nests  containing  young  birds  on 
small  patches  of  turf  among  the  rocks,  near  where  Arctic  Terns  were 
nesting-  I  identified  the  nests  and  young  as  Oystercatchers  by  the 
broken  fragments  of  ^%%  shells  about  the  nests. 

J.  E.  Pai,me;r,  Dublin, 


^9 


April,  1896.]  89 


NOTES  ON  COI.LECTING  KNTOMOSTRACA, 

WITH    A   I,IST    OF   THE    IRISH    SPKCIKS    OF    CI,AD0CE:RA  KNOWN 

AT  PRESENT. 

BY   R.   H.  CREIGHTON,  M.B. 


Entomostraca  are  found  everywhere ;  they  are  especially 
abundant  in  marshes,  the  weedy  pools  on  the  outskirts  of  a 
bog,  and  in  the  bed  of  weeds  which  exists  in  most  lakes  where 
the  deep  and  shallow  waters  meet.  In  the  centre  of  the  larger 
lakes  a  regular  pelagic  fauna  exists ;  it  has  been  little  studied 
in  the  United  Kingdom,  as  it  is  impossible  to  collect  it 
without  the  aid  of  a  boat.  The  best  time  to  obtain  these 
pelagic  forms  is  at  night,  when  they  crowd  to  the  surface  in 
large  numbers,  even  in  the  middle  of  winter. 

For  collecting  in  the  smaller  pools,  the  ordinary  muslin 
net  and  glass  bottle  at  the  end  of  a  stick  about  four  feet  long 
answer  well.  In  larger  ponds  and  in  lakes  of  course  they  are 
of  no  use  ;  here  I  find  Professor  Birge's  cone  dredge  (8)  a  great 
comfort,  as  the  cone  keeps  out  weeds,  insects,  larvae,  &c. 
"  It  consists  of  four  parts,  the  body,  the  cone,  the  net,  and 
the  screw-top.  The  body  is  a  cylinder  of  stout  tin,  strength- 
ened by  a  wire  at  each  end,  four  inches  long,  and  four  inches 
in  diameter.  On  top  of  this  is  placed  a  cone  of  brass  netting, 
five  inches  high  ;  this  is  attached  below  to  a  circle  of  tin  so  that 
it  fits  into  the  top  of  the  body  like  the  cover  of  a  tin  pail. 
The  bail  of  the  body  is  of  stout  brass  wire,  the  ends  passed 
through  the  side  of  the  body  and  enlarged,  and  the  loop  of 
wire  shaped  so  as  to  fit  within  the  cone  and  project  through  a 
hole  in  its  top,  with  an  eye  into  which  the  dredge-line  can 
be  fastened.  Two  cones  are  provided,  one  of  one-tenth  inch 
mesh  and  one  of  one-twentieth  inch.  The  net  is  of  fine 
cheese-cloth,  eighteen  to  twenty-two  inches  long,  conical, 
large  enough  at  the  base  to  slip  over  the  dredge-body  to  which 
it  is  tied.  It  is  faced  with  stout  muslin  for  a  distance  of  two 
or  three  inches  at  each  end.  At  the  smaller  end  it  is  small 
enough  to  fit  the  screw-top,  a  tin  cylinder  one  inch  in  diameter 
and  one  inch  and  a  quarter  long,  with  a  wire  in  one  end,  and 
on  the  other  a  zinc   screw-top  such  as  is  used  on  paraffin 

A 


90  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [April, 

cans."  This  dredge  can  be  thrown  easily  twenty  yards  from 
the  shore  and  hauled  in  by  the  line,  thus  collecting  much  more 
extensively  than  it  is  possible  to  do  with  the  ordinary  hand- 
net.  It  can  be  pulled  through  weeds,  and  can  strain  a  large 
quantity  of  water  without  getting  filled  with  vegetable  debris. 
When  used  as  a  surface  net  the  cone  is  removed. 

Bntomostraca  are  best  examined  alive  in  a  drop  of  water, 
either  in  a  hollow-ground  slide  or  on  an  ordinary  slide,  the 
pressure  of  the  coverglass  being  taken  off  by  a  pellet  of  wax, 
or  as  Professor  Hartog  suggests,  a  frond  of  Duckweed.  If 
unable  to  examine  them  at  once,  remember  that  they  live 
much  longer  if  kept  in  the  dark. 

Mounting  permanent  specimens  is  very  troublesome.  I  get 
the  best  results  by  killing  with  osmic  acid,  bleaching  carefully 
with  chlorate  of  potash  and  hydrochloric  acid,  grading 
through  alcohol,  staining  with  tincture  of  cochineal  or  with 
hsematoxylin  (the  latter  is  very  liable  to  overstain),  and 
mounting  in  Canada  balsam.  Prof.  Herman  Fol  advises 
killing  with  tincture  of  iron  (steel  drops)  added  to  a  small 
quantity  of  water  in  which  the  animal  is  swimming,  and  sub- 
sequent staining  with  gallic  acid.  I  have  not  had  much 
success  with  this  method.  Sometimes,  more  especially  with 
the  smaller  Cladocera,  the  osmic  acid  alone  gives  sufficient 
differentiation.  Kleinenberg's  picro-sulphuric  acid  is  useful 
for  killing,  and  has  the  great  advantage  of  being  cheap.  If 
you  use  it,  remember  to  wash  out  with  dilute  alcohol,  not 
water. 

For  preserving  specimens  for  future  study  glycerine  does 
well  for  Copepods ;  the  following  is  a  good  formula  : — gl}^- 
cerine  one  ounce,  proof  spirit  two  ounces,  w^ater  one  ounce, 
liquefied  carbolic  acid  one  dram,  mix.  They  can  be  examin- 
ed in  this  solution  without  staining,  and  can  be  mounted  out 
of  it  in  glycerine  jelly.  Cladocera  are  much  harder  to  deal 
with  ;  I  get  the  best  results  by  killing  with  osmic  acid  and 
gradi-ng  carefully  through  30,  50,  70  and  90  per  cent,  alcohol ; 
but  it  is  much  better,  in  fact  almost  essential,  to  examine 
specimens  of  this  group  alive. 

In  the  following  list  I  have  endeavoured  to  collect  all  the 
species  recorded  from  Ireland ;  they  number  only  23  !  In  a 
S3aiop,sis  of  the  British  Cladocera  published  in  \\i^  Jommal  oi 


1896.1      Crkighton. — Notes  on  collecting  Enfomostraca.  91 

the  Birmingham  N.  H.  Society  in  February,  1895,  Mr.  Hodg- 
son gives  a  list  of  64  British  species,  of  which  31  have  been 
found  within  15  miles  of  Birmingham.  In  all  probability  the 
whole  64,  if  not  more,  are  to  be  found  in  Ireland. 

Mr.  J.  D.  Scourfield  has  given  me  great  aid  by  kindly 
naming  some  of  the  more  difficult  species  for  me.  Where  no 
reference  follows  a  locality  in  this  list,  the  species  has  been 
taken  there  by  myself 

IRIvSH  CIvADOCERA. 

Sida  crystallina,  O.  F.  Muller.  This  is  by  far  the  most  widely  dis- 
tributed and  abundant  Kntomostracan  in  the  lakes  and  ponds  of 
the  N.  of  Ireland;  I  have  found  it  in  all  I  have  examined  except  those 
which  are  liable  to  be  completely  dried  up  in  hot  weather.  My 
experience  is  thus  directly  opposed  to  Baird's  observations  in  England, 
viz  : — "  They  do  not  seem  to  be  numerous  in  the  localities  in  which  I 
have  found  them,  and  indeed  are  of  rare  occurrence."  (t)  :  Scourfield 
has  recently  confirmed  Baird's  statement  in  researches  conducted  at 
Wanstead  Park  (2)  and  in  Wales  (3),  Irish  localities  are  L.  Corrib  (4), 
L.  Erne  (5),  L.  Melvin,  lakes  of  Donegal,  and  near  Galway  (6). 

Daphnia  pulex,  Muller.  Common  in  small  ponds,  ditches,  and 
wells ;  also  near  the  shore  in  lakes ;  L.  Erne  (5),  Donegal,  &c. 

D.  long-ispina,  Muller.  Near  Galway  (6);  lakes  of  Fermanagh  and 
Donegal. 

D.  obtusa,  Kurz.  Common  in  a  pond  in  the  townland  of  Dunmuckrim, 
near  Ballj^shannon. 

D.  g-aleata,  Sars.  Only  in  Iv.  Erne  (5)  and  L.  Melvin  in  this  locality: 
near  Galway  (6). 

Ceriodaphnia  reticulata,  Jurine.  Scarce.  L.  Unshin,  near  Bally- 
shannon. 

C.  pulchella,  Sars.  Mr,  Scourfield  kindly  identified  this  species  for 
me;  it  resembles  C.  qtmdrajtgtila,  JMiiller,  very  closely.  I  have  found 
it  only  in  L^.  Nabrackalan,  near  Ballj^shannon. 

C.  mcgalops,  Sars.     Near  Galway  (6). 

Scapholcbcrls  mucronata,  O.  F.  Muller.     L.  Corrib  (4). 

Simocephalus  vetulus,  O.  F.  IMuller.  Common  in  ponds  every- 
where. 

Bostnina  coregoni,  Baird.     Upper  L.  Erne  (5). 

B.  longlrostris,  O.  F.  Muller,     Clonhugh  Lake,  near  Mullingar  (4). 

B.  longispina,  Leydig.     L.  Bollard,  Connemara  (7).     L.  Melvin. 

Lathonura  recti rostr is,  Muller.     L.  Bollard,  Connemara  (7). 

lYIacrothrix  laticornis,  Leydig.     Near  Belfast,  W.  Thompson  (7). 

lYI.  rosea,  Jurine.     Lakes  of  Connemara  (7). 

AcantholeK)erIs  curvirostris,  Midler.  Bog  pools  near  L.  Corrib 
(4) ;  Connemara  (7)  ;  near  Columbkille  Lake,  Ballyshannon. 

Drepanothrix  hamata,  Sars.     L.  Bollard,  Connemara  (7). 

A   2 


92  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  April, 

Euryccrcus   lamellatus,  MlUler.       Common  everywhere  in  weedy 

ponds. 
Acropcrus  tiarpa,  Baird.     Near  Oalway  (6). 

Alonopsls  elongata,  Sars.     L.    Corrib   and   L.   Clonliugh  (4);  Con- 

nemara  (7). 
Lynccus  costatus,  Sars.     Connemara(7). 
L.  testudlnarlus,  Fischer.     Connemara  (7). 
L.  nanus,  Baird.     Connemara  (7). 
L.  afflnis,  Kurz.     Near  Galway  (6). 

Graptoletocris  tcstudlnaria,  Fischer.     Near  Galway  (6). 
Alonella  nana,  Baird.     Near  Galway  (6). 
PIcuroxus  trlgoncllus,  Miiller.     Near  Galway  (6). 
Chydorus  sphaerlcus,  Miiller.     Common  all  over  Ireland. 
C.  gloDosus,   Baird.     Connemara  (7). 
Polyphemus  pediculus,  De  Geer.     L.  Corrib  and  L.  Bay  {4)  ;  Lough 

Columbkille,   near    Ballyshannon.      This   species   is  very  local ;   it 

appears  to  swim  in  shoals  usually  within  a  few  yards  of  the  shore. 
Bythotrcphes    longimanus,  Lilljeborg.     Very  plentiful  in  Upper 

L.  Erne  in  1886-7-8  (5).     Rare  in  L.  Melvin,  and  the  individuals  are 

smaller  than  in  Iv.  Erne. 
Lcptodora  hyalina,   Lilljeborg.      Common   in   Upper   L.   Erne  (5); 

neighbourhood  of  Galway  (6). 

REFERENCES. 

1.  Baird,  W.  Nat.  Hist,  of  Brit.  Entomost.;  Ray  Society,  1850. 

2.  Scourfield,  D.  J.,       Entomost.  of  Wanstead  Park.    Journal  of  the  Q. 

Micro.  Club,  Ser.  2,  Vol.  v. 
2.  „  Prelim.  Account  of  the  Entomost.  of  N.  Wales, 

Journal  of  Q.  Micro.  Club,  Ser.  2,  Vol.  vi. 

4.  Andrews,  A.  Irish  Naturalist,  Vol.  ii.,  page  24. 

5.  Creighton,R.  H.        Irish  Naturalist,  Vol.  ii.,  page  24. 

6.  Hodgson,  T.  V.         Irish  Naturalist,  Vol.  iv.,  page  190. 

7.  Norman  &  Brady.     A  Monograph  of  B7itish  Entomost.,  London,  1867. 

8.  Birge,  E,.  A.  List   of  Cladocera   from    Madison,  Winsconsin. 

Trans,  of  Winsconsin  Acad,  of  Sc,  &*c..  Vol.  viii., 
page  397. 


1S96.]  93 

ON  THE  EXPLORATION  OF  THE  CAVES  OF  ENNIS- 

KILLEN   AND    MiTCHEIvSTOWN    FOR    THE 

R.LA.  FI,ORA  AND  FAUNA  COMMITTEE. 

BY  H.  I^YSTKR  JAMESON. 
(Read  before  the  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  Feb.  loth,  1896.) 


Early  in  1895  Dr.  Scharff  informed  me  that  Mr.  E-  A.  Martel, 
the  celebrated  French  explorer  of  caves,  had  determined  to 
visit  Ireland  in  July,  with  a  view  to  investigating  some  of  the 
numerous  caverns  with  which  our  Carboniferous  limestone 
is  in  places  riddled. 

I  at  once  expressed  myself  anxious  to  join  him  in  his  ex- 
plorations, and  in  due  time  was  informed  that  the  Fauna  and 
Flora  Committee  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  had  done  me 
the  honour  of  making  a  grant  to  me  for  the  purpose  of  further 
investigating  the  cave-fauna,  already  discovered  at  Mitchels- 
town  by  Dr.  Wright  and  Mr.  Haliday,  and  so  ably  described 
by  Mr.  Carpenter  in  his  most  interesting  paper  on  the  "Animals 
found  in  the  Mitchelstown  Cave  "  {Irish  Naturalist,  February, 

1895). 

On  July  loth  I  left  Dundalk  for  Enniskillen,  where  I  hoped 
to  meet  Mr.  Martel,  whose  investigations  were  to  commence 
in  that  district.  At  Enniskillen  I  was  met  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Plunkett,  M.R.I. A.,  who  kindly  made  me  his  guest  while  I 
was  there,  and  whose  intimate  knowledge  of  the  geology  and 
physical  features  of  the  district  was  of  very  great  assistance 
to  me  in  my  work. 

On  July  nth  I  set  off  for  Bohoe,  where  I  was  met  by  the 
Rev.  A.  Knight,  who  acted  as  my  guide. 

We  first  proceeded  to  investigate  the  underground  river- 
bed at  Bohoe,  a  winding  subterranean  watercourse.  Beside 
the  outlet  was  a  dry  cavern  which  presumably  was  once  con- 
nected with  the  present  river-bed,  and  has  for  some  reason  be- 
come cut  off.  It  was  only  accessible  for  a  short  distance,  large 
angular  blocks,  falling  from  the  roof  and  walls,  having 
formed  an  impassable  barrier.  This  grotto  must  have  been 
inhabited  by  numerous  bats,  as  the  floor  was  strewn  with  their 


94  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  April, 

faeces,  and  also  with  the  rejected  wings  of  insects.  The  river- 
course  itself,  though  at  the  time  of  my  visit  dr}^  is  after  heavy 
rains  traversed  by  a  mountain  torrent,  which  evidently  floods 
right  up  to  the  roof,  as  debris  of  all  kinds,  branches  of  trees, 
sods  of  turf,  &c.,  were  jammed  into  all  crevices,  even  in  the 
roof.  Consequently  no  animals  of  the  typical  cave-fauna  were 
to  be  found. 

We  entered  at  the  end  of  the  cave  where  the  stream  dis- 
charges itself,  and  noticed  that  just  inside  the  exit,  where  ex- 
posure to  weather  had  enlarged  the  calibre  of  the  cave,  there 
were  two  colonies  of  Daubenton's  Bat  (  Vespertilio  Dazibeiitonii), 
clustered  together  in  crevices  in  the  roof  like  swarms  of  bees. 
I  captured  five  specimens  with  some  difficulty ;  they  were  all 
males,  and  two  of  them  can  now  be  seen  in  the  Science  and 
Art  Museum,  Dublin. 

The  invertebrates  found  in  this  cave  had  evidently  been 
accidentally  brought  in  by  floods,  with  the  exception  of  two 
large  spiders,  Meta  Menardii  and  ]\Ieta  Meriaiice,  which  Mr. 
Carpenter,  who  has  kindly  identifled  the  invertebrates  col- 
lected, tells  me  often  inhabit  the  entrances  to  caves.  The 
other  invertebrates  were  a  water-bug,  ]/elia  ac7're7is,  and  two 
flies  belonging  to  the  genera  Erioptern  and  Molophilus. 

On  leaving  this  cave  Mr.  Knight  invited  me  to  lunch  at  the 
Rectory,  and,  when  there,  showed  me  a  Bat  that  he  had  killed 
in  his  room  on  the  previous  night.  This  proved  to  be  the 
Whiskered  Bat  ( Vespertilio  Diystacinus),  another  of  our  rarer 
Irish  species.  This  specimen,  a  male,  is  now  in  the  Science 
and  Art  Museum,  Dublin.  Some  time  after  I  left  Enniskillen 
Mr.  Knight  sent  me  a  specimen  of  the  Hairy- armed  Bat 
(  Vesperugo  Leisleri)  taken  in  his  house,  a  female  Daubenton's 
Bat,  and  a  lyOng-Kared  Bat  {Plecottcs  auritus)  captured  in  the 
dry  cavern  to  which  I  have  already  referred. 

After  lunch  we  explored  Coolarkin,  a  cave  of  considerable 
dimensions,  and  one  which  must  once  have  been  traversed  by 
a'  river  of  large  size.  All  that  now  remains  of  the  river  is  a 
small  stream  that  sinks  into  the  floor  of  the  cave  close  to  the 
entrance,  meeting  no  doubt  some  watercourse  at  a  greater 
depth.  But,  from  the  presence  of  flood-rubbish  further  in,  I 
infer  that  in  floods  a  stream  of  some  kind  traverses  it,  though 
the  gi!i^ater  part  is  always  dry.    Any  stream  rising  in  the  neigh- 


iS96.]    Jameson. — Caves  of  EnnisJdllc7i  and  Mitchcls town.      95 

bourhood  could  occupy  but  a  small  part  of  the  vast  capacity  of 
this  cave,  which  is  in  places  fully  forty  feet  high,  and  fifteen  or 
twenty  feet  wide.  Unfortunately  a  couple  of  hundred  yards 
from  the  entrance  further  progress  was  prevented  by  a  heap  of 
fallen  debris  which  completely  blocked  the  way.  At  the 
inner  end  of  the  passage,  where  the  heap  of  boulders  stopped 
us,  was  a  burrow,  possibly  belonging  to  a  Badger,  and  Mr. 
Knight's  dogs  which  had  accompanied  us  showed  by  their  ex- 
citement that  the  animal  was  within.  This  further  supports 
my  belief  that  this  cave  is  in  great  part  dry  at  all  seasons. 

The  Invertebrates  I  found  here  are  all  species  which  occur 
above  ground;  they  are — a  spider,  Porrhovia  viicrophthahna, 
which  Mr.  Carpenter  tells  me  has  been  found  in  a  coal-pit, 
occurring  also  above  ground ;  Brachydesmus  siiperus,  a  blind  mil- 
lipede, which  also  occurs  above  ground  ;  luhcs  pilosics,  a 
typical  millipede  ;  Tomocerus  tridentiferus,  a  collembolan,  found 
at  Mitch elstown  by  Wright  and  Haliday  ;  recorded  by  Packard 
from  North  American  caves,  occurs  under  stones  above 
ground  •}  Velia  currcns,  the  water-bug  found  at  Bohoe  ;  a 
fungus-midge,  Sciara  Tho7ncB  ;  and  four  beetles,  Bembidium 
rufesceiis,  A7icyrop hones  omalimts,  Hclodes  ma7'oinata,  and  Co- 
prophilus  striatulus ;  the  last,  Mr.  Halbert  tells  me,  ;has  not 
hitherto  been  recorded  as  Irish.  All  these  beetles  inhabit 
moist,  marshy  places,  and  were  probably  washed  into  the  cave. 

After  leaving  Coolarkin  cave  we  visited  Bohoe  church, 
where  Mr.  Knight  informed  me  there  was  an  immense  colony  of 
bats.  We  found  a  number  of  j-oung  Pipistrelles(  Vespertigo pipi- 
strellus)  from  a  few  days  old  to  half-grown  individuals,  crawling 
about  the  floor  of  the  church,  having  fallen  through  a  hole  in 
the  ceiling.  There  must  have  been  an  immense  colony  in  the 
roof,  but  unfortunately  there  was  not  a  ladder  at  hand  to 
enable  me  to  inspect  it.  Having  collected  a  number  of  these 
young  bats  I  returned  to  Bnniskillen,  as  darkness  was  already 
coming  on. 

On  July  12th,  next  day,  I  drove  to  the  Marble  Arch,  at 
Florence- Court,  and,  after  collecting  a  few  invertebrates  about 
the  grounds,  I  was  met  by  Mr.  Bowles,  the  keeper,  who  accom- 


^  For  this  and  other  information  respecting  the  invertebrates  found  I 
am  indebted  to  Mr.  Carpenter. 


96  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  April, 

panied  me  to  the  caves.  In  the  Marble  Arch  cave,  which  is  a 
favourite  resort  for  tourists,  I  collected  a  few  invertebrates 
which,  like  those  collected  on  the  previous  day,  were  species 
which  occur  above  ground. 

This  cave  is,  I  may  here  remark,  in  its  upper  part  dry,  the 
river  that  has  carved  it  out  having  found  a  passage  on  a  lower 
level,  and  appearing  as  a  spring  some  distance  in.  Here  I 
took  Porrhoma  microphthalma,  Brachydesmus  superus,  Tomoce- 
rus  t7ide7itiferus,  and  Clivijia  fossor,  a  carabidous  beetle. 

None  of  the  other  Florence  Court  caves  were  accessible 
without  Mr.  Martel's  exploring  apparatus,  so  I  had  to  defer 
my  visits  to  them  till  his  arrival. 

On  the  i5tli  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martel  and  I  drove  to  the  Arch 
Spring,  and  Noon's  Hole,  bringing  with  us  in  a  cart  Mr.  Martel's 
copious  equipment  of  cave-exploring  apparatus.  This 
consisted  of  a  canvas  boat,  some  hundreds  of  feet  of  rope- 
ladders,  a  light  portable  folding  wooden  ladder,  ropes,  axes, 
compass,  barometer,  telephone,  maps,  &c. 

We  first  proceeded  to  Noon's  Hole,  which  is  a  vertical  shaft 
or  swallow-hole  down  which  a  stream  precipitates  itself.  Mr. 
Martel  sounded  the  shaft  with  a  lead- line  and  found  the  depth 
to  be  150  feet.  The  rope  ladders  were  then  got  ready  and  Mr. 
Martel  began  his  descent ;  he  could  not,  however,  descend 
more  than  about  60  feet,  as  the  falling  water,  which  at  the 
time  was  unusually  high,  broke  over  the  ladder  and  rendered 
further  progress  impossible.  The  descent  of  this  chasm 
would  be  made  possible  if  the  stream  could  be  for  a  time 
deflected. 

We  also  explored  Poolaneffaran,  a  pit  formed  partly  by  the 
falling  in  of  the  roof  of  an  underground  river-bed. 

The  streams  traversing  Noon's  Hole  and  Poolaneffaran  con- 
verge to  form  the  Arch  spring,  where  they  discharge  them- 
selves through  a  beautiful  grotto,  and  form  a  waterfall.  In 
the  Arch  spring  I  found  Meta  Meriance. 

dn  the  i6th  we  visited  the  Marble  Arch,  bringing  the  same 
equipment.  Here  we  were  met  by  Mr.  Bowles  and  his  son, 
who  accompanied  us  to  the  caves.  Several  streams,  meeting 
underground,  flow  out  at  the  source,  under  the  '*  Marble 
Arch,"  a  beautiful  natural  archway,  cut  off  from  the  cave. 


1S96.I      Jamkson. — Caves  of  Ennhkillen  and  MUchehfoum,     97 

The  first  cavern  we  explored  we  gained  access  to  by  means 
of  an  entrance  at  the  bottom  of  a  pit,  formed  evidently  by  the 
falling  in  of  a  part  of  the  roof.  After  exploring  several  dry 
galleries  and  a  vertical  swallow-hole  opening  on  the  hill 
above  us,  we  found  on  a  lower  level  the  river  itself.  Further 
progress  was  impossible  without  the  boat,  as  a  large 
and  deep  pool,  an  expansion  of  the  underground  stream, 
barred  our  way.  The  boat  was  brought  into  the  cave,  its 
constituent  parts  filling  two  large  canvas  bags,  and  was  put 
together ;  by  this  means  we  were  able  to  investigate  this 
hitherto  unexplored  river.  A  detailed  account  of  this 
** voyage"  would  occupy  too  much  space,  and  no  doubt  it 
will  in  due  time  be  fully  described  by  Mr.  Martel.  The  stream 
was  *'  navigable  "  for  about  300  yards. 

We  afterwards  investigated  some  small  swallow-holes  which 
mark  above  ground  the  course  of  these  streams.  The  chief 
stream,  the  Monaster,  as  it  is  called,  enters  upon  its  subter- 
ranean course  at  Poolawaddy. 

Above  this  its  course  is  through  a  deep  narrow  gorge,  which 
ends  in  a  cliff,  into  a  cavern  in  which  the  stream  falls.  I  was 
informed  that  in  heavy  floods  the  volume  of  water  in  this 
gorge  is  so  much  greater  than  the  cave  can  quickly  drain  off 
that  the  valle}^  becomes  a  deep  lake. 

This  day's  work  completed  our  Enniskillen  explorations, 

From  the  22nd  to  the  25th  of  July  I  was  engaged  exploring 
Mitchelstown  Cave.  I  will  not  attempt  any  description  of 
this  underground  labyrinth,  as  it  has  now  been  completely 
mapped  by  Mr.  Martel,  who  is  publishing  in  this  number  of 
the  Irish  NaUtralist  a  description  and  plan  of  it.  It  was  dis- 
covered some  sixty  j^ears  ago  by  the  grandfather  of  the 
present  tenant  of  the  land  on  which  is  the  entrance  ;  he  broke 
into  one  of  the  obstructed  swallow-holes  when  quarrying. 
This  is  the  only  known  opening.  The  so-called  "  river  "  is 
only  a  little  pool  of  water  in  a  basin  of  rock.  I  fully  explored 
it,  crossing  over  to  the  opposite  side  of  it.  I  found  that  its 
high -water  line  is  marked  all  round  by  a  calcareous  deposit, 
and,  when  it  is  flooded  up  to  this,  it  empties  itself  by  a  small 
opening,  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  into  some  deeper  and 
unexplored  chamber. 

^3 


g8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  April, 

Although  no  opening  is  known  except  the  artificial  one  by 
which  we  entered,  the  presence  of  a  number  of  specimens 
of  an  above-ground  staphylinid  beetle,  Ancyrophorus  omalinus, 
all  dead,  and  floating  on  the  surface  of  another  small  pool  of 
water  (about  eight  or  ten  feet  in  diameter  and  a  foot  deep) 
points  to  the  fact  that  water  has  access  from  the  outer  world 
otherwise  than  by  infiltration. 

In  the  passage  called  the  ''  Mud  Cave,"  which  is  the  deepest 
part,  is  a  vertical  shaft,  the  walls  of  which  are  thickly  coated 
with  fine  red  extremely  stick}^  mud,  so  that  descent  without 
ropes  would  be  impossible  ;  I  tried  to  get  down,  but  the  mud, 
sticking  to  my  boots  in  large  masses,  threatened  to  pull  me 
down  more  rapidly  than  would  have  been  pleasant,  so  I  had  to 
leave  it.  This  .shaft  has  never  been  explored,  but  as  it  is  in  the 
deepest  known  part  of  thecave  I  feel  pretty  certain  that  if  it 
could  be  followed  it  would  be  found  to  lead  into  some  deeper 
passages,  and  perhaps  to  the  bed  of  the  river  that  must  in 
former  times  have  drained  the  cave.  Mr.  Martel,  however, 
does  not  attach  much  importance  to  this  pit,  but  he  has  very 
generously  made  me  an  offer  that,  if  I  wish  to  carry  out  further 
explorations,  he  will  lend  me  some  of  his  ladders.  About  four 
or  five  hundred  yards  west  of  the  entrance  is  a  swallow- 
hole,  which  opens  on  the  side  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  valley 
north  of  the  caves.  This  the  guide  informed  me  has  once  or 
twice  been  partly  explored,  but  he  could  tell  me  nothing  about 
it,  except  that  he  believed  there  was  a  river  in  some  of  the 
passages.  It  is  not  known  to  communicate  with  the  other 
cave.  The  man  who  drove  me  from  Mitchelstown  to  the  caves 
informed  me  that  there  was  a  large  spring  a  couple  of  miles 
south  of  the  cave,  but  I  could  get  no  further  information 
about  it.     The  dip  of  the  strata  is  towards  the  south. 

The  invertebrates  I  collected  at  Mitchelstown  have  all  been 
identified  by  Mr.  Carpenter  ;   they  are — 

MiTKS. 
Gaviastis  attcnnatus ;    found  in  several   parts   of  the   cave, 
chiefly  under  paper  and  other  refuse  left  by  tourists. 

Spidkrs. 
Porrhoma  my  ops ;   discovered  by  Mr.  Carpenter  in  1894  ^^^ 
recorded  in  his  paper. 


1896.  j      Jamkson. — Caves  of  Enniskillcn  and  Mitchehto7V7i,     99 

Leptyphaiitcs pallidus ;  new  to  the  Irish  fauna  ;  Mr.  Carpenter 
tells  me  it  is  a  rare  species  which  has  been  found  by 
Pickard-Cambridge  in  Dorsetshire,  at  roots  of  heather ; 
also  in  caves  in  France  and  Bavaria  ;  unlike  the  former 
species  it  has  large  eyes.  Both  these  species  occurred 
in  the  driest  parts  of  the  cave,  under  stones,  and  one 
or  two  specimens  (?  species)  in  webs  among  the  boulders, 

Myriapoda. 
Brachydesmtis  sjipcrus;  found  also  in  some  of  the  Knniskillen 
caves. 

C0I.LKMB0I,A. 

Tomoccrus  trident  if  cms;  see  remarks  on  this  species  under 
Coolarkin  Cave. 

Sinella  cavernicola ;  occurred  everywhere ;  on  the  whole 
I  found  this  species  frequenting  drier  spots  than  the 
Lipura.  Mr.  Carpenter  tells  me  that  my  series  of 
Si7iella  shows  the  species  to  be  very  variable  in  its  an- 
tennal  joints. 

Lipura  Wrightii ;  in  almost  every  nook  and  corner  of  the 
cave,  dry  or  damp,  outnumbering  all  the  other  species. 

Bekti^ks. 

Ancyropho}ns  omaliniis;  mentioned  before,  probably  washed 

in. 
Trechus  micros  ;  taken  alive  under  stones. 

Besides  these  ''  natives  "  of  the  cave,  as  with  the  exception 
of  Ancyrophoriis  they  may  all  more  or  less  be  called,  I  found  a 
frog,  a  specimen  of  Pterostichus  vulgaris  (beetle),  and  a  fungus 
midge  belonging  to  the  genus  Sciara ;  these  had  evidently 
wandered  in,  and  got  lost  in  the  darkness. 

A  small  mollusc,  taken  in  some  numbers,  has  been  identified 
b}^  Dr.  Scharff  as  Hyalina  co7ttracfa,  this  is  the  second  British 
record  ;  first  found  at  Killarney  by  Dr.  Scharfi" ;  occurs  in 
Sweden,  Germany,  France,  and  Switzerland  ;  all  the  members 
of  this  genus  live  in  concealed  localities. 

When  an  attempt  is  made  to  group  together  the  various 
animals  collected  at  Knniskillen  and  Mitchelstown,  in  relation 
to  the  physical  conditions  of  the  caves  they  were  found  in,  it 
appears  that  they  fall  into  several  divisions. 

A4 


lOo  The  Irish  Naturalist.  i  April, 

(i.)  Species  inhabiting  the  entrances  to  caves,  near  the 
light,  Ui^ing  the  cave  as  a  convenient  hiding-place  \  such  are 
the  two  vSpecies  of  Mda,  perhaps  Lcptyphantcs  pallidus,  and  the 

bats. 

(ii.)  Species  which  have  wandered  into  the  caves,  accident- 
ally, perhaps,  or  have  been  washed  in  by  floods,  and  are  so 
to  speak  "  fish  out  of  water;"  examples  of  such  are  the  water- 
bugs  and  crane-flies  from  Bohoe  ;  lulus,  Velia,  Sciara  and  the 
beetles  from  Coolarkin  ;  Clivina  fossor  from  the  Marble  Arch  ; 
and  the  frog,  Pterosticlms,  Sciara,  and  Ancyrophorus  from 
Mitchelstown. 

(iii.)  The  Troglodytes;  only  found  in  Mitchelstown,  e.g, 
Lipura,  Sinella  and  Porrhoma  my  ops. 

(iv.)  Those  species  which  do  not  fall  under  any  of  these  three 
groups  seem  to  me  to  form  a  division  intermediate  in  position 
betw^een  the  last  two,  and  in  most  cases  inhabiting  caves 
which  present  conditions  intermediate  between  Bohoe  and 
Mitchelstown  caves,  which  I  may  safely  take  as  the  extremes 
of  my  series.  Such  are  Tomoccrus  tridaitiferus,  Brachydcsvms 
supeyus,  and  Porrhoma  miaophthalma,  which  seem  to  be 
equally  at  home  above  ground  and  underground.  These 
creatures  seemed  quite  at  home  in  Coolarkin,  and  the  dry 
part  of  the  Marble  Arch  cave,  and  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  Brachydcsmus  and  his  companions  in  darkness  may  have 
lived  and  multiplied  there  for  many  generations,  undisturbed 
by  any  such  catastrophes  as  the  floods  that  characterize 
Bohoe  cave. 

While  fully  aware  of  the  great  gap  that  exists  between  a 
cave-fauna  of  this  type  and  that  of  Mitchelstown,  I  see  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  at  one  time  the  Mitchelstown  fauna 
was  one  somewhat  of  this  type,  consisting  of  a  few  unwary 
animals  which  got  into  the  cave  and  had  to  make  the  best  of 
it ;  the  isolation  and  probably  much  greater  age  of  the 
Mitchelstown  fauna  may  account  for  their  specialization  ;  and 
if 'SO,  provided  that  among  the  many  unexplored  caves  of 
Ireland  we  can  find  some  presenting  conditions  intermediate 
between  those  w^e  find  in  Coolarkin  and  in  Mitchelstown,  we 
may  almost  hope  to  fill  up  some  of  the  gaps  in  the  history 
of  the  evolution  of  cave-faunas. 


Irish  Naturalist  Vol  VJ 


C  Plate  2 . 


(All  ri^Tils  j^eserved) 


Entrcxnce  ZacloUr 


w- 


n- 


\Saru:i  CoLve 


ct 


MITCHELSTOWN    GAVE 

Surveyed  by  E.  A.  Mabtel, 
24th  JULY,   iSgs, 

Total  length  oyer  IJ  mile. 
Inlet  of  percolating  waters     ...         :^->;  ~^"~ 
Outlet         do.  do- 

Slopes  ...  ...  ...        1 

Boulders  or  narrow  clefts  ■". 


^, 


-^^ 


1  Lot's  Wife 

2  Bedroom 

3  House  of  Oommona 

4  House  of  Lords 

5  Diamond  Bock 

6  Cathedral 

7  Four  Roads 

8  Pit 

9  GaUery  of  Arches 

10  BaU-room 

11  Pour  Courts 

12  Blind  Insects 

13  Chimney 

14  Shaft 


1S96.]  loi 

MITCHEI.STOWN  CAVE. 


BY  E.  A.  M ARTEL, 

President  of  the  Society  Spel^ologique,  Paris. 

Pirate  2. 

The  most  celebrated  and  the  largest  cave  in  Ireland  is  in  the 

county  of  Tipperary,  in  the  south  of  the  island ;  it  is  that  of 

Mitchelstown,  and  is  situated  twelve  miles  east  of  this  town. 

It  was  discovered  on  the  2nd  of  May,  1833,  by  a  stone- 
breaker,  named  Cowden  :  it  is  referred  to  in  various  descrip- 
tive works,  and  frequently  visited  by  tourists;  but  it  has 
never  t)een  completely  described,  and  the  plan  of  it  remained 
unfinished.'  It  was  supposed  to  contain  a  subterranean  river, 
and  many  unexplored  passages. 

On  the  24th  of  July,  1895,  I  spent  six  hours  visiting  all  the 
accessible  corners,  and  drawing  out  the  short  topographical 
survey  here  given,  which  will  prevent  the  necessity  of  a  long 
analysis.  My  survey  does  not  offer  any  new  peculiarity,  and 
I  will  confine  myself  to  a  brief  indication  of  the  principal 
features.  Hollowed  out  under  a  hill  which  overlooks  the 
surrounding  plains,  this  cave  does  not  seem  to  be  in  connec- 
tion with  any  actual  river. 

The  cave  of  Mitchelstown  has  been  formed,  like  others,  by 
the  drainage  of  superficial  waters,  at  an  epoch  when  they  were 
much  more  abundant  than  they  are  in  our  days.  In  the  inte- 
rior the  galleries  offer  two  different  aspects ;  some  of  them, 
the  largest,  have  served  and  serve  still  as  swallow-holes  for 
the  w^aters  from  without;  they  are — ist,  the  Entrance  Gallery, 
which  is  the  highest,  being  13  yards  in  altitude  at  the  mouth ; 
the  orifice  of  this  galler\'  was  discovered,  by  chance,  in  the 
working  of  a  quarry ;  2nd,  the  double  avenue,  with  parallel 
branches,  of  the  Kingston  Gallery  and  Sand  Cave,=  where  the 
effects  of  the  erosion  and  corrosion  have  produced  the  most 
curious  sections  (see  the  two  transverse  cuts  of  Sand  Cave)  ; 


*Apjohn  :  Journal  Geological  Soc.  of  Dublin^  vol.  i.,  1833,  pages  103-111. 
Rev.  Canon  Courtenay  Moore  :  lournal  of  the  Cork  Historical  and  Arc/neoL 
Soc,  January,  1894. 

Dublin  Penny  Journal^  27  Dec,  1S34. 

=  Eighty  yards  long,  and  not  forty-cue,  as  stated  by  Rev.  Courtenay 
Moore.  "-' '  *' 


102  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [April, 

3rd,  the  west  side  of  the  hall  called  the  House  of  Lords  ;  4th,  the 
long  eastern  corridor  which  retains,  clearly  marked,  the  traces 
of  the  passage  of  a  subterranean  stream  (O'Callaghan's  Cave 
and  Brogden's  Cave) ;  5th,  and  lastly,  several  fissures  situated  at 
the  south-west  angle,  and  near  O'Leary's  Cave.  Bach  of  these 
parts  is  terminated  by  an  ascending  slope,  ruins  of  vaults,  or 
rubbish  washed  in  from  the  exterior,  which  obstruct  them  com- 
pletely, as  I  have  already  seen  in  the  ancient  draining  passages, 
now  stopped  up,  of  Bramabiau,  France,  of  Adelsberg,  Austria, 
etc.  They  are  filled-up  swallow-holes.  The  other  fissures, 
generally  narrower,  and  situated  in  the  lower  parts  of  the 
cave,  have  conducted  these  waters  no  one  knows  where,  either 
to  some  undetermined  and  distant  outlet,  or  even  into  the 
depths  of  the  terrestrial  shell ;  they  are  rendered  impenetrable 
sometimes  by  broken  pieces  of  stone,  as  at  the  extremity  of 
Garret  Cave,  sometimes  by  the  narrowness  of  the  clefts,  which 
become  more  and  more  contracted  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
cave  ;  this  last  disposition  is  exactly  like  that  of  the  large 
grotto  of  Cro  de  Grandville,  or  of  Miremont,  in  the  Dordogne 
(see  *Xes  Abinies,"^  chap,  xx.),  and  we  ask  ourselves  if,  like  the 
latter,  the  cave  of  Mitchelstown  has  not  served  as  a  receptacle 
for  some  great  lake  of  ancient  times,  which  has  emptied  itself 
into  it.  The  lowest  part  of  the  cave  is,  at  most,  thirt3'-three 
yards  below  the  level  of  the  entrance,  and  not  one  hundred 
yards  as  is  stated  in  the  guide  book. 

The  checkered  disposition  of  the  diaclases  (upright  joints, 
generally  perpendicular  to  the  joints  of  stratification)  is  re- 
markable in  the  southern  portion  (see  plan) ;  three  sets  of 
fissures  perpendicular  to  each  other  have  there  cut  out  large 
polyhedrons  of  rock,  often  quite  cubic,  the  right-angled 
interstices  of  which  have  let  out  the  waters  that  have  gradu- 
ally widened  them  out ;  in  depth  they  get  more  contracted 
the  more  they  branch  out ;  bCvSides  they  have  been  in  a  great 
measure  coagulated  by  the  clay,  which  comes  either  from  the 
outside  or  from  the  chemical  decomposition  of  the  interior 
rock  which  has  become  corroded. 

The  Well  (No.  8)  marked  in  the  Gallery  of  Distaffs  is 
impracticable  on  account  of  the  glutinous  mud  with  which 
it  is  covered. 


'E.  A.  Martel:  Les  Abmts,    Paris:  Delagtave,  1894,  in  4to,  570  pp.,  loo 
engravings,  200  plans,  and  20  plates. 


1^96-]  MARTEt. — Mitcheistowit  Cave*  103 

The  rock,  according  to  Mr.  Kinahan,  is  the  same  (Car- 
boniferous) as  at  Cong,  where  the  actual  waters  probably 
circulate  in  a  network  of  crevices  of  this  kind.  We  compre- 
hend why  the  galleries  of  absorption  are  nearly  all  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  grotto  (except  Garret  Cave)  when  we 
remark  that  such  is  the  general  direction  of  the  dip  (at  40®) 
of  the  calcareous  strata. 

Certain  diaclases  have  been  widened  out  into  distaff  shape 
and  communicate  with  each  other  under  the  low  strata  which 
have  not  been  carried  away,  as  at  the  source  of  Marble  Arch 
cave  near  Knniskillen,  County  Fermanagh. 

There  are  no  longer  any  traces  of  running  water  in  Mitchels- 
town  Cave,  at  least  in  summer ;  the  so-called  *'  river"  is  a  pool 
of  stagnant  water  ten  yards  long  by  half  a  yard  or  one  yard 
in  depth  and  width,  which  has  taken  refuge  in  an  impervious 
hollow  ;  there  is  another  basin  near  the  hall  of  the  Four 
Courts  ',  both  are  produced  by  infiltration  ;  their  temperature 
is  10^  Cent.,  the  air  of  the  grotto  being  (in  two  different  points) 
io'5^  Cent. 

One  will  remark  on  the  plan,  and  on  the  vertical  section  of 
OXeary's  Cave,  the  indescribable  entanglement  of  three  stories 
of  superposed  galleries  ;  they  communicate  by  a  very  narrow 
''chimney."  The  subterranean  waters  have  accomplished 
there  a  singularly  complicated  work  of  mining. 

From  a  picturesque  point  of  view  the  cave  of  Mitchelstown 
is  much  inferior  to  those  of  Adelsberg,  Dargilon,  Padirac, 
Han-sur-Lesse,  etc.  Its  highest  vault  is  only  ten  yards  high  ; 
the  galleries  of  Kingston,  Sand  Cave,  and  the  Cathedral  are 
nevertheless  very  remarkable  in  form.  The  most  part  of  the 
calcareous  concretions  do  not  deserve  the  attention  that  the 
guide-book  demands  for  them  ;  and  unfortunately,  the  pret- 
tiest stalactites,  which  would  look  well  in  any  cavern,  are 
situated  in  Brogden's  Cave,  the  access  to  which  being  very 
difficult,  is  quite  impracticable  to  tourists.  At  the  cross-way 
marked  on  the  plan  "  difficult  passage,''  the  local  guide  who 
alone  accompanied  me,  and  who  had  only  been  there  once, 
when  a  child,  twenty-five  years  before,  completely  lost  his 
way  ;  we  were  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  compass  and 
to  the  plan  I  had  drawn  out,  to  find  the  passage  again.  It  is 
a  great  pity,  for  the  little  lateral  chamber  in  Brogdeu's  Cave 


io4  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  April, 

which  I  name  '*  the  Chapel,"  is  a  real  gem,  provided  with  the 
thinnest  of  curtains,  and  the  finest  needles  of  brilliant  white 
carbonate  of  lime.  In  spite  of  the  restricted  dimensions, 
there  is  a  marvellous  corner  there,  which  has  not  its  equal  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  cave,  even  in  the  hall  called  *'  Cust's  Cave," 
which  is  also  pretty  well  ornamented.  It  was  supposed  that 
this  gallery  of  the  ancient  stream  (O'Callaghan's  and  Brog- 
den's  Caves)  had  never  been  explored  to  the  end  :  this  is  not 
correct.  I  found,  at  a  few  steps  from  the  extremity,  on  a 
ledge  of  the  vault,  three  inscriptions  :  *'  Raymond,  May,  1840  " ; 
"  Brogden  (whose  name  has  been  given  to  the  last  corridor), 
5th  October,  1868";  the  third  was  illegible.  So  that  all  the 
grotto  was  known  (except  some  little  clefts  in  the  south-west, 
into  which  I  crawled  with  great  trouble  and  without  any 
result).  But  it  is  very  possible  that  the  talus  of  broken  stones 
which  blocks  up  the  end  of  Brogden's  Cave,  is  not  a  real  end, 
but  that  a  partial  falling  in  of  the  vault  has  only  obstructed 
the  gallery  ;  it  would  be  very  interesting  to  make  a  clearing 
there  to  seek  if  there  does  not  exist  a  prolongation  of  the 
beautiful  gallery  of  the  dried-up  stream. 

To  sum  up,  three  things  are  remarkable  in  Mitchelstown 
Cave  : — 

ist.  Its  ramification  in  every  direction,  and  the  infinite  sub- 
divisions of  its  central  part. 

2nd.  Its  extent,  which  attains  and  even  exceeds,  including 
all  the  passages,  one  mile  and  a  quarter ;  this  must  be  the 
longest  cave,  yet  known,  in  the  British  Isles. 

3rd.  Its  blind  fauna.  It  is  the  only  grotto  in  England, 
Scotland,  or  Ireland,  where,  up  to  the  present  time,  there 
have  been  found  animals  peculiar  only  to  caverns. ^  Mr.  H. 
I^yster  Jameson  occupied  himself  during  several  days  in  the 
month  of  Jul}^,  1895,  in  collecting  specimens,  and  he  has  the 
intention  of  making  a  further  study  of  them. 

The  cave  of  Mitchelstown,  even  in  the  parts  that  are  shown 
to  the  public,  is  not  at  all  easy  to  go  through  ;  the  Chimney 
and  all  the  parts  round  about  it  (O'Leary's  Cave)  are  nearly 
impracticable  to  ladies. 


^  See  G.  H.  Carpenter  1  Animals  found  in  Mitchelstown  Cave,  Irish 
Naturalist^  February,  1895,  Dublin  ;  and  BtdUtitt  dc  la  Socicte  de  Spdeologie^ 
No.  I,  1895,  p.  44, 


1S96.]  MARTKt. — Mitchclstown  Cave  105 

It  appears  that  there  have  never  been  found  in  it  any  bones 
of  animals  no  longer  existing,  and  this  fact  is  explained  by 
remarking  the  absence  of  any  known  large  natural  opening. 
This  is  plausible  ;  nevertheless,  for  want  of  serious  excavations 
the  question  cannot  be  considered  as  decided. 

Peasants  told  Mr.  Jameson,  that  on  a  hill,  situated  at  about 
400  yards  from  the  entrance  of  the  cave,  there  exists  a  natural 
well  (abj^ss),  which  had  only  been  insufficiently  explored,  but 
where,  nevertheless,  a  current  of  water  had  been  met  with.  It 
would  be  a  good  thing  to  verify  and  complete  this  indication. 

Finall}^  the  cave  of  Mitchclstown  may  still  be  considered 
as  a  worthy  object  for  interesting  future  work  and  research. 


BOTANY  AT  DUBININ  UNIVERSITY. 


Notes  from  the  Botanical  School  of  Trinity  College,  Dutilln ; 

No.  I,  February,  1896.     Printed  at  the  University  Press. 

In  this  brochure  of  thirty- four  pages  we  have  cheering  evidence  of  the 
vitality  of  botanical  studies  in  Trinit}^  College.  Two  of  the  three  items 
of  which  these  Notes  are  made  up  are  contributed  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Dixon,  B.A., 
Assistant  to  the  Professor  of  Botany,  and  deal  with  some  points  of  veget- 
able physiology  which  the  author  has  made  the  subject  of  observation 
in  the  botanical  laboratory  of  the  College.  The  value  of  these  contri- 
butions, entitled :  "  On  the  Chromosomes  of  Lilium  longifloyum,'"  and 
*'  On  the  Nuclei  of  the  Kndosperm  of  Fnttllaria  imperialis,^'  can  only  be 
appreciated  by  the  advanced  student  who  is  skilled  in  tracing  those 
mysterious  stirrings  of  life  which  go  on  within  the  narrow  confines  of 
the  vegetable  cell.  The  third  item  in  the  Notes,  entitled:  "The  Her- 
barium of  Trinity  College  :  a  Retrospect  "  is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  K.  P. 
Wright,  University  Professor  of  Botany.  In  this  we  find  a  strong  human 
element ;  for  the  retrospect  deals  with  the  lives  and  labours  of  some 
three  generations  of  Irish  botanists,  in  so  far,  at  least,  as  these  lives  and 
labours  were  effective  in  bringing  together  the  important  collection  of 
dried  plants  now  preserved  in  the  Trinity  College  Herbarium.  After 
all,  the  lives  of  men,  as  Mr.  Dixon  himself  will  cheerfully  admit,  stir  us 
more  deeply  than  the  lives  of  vegetable  cells ;  so  that  even  a  biologist 
may  be  excused  for  taking  a  warmer  interest  in  the  Retrospect  than  in  the 
laboratory  observations. 


lo6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [April, 

In  the  compass  of  a  few  pages  Dr.  Wright  traces  the  history  of  the 
Herbarium  and  the  Botanical  School  for  upwards  of  a  century,  from  the 
institution  of  the  botanical  professorship  in  1785,  to  the  foundation  of 
the  laboratory  in  1893.  The  most  prominent  figures  brought  before  us 
in  this  rapid  survey  are  Dr.  Edward  Hill,  first  professor  of  the  Botanical 
School ;  Dr.  William  AUman,  one  of  the  earliest  teachers  of  the  Natural 
System  in  the  Three  Kingdoms;  James  T.  Macka}^,  the  w^ell- known 
author  of  Flora  Hibernica\  Dr.  Thomas  Coulter,  who  made  botanical 
explorations  in  California  and  Central  Mexico;  and,  last  and  most 
illustrious  of  all,  Dr.  William  H.  Harvey,  facile princeps  amongst  British 
botanists  of  the  century  in  knowledge  of  the  sea-weeds  of  the  globe. 
Harvey's  indefagitable  zeal  in  building  up  the  Trinity  College  Herbarium 
is  well  shown  by  some  extracts  given  by  Dr.  Wright  from  the  memoir 
published  in  1869.  No  one  can  read  this  admirable  memoir,  almost 
entirely  made  up  of  selections  from  his  wide  correspondence,  without 
conceiving  a  strong  esteem,  not  to  say  affection,  for  the  gifted  Quaker 
botanist  who  has  done  so  much  to  illustrate  by  his  pencil  no  less  than 
his  pen,  the  flowering  plants  of  the  Cape  and  the  marine  algae  of 
Australia  and  the  South  Seas. 

It  would  appear  from  an  extract  given  us  by  Dr.  Wright  from  Harvey's 
evidence  before  the  Dublin  University  Commission  of  1853,  that  the 
College  herbarium  then  contained  upwards  of  45,000  species.  Since  that 
date  the  collection  has  grown  considerably  and  still  continues  to  grow  ; 
but  as  lack  of  funds  and  consequent  lack  of  skilled  assistance  has  pre- 
vented the  thorough  arrangement  of  the  herbarium,  its  actual  extent 
can  only  be  surmised.  It  is  satisfactory  to  learn,  however,  that  the 
department  of  algse  contains  all,  or  almost  all  the  species  described  by 
Harvey  in  his  classical  works,  Phycologia  Britannica,  Nereis  Americana, 
Nereis  Australis  and  Phycologia  Aiistralis,  and  that  the  large  collection  of 
specimens  brought  together  for  the  preparation  of  his  Flora  Capensis  is  in 
fairly  good  order.  It  is  now  thirty  years  since  Harvey's  death  brought 
the  Cape  Flora  to  an  abrupt  close,  at  the  end  of  the  Composita.  Is  there 
no  rich  and  patriotic  South  African  to  provide  the  funds  for  the  com- 
pletion of  this  work,  which  it  seems  hopeless  to  expect  either  the 
imperial  or  the  colonial  government  to  take  in  hand  }  The  extent  of 
the  General  Herbarium  of  Phanerogams  in  Trinity  College  is  well 
shown  in  the  rough  geographical  index  given  by  Dr.  Wright.  Almost 
all  quarters  of  the  globe  appear  to  be  represented  in  the  collection,  the 
only  striking  blank  being  Siberia. 

In  a  future  number  of  these  Notes  we  trust  that  we  may  find  a  brief 
history  of  the  College  Botanic  Garden  at  Ball's  Bridge. 


lSg6.]  107 

OBITUARY. 


HARRY  CORBYN   I^EVINGE. 

The  late  Mr.  H.  C.  Levinge,  D.i^.,  j.p.,  who  died  at  his  residence, 
Knockdrin  Castle,  Mullingar,  on  March  nth,  in  his  68th  year,  was  the 
ninth  and  youngest  son  of  Sir  Richard  Ivevinge,  6th  Baronet,  and  a 
member  of  an  old  Westmeath  family,  who  have  been  identified  with  that 
county  for  over  two  hundred  years.  Though  but  a  comparatively  recent 
recruit  to  the  ranks  of  Irish  botanists,  Mr.  Levinge  did  much  to  further 
our  knowledge  of  the  distribution  of  the  flowering  plants  of  this  country- 
His  three  papers  on  the  plants  of  Westmeath  in  this  Journal,  the  last  of 
which  appeared  so  lately  as  last  February,  form  highly  important  con- 
tributions to  the  flora  of  that  beautiful  and  interesting  county,  previously 
almost  unexplored  ;  and  his  wise  encouragement  of  that  remarkable  self- 
taught  botanist,  Mr.  P.  B.  O'Kelh,  of  Ballyvaughan,  resulted  in  the 
publication  of  two  plants  new  to  Ireland— Pohi/uooe^on  lanccolaitis  and 
Litnosdla  aqiiatica — the  discovery  of  both  of  which  was  due  to  Mr.  O'Kelly's 
keen  eye.  To  t\iQ  Journal  of  Bofauy  \\q^  also  contributed  occasional  notes 
of  Irish  plants,  his  most  important  paper  being  that  on  "  Neotinea  iniacta 
in  County  Clare,"  published  in  1892.  Among  those  who  had  the  privi- 
lege of  exchanging  botanical  specimens  with  him,  Mr.  Levinge's 
plants  were  famous  for  the  beauty  and  perfection  of  the  drying,  and 
his  herbarium  of  British  plants,  to  which  he  devoted  much  time,  was  a 
model  of  what  such  a  collection  should  be.  Mr.  Levinge's  devotion  to 
Irish  botany,  which  commenced  but  a  comparatively  few  years  ago,  on 
his  return  to  Ireland  after  a  long  period  of  labour  in  the  Indian  Civil 
Service,  was,  we  believe  largely  due  to  the  imobtrusive  influence  and 
enthusiasm  of  his  friend,  A.  G.  More,  who  did  so  much  to  quicken  the 
activities  of  a  whole  generation  of  Irish  botanists. 


Directory  of  Irish  Naturalists.'— A  number  of  members  of  Irish 
Field  Clubs  well  qualified  for  insertion  in  the  new  Directory  have  not  yet 
returned  the  forms  issued  with  the  February  nimiber  of  the  LN.  They 
are  requested  to  fill  them  in  and  return  them  without  delay,  as  the  list 
will  shortly  close.     Extra  forms  may  be  obtained  from  the  undersigned. 

R.  Li^OYD  Praeger, 

Sec.  Irish  Field  Club  Union 


io8  The  trisii  Naturalist.  [April, 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  IRISH  SOCIETIES. 


RoYAi.  Zooi^oGiCAi,  Society. 
Recent  donations  comprise  a  Peregrine  Falcon  from  J.  C.  Carter,  Esq 
Two  Black-backed  Jackal  cubs  have  been  born  in  the  Gardens.     Seven 
Monkeys,  two  Turkey  Vultures,  twelve  Pekin  Nightingales,   a  pair  of 
Penguins,  a  pair  of  Rose  Cockatoos,  a  pair  of  Brazilian  Caracars,  a  pair 
of  Visachas,  and  a  Coypu  have  been  purchased. 
6,335  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  February. 


Dubinin  Microscopicai,  Ci^ub. 

February  2otli. — The  Club  met  at  Mr.  Arthur  Andrews'. 

Mr.  Greenwood  Pim  showed  a  leaf  of  Gladiolus  tristis.  The  transverse 
section  is,  in  form,  an  almost  perfectly  symmetrical  Maltese  cross.  The 
tips  of.the  cross,  which  are  somewhat  convex,  are  covered  with  a  thick 
layer  of  sclerenchyma,  beneath  which  are  one  large  and  two  much 
smaller  vascular  bundles  ;  other  small  bundles  are  found  in  the  parenchy' 
matous  tissue  of  the  leaf.  The  cuticle  of  the  arms  is  covered  with 
numerous  wartlike  processes.  Towards  the  base,  the  leaf  gradually 
expands,  and  becomes  more  flattened.  This  form  of  leaf  if  not  unique 
is  at  any  rate  extremely  rare,  although  some  of  the  Irises  exhibit  a  distant 
resemblance,  being  quadrangular  with  angles  more  or  less  marked.  The 
plant  is  figured  in  Bot.  Mag,  I.,  578,  under  name  of  G.  reau'vus,  syn.  G. 
tristis. 

Prof.  T.  Johnson  showed  a  section  of  the  stem  of  Selaginella  ongana^ 
cut  lengthwise.  Vessels  were  pointed  out,  present  in  the  xyleni  (wood) 
of  the  vascular  tissue,  in  addition  to  the  tracheides.  S.  oregana  and 
S.  rtipestris  are  two  species  in  which  Harvey  Gibson  has  recently,  in  the 
course  of  an  anatomical  revision  of  the  genus  Selaginella^  discovered 
vessels  (cell-fusions),  the  characteristic  elements  in  the  w^ood  of  Dicoty- 
ledons, and  until  his  discovery  not  known  to  be  represented  in  the  wood 
of  Ferns  and  their  allies  (except  in  a  few  cases),  where  tracheides  are  the 
normal  elements.  The  section  was  made  by  Miss  Sollas  from  material 
of  a  specimen  grown  in  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Glasnevin. 

Mr.  McArdIvE  exhibited  the  leaf  cells  oi  Sphagnum  papillosum^  Lindb., 
var.  confertum,  from  plants  which  he  gathered  on  Connor-hill,  near  Dingle, 
Co.  Kerry,  in  July,  1894.  It  was  very  scarce,  and  grew  on  damp  peat 
amongst  rocks  in  short,  dense  tufts.  Specimens  were  identified  by  Dr. 
Braithwaite.  The  inner  cell-walls  are  furnished  in  a  remarkable  manner 
wit)i  rows  of  conical  papillae ;  in  this  way  and  by  its  large  size  it  approaches 
closely  the  rare  S.  Austini,  Sullivant,  leaf-cells  of  which  were  also  exhibited 
from  specimens  collected  by  Mr.  McArdle  on  Ard  bog,  King's  County,  in 
September,  1890,  and  kindly  verified  by  Dr.  Braithwaite.  The  papillae  in 
Aitstini  are  larger,  extending  for  some  distance  into  the  cells,  forming 
pectinate  rows.  A  drawing  of  the  cells  showing  the  papillae  of  both 
plants  highly  magnified  and  specimens  of  the  plants  with  their  peculiar 
branching  were  also  shown. 


1896.]  Procecdino;s  of  Irish  Societies,  109 

Dr.  C.  Herbert  Hurst  exhibited  a  pocket  microscope  made  by  Swift, 
with  an  addition  l)y  Aylward.  The  instrnment  is  contained  in  a  case 
measuring  6^  inches  by  2;  inches  by  2\  inches  outside,  and  weighs,  with 
the  case,  i  lb.  9  oz.  When  set  up  inclined  for  use  with  a  zoophyte-trough 
its  area  of  support  is  a  triangle,  the  sides  of  which  measure  5  inches, 
5  inches,  and  6  inches  respectivel}',  and  the  height  being  only  7?,  inches, 
it  possesses  extraordinary  stability  and  is  particularly  well  adapted  for 
use  at  sea.  Aylward's  addition  is  a  folding  foot  with  an  equilateral 
triangular  area  of  support,  each  side  of  which  measures  4?,  inches,  fitting 
the  instrument  for  use  in  a  vertical  position  for  examining  objects  in  a 
watch-glass  or  on  a  slide.  The  fine  adjustment  screw  is  good,  and  the 
instrument  works  well  with  powers  from  4-inch  to  jV-iiich. 

Dr.  Hurst  also  showed  Ascetta  primordialis,  Hseckel,  a  specimen  taken 
with  the  dredge  in  Rhoscolyn  Bay,  Holy  Island,  Anglesey,  May  25,  1890. 
This  exceedingly  simple  calcareous  sponge,  like  another  specimen  taken 
the  same  day,  was  found  attached  to  the  base  of  a  tuft  of  AntennnJaria 
antennina. 

Mr.  Moore  exhibited  a  pseudo-bulb  of  a  species  of  Anguloa  which 
had  been  attacked  by  a  Fungus.  The  Fungus  had  not  yet  been  identified, 
and  the  exhibit  was  to  show  the  manner  in  which  the  pseudo-bulb  was 
attacked  and  destroyed.  The  inner  tissues  were  gradually  disrupted, 
and  at  certain  spots  the  hard  epidermal  tissues  were  burst  outwards, 
small  irregular  yellow  masses  of  fungoid  growth  coming  through  the 
openings. 

Corrigendum. — In  report  of  December  meeting,  p.  51,  lines  11  and  13,  for 
*'  leaves  "  read  "  hairs." 


Bki<east  Naturai,  History  and  Phii^osophicai,  Society. 

March  3. — The   President  in  the  Chair.     Mr.   CoNWAY  ScOTT,    CE., 
lectured  on  "  The  Production  of  Ability." 


Bei,fast  Naturalists'  Fiei.d  Ci,ub. 

February  26.  —  Geoi^ogicai.  Section.  —  Mr.  F.  W.  Lockwood 
{President)  in  the  Chair.  Mr.  J.  O.  Campbei.i<.  B.E.,  gave  an  address 
on  the  polarisation  of  light,  and  its  application  to  micro-petrograph}'. 
After  a  short  preliminary  explanation  of  the  undulating  theor}'  of  light, 
the  lecturer  described  the  construction  of  the  polariscope  and  the 
manner  in  which  the  phenomena  of  polarisation  arise.  The  methods 
employed  by  petrologists  to  utilise  polarised  light  in  examining  and 
determining  minerals  was  illustrated  by  blackboard  diagrams,  and  the 
practical  application  of  the  method  to  the  study  of  crystals  in  rock 
sections  was  explained.  The  paper  was  especially  useful  in  anticipation 
of  Professor  Cole's  approaching  course  on  field  geology,  when  the 
evenings  will  be  devoted  to  a  course  on  the  study  of  rock-sections. 
Rock-specimens  were  presented  by  Messrs.  L.  M.  Bell,  R.  Bell,  J.  O. 
Campbell,  and  the  Honorar}'  Secretary, 


no  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [April, 

February  29.— Botanicai.  Section.— Rev.  C.  H.  WaddeIvI.  described 
the  dermal  tissues  of  plants  and  the  various  kinds  of  hairs  and  glands. 
A  number  of  spring  flowers  illustrating  various  genera  which  the 
members  had  brought  in  were  then  examined. 

March  5. — Microscopicai<  Section. — The  President  of  the  section, 
Rev.  John  Andrew,  opened  the  meeting  by  a  few  remarks  dealing  with 
the  practical  work  connected  with  microscopy.  Mr.  Andrew  introduced  a 
practical  lesson  on  the  making  of  rock-sections  for  the  microscope  bj-  a 
short  paper,  the  points  of  which  were  illustrated  by  specimens  of  chips  in 
the  various  stages  of  preparation.  The  paper  and  the  practical  illustrations 
of  how  to  proceed  were  instructive,  and  may  encourage  some  of  our 
microscopists  among  the  geologists  to  try  their  hand.  After  some  conver- 
sational remarks,  the  President  called  upon  Mr.  W.  B.  Drummond,  M.B., 
CM.,  to  read  a  short  paper,  entitled  "  Hints  on  collecting  marine  zoo- 
logical specimens."  Marine  field  w^ork  naturally  divides  itself  into  three 
sections,  viz. — The  study  of  the  littoral  fauna,  by  shore-hunting  ;  of  the 
surface  fauna,  by  tow-netting ;  of  the  fauna  of  the  sea-bottom,  by  dredg- 
ing or  trawling.  The  tow-net,  dredge,  and  trawl,  and  their  uses,  were 
described.  Also  the  processes  of  killing,  fixing,  hardening,  staining,  and 
mounting.  In  preparing  delicate  specimens  the  process  of  fixing  is  par- 
ticularly important,  as,  if  not  resorted  to,  changes  in  the  microscopic 
appearances  occur  very  rapidly.  Less  delicate  specimens,  such  as  the 
copepods,  may  be  simply  hardened  in  dilute  spirit  and  mounted  in  glyce- 
rine jelly.  The  technique  of  mounting  and  staining  will  be  found  very 
fully  described  in  Bolles  Lee's  "  Microtomist's  Vade  Mecum."  After  the 
reading  of  the  papers,  the  members  present  examined  some  fine  rock- 
sections  of  Mr.  Charles  Elcock,  shown  by  different  instruments,  but  the 
centre  of  attraction  was  around  the  microscopes  of  Messrs.  James  Stelfox 
and  W.  S.  M'Kee,  who  were  showing  working  specimens  of  that  very 
beautiful  and  interesting  little  artisan,  the  Melicerta,  and  other  living 
organisms. 

Dubinin  Naturai^ists'  Fiei.d  Ci^ub. 

March  9.— The  President  (Prof.  GrEnvii^i^E  C01.E)  in  the  chair. 

Mr.  R.  Li^.  Praeger  described  a  pine  forest  buried  below  marine  clay 
on  the  foreshore  near  Bray. 

On  the  top  of  the  Boulder-clay  and  glacial  gravels  is  a  bed  of  coarse 
grey  sand,  without  marine  organisms.  Overlying  this  is  the  old  forest 
bed,  a  peaty  deposit  about  a  foot  thick,  full  of  trunks,  branches,  and 
roots  of  the  Scotch  Fir,  and  yielding  its  cones  in  hundreds.  Overlying 
this  is  fine  blue  clay  full  of  marine  shells  such  as  are  found  on  muddy 
shores  between  tide-marks.  This  clay  is  in  one  place  over  six  feet  deep. 
Above  all  is  the  coarse  shingle  of  the  existing  beach.  The  various 
changes  of  level  and  conditions,  which  this  series  proves,  were  pointed 
out,  and  specimens  of  the  different  beds  exhibited.  The  paper  will 
shortly  appear  in  our  pages. 

•     A  discussion  ensued  in  which  Mr.  H.  L.  Jameson,  Prof,  Johnson,  Mr, 
N.  Colgan,  and  Prof  Cole  took  part- 


T896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  1 1 1 

Mr.  Greenwood  Pim,  m.a.,  then  exhibited  an  attachment  for  taking 
photographs  of  objects  vertically  under  or  over  the  camera.  Prof  T. 
Johnson  showed  slides  illustrating  Parasitic  Flowering  Plants.  Mr.  R 
IvivOYD  Praeger  exhibited  a  calcareous  deposit  from  Brackenstown 
River.  Mr.  H.  J.  Seymour  showed  a  micro-section  of  nepheline  phono- 
lite  from  Blackball  Head,  Bantry  Ba}- ;  and  Mr.  Greenwood  Pim  ex- 
hibited a  remarkably  fine  specimen  of  Pingiiicnla  caitdata,  a  Mexican 
Butterwort ;  Mrs.  Ross  exhibited  named  varieties  of  Daffodils,  grown  by 
Miss  Currv,  Lisraore. 


Cork  Naturai^ists'  F1E1.D  Ci^ub. 

C  ON  VERvSAZIONE. 

In  the  Ball  Room  of  the  Imperial  Hotel  an  agreeable  re-union,  jointly 
promoted  by  the  Cork  Historical  and  Archaeological  Society'  and  the 
Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  took  place  on  the  evening  of  March  loth. 
The  attendance  was  large,  both  bodies  being  influentially  represented, 
while  there  were  several  visitors,  including  some  from  the  Dublin 
Naturalists'  Field  Club.  A  musical  programme  was  a  feature  of  the 
Conversazione.     Tea  was  served  between  7  and  8. 

An  excellent  and  varied  series  of  exhibits  occupied  the  walls  and  table 
of  the  hall.     They  included  the  following  items  : — 

Professor  G.  A.  J.  Cole,  F.G.S. — i.  Rhyolitic  Lavas,  including  Natural 
Glass  from  the  Volcano  of  Tardree,  Go.  Antrim  ;  2.  Enlarged  photographs 
of  the  higher  Alps,  b}'-  the  late  W.  F,  Donkin.  Professor  T.  Johnston, 
D.  Sc,  Dublin  N.F.C. — i.  Alpine  flowers,  prepared  by  Lady  Rachel  Saun- 
derson ;  2.  Coloured  drawings  of  Freshwater  Algae,  by  M.  C.  Cooke ;  3. 
Rare  Irish  seaweeds.  G.  H.  Carpenter,  B.  Sc,  Dublin  N.F.C. — i.  Set  of 
Irish  moths,  illustrating  variation;  2.  Insects,  illustrating  protective 
coloration  and  mimicry.  R.  Lloyd  Praeger — i.  Flowering  plants,  Galway 
excursion,  1895  ;  2,  Rare  Irish  flowering  plants.  W.  H.  Phillips,  Belfast 
N.F.C. — Nature  prints  of  rare  varieties  of  British  ferns.  Robert  Welch, 
Belfast  N.F.C. — Photographs  of  Galway  Field  Club  Conference  and 
Excursion,  1895.  Professor  M.  Hartog,  m.a.,  D.  vSc.  Queen's  College — 
Type  specimens  of  Rotifers,  prepared  by  C.  Rousselet,  f.r.m.s.  ;  2.  Live 
objects  illustrating  pond  life.  Miss  H.  A.  Martin— Siamese  flowers, 
pressed,  mounted  and  named  by  Mrs.  G.  H.  Grindrod,  Bangkok.  R.  A. 
Phillips — I.  Rare  and  characteristic  plants  of  Co.  Cork;  2.  Land  and 
fresh- water  shells,  j.  J.  Wolfe,  Skibbereen — Some  British  moths  and 
butterflies.  The  Misses  Chillingworth  and  Lester — Fifty  botanical  speci- 
mens from  Crosshaven,  pressed  and  mounted.  W.  B.  Barrington — Some 
sea-birds'  and  waders'  eggs.  Mrs.  J.  H.  Thompson — Microscopes — live 
objects.  H.  Lund — Photographic  transparencies — Snapshots  on  the 
Field  Club.  F.  R.  Rohu — Rare  specimens — Black  rat,  Squacco  Heron, 
white  Shrew,  &c.  T.  Farrington,  m.a. — Some  geological  specimens. 
Telescopic  speculums  made  in  Cork  in  the  last  centur}-.  F.  Neale,  hon. 
sec.  Limerick  N.F.C. — Specimens  of  Gnophria  quadra^  Gonopteryx rhmnni, 
Dclomedes  fimbriata,  &c.  Robert  Day,  F.S.A.— The  flags  of  the  Cork  Volun- 
teers, with  the  medals  and  regimental  decorations  of  the  Irish  Volunteers 
of  1782  and  1796,  and  other  exhibits.  Herbert  Webb  Gillman,  V.P.,C.H.  & 
A.  Society— Colours  of  the  Muskerry  cavalry  (lent  by  the  owner,  Captain 


112  The  Irish  Natnraltst.  [April, 

R.  Tonson  Rye,  of  Rye  Court)— Orderly  book  of  the  same  corps,  1822- 
44  (lent  by  Sir  Augustus  Warren,  Bart  ,  of  Warren's  Court),  and  other 
exhibits.  J,  P.  Dalton — Statue  of  William  III  (formerly  in  the  Mansion 
House,  Cork).  Allan  P.  Swan,  F.i^.s. — Photographs  of  Micro-fungi, 
including  salmon  disease.  The  Franciscan  Fathers— The  chalices  of  the 
Franciscan  Abbeys  of  Shandon,  Timoleague,  Buttevant,  and  Ardfert. 
A  ciborium  of  Shandon  Abbey.  The  Dominican  Fathers — The  chalice 
of  the  Dominican  Abbey  of  Youghal.  W.  B.  Haynes — Coat  of  an  Irish 
Volunteer.  J.  H.  Bennett— Galway  rent-roll  temp,  Elizabeth  ;  petition  of 
Kin  sale  fishermen  temp.  Charles  i.  Miss  Hutchens,  Bantry — Local  Shells, 
&c.  Cecil  Words — Rare  Books.  Greenwood  Pim,  M.A.,  Dublin  N.F.C.— 
I.  Facsimile  of  the  Book  of  Kells  ;  2.  Illustrations  of  British  Fungi  by 
General  Bland.  The  Munster  Camera  Club — Frames  of  photographic 
transparencies  exhibited  by  Messrs.  VV.  R.  Atkins,  J.  Bennett,  K.  Scott, 
H.  Schroter,  and  C.  H.  Pearne. 
At  eight  o'clock, 

Mr.  RoBKRT  Day  ascended  the  platform,  and  formally  opened  the  con- 
versazione amidst  applause.  He  said  by  the  very  merest  accident  of 
birth  his  name  had  been  placed  first  upon  the  programme,  and  that  be- 
cause the  society  over  which  he  had  the  honour  to  preside  was  a  little 
older  than  its  twin  sister,  the  Field  Club  (laughter).  He  took  no  credit 
whatever  to  himself  for  the  happy  union  of  that  evening,  as  he  was  away 
from  Cork  when  all  the  arrangements  were  made,  and  when  the  idea  was 
conceived  by  Mr.  Copeman.  On  his  having  informed  him  of  what  had 
been  done,  his  only  regret  was  that  the  conversazione  could  not  have 
been  continued  upon  the  second  day,  so  that  a  larger  number  of  the 
country  members  of  both  societies  would  have  been  afforded  an  opportu- 
nity of  seeing  the  various  collections  which  have  been  so  generously 
lent  to  us  for  the  occasion.  In  Belfast  a  Field  Club  had  flourished  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  He  was  a  member  of  it  for  quite  that  period,  and 
he  alluded  to  it  because  it  embraced  from  its  inception  archaeology  and 
the  study  of  Irish  antiquities.  What  that  club  had  done  for  the  North 
their  dual  clubs  should  do  for  the  South.  He  feared  that  the  name  and 
claims  of  the  Archaeological  Society  were  not  so  attractive  to  the  general 
public  as  were  those  of  the  Naturalists'  Field  Club.  He  knew  a  little  of 
the  enjoyment  of  the  naturalist,  the  pleasure  of  the  botanist,  the  patient 
study  of  the  student  of  geology,  and  the  fascination  and  delight  that 
centred  in  the  revelations  of  the  microscope.  But  he  could  claim  for 
the  so-called  dry  subject  of  antiquities  that  the  objects  embraced  by  it 
were  quite  as  varied  and  equally  enjoyable.  He  trusted  that  the  conver- 
sazione would  be  the  forerunner  of  similar  yearly  gatherings,  and  that 
the  Cork  Historical  and  Archaeological  Society  and  the  Cork  Naturalists' 
Field  Club  might  travel  hand-in-hand  together  for  many  years  to  come. 
He  would  now  make  way  for  one  who  was  a  master  in  the  domain  of 
science  and  natural  history,  Mr.  William  H.  Shaw,  President  of  the  Cork 
Field  Club. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Shaw,  b.e;.,  President  of  the  Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club, 
followed  in  an  interesting  speech,  during  the  course  of  which  he  pointed 
out  that  owing  to  its  peculiar  position  this  district  possessed  a  flora  and 


1S96.I  Proceedmgs  of  Irish  Societies,  113 

fauna  of  unique  interest,  and  presented  opportunities  of  research  which 
should  be  more  thoroughly  availed  of.  He  mentioned  that  the  flora  had 
been  thoroughly  gone  into  by  Mr.  Phillips,  who  was  second  to  none  in 
local  botanical  knowledge  and  the  fauna  had  also  interested  him  greatly, 
but  the  speaker  was  sorry  to  say  with  reference  to  the  physical  geography 
of  the  district  that  very  little  was  being  done.  In  conclusion  he  hoped 
that  further  interest  would  be  manifested  in  the  operations  of  the  Cork 
Naturalists'  Field  Club,  and  with  reference  to  the  union  of  the  various 
Field  Clubs — Cork,  Limerick,  Gal  way,  Dublin,  and  Belfast — mentioned 
that  there  were  present  that  evening  three  visitors  from  Dublin — Pro- 
fessor Cole,  President,  Dublin  N.F.C.,  and  Messrs.  Pini  and  Praeger. 

Professor  CoiyK  also  spoke,  pointing  out  that  large  membership  of  Field 
Clubs  was  not  so  desirable  as  activity,  and  directing  attention  to  the 
splendid  field  possessed  by  the  Cork  Club.  Indeed,  they  in  Ireland  had 
several  advantages  over  their  brethern  in  England,  where,  owing  to  the 
large  population,  everything  was  practically  worked  out.  In  Ireland 
the  Field  Clubs  had  a  future,  and  with  added  active  members  their  work 
would  become  more  valuable.  With  Messrs.  Pim  and  Praeger  he  was 
proud  to  be  there  that  night  to  represent  the  Dublin  Club,  and  in  the 
name  of  that  club  he  greeted  the  members  of  the  Cork  club,  and  in  the 
name  of  that  club  also  he  should  sincerely  thank  them. 

Mr.  Shaw  then  declared  the  Conversazione  open. 


FlEIvD  CLUB  NEWS. 


The  Conversazione  organized  by  the  Cork  Field  Club,  of  which  a 
report  appears  on  another  page,  was  a  pleasant  and  highly  successful 
function,  and  one  well  tended  to  increase  the  popularity  of  the  Club. 
No  trouble  was  spared  to  ensure  success,  and  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
which  caused  the  electric  light  to  be  specially  laid  on  for  the  occasion, 
producing  brilliant  illumination  not  only  by  means  of  large  arc  lights 
in  the  ceiling,  but  by  numerous  portable  incandescent  lamps  among  the 
exhibits  on  the  tables,  is  deserving  of  the  highest  commendation. 

It  is  with  feelings  of  much  pleasure  that  we  publish  an  account  of  the 
proceedings  which  took  place  at  the  recent  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  London,  when  Mr.  Joseph  Wright,  of  Belfast,  was 
awarded  a  moiety  of  the  proceeds  of  the  Barlow-Jameson  fund  "  in  recog- 
nition of  the  valuable  services  he  has  rendered  to  palaeontology."  This 
honourable  recognition  of  his  industry  and  scientific  attainments  will 
cause  gratification  to  Mr.  Wright's  large  circle  of  scientific  friends,  and 
to  his  fellow-members  of  the  Belfast  Field  Club,  in  whose  Proceedings 
many  of  his  most  important  papers  have  appeared. 

The  practical  course  on  Irish  seaweeds  recently  undertaken  by  Prof.  T. 
Johnson  is  well  attended,  the  class  of  thirteen  being  mostly  members  of 


114  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [April, 

the  Dublin  Field  Club.  The  first  excursion  took  place  on  March  17th 
when,  in  a  steady  downpour,  a  party  of  nine  did  "shore-hunting"  be- 
tween Skerries  and  Balbriggan.  The  most  interesting  find  was  Prasiola 
stipitata  in  quantity  and  in  full  reproduction. 

The  Committee  of  the  Dublin  Field  Club  have  arranged  their  summer 
excursion  programme  as  follows: — April  25,  Bray  and  Killiney  (geo- 
logical half- day);  May  30,  Lambay  Island;  June  20,  Bective  and  the 
Boyne;  July  10,  11,  and  13,  Cavan ;  August  12,  Kelly's  Glen  (half-day); 
September  5,  Brittas  Bay,  Co.  Wicklow;  September  20,  Woodlands 
(fungus  foray,  half-day).  The  excursion  to  Cavan,  when  three  days  will 
be  spent  exploring  the  many  lakes,  rivers,  and  woods  of  that  beautiful 
county,  should  prove  especially  productive,  as  the  district  is  one  almost 
un worked  by  the  naturalist.  The  Dublin  Club  have  invited  their  breth- 
ren of  Belfast  to  join  forces  with  them  on  this  occasion,  thus  providing  an 
opportunity  for  the  renewing  of  many  acquaintances  formed  last  year 
at  Galway. 

We  extract  the  following  from  the  official  report  of  the  Annual  General 
Meeting  of  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  held  on  February  21st: — 

"  In  handing  a  moiety  of  the  Barlow -Jameson  fund  to  Dr.  G.  J.  Hinde, 
F.G.S.  (for  transmission  to  Mr.  Joseph  Wright,  F.G.S.,  of  Belfast),  the 
President  (Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  F.R.S.),  addressed  him  as  follows; — 
Dr.  Hinde,  the  council  have  awarded  the  sum  of  twenty  pounds  from 
the  Barlow-Jameson  fund  to  Mr.  Joseph  Wright,  in  recognition  of  the 
valuable  services  he  has  rendered  to  the  palseontology,  not  only  of  the 
Carboniferous  rocks  in  the  South,  but  of  the  Cretaceous  and  Post- 
Tertiary  deposits  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  the  glacial  deposits  there 
and  in  Scotland.  Mr.  Wright  is  the  author  of  numerous  papers  in  the 
transactions  of  the  Belfast  Naturalists'  F'ield  Club  on  the  Irish  Liassic 
and  Cretaceous  foraminifera  and  other  microzoa ;  he  has  also  prepared 
and  published  many  lists  of  foraminifera  from  the  Scottish  and  Irish 
boulder-clay  and  other  post-tertiarj*  deposits.  He  has  done  much  good 
work,  extending  over  many  years,  when  resident  in  the  South  of  Ireland, 
in  connection  with  the  fossils  of  the  Carboniferous  limestone,  and,  both 
as  regards  these  and  the  newer  deposits  of  the  North,  his  specimens 
have  been  always  available  to  anyone  engaged  in  writing  on  the  fossils. 
To  Davidson,  Rupert  Jones,  Holl,  Brady,  myself,  and  others  Joseph 
Wright's  cabinet  was  ever  accessible,  and  his  specimens  freely  lent  for 
study.  I  trust  that  this  award  will  serve  to  express  to  Mr.  Wright  our 
appreciation  of  his  services,  and  will  act  as  an  incentive  to  him  to 
continue  his  useful  geological  work. 

Mr.  Hinde  replied  as  follows : — Mr.  President,  it  gives  me  great  satis- 
faction to  receive  this  award  on  behalf  of  my  friend  Mr.  Joseph  Wright. 
He  is  unfortunately  unable  to  be  present,  and  has  sent  the  following 
letter  for  communication  to  you  : — I  desire  to  express  my  sincere  thanks 
for  the  honour  conferred  upon  me  by  the  council  of  our  society  in  recog- 
nition of  my  past  work,  and  for  their  assistance  in  the  further  prosecution 


IS96-]  Field  Club  News.  115 

of  my  researches.  Working  so  remote  from  the  head-quarters  of  the 
society  causes  this  award  to  be  the  more  appreciated.  I  regret  I  am 
prevented  from  being  present  to  receive  it  in  person,  but  I  hope  the 
council  will  accept  this  expression  of  my  feelings  regarding  their 
approval  of  my  work  in  a  somewhat  neglected  field.  P'or  some  time 
past  nearly  all  my  spare  time  has  been  spent  in  microscopically  ex- 
amining the  glacial  clays  for  foraminifera.  My  anticipation  as  to  the 
occurrence  of  these  organisms  in  clays  laid  down  under  glacial  conditions 
has  been  fully  confirmed,  both  as  regards  our  local  deposits  and  other 
British  clays,  and  I  cannot  avoid  thinking  that  this  fact  must  more  or 
less  influence  our  views  on  the  oriijin  of  these  drifts." 


NOTES 


BOTANY. 


FUNGI. 


Cyathus  vcrnlcosus — a  correction. — The  note  in  the  February 
number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist  on  this  subject  is  scarcely  accurate,  inas- 
much as  the  plant  will  be  found  in  the  list  of  Fungi  in  the  Handbook 
prepared  for  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  1878.  It  occurred 
in  a  greenhouse  in  Dublin,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Mr.  Praeger's 
specimens  were  found  in  a  similar  situation.  This  curious  little  plant 
may  be  an  addition  to  the  Mycologic  Flora  of  the  North  of  Ireland,  as  it 
is  not  mentioned  in  Mr.  Lett's  list  published  by  the  Belfast  N.  F,  Club 

some  years  ago. 

Greenwood  Pim,  Dublin. 


PHANEROGAMS. 
Early  flowering  of  Lathraea  scjuamaria. — On  the  12th  of  last 
month  (March)  I  received  from  Miss  IM.  Chearnle}-,  of  Cappoquin,  Co. 
Waterford,  some  flowering  plants  of  the  Toothwort,  which  she  had 
discovered  the  day  before  growing  under  a  yew  tree  in  the  grounds  of 
Tourin,  near  Cappoquin.  Even  allowing  for  the  southern  position  of 
the  station,  this  appears  to  be  an  exceptionally  early  record  for  the 
species,  which  in  Ireland  rarely  flowers  before  mid-April.  Miss 
Chearnley's  specimens  were  quite  mature,  showing  well  formed  capsules 
on  some  of  the  spikes. 

N.  Coi^GAN,  Dublin. 

Early    Flowering    of    Hottonia    palustris.— In  a   pond  in  a 

garden  at  Dundrum,  Co.  Dublin,  Hottonia  palustris  is  already  in  flower 
(March  22nd).  This  is  a  remarkable  case  of  early  blooming.  The  plants 
are  self-sown,  from  stock  introduced  two  years  ago  from  the  North  of 
Ireland. 

R.   IvI^GYD   PRAEGER. 


ii6  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [April, 


ZOOLOGY. 

'*  MInglln  of  North  and  South." — On  reading  the  extremely 
interesting  address  of  the  ex- President  of  the  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field 
Club  published  last  month,  I  feel  constrained  to  question  the  strict  appro- 
priateness of  one  of  the  animals  selected  for  special  dedication  to 
"typical"  members  of  the  Galway  Conference  as  reminders  of  their 
respective  types  of  origin.  I  will  not  quarrel  with  the  allocation  of  the 
Common  Frog  to  the  "  settler  of  some  generations  standing,"  inasmuch 
as  the  historical  introduction  of  the  Frog  by  Dr.  Guithers  was  perpe- 
trated as  far  back  as  1696.  But  is  it  not  inconsistent  in  the  next 
sentence  to  compare  "  the  English  immigrant  who  has  recently  come  to 
stay  "  to  the  Magpie,  a  bird  which,  "if  tradition  is  to  be  trusted,"  came 
to  our  coast  to  stay  in  the  year  1670,  and  which  was  certainly  a  spreading 
though  still  scarce  member  of  our  avifauna  in  1700,  while  in  1743  it  had 
grown  so  common  that  war  was  waged  upon  it  by  Irish  Statute  Law  .'' 
I  would  suggest  that  a  fitter  ornithological  partner  for  the  recently 
arrived  Britisher  might  be  found  in  the  Missel-thrush — "  believed  to 
have  settled  in  Ireland  (says  Mr.  More's  invaluable  List)  since  1800," 
first  authenticated  as  an  Irish  bird  by  Templeton  in  1808,  and  unknown 
(as  such)  by  sight  to  Thompson  till  a  specimen  was  sent  him  from 
Fermanagh  in  1832.  While  on  this  subject  I  would  add  that  in  the 
Isle  of  Man,  the  fauna  of  which  much  resembles  that  of  Ireland,  both 
the  Frog  and  the  Missel-thrush  are,  as  in  Ireland,  held  to  be  introduced 
or  recently  settled,  species  ;  but  I  have  never  heard  that  the  Magpie  is 
so  regarded  there. 

C.  B.  MoFPAT,  Dublin. 

INSECTS. 

Irish  Hymenoptcra  Aculeata. — I  was  much  pleased  to  see  Mr. 
Freke's  paper  on  our  native  Aculeate  Hymenoptera  in  the  February 
number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist.  His  list  will  form  a  most  useful  basis  for 
future  work,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  induce  collectors  to  attend  to  these 
interesting  insects. 

I  am  able  to  add  two  species  to  the  Irish  list,  and  a  few  additional 
localities. 

The  species  new  to  Ireland  are  Calioxys' acuminata, 'i^y\.,  and.  Bombus 
soroensis,  Fabr.  The  former  I  took  in  my  garden  in  Armagh  on  July  6tli 
at  blossoms  of  Geranium  pratense,  and  the  latter  in  Mullinure  in  May. 
The  following  are  additional  localities  for  the  species  named  : — 

Myrmica  Icevinodis. — Armagh,  and  Scotstown,  Co.  Monaghan. 
Mellinus  arvensis,  Linn. — Tynan,  Co.  Armagh,  on  the  canal  bank. 
Halicitus  albipes^  Kirby. — Armagh  and  Loughgall,  Co.  Armagh. 
Andrena  clarkella,  Kirby. — Armagh,  in  Mullinure  and  at  Lowry's  Lough, 

fairly  common  at  Sallows  in  April. 
A.  fucata,  Smith. — Armagh. 
Nomada  borealis,  Zett. — Armagh. 


1896.]  Notes. 


T17 


As  regards  Formica  rufa,  Iv.,  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  indigenous  at 
Churchill,  for  as  far  as  I  can  find  out  it  was  imported  there  some  fifty 
years  ago,  possibly  more.  It  has  however  taken  most  kindly  to  the  place 
and  multiplied  to  an  extraordinary  extent.  I  was  standing  one  day 
looking  at  them  when  I  noticed  a  curious  crackling  sound.  After  several 
vain  endeavours  to  discover  the  source  of  the  noise  I  found  it  to  be 
caused  by  the  myriads  of  ants  running  over  the  dry  pine  needles.  This 
will  give  some  idea  of  their  immense  numbers.  I  should  very  much  like 
to  know  if  these  ants  are  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  Ireland  and  whether 
they  are  indigenous  or  imported. 

W.  F.  Johnson,  Poyntzpass. 


BIRDS. 
IVIIg-ration  of  Curlews. —The  wails  of  the  host  of  curlews  which 
passed  over  Dublin  on  the  night  of  the  nth  inst.  (March)  must  have 
greeted  the  ears  of  a  large  number  of  the  residents.  The  night  was 
warm  and  wet,  and  the  curlews  cried  in  chorus  with  but  little  inter- 
mission from  about  9  p.m.  until  midnight,  and  probably  for  some  hours 
longer.  For  several  years  I  have  taken  notice  of  these  nocturnal  out- 
bursts of  curlew  music  over  our  city,  and  I  find  that  March  is  the 
month  in  which  they  most  generally  occur.  For  instance  a  very  striking 
*'  rush  "  took  place  in  March,  1892,  on  the  nights  of  the  23rd,  24th,  and 
25th,  as  reported  by  me  at  the  time  in  the  natural  history  column  of  the 
Irish  Sportsman.  On  that  occasion  the  wild  cries  of  the  birds  were  not  the 
only  evidence  given  of  their  passage,  for  at  least  one  curlew  was  picked 
up  dead  in  Sackville-street,  having  flown  with  violence  against  the  tele- 
graph wires  ;  and  simultaneously  with  these  occurrences  notes  showing 
a  general  migration-movement  of  curlews  were  forwarded  from  Limerick, 
Liverpool,  and  other  places.  Again,  in  March,  1893,  the  nights  of  the 
i8th  and  19th  were  signalised  by  similar  demonstrations,  noticed  in 
Dublin  by  my  brother  and  myself  and  doubtless  by  many  others.  On  all 
the  nights  referred  to  the  sky  was  thickly  overclouded, — indeed,  I  have 
several  times  remarked  that  the  breaking  up  of  the  clouds  has  put  an  end 
to  the  clamour,  probably  because  on  bright  nights  the  birds  fly  too  high 
to  be  easily  heard  ;  for  in  the  stillness  of  the  country — and,  for  that 
matter,  of  the  Phoenix  Park — I  have  heard  them  in  clear  starlight,  calling 
to  one  another  from  apparently  a  very  great  elevation. 

C.  B.  Moffat  Dublin. 


Nesting  of  Black  GuillemotSi — Mr  Palmer  in  the  current 
number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist,  asks  whether  any  one  else  can  throw 
further  light  on  Mr.  Witherby's  observation  of  Black  Guillemots  nesting 
"under  large  boulders  scattered  about." 

When  I  was  in  the  Lofoden  Islands  some  summers  ago,  where  the 
Black  Guillemot  goes  by^the  name  of  Testhe  and  is  particularly  common, 


ii8  The  Irish  Natnralist.  [April, 

breeding  in  large  communities  instead  of  in  single  pairs,  as  is  so  much 
the  case  on  our  western  coasts,  I  invariably  found  their  nests  under 
boulders  with  which  the  low  islets  off  the  main  islands  were  strewn. 
The  high  boulder-beaches  were  the  favourite  places,  and  in  seeking  the 
eggs,  which  we  had  to  do  from  a  commissariat  point  of  view,  we  found  it 
necessary  to  reach  in  arm's  length  between  the  boulders  before  reaching 
their  nests. 

W.  S.  Green,  Dublin. 

Feathered  Pensioners.— Wintry  weather  with  its  accompani- 
ments of  frost  and  snow  always  brings  the  needs  of  our  birds  specially  to 
our  notice,  and  a  few  notes  upon  our  feathered  pensioners  and  their  ways 
ways  may  perhaps  prove  worth  recording.  The  winter  of  1894-95  was  more 
trying  upon  our  birds  than  any  year  since  the  bitter  frost  of  1878-9,  when 
Blackbirds,  a  Gold-crest,  and  many  Titmice  came  into  our  bedrooms,  in 
addition  to  the  Robin  who  habitually  frequented  the  room,  eating  groats 
from  a  dish  on  the  chimney-piece,  and  drinking  out  of  the  water-jug. 
Those  long  snowy  weeks  were  very  fatal  to  the  songsters,  and  the 
diminution  in  Blackbirds  and  Song-thrushes  was  noticeable  for  years 
afterwards;  Rooks  turned  carnivorous,  and  were  seen  to  attack  and 
devour  the  smaller  birds  at  Carnlough,  and  about  Lisburn ;  an  old 
nurse  who  had  spent  many  years  in  America,  saw  what  she  believed 
to  be  a  "  Snowbird."  Another  day  we  saw  a  strange  bird  with  a 
scarlet  crest,  which  it  could  erect  and  depress  at  will,  feeding  on  the 
balcony ;  it  may  have  been  an  escaped  Cardinal-bird.  The  general 
rejoicing  when  at  last  the  thaw  came,  and  green  grass  w^as  revealed 
once  more,  was  wonderful.  Curlews  coming  and  feeding  on  our 
lawn,  which  no  doubt  was  more  rapidly  cleared  owing  to  the  close 
proximity  of  the  sea.  Opposite  our  diningroom  stands  a  Laburnum-tree 
covered  with  pods,  the  favourite  winter  resort  of  the  Finches  and  Titmice  : 
that  winter  it  was  frequented  by  a  handsome  Mountain-finch,  or  Bram- 
blincr  {^Fringilla  montifringilla)  who  remained  for  a  couple  of  da3's  only, 
but  last  winter  we  again  had  one  or  two  of  these  beautiful  birds  feeding 
there  for  several  days.  I  remember  that  bitter  winter  counting  sevent}' 
Starlino"s  crowded  on  the  tree,  shelling  the  pods,  with  a  watchful  e3'e  on 
our  windows,  and  a  firm  determination  not  to  lose  a  moment  in  attacking 
any  contributions  from  our  table — for  Starlings  are  more  than  a  little 
greedy !  It  is  very  interesting  to  split  a  cocoa-nut,  and  fastening  it  to 
the  railing  of  a  balcony  watch  the  Coal  Tits,  Blue  Tits,  and  Greater  Tits 
hammering  away  at  its  contents.  After  some  years  the  Robins  ventured 
to  try  the  unwonted  food,  and  now  Sparrows  and  Blackbirds  dig  awaj- 
contentedly,  also.  We  always  provide  plenty  of  groats  and  hemp,  but 
the  most  interesting  study  is  to  put  out  some  new  kind  of  food,  and  see 
in  what  order  the  birds  attack  it.  Some  years  ago  a  whole  loaf  was  tossed 
upon  the  snow,  and  it  was  ludicrous  to  watch  the  famishing  Sparrows 
hopping  anxiously  round  it,  with  outstretched  necks  and  eager  glances^ 
doubtful  whether  some  trap  were  not  intended,  whilat  the  Rooks  cawed 


1896.]  Notes.  T19 

questioningly  and  sidled  cautiousl)'  towards  it,  anxious  to  be  assured  that 
all  was  right.  Down  came  a  brisk  Blue  Titmouse,  spied  the  loaf,  and 
without  a  moment's  hesitation  alighted  upon  it  directl}-  and  commenced 
joyfully  to  attack  the  abundant  supply  !  I  think  when  the  next  "  Glacial 
Period"  descends  upon  our  northern  shores  fhdit Farus crri-it lens yfiWho:  the 
last  bird  to  be  starved  out  of  its  present  familiar  haunts. 

S.  M.  Thompson,  Belfast. 


MAMMALS. 
Irish  Hare  grolng:  to  Ground.— A  discussion  on  the  subject  of 
Hares  going  to  ground  has  recently  been  going  on  in  the  pages  of  the 
Field  newspaper,  and  among  other  interesting  notes  is  the  following'-,' 
which  altough  appearing  over  an  anonymous  signature  ("Aquarius")  I 
can  well  believe  to  be  true  : — "  On  many  Irish  mountains  the  Hares  take 
to  natural  fissures  in  the  rocks,  or  to  natural  water-courses,  called  b3-the 
natives  water-brakes,  formed  by  the  percolation  of  the  water  throuo-h 
the  peaty  formation  overlying  the  rock  or  other  hard  subsoil,  often  to  a 
depth  of  several  feet.  In  many  localities,  as  for  instance,  in  the  Banner- 
more'-  chain  in  Donegal,  where  there  is  little  covert,  the  Hares  become 
nearly  as  subterranean  in  their  habits  as  Rabbits.  In  these  holes  or 
crevices  they  seek  safel}^  from  their  enemies  or  shelter  from  bad  weather, 
coming  to  the  entrances  of  their  "burrows,"  if  such  they  may  be  termed, 
to  bask  in  the  sun,  their  "seats,"  as  they  are  termed,  being  clearly 
marked.  It  is  supposed  that  the  Hares  took  to  this  habit  to  escape  from 
their  chief  enemies,  the  eagles,  formerly  abundant  in  these  mountains, 
but  now  pretty  nearly  extinct."  It  has  not  been  my  good  fortune  to  have 
any  experience  of  Hares  in  an  open  country  like  that  described  by 
"Aquarius,"  but  my  knowledge  of  them  in  wooded  and  cultivated  dis- 
tricts, and  of  w^hat  has  previously  been  written  on  the  subject  {vide 
Thompson's  Natural  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  iv.,  p.  29,  Field  for  Jan.  14, 
1882,  July  18,  1891,  and  more  recent  numbers,  and  for  Scotland,  Mr. 
William  Evans'  remarks  in  the  Annals  of  Scottish  Natural  History, 
Oct.,  91,  p.  267),  leads  me  to  believe  that  the  above  remarks  are  perfectl}' 
true.  It  would  be  interesting,  however,  if  some  reader  of  the  Irisk 
Naturalist  could  confirm  them  from  his  own  experience. 

G.  B.  H.  Barrett- Ham  1 1.T0N,  London. 


GBOLOGY. 
The    Raised    Beach    at    Fort    Stewart,    Lough    Swiliy.— a 

further  examination  of  material  from  this  raised  beach  shows  the 
presence  of  the  following  shells,  additional  to  those  recorded  in  mv 
paper  on  "The  Raised  Beaches  of  Inishowen,"  \\\  the  I.N',  for  October, 
1895  (vol.  iii.,  pp.  278-285)  : — Trochus  umbilicatus,  Littorina  rztdis,  Rissoa 
menihranacea.,  R.  striata,  Hydrobia  uIzut,  Fusus  antiqinis. 

R.  L1.0YD  Praeger. 


^  Field,  Feb.  8th,  1896  - .?  Barnesmore,  Eds. 


I20  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [April,  1896. 

Geologry  of  the  Curran,  Larne. — On  the  12th  December,  1895, 
Miss  S.  Thompson,  Mr.  R.  Bell,  and  the  writer  visited  the  new  bauxite 
works  at  Larne,  to  investigate  the  report  that  some  of  their  foundations 
were  sunk  below  the  lower  beds  of  the  estuarine  clays  and  gravels  ex- 
amined and  reported  upon  by  a  Committee  of  the  Field  Club  during  the 
Session  1889-  90.  This  report  we  found  misleading.  The  new  siding  to 
the  works  has  been  cut  through,  and  the  works  themselves  have  been 
built,  mainly  upon  a  raised  bank  of  boulder  clay  about  300  yards  north- 
west of  the  Larne  Harbour  railway  station.  The  boulder  clay  is  of  a 
particularly  hard,  stiff  nature,  full  of  large  and  beautifully  striated  and 
polished  boulders  mostly  of  basalt,  and  is  covered  by  a  layer  of  water- 
rolled  pebbles  and  coarse  stratified  sand,  almost  three  feet  thick,  upon 
which  is  a  natural  land  surface  with  trees  apparently  from  50  to  100 
years  old.  The  altitude  of  the  surface  of  this  bank  is  at  a  somewhat 
higher  level  than  the  beds  on  the  Curran,  from  which  it  is  separated  by 
the  two  lines  of  broad  and  narrow  gauge  railway  and  the  public  road. 
Although  the  pebbles  and  sand  are  in  all  reasonable  probability  of  the 
same  age  as  the  raised  beach  upon  the  Curran,  yet,  owing  to  the  separa- 
tion mentioned  above,  their  exact  continuity  cannot  be  absolutely  traced, 
nor  their  precise  position  in  the  series  definitely  fixed,  though  in  all 
probability  the  boulder  clay  w'as  partly  denuded  before  the  gravels  were 
laid  down,  and  the  portions  of  gravels,  &c.,  at  the  bauxite  works  re- 
present the  shoreward  end  of  the  series,  deposited  against  and  partly 
over  the  boulder  clay.  The  works  are  now  approaching  completion,  and 
no  exact  record  has  been  kept  of  the  deeper  foundations  such  as  the  tall 
chimney  for  instance,  but  we  saw  a  pit  sunk  for  part  of  the  machinery, 
at  which  place  the  boulder  clay  is  about  11  ft.  to  12  ft.  deep. 

A  boring  for  a  well  is  in  progress,  and  has  now  reached  a  depth  of  130 
feet.  On  being  interrogated,  the  workmen  regretted  that  a  more  accurate 
record  of  the  strata  passed  through  had  not  been  kept,  but  they  reported 
verbally  as  follows,  in  the  order  of  descent : — 

1.  Gravel  with  shells. 

2.  Black  cla}'  (qy.  Lias  ?) 

3.  Limestone  (qy.  a  boulder  ?) 

4.  White  alabaster  and  clay.  \ 

5.  Red  clay.  Keuper  marls. 

6.  Blue  clay.  1 

We  obtained  a  sample  of  the  boring  at  130  feet  depth,  and  it  is  clearly  a 
portion  of  the  blue  Triassic  Keuper  marl,  a  clay  with  gypsum  veins. 

From  the  above  noted  results  we  may  reasonably  infer  that  the  Field 
Club  has  had  no  very  serious  loss  from  not  having  had  an  earlier  oppor- 
tunity of  inspecting  the  excavations  at  these  works. 

F.  W.  LoCKwooD,  Belfast. 

[Miss  Thompson  writes  that  "  shells  "  from  the  black  clay  (bed  No.  2 
above)  gathered  by  the  workmen,  have  been  sent  up  by  Mr.  Close,  the 
architect,  and  they  turn  out  to  be  Lias  fossils,  including  fine  specimens 
of  Gryph:Ba  incurva  obtained  eight  feet  down  in  the  black  mud  :  showing 
that  Mr.  Lockwood's  supposition  is  correct. — Kds.] 


May,  1896.]  121 

THK  GREAT  AUK  (ALCA  IMPENNIS)  AS  AN  IRISH 

BIRD. 

BY  G.   K.    H.    BARRETT- HAM  I  I^TON,  B.A. 


So  little  is  known  of  the  past  occurrences  or  status  in  Ireland 
of  the  Great  Auk,  that  I  think  no  apology  is  needed  for 
bringing  to  the  notice  of  readers  of  the  Irish  Naturalist  the 
statement  of  Mr.  W.  J.  Knowles  in  his  **  Third  Report  on  the 
Pre-historic  Remains  from  the  Sandhills  of  the  Coasts  of 
Ireland"^  that  he  had  obtained  on  the  Antrim  coast  bones 
which  had  been  identified  by  Mr.  E.  T.  Newton,  of  the 
Geological  Survey,  as  those  of  the  Great  Auk.  These  bones 
were  obtained  in  the  sandhills  of  Whitepark  Bay,  Co.  Antrim, 
in  conjunction  with  human  remains  which  Mr.  Knowles 
believes  to  be  those  of  the  earliest  Neolithic  inhabitants  of 
Ireland.  In  accumulations  of  the  same  age  were  found  bones 
of  the  Horse,  and  of  the  Dog  or  Wolf  (whether  wild  or  domesti- 
cated is  uncertain),  as  well  as  remains  of  geese,  ducks,  and 
gulls.  Mr.  Knowles  remarks  that  "  from  the  number  of  bones 
[of  the  Great  Auk]  which  have  been  found,  it  must  have  been 
a  common  inhabitant  of  the  North  of  Ireland  at  the  time  when 
the  people  of  the  Stone  Age  occupied  Whitepark  Bay  and 
other  parts  of  the  coast."  In  a  previous  paper^  Mr.  Knowles 
recorded  the  finding,  in  the  same  locality,  of  two  humeri  of 
the  Great  Auk,  besides  bones  oi  Bos  longifrons,  Cervuselaphus, 
Sheep  or  Goat,  Fox,  Pig,  a  small  goose,  a  small  gull,  and  cod. 
This  statement  is  of  such  great  interest,  not  only  to  Irish 
ornithologists,  but  to  ornithologists  in  general,  that  it  is  a  pity 
that  it  should  be  hidden  away  in  a  paper  which  deals  with 
a  subject  other  than  natural  histor3^ 

The  only  localities  given  by  Professor  Newton^  where  bones 
of  the  Great  Auk  have  been  found  are  in  the  kitchen-middens 
of  Denmark,  and  in  similar  deposits  in  Caithness  and  Oronsay, 
and  in  a  cave  on  the  coast  of  Durham.  The  Irish  locality, 
therefore,  makes  an  interesting  addition  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  distribution  of  this  bird  in  past  times.  Mr.  Knowles 
points  out  that  the  "  old  surfaces  of  the  sandhills,  with  their 
shells,   broken   bones,    and   implements,  are   really  kitchen- 

*  Froc.  R.I.A.  (3),  vol.  iii*,  No.  4,  pp.  650-663  (Dec,  1895). 

^Proc.  RJ.A.  (3),  vol.  i.,  No.  5  (1891). 

'  "  Dictionary  of  Birds,"  article  "  Extermination,"  p.  220. 

A 


i22  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [May, 

middens,  and  of  the  same  nature  as  those  of  the  continent,  e.g., 
in  Portugal,  and  also  at  various  parts  along  the  coast  of 
France,  as  well  as  in  Denmark.  The  fauna  of  the  sandhills  is 
wonderfully  in  line  with  that  of  the  kitchen-middens  of  Den- 
mark, and  the  finding  of  the  Great  Auk,  which  is  now  extinct 
in  Europe,  among  the  Irish  remains,  makes  the  likeness  more 
complete." 

As  regards  the  occurrence  of  this  bird  on  the  Irish  coasts  in 
modern  times,  the  last  authenticated  British  example',  and  the 
last  but  two  which  is  known  to  have  lived,  was  taken  alive 
near  the  entrance  of  Waterford  Harbour,  in  May,  1834,  by  a 
fisherman  named  Kirby.  It  was  kept  alive  for  some  little 
time  by  Mr.  Jacob  Gough  of  Horetown,  in  Co.  Wexford,  but 
eventually  came  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Burkitt  of  Waterford, 
and  it  is  now  in  the  museum  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  The 
details  of  the  capture  of  this  bird,  and  of  its  subsequent 
historj%  as  given  by  Thompson^,  appear  to  have  been  somewhat 
inaccurate,  and  have  been  corrected  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Gurney,  jun.," 
on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Burkitt.  It  was  afterwards  ascer- 
tained by  Mr.  Davies  that  a  second  specimen  was  procured 
on  the  Waterford  coast  at  about  the  same  time,  but  was  not 
preserved. 

Besides  the  above,  details  of  three  other  occurrences  are 
given  by  Thompson'*,  but  in  no  case  was  a  specimen  forth- 
coming. One  of  these  specimens  was  stated,  in  a  note  com- 
municated by  Rev.  Joseph  Stopford,  in  February,  1844,  to  Dr. 
Harvey  of  Cork,  no  date  being  mentioned,  to  have  been  ''  ob- 
tained  on  the  long  strand  of  Castle  Freke  (in  the  west  of  the 
County  of  Cork)  ;  having  been  water-soaked  in  a  storm."  In 
the  other  case  Thompson  believed  that  two  birds  described  to 
him  by  H.  Bell,  a  wild-fowl  shooter,  as  having  been  seen  in 
Belfast  Bay,  on  September  23rd,  1845,  were  of  this  species.^ 

'  Newton,  Op.  cil.,  p.  220. 

'  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.^  Lond.y  1835,  p.  79;  and  "  Nat.  Hist,  of  Ireland,"  III.,  p.  238. 

3  Zoologist,  1868,  pp.  1449-1453. 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  239  ;  Zoologist,  1868,  pp.  1442-1453  ;  1869,  pp.  1039-1043. 

^The  statement  in  Sampson's  "Survey  of  Londonderry"  (1S02)  that  the 
Aha  Impennis,  Penguin,  "frequents  the  rocks  of  that  county  and  of 
Donegal,"  evidently  refers  to  the  Razorbill,  which  bird  is  not  mentioned 
in  his  list.  It  is  curious  that  Dr.  Pocock  describes  "  the  Razorbill  or  Auk, 
as  big  as  a  Pheasant,  with  a  parrot  bill,"  as  breeding  at  Horn  Head  in 
1752 — vide  Dr.  Stokes'  edition  of  Pocock's  "  Tour  in  Ireland  in  1752,"  p.  59. 


1 


1896.]  123 

IRISH  CAVES. 

BY  R.  1,1,0 YD  PRAEGKR,   B.E. 


In  his  "Notes  on  the  Irish  Caves"  (^I.N.,  iv.,  pp.  57-59,  1895), 
Dr.  Scharflf  expressed  a  hope  that  readers  of  this  Journal  would 
add  to  the  list  of  caves  which  he  then  published,  and  some 
additions  were  promptly  made  by  Mr.  Ussher  and  Mr.  James 
Coleman  (ibid.,  p.  94).  And  in  the  last  issue  of  the  Irish 
Naturalist,  Mr.  Jameson  has  mentioned  one  or  two  others. 
In  looking  up  the  literature  of  this  and  kindred  subjects 
recently,  I  met  with  some  further  references  to  caves,  which 
are  now  given,  arranged  according  to  the  plan  adopted  by 
Dr.  Scharfif.  Only  those  caves  are  named  which  have  not  been 
mentioned  in  the  papers  quoted.  I  have  not  thought  it 
necessary  to  give  many  additional  references  to  caves  which 
one  or  other  of  the  writers  named  has  already  referred  to. 

Co.  Cl^ARB. 

Cave  at  Kiltannon  near  Tulla. 

White,  Rev.  P.,  *«  History  of  Clare,"  Dublin,  1S93,  p.  2. 
Caves  of  Kilcoruey. 

Foot,  F.  J.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheets  114,  122,  123,  1863,  p.  iS. 
Co.  Cork. 
Cave  at  Cloyne. 
Brash,  R.  R.,  "  Antiquities  of  Cloyne."   Journ.  Kilkenny  and  S.E.  of 
Ireland  ArchcEol  Soc,  n.s.  II.  185S-59,  p.  258. 
Cave  at  Ballybronock  near  Castlemartyr. 
Croker,  T.    C,   "  Researches  in   the    South    of   Ireland."      1824. 
Ussher,  R.  J.,  in  "Second  Report  of  the  Committee  .  .  .  appointed 
for  the  Purpose  of  exploring  the  Caves  of  the  South  of  Ireland." 
Brit  Assoc.  Report  for  1881,  pp.  218-221. 
Cave  at  Carrigower. 
Ussher,  R.  J.,  in  First  Report,  ditto,  ditto.     Brit.  Assoc.  Report  for 
1880,  pp.  209-211  ;  and  Geol.  Mag.  (2)  VII.,  18S0,  pp.  512-514. 
Co.  Gai^way. 
The  Pigeon  Hole,  Cong. 

Nolan,  J.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheet  70,  1877,  p.  10,  &c.,  &C. 
PoUduagh  and  cavern  of  Beagh  River. 

Kinahan,  G.  H.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheets  \2\and  125,  1863,  p.  "]. 
Many  caves  about  Coole,  most  of  them  still  occupied  by  streams. 
Kinahan,  G.  H.,  loc.  cit.^  pp.  7-9. 
Co.  Leitrim. 
Templepatrick,  in  upper  part  of  Glencar. 
Dermod  and  Graunia's  Bed,  Glenarriff. 
Wynne,  A.  B.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheets  42  a«^43,  1S85,  p.  28. 


124  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [May, 

Co.  Mayo. 

Caves  of  Aille. 

Symes,  R.  G.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheet  75,  1872,  p.  9. 

Co.  MONAGHAN. 

Rock  House,  Carrickmacross,  &c. 
Nolan,  J.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheet  70,  1877,  p.  10. 
Co.  Sl^IGO. 
Keishcorraii  and  others. 

Cruise,  R.  J.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheets  66  and  6"],  1878,  p.  13. 
Caves  on  Ben  Bulben. 
Caves  at  Lissadill. 

Wynne,  A.  B.,  Geol.  Survey  Memoir  to  sheets  42  and  ^2>i  1885,  p.  28. 
Kesh  Caves. 
GlenifFe  Caves. 
Hardman,  E.  T.,  "  Limestone  Caves  of  Sligo,"  in  Wood-Martin's 
"  History  of  Sligo,"  First  vol.,  1S82,  appendix  A. 
Co.  Waterford. 
Cave  at  Nicholastown. 

Brown  rigg,  W.  B.,  and  Theodore  Cooke,  "Geological  Description 
of  the  District  extending  from  Dungarvan  to  Annestown,  County 
of  Waterford."    Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  Dublin^  IX.,  i860,  pp.  8-12. 

The  caves  at  Anna-Clogh  Mullen,  Co.  Cork,  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Coleman,  loc.  cif.,  are  artificial,  and  should  not  therefore 
be  included  in  the  list  of  Irish  caves. 

In  certain  districts  in  Ireland  caves  are  so  numerous  that 
any  attempt  to  list  them  would  be  futile.  Such,  for  instance, 
is  portion  of  Co.  Fermanagh,  concerning  which  Mr.  Thomas 
Plunkett,  in  reply  to  a  query,  stated  that  the  hills  around 
Knniskillen  are  riddled  with  caves,  and  that  he  could  not 
attempt  a  list  of  them.  So  also  in  Cos.  Mayo  and  Galway,  in 
the  district  that  stretches  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Lough 
Corrib  from  Cong  to  Galway,  and  in  portions  of  Co.  Clare, 
subterranean  passages  abound,  so  that  the  streams  are  con- 
tinually disappearing  into  the  earth  and  re-appearing  at  other 
places.  But  these  caverns,  being  still  occupied  by  the  waters 
by  which  they  were  formed,  are  of  course  not  so  interesting 
to  the  student  of  either  past  or  present  cave-faunas  as  the 
older  passages,  long  since  deserted  by  the  streams  which 
excavated  them,  and  subsequently  tenanted  by  troglodytic 
insects,  or  roving  beasts  of  prey,  or  pre-historic  man. 


1896.]  125 

IRISH  FRESHWATER  WORMS. 

BY  REV.    HIIvDKRiC  FRIKND,  F.I,.S. 


Ali.  true  worms  may  be  divided  into  two  great  classes  or 
groups,  based  on  the  relative  number  of  their  bristles  or  setae. 
If  they  are  very  numerous  they  are  known  as  poljxhsetous 
worms  or  Polychaeta ;  if  few,  they  are  called  oligochsetous 
worms  or  Oligochaeta.  It  is  true  that  the  rule  has  exceptions, 
and  some  worms  belonging  to  the  Oligochaeta  have  more 
setae  than  are  to  be  found  in  some  species  belonging  to  the 
Polychaeta ;  but  then  there  are  other  considerations.  As  a  rule 
the  worms  with  many  bristles  are  marine,  and  being  specially 
adapted  for  life  in  the  ocean  are  quite  distinct  in  form  from 
those  belonging  to  the  land  and  fresh  water.  Hence  generally 
speaking  the  Oligochaeta  are  terrestrial,  the  Polychaeta  marine. 
Of  the  Polychaeta  I  shall  for  the  present  have  nothing  to  say, 
further  than  this,  that  very  rarely  the  Polychaeta  and 
Oligochaeta  meet,  as  one  might  expect  in  estuarine  and  salt- 
marsh  habitats.  The  true  Oligochaeta  again  are  separable  into 
two  very  distinct  groups,  and  the  order  contains  the  ter- 
restrial forms  and  those  which  are  found  either  in  or  near 
fresh  water.  The  terrestrial  forms  or  true  earthworms  have 
received  considerable  notice  in  these  pages,  and  while  we 
still  hope  to  add  a  few  further  species  to  the  Irish  list,  it  may 
be  said  roughly  that  the  earthworms  of  Ireland  are  well  known. 
Of  the  limicolous  and  aquatic  species,  however,  we  have  here- 
tofore been  in  absolute  ignorance.  They  are  small,  not  easily 
discovered,  and  when  found  are  very  difficult  to  determine,  so 
that  one  need  not  wonder  that  they  have  been  little  studied. 
Now,  however,  thanks  to  the  labours  of  Mr.  Beddard,  we  have 
a  Monograph'  which  contains  much  information  for  the 
guidance  of  the  student,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  before  long 
the  aquatic  worms  of  Ireland  will  be  as  completely  understood 
as  the  larger  species  are. 

Thanks  to  the  kindness  of  my  indefatigable  correspondent, 
Mr.  Trumbull  of  Malahide,  I  have  already  been  able  to  make 
a  start  with  the  study,  and  I  send  a  first  instalment  in  order 
if  possible  to  secure  the  interest  and  aid  of  the  large  and 
ready  band  of  co-workers  who  so  generously  supplied  me  with 

^F.  :e.  Beddard,  "Monograph  of  the  OHgochseta."    Oxford,  1895. 


126  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [May, 

materials  for  my  former  studies.    To  these  and  to  any  new 
workers  who  would  like  to  send  me  material,  a  few  hints  may 
bd  permitted.    Where,  it  may  be  asked,  shall  specimens  be 
sought  ?     We  answer,  everywhere  !     The  smaller  worms  are 
ubiquitous.     Being  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  village  in  Cum- 
berland the  other  day,  I  saw  a  little  gutter  flowing  on  to  a 
piece  of  waste  land.     Here  some  dirty  straw  and  vegetable 
matter  was  being  saturated  with  the  ooze,  a  handful  of  which 
I  picked  up,  wrapped  in  paper,  and  carried  home.     To  my 
surprise  I  found  that  the  dirty  straws  were  crowded  with  a 
beautiful  little  red  worm  new  to  science,  hundreds  of  which 
crawled  forth  from  their  hiding-place  or  hunting-ground  when 
the  material  was  laid   upon  an  old  dish.     The  ooze  on  the 
margins  of  ponds,   ditches,    lakes,  and  estuaries  should  be 
examined,  also  the  roots  of  grasses  and  plants  in  and  near  the 
water's  edge,  the  moss  and  plants  on  damp  rocks  or  dripping 
ledges,  or  wherever  there  is  moisture.     Mr.  Trumbull  has  sent 
me  a  species,  which  is  probably  new  to  science,  from  a  decay- 
ing elm  tree,  and  I  have  found  other  species  in  decaying  leaves, 
among  debris,  manure,  and  even  in  water- tanks,  springs  and 
wells.    They  are  usually  small,  and  may  be  easily  overlooked, 
but  a  little  practice  will  make  collecting  easy. 

Most  specimens  may  be  sent  with  a  small  quantity  of  the 
earth,  or  water,  moss,  leaves,  or  debris  among  which  they  are 
found,  and  should  either  be  placed  in  tubes,  bottles,  or  tin 
boxes  with  damp  moss.  Care  should  be  taken  so  to  pack  them 
that  they  will  not  be  subject  to  battering  in  transit,  or  the 
delicate  creatures  will  probably  arrive  quite  dead  and  un- 
recognizable. It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  as  many 
species  as  possible  should  be  studied  in  a  living  condition,  as 
it  is  only  by  this  means  that  many  of  the  difficulties  relating 
to  the  aquatic  species  can  be  cleared  up. 

I  will  now  give  an  account  of  those  worms  which,  through 
the  kindness  of  Mr.  Trumbull,  I  have  been  able  to  examine. 
They  were  collected  at  Malahide,  April  ist,  1896,  and  it  is 
important  to  note  the  date  when  collections  are  made  because 
all  worms  do  not  mature  at  the  same  time,  and  we  are  anxious 
to  ascertain  what  season  of  the  year  yields  the  best  results  in 
the  matter  of  adult  forms.     Take  for  example — 

Lumbrlculus  varlegratus,  Muller. — I  have  never  yet  seen  this  in 
its  advilt  stage,  and  Beddard  says  that  the  reproductive  organs  have  not 


1896.]  Friend. — Irish  Freshwater  Worms*  127 

yet  been  properly  described,  though  the  worm  has  long  been  under 

observation.  This  species  is,  among  the  aquatics,  pretty  much  what 
Lumbricus  icrrcstris  formerly  was  among  the  earthworms.  If  a  water-worm 
was  found  it  was  formerly  customary  to  call  it  Liimbriculus^  and  there 
was  an  end  of  the  matter.  Beddard  gives  but  this  one  species,  though  I 
am  certain  we  have  at  least  two  if  not  three  species  already  discovered  in 
Great  Britain.  I  have  no  doubt  about  the  Irish  species  belonging  to 
Beddard's  form  (Monograph,  p.  214).  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  one 
of  the  specimens  throw  off  its  tail,  just  as  a  crab  or  lobster  will  cast  a 
claw,  when  in  danger  or  irritated,  and  the  question  of  its  regeneration 
has  been  the  subject  of  special  study  bj- more  than  one  biologist.  The 
Lti))ibncnhts  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  active  of  our  aquatic  worms, 
being  two  or  three  inches  long,  and  as  large  round  as  a  piece  of  grocer's 
twine  or  a  large  pin.  It  wriggles  violently  if  captured,  and  may  be  fre- 
quently met  with  in  weedy  ponds  and  lakes  or  wide  ditches.  It  is  quite 
aquatic  in  habit,  and  has  the  setse  in  four  pairs  on  each  segment.  The 
most  beautiful  and  striking  feature  is  the  blind  contractile  appendages 
to  the  blood-vessels,  which  can  be  readily  seen  through  the  transparent 
integument.  Mr.  Beddard  (p.  209)  gives  a  figure  after  Claparbde.  The 
pharynx  occupies  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  segments,  then  follows 
the  oesophagus  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  segments,  the  intestine  commencing 
in  the  seventh.  The  intestine  can  at  once  be  recognized  by  the  presence 
of  vspecial  (chloragogen)  cells.  The  body  usually  appears  of  a  greenish 
brown  hue,  and  there  are  as  many  as  200  segments.  In  England  a  second 
species,  nearly  allied  to  this,  but  I  believe  as  yet  unnamed,  is  found  under 
the  strong  growths  of  moss  and  waterweed  which  choke  the  streamlets 
flowing  into  our  Cumberland  lakes.  I  mention  this  in  the  hope  that 
some  one  living  near  the  lakes  of  Ireland  may  be  induced  to  examine 
similar  localities  with  a  view  to  adding  other  species  to  the  list. 

Llmnodrilus  Udekemlanus,  Clap. — I  am  in  doubt  about  the  actual 
identity  of  this  worm  owing  to  the  fact  that  Beddard's  account  is  meagre, 
and  I  am  unable  to  consult  the  original  memoirs  of  Claparede  and 
Vaillant.  It  may  yet  prove  a  new  species,  and  I  therefore  give  my  ob- 
servations without  reference  to  Beddard's  account.  Unfortunately  an 
accident  with  my  specimens  resulted  in  their  being  destroyed  before  I 
had  completed  my  study  or  mounted  a  specimen  for  further  reference. 
The  setae,  five  or  six  (even  up  to  eight)  in  each  bundle  of  the  anterior 
segments,  are  seated  on  papillae.  About  four  setae  in  the  posterior 
bundles,  bifid,  the  outer  tooth  being  much  the  larger  of  the  two. 
Blood-vessel  springing  from  segment  12,  dilating  in  segment  9  (sometimes 
going  back  to  segment  10  when  the  worm  is  in  motion).  I  observed  here 
and  there  a  constriction  of  the  large  blood-vessel  near  the  dilatations  as 
if  for  a  valve  Penial  setae  wanting.  The  trumpet-shaped  chitinous 
penis  (or  penis-sheath)  not  more  than  four  times  as  long  as  broad 
(resembling  that  of  my  new  species,  Limnodrilus  IVordsworihiamis).  Dark 
chloragogen  cells  beginning  immediately  behind  segment  5.  Sper- 
mathecae  with  short,  uncoiled  tubes,  little,  if  any,  longer  than  the 
chamber.  Should  this  eventually  prove  to  be  a  new  species  I  shall 
supply  figures  when  I  submit  the  account  to  the  Royal  Irish  Academy, 


128  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [May, 

Hemitublfex  Benedll  (DTJd.). — Here  again,  owing  to  the  imperfect 
state  of  our  knowledge,  and  the  number  of  synonyms,  I  am  somewhat  in 
doubt.  This  is  just  the  worm  which  I  should  have  named  Tubifex  papillostis^ 
and  such  is  thenamegiventoaspeciesbyClaparMe  which  Beddard  (p.  261) 
places  under  the  above  heading.  It  is  a  wonderfully  interesting  worm, 
with  capilliform  and  forked  setae,  length  about  one  inch,  the  first  third 
of  the  body  being  about  three  times  as  thick  as  the  posterior  part.  Head 
very  small  compared  with  the  segments  containing  the  organs  of  genera- 
tion ;  about  70  segments  in  all.  The  body  entirely  covered  with  papillae. 
Beddard  says  the  papillae  are  wanting  on  the  clitellum  of  H.  Benedii.  I 
could  not,  however,  find  a  girdle  on  my  specimens,  and  as  we  find  setae 
wanting  on  the  girdle  of  many  worms  when  they  are  adult  which  possess 
them  invariably  in  a  younger  stage,  possibly  the  girdle  of  this  worm 
discards  its  papillae  when  it  becomes  adult.  This  is  a  point  for  further 
observation.  The  capilliform  and  forked  setae  alike  extend  through  the 
whole  extremity  of  the  worm's  body,  the  capilliform  setae  being  in  the 
dorsal  bundles  only.  As  many  as  nine  or  ten  capilliform  setse  in  the 
anterior  bundles,  but  six  or  eight  is  the  most  usual  number,  gradually 
decreasing  till  at  the  posterior  extremity  there  is  usually  only  one. 
Dilating  hearts  in  segments  7  and  8 ;  the  dark  cells  of  the  oesophagus 
beginning  in  segment  5.  The  forked  setae  of  the  under-side  sigmoid, 
much  curved,  the  outer  tooth  being  smaller  than  the  inner  one.  While 
the  outer  tooth  goes  almost  straight  forward,  the  inner  tooth  is  greatly 
curved.  Blood  red ;  body-segments  composed  of  prominent  annuli,  three 
or  more  to  each  segment. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  I  found  among  the  gleanings 
part  of  a  very  pretty  lumbriculid  about  two  inches  in  length, 
but  as  the  head  and  important  segments  were  missing  I  cannot 
be  sure  of  the  species.  A  later  consignment  included  a  white 
worm  found  in  an  old  decaying  elm  tree,  which  I  have  no 
doubt  is  a  new  species  of  Fridcricia.  The  brain,  spermathecse, 
and  setse  are  all  so  well-marked  and  characteristic  that  I  pro- 
pose to  describe  it  for  the  Irish  Academy  under  the  name  of 
Ftidericia  ulmicola.  These  preliminary  remarks  will,  I  trust, 
suffice  to  show  how  interesting  a  field  lies  open  here  for  any 
one  who  wishes  to  pursue  a  new  course  of  investigations. 


1896.] 


129 


NOTES    ON    A    ZOOLOGICAL    EXPEDITION    TO 
VALENCIA   ISLAND,    CO.   KERRY. 


SHORE-COLLECTING  AND  DREDGING. 

BY  F.    W.    GAMBI^B,    M.SC, 
Demonstrator  and  Assistant  I^ectiirer  in  Zoology,  Owens  College, 

Manchester. 


At  the  beginning  of  April,  1895,  Mr.  E.  T.  Browne  (Univ. 
Coll.,  London),  Mr.  W.  I.  Beaumont,  and  the  author  paid  a 
visit  to  Valencia  Island  for  the  purpose  of  making  further 
observations  on  certain  groups  of  marine  invertebrate  animals, 
which  we  had  severally  investigated  at  Professor  Herdman's 
Laboratory,  Port  Erin,  Isle  of  Man,  and  also  at  the  Marine 
Biological  Association's  Laboratory  at  Plymouth. 

Mr.  Browne's  object  was  to  examine  the  composition  and 
seasonal  changes  of  the  floating  fauna  by  the  aid  of  the  tow- 
net.     The  present  article  is,  however,  confined  to  a  record  of 
the  forms  obtained  by  Mr.  Beaumont  and  myself,  by  means 
of  shore-collecting  and   shallow- water  dredging  in  Valencia 
Harbour  and  the  immediate  neighbourhood  during  April  and 
May  of  last  year.     The  groups  referred  to  are,   chiefly,   the 
•^  Hydroids,  Nemertea,  Turbellaria,  Gephyrea,  Nudibranchiate 
Mollusca,    and   the    Pycnogonida    or    "Sea-spiders."     Since 
these  groups  are,  for  the  most  part,  composed  of  small  and 
soft-bodied   animals,   requiring  careful  observation  for  their 
detection,  and  microscopical  methods  for  their  determination 
we  resolved  if  possible  to  fit  up  a   temporary  laboratory  in 
which  we  could  examine  our  captures  at  leisure,  and  keep 
them  under  observation  for  some  time.     We  were  fortunately 
able  to  carry  out  this  resolve  successfully. 

It  is  to  Prof.  A.  C  Haddon  that  we  are  indel5ted  for  sug- 
gesting Valencia  Island  as  the  base  of  operations.  The 
advantages  which  it  offers  are,  a  rich  fauna  close  at  hand ;  a 
well-sheltered  harbour,  enabling  us  to  dredge  under  conditions 
of  weather  that  would  have  rendered  the  use  of  a  small  boat 
in  a  more  exposed  situation  out  of  the  question ;  and  finally 
it  is  now  easily  accessible  by  the  Great  Southern  and  Western 
Railway.     We  were  also  greatly  aided  in  discovering  the  most 

A3 


1^0  The  Irish  Naturalist  [May, 

favourable  localities,  and  in  many  other  ways,  by  the  vicar  of 
Valencia  (the  Rev.  A.  Delap)  and  his  family,  who  contributed 
so  largely  in  making  our  visit  as  successful  as  it  was  en- 
joyable. 

Accepting  Professor  Haddon's  suggestion,  we  landed  on 
Valencia  Island  last  April,  bringing  sufiicient  apparatus, 
chemicals,  and  instruments  to  stock  a  small  laboratory.  Soon 
after  our  arrival  we  obtained  the  use  of  the  greater  part  of  a 
conveniently  situated  house  close  to  the  beach.  One  large 
room  we  forthwith  fitted  up  as  our  laboratory;  in  another 
room  we  stored  our  tackle  and  gear ;  and  in  a  third  we  laid  out 
the  results  of  the  day's  dredging  and  shore-collecting  in 
enamelled  dishes.  Dredging  was  carried  on  almost  exclu- 
sively in  the  harbour  itself  from  a  small  rowing  boat.  We 
hope  on  a  future  occasion  to  investigate  the  fauna  of  the 
deeper  water  outside. 

Valencia  Island  (5  miles  long  and  2  wide)  is  bounded  by  the 
Port  Magee  Sound  on  the  south,  by  the  extensive  shallow 
harbour  on  the  north  and  east,  and  is  open  to  the  Atlantic  on 
the  west.  About  12  miles  out  to  sea,  in  a  south-westerly 
direction,  lie  the  fine  Greater  and  I^esser  Skellig  Rocks.  The 
former  is  well-known  on  account  of  the  intactness  of  the  cells, 
once  occupied  by  the  anchorites  of  the  8th  and  9th  centuries, 
which  occur  upon  it :  the  latter  from  the  fact  of  its  being  the 
chief  nesting-place  of  Gannets  in  the  neighbourhood. 

The  upper  reaches  of  the  harbour,  especially  that  part 
known  as  Lough  Mark,  appear  to  be  largely  composed  of 
submerged  peat-bog.  The  harbour  itself  is  shallow,  having  a 
depth  of  8  or  9  fathoms  only  in  certain  spots.  The  bottom  is 
chiefly  mud,  and  with  here  and  there  collections  of  shells, 
but  it  becomes  more  sandy  or  gravelly  as  the  mouth  is 
approached.  Church  Island  lies  between  the  harbour  and 
Lough  Kay  to  the  north,  and  we  found  the  shore  of  this 
island  to  be  the  most  prolific  locality  for  shore- work.  Indeed 
at  low  springs,  Valencia  Harbour  is  an  exceedingly  favour- 
able district  for  the  study  of  littoral  animals. 

I  will  first  give  a  description  of  the  fauna  between  tide- 
marks  according  to  the  localities  we  examined,  and  will  then 
proceed  to  detail  the  results  obtained  by  dredging.  In 
considering  these  notes  it  must  be  remembered  that  our  visit 


1896.]      Gamblk. — A  Zoological  Expedition  to  Co,  Kerry,       131 

followed  upon  an  exceedingly  severe  winter,  the  effects  of 
which  could  scarcely  fail  to  thin  the  numbers  of  certain  groups  ; 
and  secondly,  that  though  we  explored  a  portion  of  the  district 
very  carefully,  a  number  of  localities  were  either  not  examined, 
or  insufficiently  searched. 

Beyond  the  quay  opposite  our  laboratory,  a  sandy  spit  is 
exposed  at  low  tides.  In  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
the  quay  and  on  this  spit,  Clava  squamata  occurred,  the  ova 
of  which,  at  first  pinkish  in  colour,  become  purple  or  bright 
blue  when  mature.  Coryjie  vaginata  (with  gonophores)  was 
found  here,  and  generally  from  this  point  westward  to  the 
light-house  at  the  harbour-mouth.  Eolis  papulosa  was  breed- 
ing on  the  spit  itself,  and  w^as  accompanied  by  Elysia  viridis; 
the  Turbellaria,  Leptopla^ia  tremellaris,  Fecampia  crythro- 
cephala,  Flagiostoma  Girardi]  the  Nemertea,  Linens  obscurus, 
L.  longissimus,  Amphiportis  lactifloreus^  Carinella  annulata ; 
and  lastly,  Dinophihis  tceniatus. 

Westwards   from   the  spit  lies  a  long  strip   of  collecting 
ground  in  the  direction  of  Glanleam,  terminating  for  practical 
purposes  just  beyond  some  pools,  in  which  the  purple  burrow- 
ing sea-urchin  {Strongyloce7itrotus  lividus)  occurs  in  numbers. 
At  low  spring  tides,  Zostera:-h^^^  are  here   uncovered,  and 
on  these  and  under  the  loose  boulders  the  following  fauna  was 
obtained  : — Acthiia  equina,  A7iemo7iia  cereus,  Actinoloba  dian- 
thus,  Sagartia  bellis,  S.  troglodytes,  S.  venusta,  S.  nivea,  Tealia 
crassicornis,  Bunodes  geynmaceus,  Corynactis  viridis,  and  Cerean- 
thus  Lloydii.     The   Hydroids  were   not   abundant,    and  had 
apparently  suffered  from  the  severity  of  the  preceding  winter. 
We  obtained,  however,  on  this  ground  small  colonies  of  a  species 
of  Rhizogeton  very  similar  to  R.  fusiformis,  Agassiz,  a  genus 
new  to  British  seas,  and  hitherto  only  described  from  Massa- 
chusetts Bay.    A  number  of  the  commoner  species  of  Campanu- 
laria  and  Sertularia  occurred  here,  together  with  Coryfie pusilla 
and  C.  vaginata.     In  the  **  lividus  "  pools  the  creeping  medusa 
Clavatella  prolifera  was  obtained,  with  young  budding  off  from 
it.     The  Polyclad  Turbellaria,  probably  abundant  here  in  a 
good   season,   were   represented    by   Stylochoplana  maculata, 
Leptoplana  tremellaris,  Stylostomum  variabile,  and  Cycloporus 
papillosus:    the   Rhabdocoelida  by  Proxenetes  flabellifer,  Pro- 
mesostoma  r?iarmoratum,  Macrorhynchus  Ncegelii,  Monotus  fuscusy 


132  •  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  May, 

and  M.  lineatus.  Several  species  of  the  Nemertine  genus 
Tetrastefjina  were  found,  including  T.  dorsale,  T.  candidwn,  T, 
ver7mculat2ivi,  and  T.  mela7iocephalum  (var.  diademd).  The  Anne- 
lids were  extensively  represented  on  this  ground,  and  Siphono- 
stoma  diplochcetos,  Halosydjia  gelatinosa,  and  a  form,  apparently 
Myriariida  maculata  {Q\2i^.){=Myria7iidape?i7iigera  of  Montagu), 
were  noted,  the  last  bearing  a  chain  of  buds  at  its  hinder  end. 
A  Gephyrean,  Phy7nosoma papillosum,  Thompson,  was  dug  out 
of  the  tide-pools.  It  has  been  previously  taken  by  Dr.  Kinahan 
from  the  coast  of  Clare,  by  Dr.  Norman  in  Birterbuy  bay,  and 
from  Polperro  by  lyaughrin.  The  Nudibranch  Molluscs 
were  abundant.  Archidoris  tuberculata  was  spawning, 
AcaTithodoris  pilosa  (several  varieties),  Goniodoris  7iodosa  and 
Jorumia  Joh7istani,  Polycera  quadrili7ieata,  Triopa  claviger^ 
yEgirus  pU7ictiluce7is,  Eo lis  papulosa,  a  form  identical  with  E. 
Peachii^  A.  and  Yi.,^olidella glauca,Faceli7ia  coro7iata,Favori7ius 
albus,  Coryphella  gracilis,  and  perhaps  best  of  all  A7itiopa 
hyalina^  occurred  here.  Thelastspecieshas  not,  I  believe,  been 
previously  recorded  from  this  coast.  In  addition,  Li77iapo7itia 
nigra,  ActcE07ija  corrugata  and  Elysia  viridis,  PleurobraTtchus 
plu77iula,  and  very  small  Aplysia  pu7ictata,  form  the  list  of 
Opisthobranchiate  molluscs.  Of  the  Pycnogonida,  the  most 
interesting  form  on  this  shore  was  A7ioplodactylus  viresce7iSy 
Hodge,  apparently  a  new  species  for  Ireland,  as  Mr.  G.  H. 
Carpenter,  who  has  kindly  examined  the  collection  of 
Pycnogonida,  informs  me.  Af7t77ioihea  eclmiata,  and  Pycno- 
go7ium  littorale  also  occurred  in  this  localit}^ 

Below  Glanleam,  the  seat  of  the  Knight  of  Kerry,  is  a  shore 
composed  of  boulders  imbedded  in  sand.  This,  although  not 
so  prolific  a  locality  as  the  last,  yielded  the  following,  in  addi- 
tion to  many  of  the  foregoing  species.  Nkmkrtea: — I^ emeries 
Neesii,  Micrurafasciolata,  Li7teus  lo7igissi77ius\  Nudibranchia: — 
Facelina  pU7ictata.  A  Decapod  {Xa7itho  rivulosa)  is  abundant 
here,  and  Kinahan  found  it  when  collecting  at  Valencia. 
{Nat.  Hist,  Review,  1857,  "^ol-  iv). 

A  short  walk  across  the  headland  bounding  the  entrance 
to  the  harbour  on  the  south,  brings  one  near  Murreagh 
Point  to  a  bay,  which  at  low  water  affords  good  collecting. 
Myriothela  phrygia  and  Cory7tactis  viridis  are  the  most  striking 
Coelentera,  while  Coryphella  gracilis  and  yEolidella  glauca  are 


1896.]      Gambi^k. — A  Zoological  Expedition  to  Co.  Kerry.       133 

the  most  characteristic  Nudibranchs.  Church  Island,  how- 
ever, is  the  best  locality  for  shore-collecting,  particularly  at 
the  lowest  spring  tides.  Myriothela  is  again  abundant,  Hali- 
clystus  atcrimla  clusters  on  the  Zostera-h^^%  and  Caryophyllia 
Smithii  occurs  under  stones.  The  Polyclad  Turbellaria  occur- 
ring on  the  opposite  side  of  the  harbour  are  here  also,  and 
in  greater  numbers,  together  with  Nemertes  Neesii,  Cephalothrix 
biocidata  and  the  other  Nemertea.  Acanthodoris  pilosa  and 
aspera^  JoruJina  Johnstoni,  Favorinus  albus  and  Pleurobfanchus 
phimula  again  occur,  with  many  of  their  congeners.  The 
Annelids  Polymnia  nebulosa,  Lanice  conchilega  and  Siphonostoma 
diplochcetos  are  fairly  abundant.  I^astly,  there  exists  here  a 
rich  Echinoderm  fauna  which  we  did  not  thoroughly  examine. 
Holothuria  7iigra,  Cucwnayia  cucumis,  Ocnus  brunfieus  and 
O.  lacteus  were  some  of  the  more  obvious  forms. 

Very  different  from  this  fauna  is  that  inhabiting  the  muddy 
shore  of  I^ough  Mark,  which  is  largely  a  submerged  peat-bog. 
In  the  wood  a  species  of  Pholas  burrows,  and  the  Gephyrea 
Thalassema  Neptuni  and  Phascolosovia  te7iuicinctuni,  McCoy 
{  =  Ph.  elongatum,  Keferstein)  are  present  in  the  peat;  the  last, 
which  was  found  originally  by  McCoy  on  this  Q.o2.^\,{Ann.  Mag. 
Nat.  Hist,  vol.  xv.,  1845)  being  very  plentiful.  Lamellidoris 
bilamellata  was  found  here  accompanied  by  very  large  speci- 
mens of  Facelhia  coronata  (spawning)  and  one  or  two  other 
Eolids,  including  a  stranded  specimen  oi Lomanotus  Gejiei,  two 
inches  long.  Nympho7i  gallicum,  Hoek  (male  with  eggs),  was 
the  most  interesting  Pantopod.  It  is  a  southern  form  and 
was  first  described  by  Hoek  from  the  coast  of  Brittany.^  In  a 
patch  of  gravel  off  Reenglass  Point,  the  purple  urchin  {Str. 
lividus)  occurs.  On  the  shore  of  the  Caher  river  at  Ballycar- 
bery  Castle,  Myxicola  infundibulum  is  plentiful.  It  may  be 
mentioned  that  this  is  a  locality  for  Btifo  calamita,  the 
Natterjack  Toad. 

Turning  now  to  the  fauna  obtained  by  dredging,  it  must  be 
premised  that  as  we  only  had  the  use  of  a  rowing  boat  and 
were  not  able  to  dredge  effectually  outside  the  harbour,  the 
results  were  in  many  hauls  not  unlike  those  of  shore-collecting 
at  low-springs.     We  discovered,  however,  two  banks  of  shells 

1  Hoek,  Arch.  Zool.  Expt.  et  Gen.  ix:  i88r,  p.  445.  See  also  Carpenter, 
•'  Pycnogonida  of  Irish  Coasts."  Proc.  Roy.  Dub.  Soc,  vol.  vii.  (n.s.)  pt.ii. 
1893. 


134  I'ht  Irish  Naturalist.  [  May, 

{Peden  maximus,  P.  opercularis,  Mya  truncata^  &c.)  whicli 
yielded  excellent  results.  The  rest  of  the  bottom  is  covered 
with  vast  numbers  of  Ascidiella  aspersa,  and  elsewhere  with 
meadows  of  Zostera  rooted  in  mud,  except  off  Glanleam, 
where  there  is  a  bottom  of  sand  and  gravel,  containing  a 
limited  but  well-differentiated  fauna. 

The  Hydroids  were  not  well  represented.  The  abundance  and 
small  size  of  the  Medusa  of  Corymorpha  7iuta7is  in  the  water  of 
the  harbour,  argued  the  presence  of  the  Hydroid  in  the  imme- 
diate neighbourhood,  but  in  spite  of  arduous  labours  we  did 
not  find  it.  In  fact,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  several 
medusae  with  known  hydroid  stocks,  none  of  the  latter  were 
obtained.  Halecium  Beanii  was  dredged  once  (with  gonophores) 
in  the  harbour.  The  two  species  oi  A7itennularia  were  com- 
mon, and  upon  these  were  young  specimens  oiLomanotus  Genei^ 
Doto  coronata  and  D.  fragilis.  Doto  pinnatifida  occurred  a 
couple  of  times  on  the  shelly  ground  in  company  with  the 
following  : —  EpiznaTithus  Couchii  ;  TuRBEiyi^ARiA  : — Prosthe- 
cercBus  vittatus,  Oligocladus  saiiguhioleyituSy  Eurylepta  cornuta 
and  the  other  Polyclads  taken  in  the  littoral  zone.  Nkmkrtka: 
— Amphiporus  dissimulans,  Riches,  Tetrastemma Jlavidum  (var. 
lo7tgissimunt),  Carinella  aragoi,  Lineus  bilineatus^  Micrura 
fusca,  M.  fasciolata,  M.  purpurea.  ANNEiyiDA  : — Pontobdella 
muricata,  Phascolion  strombi,  Phascoloso77ia  papillosu7n.  Opis- 
THOBRANCHIA : — Polycera  ocellata^  Eolis  angulata,  Coryphella 
La7idsburghiiy  Cratena  a77tce7ia,  C.  olivacea,  Amphori7ia  ccBrulea^ 
ETtibletoTiia  pulchta,  Galvina  pida?-  Pycnogonida  : — Phoxi- 
diihis  IcBvis,  A.  petiolatus,'' Palle7ie  brevirostris,  and  great  numbers 
of  A7nmothea  echinata. 

On  the  muddy  ground  of  the  harbour  Asddidla  aspersa 
itself  contains  a  small  fauna.  Its  test  was  covered  with 
A7itedo7i  europcEa  and  riddled  by  CreTiella  mar7norata,  whilst 
amongst  the  mud  of  its  attachment,  the  three  species  of  AfzVrwra, 
Siphonosto77ia  diplochcetos  and  Phascolosoi7ta  te7iuicindu77t  were 
found.  The  Turbellaria  and  Nemertea  were  identical  with 
those  of  the  shelly  ground.     A7nphiporus  ladifloreus  however 

*  J^rof.  Haddon  in  a  list  of  forms  from  Valencia,  July,  1887,  which  he 
has  kindly  communicated  tome,  notes  G.  Farrani,  now,  according  to  some 
authors,  a  variety  of  G.  tricolor  Forbes. 

'  Along  with  Anopl.  petiolatus,  Kr.,  we  obtained  specimens  of  ^./J'^w^mj, 
Hodge.  Canon  Norman  {Ann.  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.  (6)  xiii.,  1894,  pp.  153-4) 
considers  the  latter  to  be  immature  examples  of  A.  petiolatus. 


1896.]      Gambi^e. — A  Zoological  Expedition  to  Co.  Kerry.       135 

occurred  here,  but  not  A.  dissimulans.  Among  the  Annelids 
Ammotrypa7ie  aulogastra,  Rathke,  was  common,  and  a  species 
of  Ch(Btopterus  occurred  a  few  times.  Philine  aperta,  Ph. 
punctata^  Ph.  catena  were  very  characteristic  Opisthobranchia. 

A  word  or  two  remains  to  be  said  concerning  the  occurrence 
of  a  species  oi  Polygordius  in  fair  numbers  on  patches  of  gravel 
off  Glanleam.  It  is  difficult  to  state  which  of  the  known 
species  this  approaches  most  closely,  and  we  hope  to  in- 
vestigate the  matter  further.  Comparison  with  M'Intosh's 
specimens  of  P.  apogoyi  from  Bressay  Sound  in  the  Shetlands, 
seems  to  indicate  that  our  specimens  resembled  this  species 
more  than  the  others,  although  the  eyes,  which  are  a 
diagnostic  feature  of  the  northern  form,  were  absent.  Since 
the  discovery  of  Polygordius  at  Valencia,  we  have  found  it 
off  Port  Brin  (Isle  of  Man),  and  also  at  Plymouth,  associated 
usually  with  Glycera  capitata,  Embletonia  pulchra^  and  a  few 
other  forms  which  affect  a  gravelly  bottom. 

In  conclusion  I  may  draw  attention  to  some  of  the  more 
interesting  forms  which  fell  to  our  lot  while  shore-collecting 
and  dredging.  In  reference  to  these,  previous  Irish  records 
have  been  consulted  so  far  as  the  time  at  my  disposal  has 
permitted.  But  the  publication  of  faunistic  notes  relating  to 
the  Irish  marine  Invertebrate  fauna,  in  many  often  in- 
accessible journals  and  papers,  renders  this  a  matter  of  the 
greatest  difficulty. 

Messrs.  T.  and  A.  Scott ^  have  published  descriptions  of  a 
new  genus  {Lomariticola  insolens  n.g.  n.sp.)  and  two  new 
species  {Aplostoma  Beaumonti  and  A.  hibernica  n.spp.)  of 
parasitic  Copepoda  which  were  found  respectively  in  Lomafiotus 
Genei,YQ.r.y  and  in  Compound  Ascidians,  at  Valencia.  A  species 
of  a  genus  of  Hydroidea  {Rhizogeton  sp.)  new  to  the  British 
seas  is  in  Mr.  Browne's  hands  for  description.  The  Pycno- 
gonid  Anoplodactylus  viresce?is,  Hodge,  is  apparently  new  to 
the  coast  of  Ireland.  Of  the  Nudibranchiate  Mollusca, 
Amphorina  ccerulea  (Mont.),  Antiopa  hyali?ia,  A.  &  H., 
Lomanotus  Genei,  Ver.,  and  Embleto7iia  pulchra,  A.  &  H.,  are 
noteworthy  forms,  if  not  new  to  the  coast.  The  abundance 
of  species  of  Mic7ura,  and  the  occurrence  of  Amphiporus 
dissumulans,  Riches,  are  perhaps  the  more  interesting 
results  of  Mr.  Beaumont's  work  at  the  Nemertea.    Among  the 

*  4nnals  and  Ma^.  Nat.  Hist.,  Ser.  6,  vol.  xvi.,  1895,  p.  353. 


136  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [May, 

Turbellaria,  the  list  of  which  I  fully  expect  to  increase 
very  considerably,  ProsthecercBus  vittatus,  Mont.,  Oligocladus 
sanguinolentus,  lyang,  and,  Stylochoplana  maculata,  Quatref ,  are 
worthy  of  mention.  Finally  the  occurrence  of  a  species  of 
Polygordius  has,  I  believe,  not  before  been  signalised  from  the 
coast  of  Ireland. 


PROGKBDINGS  OF  IRISH  SOCIETIES. 


RoYAi,  Zooi^oGiCAi,  Society. 

Recent  donations  include  a  Badger  from  the  Karl  of  Granard,  a  pair  of 
Peacocks  from  A.  Bell,  Esq.,  a  Macaw  from  V.  W.  Brown,  Esq.,  and  a 
pair  of  Herons  from  E.  Blake  Knox,  Esq.  Two  St.  Kilda  lambs,  a  hybrid 
calf,  and  a  pigmy  calf,  have  been  born  in  the  Gardens. 

8,070  persons  visited  the  Gardens  during  March. 


Dubinin  Microscopicai,  Ci^ub. 

Ma-RCH  19th.— The  Club  met  at  Mr.  W.  N.  Ai,i,En'S. 

Mr.  Moored  exhibited  Nutria  aurantmm,  Kick.  At  a  previous  meeting 
Mr.  Moore  had  exhibited  a  pseudo-bulb  of  an  unnamed  species  oi  Anguloa 
from  South  America,  which  was  infested  with  a  fungus.  The  fungus 
was  the  species  now  exhibited.  It  is  remarkable  that  several  distinct 
species  of  Nedria  have  been  found  growing  on  Orchids  in  the  houses  at 
Glasnevin.  The  species  in  question  is  uncommon.  It  had  previously 
been  recorded  as  growing  on  the  Ivaburnum  and  Aspen  Poplar  in 
Thuringia,  and  on  the  Ash  tree  in  Belgium. 

Mr.  G.  PiM  showed  the  secidiospores  of  Puccinia  Lapsance^  Schultze, 
sent  by  Mr.  Burbidge,  from  the  Trinity  College  Gardens.  The  fungus 
produces  crimson  spots  on  the  leaves  on  which  nestle  the  clusters  of 
pale  yellow  peridia,  forming  a  very  pretty  low-power  object. 

Mr.  McArdIvE  exhibited  fertile  specimens  of  Cephalozia  Ttirneri,  Hook., 
which  were  sent  to  him  by  Mr.  M.  B.  Slater,  F.i^.S.,  of  Malton,  York- 
shire. They  were  collected  in  Maine  Co.,  California,  in  May,  1894,  by 
Professor  Marshall  A.  Howe,  of  the  University  at  Berkely. 

In  Ireland  it  is  one  of  the  rarest  liverworts  ;  it  was  first  found  by  Miss 
Hutchins  near  Bantry,  Co.  Cork,  who  sent  it  to  Sir  William  Hooker, 
and  he  named  it  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  his  friend  Dawson  Turner  ; 
an  excellent  description  and  figure  of  the  plant  is  given  in  his 
grand  work  on  the  "  British  Hepaticse."  From  the  date  181 1,  }  when  it 
was  collected  by  Miss  Hutchins,  we  have  no  record  that  it  was  found 
again  until  1873,  when  it  was  collected  in  small  quantity  at  Cromaglown, 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  137 

Killarney,  by  Professor  Lindberg.  In  England  it  is  known  to  grow  in 
one  station  in  Sussex,  rare  and  local  in  France,  found  also  in  the  Canary 
Islands  (Webb)  near  Tangier,  Africa  (Salzman.)  This  curious  and  pretty 
plant  is  remarkable  in  having  pectinato-dentate  leaves,  and  in  its  close 
affinity  to  several  genera,  especiall}^  Anthelia 

March  16th. — The  Club  met  at  the  house  of  Prof.  Grenvii,i:.E  Coi,K, 

who  exhibited  a  large  section,  prepared  for  the  Royal  College  of  Science, 

from  an  opal-bearing  rhyolite  occurring  on  Sandy  Braes,  Co.  Antrim. 

Radial  chalcedonic  groupings  occur  in  clear  amorphous  opal,  the  structure 

being,  as  usual,  well  brought  out  by  crossed  nicols. 

Mr.  PiM  showed,  on  behalf  of  Canon  RussEI^L  of  Geashill,  a  minute 
Nedria,  probably  N.  sangtiinea.  The  perithecia  are  scattered,  somewhat 
pyriform,  papillate,  and  of  a  deep  red  colour  ;  thesporidia  are  uniseptate 
and  uno-bi-seriate. 

Mr.  M'Ardi^K  exhibited  a  fertile  specimen  of  the  rare  liverwort 
Scapania  compacta^  Duniort.,  which  he  found  last  year  amongst  rocks  on 
the  bank  of  the  River  Barrow  near  Borris,  Co.  Carlow,  when  collecting 
for  the  Flora  and  Fauna  Committee  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  Dr.  D. 
Moore,  in  his  work  on  the  Irish  Hepaticse,  states  that  the  only  specimens 
he  collected  of  the  true  plant  are  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Brandon, 
Co.  Kerry,  which  were  sterile  in  both  places  where  it  was  observed 
growing. 

Mr.  A.  Vaughan  Jennings  exhibited  a  leaf  of  Arharum  vulgate  from 
Bordighera,North  Italy,  containing  the  endophytic  algdiPhyllosiphon  arisari, 
Kiihn,  which  is  only  known  on  that  plant,  and  only  from  the  Riviera 
and  West  Italian  coast.  A  preparation  under  a  low  power  showed  the 
unicellular  (ccenocytic)  branching  filament  spreading  through  the  leaf- 
tissues,  and  its  contents  breaking  up  in  parts  into  very  minute  spores. 
Another  slide  showed  these  spores  under  a  high  power,  when  they  were 
seen  to  be  oval  bodies  with  a  central  nucleus  and  a  bright  spot  toward 
each  pole.  The  plant  resembles  closely  a  green  siphonaceous  alga  such 
as  Vatuheria,  but  it  seems  to  live  to  a  great  extent  parasitically  on  the 
leaf-tissues,  which  it  destroys.  No  sexual  organs  are  known ;  and  the 
method  of  asexual  reproduction  differs  entirely  from  that  of  Vaucheria, 
the  immense  number  of  minute  spores  having  almost  a  fungoid  aspect. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Carpenter  showed  specimens  of  the  minute  crane-fly 
Molophilus  ater,  Mg.,  recently  collected  by  Mr.  J.  N.  Halbert,  near 
Roundstone.  This  species,  probably  common  in  hilly  and  northern 
districts,  is  of  interest  on  account  of  the  great  reduction  of  the  wings  in 
both  sexes. 

Mr.  Henry  J.  Seymour  showed  sections  of  a  hornblende  schist  from 
Killiney.  The  rock  occurs  just  north  of  the  garden  wall  of  Killiney 
Park,  near  the  junction  of  the  granite  and  slate.  In  the  slides  a 
schistose  structure  is  clearly  seen,  and  hornblende,  a  pyroxene,  some 
quartz  and  numerous  plagioclase  crystals  can  be  identified.  The 
rock  may  have  been  originally  a  diorite  or  a  pyroxene  aphanite.  A 
photo-micrograph  of  the  section  taken  by  Mr.  Mitchell  was  also  shown, 


138  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [May, 


BEl.FAS'r  NATURAI.ISTS'   FlEIvD  CI.UB. 

March  17th.— The  President  in  the  chair.  Prof.  C01.E,  F.G.S., 
read  a  short  paper  on  the  Rhyulites  of  Co.  Antrim.  Subsequently  the 
Fifth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Microscopical  Section  was  held,  the  even- 
ing being  devoted  to  a  display  of  microscopical  objects,  and  to  demon- 
strations of  mounting,  &c.  The  following  exhibited — Rev.  John  Andrew 
(Chairman  of  the  Section) ;  J.  J.  Andrew,  Miss  M.  K.  Andrews,  Miss  S.  M. 
Thompson,  Mrs.  Blair,  J.  O.  Campbell,  W.  B.  Drummond,  P.  F. 
Gulbrausen,  W.  A.  Firth,  Iv.  Roscorla,  James  Murdoch,  William  Gray, 
A.  M'J.  Cleland,  James  Stelfox,  W.  S.  M'Kee,  J.  Lorrain  Smith,  Cecil 
Shaw,  H.  M'Cleery,  Joseph  Wright,  W.  F.  de  V.  Kane,  and  W.  D. 
Donnan  (Sec.  of  the  Section). 

BoTANiCAi,  Section. — March  28th.— Mr.  J.  H.  Davies  read  an  in- 
teresting paper  on  Casuals.  It  was  illustrated  by  a  fine  set  of  mounted 
plants,  kindly  lent  for  the  occasion  by  an  old  friend  of  the  writer,  a 
Yorkshire  botanist,  Mr.  William  Foggitt,  who  has  given  considerable 
attention  to  this  class  of  plants.  Mention  was  made  of  the  spread  within 
recent  years  of  Veronica  Buxbaujnii,  Silene  noctijlora  and  Trifoliujn  agrarium. 
Silene  dichotoma,  first  noticed  in  our  district  two  years  ago  by  Mr.  David 
Redmond,  has  been  known  to  produce  330  capsules  on  one  plant.  Many 
of  these  plants  are  brought  in  with  foreign  seed,  and  one  cannot  but 
speculate  as  to  the  future  possibilities  of  their  spreading.  Mr.  Richard 
Hanna,  who  contributed  a  remarkable  list  of  these  alien  plants  to  the 
recent  "  Supplement  to  the  Flora  of  N.E.  Ireland,"  exhibited  some  which 
he  had  collected  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Belfast  distilleries  and  flour 
mills. 

Geoi^oGICAI.  Section. — A  week  of  geological  studies,  conducted  by 
Professor  G.  A.  J.  Cole,  terminated  on  Tuesday,  March  24.  A  paper  on 
the  structural  details  of  the  Antrim  rhyolites,  read  at  the  Club's 
microscopical  meeting,  fitly  commenced  the  course,  lantern  slides 
showing  the  microscopic  characters  of  these  lavas,  varied  by  others 
of  rhyolitic  areas  in  other  parts  of  Great  Britain.  The  first 
field  excursion  was  to  Squire's  Hill,  where  the  series  of  Cretaceous 
quarries  were  visited,  Professor  Cole  pointing  out  and  explaining 
the  methods  in  which  the  many  dykes  had  intruded  through  the  sedi- 
mentary rocks,  also  drawing  the  attention  of  his  students  to  the  differ- 
ence between  our  Cretaceous  series  and  that  of  England.  A  visit  to  the 
basaltic  quarry  led  the  party  across  Carr's  Glen  to  the  Cavehill  quarry, 
with  its  great  dyke,  showing  horizontal  columns,  which  traverses  the 
Chalk  and  the  overlying  basalt.  The  second  excursion  made  an  early 
start  for  Stewartstown,  involving  a  walk  often  miles  through  fine,  rolling 
country,  to  Tullyconnell  for  the  Permian  strata  that  are  so  rare 
in  Ireland,  a  block  in  situ,  nine  or  ten  feet  long,  with  stray  fragments  in 
an  adjacent  cottage  garden,  being  all  that  here  remains.  The  Castle 
Farm  quarries  at  Stewartstown  furnished  fossils  from  the  Carboniferous 
Jinjestone,  some  pits  in  the  lower  Cpal-measures  being  passed  on  the 


1896,]  Proceedmgs  of  Irish  Societies  139 

return  drive  to  Dungaunou.  Friday  saw  the  party  walking  from  Dun- 
donald  through  the  interesting  esker  of  partially-cemented  gravels  full 
of  travelled  pebbles,  by  the  old  road  to  Scrabo.  The  intrusive  sheets  and 
dykes  of  Scrabo  have  acted  as  a  protective  skeleton,  and  preserved  the 
hill  and  its  capping  of  dolerite  when  the  surrounding  unprotected  area 
was  denuded  away.  Saturday  was  devoted  to  the  rhyolitic  area,  which 
has  been  specially  studied  by  Professor  Cole  for  some  years,  and  mag- 
nificent weather  favoured  the  party  as  they  drove  from  Doagh  to  Sandy 
Braes. 

After  the  welcome  rest  of  Sunday,  the  geologists  made  a  fresh  start 
on  Monday,  the  place  selected  being  Barney's  Point,  near  Magheramorne, 
where  an  abundant  store  of  lower  Lias  fossils  was  obtained,  including 
Cfrotnya  gibbosa.  Fragments  of  Rh?etic  rocks  led  Professor  Cole  to  point 
out  that  these  Liassic  beds  had  probably  overridden  the  lower  strata. 
Walking  across  the  backbone  of  Islandmagee,  the  party  inspected  the 
fine  cliffs  at  the  Gobbins.  Yet  more  splendid  weather  favoured  the  final 
excursion  on  Tuesday,  and  the  7.30  train  saw  ten  members  on  their  way 
to  Newcastle.  The  dykes  that  traverse  the  uplifted  Ordovician  strata  (in 
some  cases  themselves  traversed  by  later  dykes)  were  inspected  under 
Professor  Cole's  guidance.  Professor  Cole  subsequently  led  the  party 
up  by  Bloody  Bridge  and  Glen  P^ofanny  valley  to  the  ridge  above,  which 
led  to  an  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  great  detrital  fans,  which  have 
hitherto  been  regarded  as  moraines,  Mr.  La  Touche,  of  the  Geological 
Survey  of  India,  also  mentioned  the  making  of  such  fans  in  the  Him- 
alayas in  a  few  hours  by  a  flood.  An  ascent  of  Thomas  Mountain  to 
inspect  the  Ordovician  rock  that  overlies  the  granite — a  reminder  of  the 
great  sedimentary  arch  under  which  the  latter  molten  rock  accumulated 
— was  the  prelude  of  the  final  descent  through  the  grounds  of  Donard 
Lodge. 

Aprii,  ist. — The  Secretary's  annual  report  of  the  section's  work  was 
read  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Lockwood,  and,  being  passed,  was  sent  on  to  the 
Committee  of  the  Club.  Miss  M.  K.  Andrews  subsequently  gave  a 
brief  account  of  some  of  the  investigations  of  the  Swiss  "  Gletscher- 
Kommission"  into  the  results  and  cause  of  the  remarkable  glacier- 
avalanche  that  occurred  at  the  Altels  on  the  nth  September,  1895. 

Aprii,  6th. — An  excursion  to  Murlough  Bay  on  Easter  Monday  was 
carried  out.  A  party  of  15  started  by  the  6.30  train  from  Belfast,  and 
drove  from  Bally  castle  to  Murlough  Bay,  probably  the  most  picturesque 
bit  of  coast  in  County  Antrim.  The  geology  is  also  of  great  interest,  the 
most  ancient  rocks  in  the  county  (metamorphic),  occurring  near  sea 
level,  followed  by  the  basal  conglomerates  of  the  Carboniferous  period. 
Ascending  in  altitude  and  in  geological  line,  the  spectator  admires  the 
fine  slopes  of  ruddy  Trias,  upon  which  rest  the  interesting  pebble  beds 
that  indicate  the  western  shores  of  the  great  Cretaceous  ocean  that  once 
rolled  between  this  and  the  Crimea.  A  considerable  time  was  spent  in 
searching  for  the  fossils  that  occur  somewhat  sparingly  in  this  con- 
glomerate, which  is  not  developed  in  PyUgland.  The  homeward  walk 
along  the  noble  cliffs  of  Fair  Head  fitly  introduced  the  period  of  volcanic 


140  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [May, 

activity,  whose  results  have  made  Antrim  what  it  is,  preserving  many 
rocks  from  denudation  that  have  vanished  in  other  parts  of  our  island. 
The  weather  was  splendid,  and  a  glorious  sunset  gratified  the  travellers 
on  the  homeward  journey. 

Aprii,  21. — The  annual  meeting  of  the  Club  was  held,  the  outgoing 
president  (Mr.  F.  W.  Lockwood)  in  the  chair.  Before  the  regular  business 
was  proceeded  with,  Mr.  Wii,i.iam  Gray,  m.r.i.a.,  delivered  the  report  of 
his  visit  to  Dublin,  Cork,  and  Limerick  as  the  delegate  of  the  Club  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Irish  Field  Club  Union.  A  few  slight  additions  to 
the  Club's  rules  were  then  agreed  to,  after  which  the  president  called 
upon  the  honorary  treasurer  (Mr.  W.  H.  Phii^IvIPS)  to  read  the  statement 
of  accounts,  which  were  satisfactory,  a  small  balance  being  to  the  credit 
of  the  Society.  The  honorary  secretary  then  read  the  annual  report,  of 
which  the  following  is  an  abstract.  The  Committee  of  the  Belfast 
Naturalists'  Field  Club  now  lay  before  the  members  the  33rd  Annual 
Report.  The  work  of  the  Club  has  been  steadily  carried  on  during  the 
past  year,  some  good  results  having  been  obtained  especially  by  the 
different  sections  of  the  Club,  whilst  an  interesting  co-operation  with 
the  different  other  scientific  Societies  of  Ireland  has  been  maintained. 
The  Conference  of  all  the  Irish  Field  Clubs  held  in  Galway  during  July 
under  the  auspices  of  I.  F.  C.  Union,  was  a  hearty  stimulus  in  this  direc- 
tion. The  creation  of  an  entrance  fee  has  acted  as  desired  in  keeping 
the  membership  of  the  Club  within  working  bounds  without  materially 
affecting  the  finances  of  the  Club.  The  membership  now  stands  at 
480 — 32  new  members  having  been  elected  during  the  year,  and  68 
having  been  struck  off.  During  July  the  London  Geologists'  Association 
visited  Belfast,  and  were  officially  received  and  entertained  by  the  Club. 
During  their  stay  different  members  of  the  Club  acted  as  their  guides 
during  their  excursions,  and  their  programme  and  arrangements  were 
attended  to  by  the  Honorary  Secretaries.  The  Home  Reading  Union 
was  treated  in  a  similar  manner.  During  March  a  week's  good  geological 
work  was  done  m  a  systematic  way  under  the  instruction  of  Professor 
Cole,  there  being  an  excursion  to  different  places  of  interest  each  day  and 
a  class  each  evening.  The  Geological  Section  with  Miss  S.  M.  Thompson 
as  Secretary  has  been  most  active  during  the  Session.  The  Microscopical 
Section  has  also  been  fairly  active.  The  Celtic  Class  having  been  nurtured 
to  maturity  under  the  sheltering  care  of  the  Club  has  now  formed  a 
separate  organization,  "  The  Belfast  Gaelic  League,"  which  is  both 
active  and  prosperous.  The  Botanical  Section  formed  during  the  year 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  b.d.,  has  made  satisfactory 
progress,  and  will  doubtless  continue  to  keep  this  important  study  in  the 
forefront  of  the  Club's  work.  This  section  is  the  practical  outcome  of 
Professor  Johnson's  course  of  botanical  lectures  last  session.  Your 
Committee  trust  that  during  the  coming  session  more  individual  research 
will  be  done  by  the  members.  In  conclusion,  your  Committee  express 
their  satisfaction  with  the  lengthened  notices  of  the  Club's  proceedings 
given  from  month  to  month  in  the  Irish  Naturalist.  The  officers  were  then 
elected,  as  follow: — Lavens  M.  :^wart,  m.r.i.a.,  President;  Rev.  C,  H, 


i^gS.]  Proceedi7tgs  of  Irish  Societies,  141 

Waddell,  B.D.,  Vice-President;  William  H.  Phillips,  Treasurer;  William 
Swanstoii,  F.G.S.,  Librarian  ;  F.  J.  Bigger  and  Alex.  G.  Wilson,  Honorary 
Secretaries;  with  the  following  Committee: — Miss  S.  M.  Thompson, 
F.  W.  Lockwood,  W.  Gray,  John  Hamilton,  W.  J.  Fennell,  S.  A.  Stewart, 
R.  J.  Welch,  Joseph  Wright,  John  Vinycomb,  and  J.  St.  J.  Phillips, 
Various  suggestions  in  regard  to  the  summer  excursions  were  then  taken 
up  and  considered.  The  following  new  members  were  then  elected ; — 
Charles  MacLorinan,  i^i^.D.,  and  Robert  Ardill. 


Dubinin  Naturai^ists'  Fiei^d  Ci.ub. 

ApriI^  21. — The  evening  was  spent  in  hearing  reports  on  the  scientific 
results  of  an  Kaster  trip  to  Connemara,  in  which  a  number  of  members 
took  part.  The  chair  was  occupied  by  the  President  (Prof.  Grenvii,i.e 
CoivE).  Mr.  R.  lyiyOYD  Praeger  gave  a  general  account  of  the  week's 
work,  describing  the  beautiful  district  of  which  Roundstone  is  the  centre, 
and  its  scientific  attractions.  Specimens  were  shown  illustrative  of  the 
botany  of  the  district,  and  of  the  rich  shell-sand  of  Port-na-fedog.  Lantern 
illustrations  of  the  district  were  also  shown,  taken  from  photographs  by 
Mr.  R.  Welch,  Belfast.  Dr.  HERBERT  HuRST  followed  by  exhibiting 
some  frog's  bones  from  Inis  Mac  Dara,  a  remote  islet  off  the  Connemara 
coast.  The  opinion  was  expressed  that  the  frog  was  not  a  native  of  the 
island,  the  bones  having  probably  been  brought  by  a  bird.  Mr.  LySTER 
Jameson  spoke  on  the  marine  zoology  of  the  district,  and  exhibited  the 
results  of  dredgings  carried  out  by  the  party.  Mr.  J.  N.  Hai^berT  de- 
scribed the  insect  life  of  the  district,  and  showed  a  number  of  rare  beetles 
and  moths.  Prof.  T.  Johnson  spoke  on  a  large  collection  of  sea-weeds 
which  were  on  exhibition,  gathered  during  the  week  by  a  lady  member 
of  the  party.  The  various  reports  mentioned  above  will  appear  in  our 
pages  when  completed. 

Subsequently  Mr.  Praeger  showed,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  A.  Roycroft, 
bones,  shells,  &c.,  from  a  kitchen-midden  at  Lough  Shinny,  Co.  Dublin. 
The  President  exhibited  in  the  lantern  slides  illustrating  the  esker  of 
Greenhills,  Co.  Dublin.  Rev.  Maxwei*!.  Ci^ose  discussed  the  origin  of 
these  remarkable  gravel  ridges.  The  following  were  elected  members 
of  the  Club  :— Miss  L.  Allen,  Miss  M.  Allen,  J.  C.  Burlington,  Mrs.  Coffey, 
J.  de  W.  Hinch. 

Aprii,  25. — The  first  excursion  took  place.  A  party  of  36,  which 
swelled  to  57  en  rotiie,  took  the  1.45  train  to  Bray,  and  passing  the  new 
harbour,  examined  the  old  forest-bed  underlying  marine  clay  on  the 
shore  at  low  water,  recently  described  before  the  Club  by  Mr.  Praeger, 
who  now  pointed  out  on  the  ground  the  relations  of  this  deposit  to  the 
neighbouring  beds.  After  an  hour's  work  examining  the  peat  and  clay, 
and  shore-hunting,  the  party  proceeded  by  the  4.0  o'clock  train  to 
Killiney,  while  a  few  remained  to  collect  seaweeds  at  Bray.  At  Killiney, 
under  guidance  of  the  President  (Prof  Cole)  the  famous  junctions  of 
the  Ordovician  and  granite  were  visited,  and  Prof.  Cole  explained  the 


14^  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [May, 

geological  phenomena  displayed.  Numerous  specimens  of  the  schist 
full  of  andalusite  crystals  were  brought  away  for  examination.  The 
party  returned  to  town  by  the  6.11  train  from  Dalkey. 


FIELD    CLUB   NEWS. 


The  Easter  excursion  to  Roundstone,  in  which  a  number  of  members 
of  the  Belfast  and  Dublin  Field  Clubs,  and  others,  took  part,  was  an 
unqualified  success.  No  rain  marred  the  enjoyment  of  the  party,  and 
investigations  into  the  fauna,  flora,  and  archaeology  of  Connemara  pro- 
ceeded steadily.  The  scientific  results,  which  were  laid  before  the 
Dublin  Club  on  April  21st,  will  appear  duly  in  our  pages. 

A  better  centre  than  Roundstone  for  those  desiring  a  holiday  in  a 
beautiful  district  abounding  in  interest  for  the  naturalist  could  not  be 
found-  Situated  on  a  sheltered  arm  of  the  Atlantic,  in  the  midst  of 
lovely  scenery,  all  sorts  of  ground  are  within  easy  distance  for  the  ex- 
plorer— bays  with  a  rich  marine  fauna,  high  mountains,  sandy  beaches, 
rock-pools,  extensive  bogs,  innumerable  lakes,  and  an  excellent  little 
hotel. 

The  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  has  received  the  valuable  gift  of  a 
large  box  of  geological  specimens  from  Mrs.  Smythe,  of  Tobarcooran, 
Carnmoney.  The  collection  belonged  to  the  late  General  W.  J.  Smythe, 
R.A.,  C.B.,  formerly  President  of  the  Club. 


NOTES. 


BOTANY 


PHANEROGAMS. 

Lathraea  squamaria  In  Co.  Down. — It  may  be  of  interest  to 
some  botanical  readers  to  know  that  Lalknra  squamaria  is  to  be  found 
growing  in  the  woods  in  Lord  Annesley's  demesne  at  Castlewellan.  It 
is  most  likely  indigenous,  as  I  have  found  it  growing  in  several  of  the 
plantations  nearly  a  mile  apart,  mostly  under  Portugal  Laurels 
{Cerasus  lusitanicus)  of  great  age,  also  I  have  found  it  growing  near  the 
Bird-cherry  {Primus padus)  and  under  some  Elms  {Ulmus  campestris). 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if  Lathrcra  squamaria  has  been  found 
growing  in  other  districts  in  Ireland,  and  where  } 

T.  Ryan,  Castlewellan,  Co.  Down. 


iS95.i  Notes.  143 

Early  Hawthorn. — On  19th  April,  near  Cabinteely,  Co.  Dublin,  I 
saw  a  large  Hawthorn  tree  in  almost  full  bloom  ;  there  was  nearly  as 
much  on  the  shady  side  as  on  that  exposed  to  the  sun.  From  the  con- 
dition of  the  flowers,  it  was  obvious  that  some  must  have  been  out  at 
least  on  the  15th  inst.,  if  not  sooner.  Since  then  I  have  seen  Hawthorn 
*'  May  "  {sic !)  in  various  other  places,  including  Rutland-square.  Is  this 
not  almost  a  record  for  earliness  1 

Greenwood  Pim,  Dublin. 
ZOOLOGY. 


INSECTS. 

Formica  rufa,  L.,  In  Co.  Wexford.— Though  I  am  not  a  "for- 

micologist"  I  have  been  for  many  years  familiar  with  the  large  Wood  Ant 
{Formica  rufa)  as  a  denizen  of  old  Killoughrim  Forest,  in  the  County 
Wexford ;  and  I  forward  this  note  on  seeing  that  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson 
in  the  April  number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist  asks  for  information  concerning 
its  Irish  localities,  and  expresses  some  doubt  as  to  its  indigenousness  in 
this  country. 

The  great  size  of  this  ant,  its  wood-haunting  habit,  and  the  remarkable 
nest,  resembling  a  hay-cock  in  shape,  which  it  builds  of  sticks,  grass, 
leaf-stalks,  &c.  (or  pine-needles  where  these  happen  to  be  accessible  to 
it)  are  sufficiently  distinctive,  I  hope,  to  guarantee  one  who  has  not 
scientifically  studied  the  order  against  risk  of  erroneous  identification. 

As  to  the  question  of  its  indigenousness,  the  character  of  the  habitat 
is  to  my  mind  practically  conclusive.  Killoughrim  Forest — the  main 
remnant  of  the  old  naturalwoodof  Oak,  Birch,  Hazel,  Holly,  Guelder-rose, 
and  Broom,  which  in  bygone  years  covered  a  great  part  of  the  county — 
is,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe,  almost  completely  free  from 
introduced  vegetation,  while  several  of  our  very  local  but  undoubtedly 
native  insects  (as  Thecla  betuhe  and  Nisoniades  tages)  are  apparently  con- 
fined to  this  wood,  or  occur  outside  its  limits  only  in  a  few  isolated  spots, 
once  part  of  the  forest,  that  still  retain  the  original  sylvan  character.  It 
seems  most  unlikely  that  the  ants  would  be  so  thoroughly  at  home  as 
they  are,  in  such  a  place  as  this  if  the  species  were  an  imported  one.  In 
fact  it  has  grown  into  an  axiom  with  me  that  whatever  is  in  Killoughrim 
is  indigenous.  Even  the  Squirrel,  now  for  six  years  established  and 
common  in  all  the  woods  of  the  adjacent  parts,  declines  to  be  tempted 
by  the  only  hazel-nuts  the  district  offers  to  ground  whereon  he  in- 
stinctively knows  there  is  neither  Beech  nor  Pine. 

I  regret  to  add  that  the  dense  scrub  which  has  sprungup  in  Killoughrim 
since  the  last  felling  of  the  oaks  ten  years  ago  has  so  obliterated  many  of 
the  old  pathways  and  open  spaces  that  it  is  no  longer  the  easy  matter  it 
once  was  to  visit  Formica  rufa  in  her  haunts.  Spots  where  I  have  found, 
I  should  say,  a  dozen  Wood  Ant's  hillocks  in  village-like  juxtaposition 
are  now  difficult  to  identify,  and  besides  the  ants  themselves  shift  their 
ground  from  time  to  tim  e. 


144  ^^^  Irish  Naturalist.  [May,  1896. 

Despite  their  defensive  capabilities,  not  ineffective  against  Man,  and 
stated  to  be  infallible  security  against  the  Pheasant  and  Partridge  (see 
remarks  by  **  A  Son  of  the  Marshes  "  on  "  Our  British  Game  Birds  "),  they 
have  at  least  one  formidable  enemy  in  the  Hedgehog,  and  probably, 
though  I  have  no  certain  evidence  of  this,  another  in  the  Badger  ;  at  any 
rate,  even  the  former  animal  now  and  then  gives  them  such  a  mauling  as 
to  compel  the  abandonment  of  a  site. 

I  have  found  a  few  nests  of  Formica  rufa  outside  Killoughrim  Forest, 
under  plantation  timber  at  Ballyhyland,  and  in  other  woods  not  far  off; 
and  in  these  instances  I  took  note  of  the  fact  that  pine-needles,  for 
obvious  reasons  lacking  in  Killoughrim,  were  largely  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  tumuli.  These  outside  colonies,  probably  formed  by 
emigrants  from  the  Forest,  in  every  case  have  proved  curiously  short- 
lived, and  last  summer  I  searched  all  the  localities  (exclusive  of  the  Kil- 
loughrim settlements)  without  finding  a  single  nest  of  the  Wood  Ant. 

I  will  see  to  securing  a  few  "  neuters  "  of  this  Ant  for  authoritative 
inspection  during  the  coming  summer,  but  meanwhile  I  have  very  little 
doubt  that  other  Irish  localities  for  it  will  be  readily  forthcoming — enough, 
perhaps,  to  dispense  with  any  special  need  for  corroboration  by  specimen 
of  my  County  Wexford  record.  So  interesting  and  striking  an  insect  is 
in  all  probability  familiar  by  sight  to  many  observers  ignorant  of  its 
scientific  name,  who,  when  once  attention  is  drawn  to  the  subject,  will 
be  able  to  add  largely  to  what  is  known  of  its  distribution. 

C.  B.  Moffat,  Dublin. 

MOLLUSC  A, 
Some  Slugrs  from  North-West  Ireland.— I  have  recently  re- 
ceived from  Miss  Amy  Warren  a  small  collection  of  slugs  from  Ballina, 
Go.  Mayo,  and  as  records  from  this  district  are  very  few,  a  note  concern- 
ing the  same  may  be  of  interest.  There  are  eight  specimens  referable  to 
the  following  species  : 

Arion  empiricorum,  Fer.  (immature)  (3). 

var.  allied  to  Bocagei,  Simr.  (2). 
A.  subfuscus,  Drap.  (i). 
A.  hortensis,  Fer.  (i). 
A.fasciatus,  Nils.  (i). 

The  occurrence  of  forms  of  A.  empiricorum  allied  to  Simroth's  variet}' 
Bocagei  is  most  interesting. 

Walter  E.  Coi,i,inge, 

Mason  College,  Birmingham. 


BLRDS. 
Spring  Migrants. — I  saw  two  Sand  Martins  on  the  20th  March  and 
a  solitary  Wheat-ear  on  the  ist  April.    The  latter  are  our  first  spring 
migrants  here,  and  seem  later  in  coming  than  usual. 

W.  A.  Hamii<Ton,  Ballyshannon. 


June,  1896.  145 

THE  TERNS  OF  KII,LAI,A  BAY. 

BY  ROBERT  WARRKN. 


Of  the  tern  family,  four  species  are  regular  sutamer  visitors 
to  Killala  Bay,  and  breed  within  the  district — the  Sandwich, 
Common,  Arctic,  and  lyittle  Terns ;  while  one,  the  rare  Black 
Tern,  has  only  once  been  known  to  visit  the  bay. 

Up  to  the  summer  of  185 1,  very  little  was  known  of  the 
Sandwich  Tern  {Ster^ia  cafitiaca)  in  Ireland,  and  was  first 
mentioned  as  an  Irish  visitor  by  the  late  Wm.  Thompson  in  the 
Proceediiigs  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  I^ondon  for  1833  from 
a  specimen  shot  on  the  14th  of  September,  1832,  in  Belfast 
Bay  :  again,  on  the  28th  of  July,  1838,  an  adult  bird  was  shot 
opposite  *'The  Grove"  and  several  others  were  seen  there  in 
September,  1839,  and  during  the  same  month  in  1844 :  while 
another  specimen  shot  in  Strangford  I^ough  on  the  i6th  of 
August  that  year  was  sent  to  Belfast  for  preservation  ;  the 
above  being  all  that  was  known  to  Wm.  Thompson  of  this  bird 
on  the  northern  coast.  This  writer,  proceeding  to  speak  of  its 
occurrence  on  the  Dublin  coast,  mentions  a  specimen  having 
been  shot  near  Clontarf  in  October,  1831 ;  and  in  July,  1834, 
two  more  were  obtained  near  the  same  locality.  In  September, 
1837,  several  were  seen  near  Howth  ;  and  one  was  seen  at 
DoUymount  strand  on  nth  May,  1842  ;  while  from  that  date  up 
to  1850,  individuals  were  seen  every  summer,  in  June  and  July, 
between  Portmarnock  and  Malahide,  and  one  was  shot  on 
15th  June  that  year  on  Ireland's  Eye. 

The  late  Mr.  J.  J.  Watters  was  the  first  to  discover  that  it 
bred  on  the  coast,  for  on  17th  June,  1850,  when  visiting  that 
great  breeding-haunt  of  Terns  on  the  Dublin  coast,  the  Rockabill 
(now  long  since  deserted),  he  saw  three  birds  flying  about,  and 
found  a  broken  ^%<g  on  the  rocks,  and  although  he  saw  70  or 
80  Roseate  Terns,  and  at  least  twice  that  number  of 
Common  and  Arctic  Terns  on  the  wing,  he  was  unable  to 
identify  more  of  the  Sandwich  Terns  than  the  three  individuals 
already  mentioned,  thus  showing  that  these  three  birds  were 
mere  chance  stragglers  from  some  larger  breeding-haunt  of 
the  species,  at  that  time  unknown. 

The  preceding  information  being  all  that  was  known  of  this 
tern  in  Ireland  up  to  the  date  of  the  publication  of  Wm. 
Thompson's  work  in  1851,  I  had  the  great  pleasure  of  adding 

A 


146  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June 

something  to  it ;  for  on  7th  April  the  same  year  I  met  this 
beautiful  Tern  near  the  island  of  Bartragh,  Killala  Bay. 
Having  previously  resided  in  the  South  of  Ireland,  it  was 
quite  unknown  to  me,  and  when  the  attention  of  my  brother 
and  myself  was  first  attracted  by  its  very  peculiar  cry  (which  if 
once  heard  can  never  be  mistaken  or  forgotten),  we  were  much 
puzzled,  as  for  a  long  time  we  could  not  make  out  what  had 
uttered  it,  or  from  what  direction  it  proceeded.  However, 
chancing  after  some  time  to  look  upwards,  we  were  just  able 
to  perceive  some  birds,  wheeling  about,  and  soaring  at  an 
immense  height,  all  the  time  screaming  loudly.  This  wild 
flight  and  strange  cry,  so  unlike  that  of  any  bird  we 
knew,  induced  us  to  watch  them  closely,  and  after  some  time 
they  gradually  lowered  their  flight  to  the  water.  Seeing  that 
they  were  some  species  of  tern,  we  got  into  our  boat,  and 
having  succeeded  in  shooting  a  couple,  found  that  they 
were  this  lovely  tern,  and  in  such  a  perfect  state  of  plumage 
that  their  breasts  and  bellies  had  quite  a  rosy  tinge  almost  as 
deep  as  that  of  Roseate  Terns.  This  peculiar  habit  of  soaring 
to  such  a  height  as  to  be  almost  invisible,  and  wheeling  in  wide 
circles,  occasionally  chasing  each  other  and  screaming  loudly, 
is  most  frequently  seen  early  in  the  season  before  they  begin 
to  hatch,  although  occasionally  in  August  and  September,  a 
pair  may  be  seen  acting  in  a  similar  manner,  but  almost  in- 
variably on  fine  bright  days.  As  these  terns  remained  all 
the  season  feeding  about  the  bay  and  estuary,  we  were  most 
anxious  to  find  their  breeding-station,  but  although  we  made 
many  inquiries  and  searches  we  quite  failed,  and  what  made 
the  failure  the  more  annoying  was,  that  at  the  time  the  birds 
were  hatching  the  male  birds  were  seen  daily  flying  inland  in 
the  direction  of  I^ough  Conn,  with  Sand-eels  in  their  bills  to 
feed  their  sitting  mates.  I^ough  Conn,  however,  was  visited 
twice  without  our  seeing  any  trace  of  the  Sandwich  Terns 
either  on  or  about  the  lake,  the  only  birds  met  with  being 
Blackheaded  Gulls  and  Common  Terns.  Our  search  for  the 
breeding-haunt  having  thus  failed,  I  gave  it  up  for  a  time,  but 
in  May,  1857,  I  was  told  of  a  small  lough  where  a  number  of 
small  gulls  bred,  and  which  was  situated  close  to  the  residence 
of  the  late  Mr.  Gardiner  of  Cloona,  two  miles  from  the  town  of 
Ballina,  and  about  four  from  the  estuary.  On  visiting  the 
lough  i  found  it  to  be  surrounded  on  two  sides  by  a  turf  bog 


1896.]  Warren. —  The  Terns  of  Kitldla  Day.  147 

and  on  other  two  by  the  fields  of  Mr.  Gardiner.  It  was 
about  20  or  30  acres  in  extent  and  had  a  wooded  island  in  the 
centre,  having  a  large  quantity  of  reeds  and  bullrushes  on  one 
end,  extending  out  some  distance  into  the  water.  A  large 
colony  of  Blackheaded  Gulls  were  breeding  amongst  the 
reeds,  and  on  the  tussocks  of  coarse  grass  along  the  margin, 
while  a  small  colony  of  Sandwich  Terns  were  located  on  a 
low  flat  mudbank,  scarcely  above  the  level  of  the  water. 
Some  of  the  terns  had  scarcely  any  nests,  but  laid  their  eggs 
in  slight  depressions  of  the  soil  thinly  lined  with  a  few  dried 
blades  of  grass,  and  three,  I  think  (as  well  as  I  can  remember), 
was  the  average  number  of  eggs  in  each  nest.  When 
returning  I  took  half  a  dozen  eggs,  and  when  attempting  to 
blow  them  found  that  the  greater  number  were  so  near  being 
hatched  that  it  was  impossible  to  prepare  them  for  my  collec- 
tion, thus  showing  that  this  species  breeds  much  earlier  than 
the  smaller  species  of  terns,  and  in  further  proof  of  their 
early  breeding  I  have  seen  young  birds  accompanying  their 
parents  about  the  river  and  estuary  as  early  as  the  24th  of  June. 

The  following  winter  and  spring  being  unusually  wet,  the 
level  of  the  lake  was  raised  so  high,  as  to  cover  the  mudbank 
upon  which  the  terns  had  their  nests,  and  as  the  bank  con- 
tinued under  water  during  the  summer  of  1858,  the  terns 
deserted  the  lake  altogether,  and  removed  to  the  little  moor- 
land lough  of  Rathrouyeen,  situated  midway  between  Ballina 
and  Killala,  and  within  300  yards  of,  and  in  sight  of  the  high 
road  between  these  towns. 

This  lough  is  considerably  larger  than  Cloona,  and  is  nearly 
surrounded  by  bog,  with  very  swampy  shores,  except  on  the 
east  side,  and  has  a  considerable  quantity  of  reeds  growing  on 
the  margin,  in  some  places  extending  to  a  small  island  in  the 
middle  of  the  lake.  This  island  is  nearly  circular  in  form, 
and  is  about  25  or  30  yards  in  diameter,  and  has  some  tall 
bushes  growing  round  the  outer  edge,  while  the  middle  of  the 
island  is  bare,  except  where  some  long  grass  grows. 

A  very  large  colony  of  Blackheaded  Gulls  have  nests  all 
over  this  island,  and  amongst  the  reeds,  and  on  the  tussocks 
along  the  boggy  margin,  while  a  smaller  colony  of  Sandwich 
Terns  breed  together  on  a  bare  part  of  the  island,  as  well  as 
amongst  the  Gulls'  nests.  This  lake  and  the  adjoining  land  were 
the  property  of  the  late  Sir  Charles  Knox-Gore,  who,  with  the 

A  2 


148  The  Irish  Nattiralist,  [June, 

spirit  of  a  true  naturalist,  strictly  preserved  it,  and  did  not 
allow  either  Gulls  or  Terns  to  be  disturbed  or  molested,  and 
had  the  long  grass  and  weeds,  and  some  bushes  cleared  off  it 
to  give  more  space  to  the  birds  for  their  nests,  so  that  now 
from  being  so  well  protected,  this  beautiful  tern  has  increased 
in  numbers,  so  largely,  that  Miss  Knox-Gore  told  me  that 
when  visiting  the  island  in  1886,  she  counted  150  nests  of 
Sandwich  Terns,  and  as  the  present  owner  preserves  the  lake 
as  strictly  as  the  former,  there  is  every  probability  of  this 
breeding-haunt  continuing  for  many  years. 

This  tern  is  the  earliest  of  our  spring  visitors,  sometimes 
appearing  in  the  estuary  as  early  as  20th  March  ;  and  appears 
to  be  little  affected  by  cold,  for  during  the  unusually  cold 
weather  of  March,  1892,  they  arrived  in  the  estuary  on  the 
27th,  when  there  were  four  inches  of  snow  on  the  ground,  and 
the  thermometer  indicated  six  degrees  of  frost.  Up  to  the 
present  date,  Rathrouyeen  is  the  only  breeding  haunt  of  this 
tern  in  Ireland,  of  which  we  have  any  record,  except  the 
deserted  ones  of  Rockabill  and  Cloona,  though  of  course  there 
may  be  others  unnoticed  on  some  remote  and  unfrequented 
parts  of  the  coasts  or  lakes.  There  is  ver)^  probably  one  on 
the  North  Sligo  coast,  somewhere  between  Raughly  and 
MuUaghmore,  for  when  I  visited  Horse  Island  (that  great 
haunt  of  the  Arctic  Tern)  in  July,  1894,  I  saw  several  Sand- 
wich Terns  flying  about,  but  saw  no  trace  of  their  breeding 
on  the  island  with  the  Arctic  Terns. 

When  the  pairing  season  commences  it  is  very  amusing 
watching  the  absurd  antics  of  the  males  trying  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  females.  When  the  tide  is  out,  at  low- water, 
the  terns  generally  assemble  on  a  sandbank  to  rest  after 
fishing,  and  there  the  males  strut  about  amongst  the  females, 
with  their  heads  thrown  back  and  wings  drooping  (almost 
touching  the  sand),  but  after  a  time  if  there  is  no  response 
from  the  females,  who  generally  look  on  the  performance  with 
the  greatest  unconcern,  one  goes  off  for  a  little  and  returns 
with  a  Sand-eel  in  his  bill,  and  commences  again  strutting 
about  with  wings  and  head  in  same  position  and  moves  about 
amongst  the  females,  offering  the  Sand-eel  from  one  to'another 
as  he  passes  along  unnoticed,  until  at  last  he  meets  a  hen  who 
accepts  his  offering,  and  then  sits  down  alongside  of  her  to 
settle  their  future  arrangements. 


1896.]  WarrKN. —  The  Terns  of  Killala  Bay.  149 

Common    Tkrn    {Sterna    fltiviatilis). — A    summer   visitor, 
generally  appearing  in  the  bay  and  estuary  about  the  first 
week  in  May,  and  sometimes  delaying  its  visit  if  the  weather 
is  cold  and  stormj^     It  is  an  abundant  species  and  widely  dis- 
tributed during  the  breeding  season  amongst  the  freshwater 
lakes  and  sea-shores.     Large  numbers  breed  on  a  low  gravelly 
island  near   Brrew  Abbey  in  I^ough  Conn,  and  on   another 
island  at  the  Pontoon  end  of  the  lake,  while  lesser  numbers  are 
scattered  about  the  lake,  solitary  pairs  breeding  on  the  stony 
points  of  many  of  the  smaller  islands.     They  also  breed  on 
islands  in  Troughs  Mask  and  Carra,  also  in  Mayo,  while  I  have 
seen  a  small  colony  on  an  island  in  Lough  Gill,  near  Sligo. 
Of  their  marine  breeding-haunts  the  principal  one  on  the 
North  Mayo  coast  is  that  of  the  Inch,  a  low  gravelly  island  in 
Killala  Pool,  where  they  breed  in  company  of  the  Lesser  and 
Arctic  Terns  ;  a  few  pairs  also  breed  on   Horse  Island,  near 
Raughly,  Sligo  Ba}^  amongst  the  crowd  of  Arctic  Terns. 

Arctic  Tern  {Sterna  macrura)  is  not  so  numerous  in  the 
bay  and  estuary  as  the  Common  Tern,  and  although  I  had 
occasionally  shot  specimens  in  company  of  the  Common  Tern 
it  was  not  until  the  past  summer  that  I  ascertained  that  they 
bred  in  this  locality,  when  I  found  them  breeding  on  the  Inch 
with  the  Common  and  Lesser  Terns.  I  had  in  previous  years 
shot  birds  at  the  Inch,  that  from  the  darkness  of  their  under 
plumage  when  seen  in  flight  I  took  to^be  Arctic  Terns,  but  in 
every  instance  they  proved  to  be  the  Common ;  so  that  I  find 
it  impossible  to  identify  an  Arctic  Tern  on  the  wing  by  the 
colours  of  its  plumage.  Indeed  my  experience  is,  that  unless 
seen  close  enough  to  discern  the  lake-coloured  bill,  the 
colours  of  plumage  will  not  distinguish  this  bird  from  the 
Common  Tern.  Other  means  of  distinguishing  between  the 
two  species  when  flying  are  the  much  sharper  cry,  when 
alarmed,  than  that  of  the  Common  Tern,  and  the  greater  length 
of  the  tail  feathers,  but  these  are  not  always  perceptible  to 
the  observer. 

When  visiting  the  Inch  on  14th  June,  1895,  I  remarked  that 
several  of  the  Terns  emitted  the  same  sharp  cries  that  I  had 
heard  previously  at  breeding-haunts  of  the  Arctic  Terns,  at 
other  plaees,  but  still  I  could  not  perceive  any  difierence  in 
appearance  between  any  of  the  large  numbers  of  birds  flying 
about,  until  walking  over  to  some  nests  of  the  Lesser  Terns, 


150  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June, 

one  of  the  larger  species  rose  off  eggs  at  my  feet,  and  uttering 
the  sharp  cry,  kept  soaring  round  out  of  shot.  While  doing 
so,  the  unusual  length  of  its  pointed  tail  feathers,  and  its  ex- 
cessive wildness  (so  unlike  the  habits  of  the  Arctic)  caused 
me  to  think  that  it  might  be  the  rare  Roseate  Tern,  and  being 
very  anxious  to  identify  the  bird,  or  shoot  it,  I  lay  down  be- 
hind a  little  hillock,  about  50  yards  from  where  the  eggs  were 
laid  on  the  bare  sand,  and  though  after  a  time  the  bird 
returned  to  her  eggs,  yet,  whenever  I  attempted  to  move,  or 
stand  up,  she  always  got  up  quite  out  of  shot,  soaring  about 
in  wide  circles ;  several  times  for  over  half  an  hour  all  my 
attempts  failed  in  obtaining  a  shot,  and  her  great  wildness 
made  me  feel  so  confident  that  she  was  a  Roseate,  that  I  was 
more  anxious  than  ever  to  shoot  her.  So  trying  another  plan, 
I  put  her  off  the  eggs,  and  then  lay  down  behind  the  hillock 
on  the  chance  of  obtaining  a  shot  as  she  circled  round  ;  re- 
maining quite  still,  she  lowered  her  flight,  and  in  one  of  her 
circles,  coming  within  range,  I  brought  her  down,  and  to  my 
great  disappointment  she  proved  to  be  an  Arctic  Tern. 

When  at  the  summer  assizes  of  Sligo  in  July,  1894,  ^  friend 
told  me  of  a  large  breeding-haunt  of  terns  on  Horse  Island, 
near  Raughly,  off  Brown's  Bay,  about  12  miles  from  Sligo, 
and  I  gladly  accepted  his  offer  to  drive  me  there.  Reaching 
Raughly,  we  stopped  on  our  way  at  Artarmon  to  call  on  Mr. 
C.  Jones  Henry,  who  very  kindly  took  us  in  his  boat  to  the 
island.  It  is  seven  or  eight  acres  in  extent,  and  all  in  pasture. 
The  terns  lay  their  eggs  all  about  the  island  on  the  grass,  and 
on  the  rocks  and  stones  above  high-water-mark,  all  round  the 
island.  On  landing  we  were  soon  surrounded  and  mobbed  by 
the  largest  flock  of  terns  that  I  ever  saw.  At  the  least  esti- 
mation fully  500  to  700  pairs  were  flying  about  us,  and  from 
their  sharp  cries  all  were  evidently  Arctic  Terns.  I  did  not 
recognise  the  note  of  a  single  Common  Tern,  and  all  the 
specimens  we  shot  were  of  the  first-named  species,  and  the 
only  evidence  we  had  of  the  presence  of  Common  Terns,  was 
two  or  three  young  birds  we  found  running  about  the  rocks. 
This  great  flock  of  Arctic  Terns  was  to  me  one  of  the  most 
interesting  sights  I  had  witnessed  for  a  long  time,  and  Mr. 
Henry  told  us  that  when  he  visited  the  island  some  three  or 
four  years  before,  the  number  of  birds  was  far  larger,  and  that 
when  walking  on  the  island,  he  found  it  almost  impossible  to 


1896.]  Warren. —  The  Tcnis  of  Killala  Day.  151 

avoid  treading  on  the  eggs,  so  thickly  were  they  scattered 
about.  We  found  that  only  about  fifty  or  sixty  pairs  had  eggs 
on  the  short  pasture,  and  on  the  rocks  ;  not  more  than  half  a 
dozen  young  birds  were  seen,  although  it  was  so  late  as  the 
7th  Jul3%  but  the  birds  had  been  much  harassed  and  dis- 
turbed by  previous  visitors  taking  the  eggs  out  of  mere  wanton 
mischief,  and  leaving  them  in  heaps  on  the  grass.  We  found 
one  heap  of  50  or  60  eggs  left  near  the  landing-place,  all  nearly 
incubated,  and  this  wanton  destruction  of  the  eggs  easily 
accounted  for  the  few  nests  found  by  us,  and  the  small  number 
of  young  birds  seen. 

William  Thompson  was  not  aware  of  this  tern  having  any 
inland  breeding-haunts,  but  considered  it  strictly  marine  in 
all  its  habits,  and  both  Mr.  Yarrell  and  Mr.  H.  Saunders  appear 
to  have  been  of  the  same  opinion,  for  neither  in  the  last  edition 
of  "British  Birds,"  nor  in  Saunders'  ''Handbook,"  is  there 
any  mention  of  this  bird  breeding  on  fresh  water  within  the 
British  Isles. 

The  first  intimation  I  had  of  this  tern  breeding  on  fresh 
water,  was  from  my  old  and  valued  friend,  the  late  Mr.  A.  G. 
More,  who,  when  botanising  along  the  shores  and  islands  of 
the  Mayo  lakes,  met  this  bird  breeding  in  company  with 
Common  Terns  on  an  island  on  I^ough  Carra ;  and  I  was  also 
informed  in  1891  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Good,  of  Westport,  that  he 
met  with  it  breeding  on  islands,  both  on  I^oughs  Mask  and 
Carra  :  which  statements  I  verified,  when  visiting  these  lakes 
in  the  company  of  my  friend  Mr.  W.  Williams,  of  Dublin,  in 
June,  1893,  for  we  obtained  specimens  on  both  lakes,  and 
brought  young  and  eggs  from  an  island  off  Cushlough  on 
Lough  Mask. 

This  tern  is  remarkable  for  the  great  extent  of  its  breeding 
range,  which  extends  from  the  inland  lakes  of  Ireland,  to 
Smith's  Sound  in  the  Arctic  regions,  as  far  north  as  the  foot 
of  civilized  man  has  trod  ;  Colonel  Fielden  of  the  late  Arctic 
discovery  expedition  under  Captain  Nares,  having  met  with 
this  bird  near  the  Alert's  winter-quarters  on  the  i6th  June, 
1876.  In  August  of  the  previous  year,  he  found  eight  pairs 
breeding  on  a  small  islet  at  the  mouth  of  Discovery  Bay,  and 
a  newly-hatched  young  bird  in  a  nest  surrounded  by  snow. 

The  I^iTTi^E  Tern  {Sterna  minuta)  is  a  regular  summer 
visitor,  generally  arriving  in  the  estuary  during  the  first  or 


152  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [June, 

second  week  of  May,  and  althoug^i  I  have  long  observed 
them  about  the  locality,  it  was  only  of  late  years  that  I  have 
ascertained  their  breeding-haunt  on  the  Inch,  between  Killala 
and  Bartragh  (their  only  breeding-haunt  on  the  North  Mayo 
coast).  Here  a  small  colony  of  ten  or  twelve  pairs,  used  to 
breed  in  company  with  Common  and  Arctic  Terns,  until  the 
past  summer  of  1895,  when  their  numbers  suddenly,  and  most 
unaccountably  increased,  and  as  they  had  not  sufficient  scope 
on  the  gravelly  Inch,  they  spread  over  the  adjacent  sandy 
peninsula  of  Ross.  When  I  visited  the  Inch  on  the  14th  of 
last  June,  I  was  surprised  at  the  large  numbers  of  these  terns, 
and  estimated  that  at  least  60  to  70  pairs  were  seen  all  about — 
both  on  the  wing,  resting  on  the  sands,and  sitting  on  their  eggs, 
The  birds  had  spread  along  the  Ross  shore  for  nearly  half  a 
mile  laying  their  eggs  on  the  sandy  flat,  and  round  the  gravelly 
base  of  some  hillocks,  from  which  the  sand  had  been  blown 
away  ;  no  nests  had  been  made  ;  the  two  or  three  eggs  of  each 
pair  lay  on  the  bare  sand  or  gravel.  Just  across  the  narrow 
channel,  on  the  extreme  end  of  Bartra  Island,  I  found  four 
pairs  hatching  a  little  above  high  water  mark,  and  below 
the  line  of  Bent-grass,  the  eggs  also  on  the  bare  sand,  and 
where  no  birds  had  ever  before  been  known  to  breed. 

The  sudden  increase  of  this  tern  is  very  interesting  and 
mysterious,  for  it  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  any  larger 
number  than  usual  having  been  reared  on  the  Inch  the 
previous  summer.  Unless  by  the  desertion  of  some  distant 
breeding-haunt  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  this  influx  of 
breeding  birds  to  the  Inch  and  neighbourhood.  Besides  this 
North  Mayo  breeding-haunt,  there  are  several  along  the  Sligo 
coast ;  one  at  Rosses  Point,  Sligo  Bay,  where  a  small  colony 
of  eight  or  ten  pairs  frequent  a  little  sandy  ba}^  off  the  Rabbit- 
burrows,  another  on  the  northern  side  of  the  point  in  Drum- 
clifie  Bay,  where  thirt}'  to  forty  pairs  breed  on  the  wide  ex- 
panse of  sand-flat,  which  extends  nearly  across  the  upper  end 
of  .the  bay.  This  wide  expanse  of  sand  is  generally  bare  all 
the  summer,  and  apparently  is  only  covered  by  the  high  spring- 
tides of  spring  and  autumn  ;  so  the  terns  can  hatch  and  rear 
their  young  in  safety,  for  as  they  lay  near  the  centre  of  the 
flat  nearly  a  mile  from  the  land,  they  are  seldom  molested, 
being  quite  out  of  the  way  of  either  cockle-pickers  or  bait- 
diggers.     A  third  breeding^haunt  is  situated  three  or  four 


1896.]  Warren. —  The  Terns  of  Killala  Bay,  153 

miles  further  north,  near  Raughly,  in  Brown's  Bay,  where  a 
dozen  pairs  frequent  a  flat  at  the  base  of  the  sandhills,  and 
lay  on  the  bare  pasture  between  the  tufts  of  bent  grass. 

The  BivACK  Tern  {Ste7  7ia  nigra). — So  rare  a  species  in 
Ireland  has  only  once  come  under  my  notice  as  a  visitor  to 
Killala  Bay,  and  it  was  by  the  merest  chance  I  came  across 
it  as  I  was  fishing  for  Sea-trout  near  Bartragh  on  the  12th  of 
October,  1859. 

My  boat  was  anchored  in  the  channel  between  Baunross  and 
a  wide  stretch  of  sand-banks  left  bare  by  the  ebb-tide,  and 
while  fishing  I  remarked  a  group  of  four  or  five  small  terns 
resting  on  the  sand-bank  close  to  the  channel,  but  at  first, 
thinking  they  were  young  ComnJOn  Terns,  I  paid  no  attention 
to  them.  However,  after  a  while  they  rose  from  the  sand, 
and  began  hawking  after  some  flies,  and  the  very  sudden  and 
adroit  twists  and  turns  they  made  in  the  pursuit  of  their 
diminutive  prey  showed  they  were  birds  strange  to  me.  I  at 
once  got  up  my  anchor  and  rowed  after  them,  and  as  they 
were  not  at  all  shy  I  easily  succeeded  in  shooting  a  pair  of 
Black  Terns  in  the  first  season's  plumage.  This  little  party, 
a  family  of  terns,  were  evidently  on  their  way  south  from  their 
breeding-haunt,  but  whether  they  were  bred  in  this  country 
on  some  remote  bog  or  mountain  lough,  is  difiicult  to  say,  for 
there  is  no  record  of  the  Black  Tern  having  ever  bred  in 
Ireland. 


NOTES  ON  THE  ROCK  POOLS  OF  BUNDORAN. 

BY  J.  E.  DUERDEN,  A.R.CSC.  (1.OND.), 
Curator  of  the  Museum,  Kingston,  Jamaica. 

In  addition  to  the  notes  in  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  January, 
1895,  upon  the  '*  Rock-pools  of  Bundoran,"  I  find  I  have  a  few 
other  observations  which  removal  from  Ireland  has  prevented 
from  further  amplification.  This  latter  occurrence  may  perhaps 
be  considered  sufficient  apology  for  their  disconnected  nature  ; 
while  the  fact  that  some  of  the  specimens  were  collected  and 
handed  to  me  by  Prof  Johnson  renders  it  obligatory  upon  me 
to  present  them. 

In  examining  the  Hydroids  the  greenish,  somewhat  flask- 
shaped  tests  of  the  Protozoan  Folliculina  ampulla,  Mull.,  were 
met  with  on  the  stems  in  considerable  numbers. 

A3 


154 


The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June, 


The  sponge  Hymeniacidon  celata,  Bowk.  {Cliona  celata,  Grant), 
occurred  perforating  the  hard  Carboniferous  limestone  near 
the  Fairy  Bridge  at  the  eastern  end  of  Donegal  Bay. 

The  patches  at  the  surface  exhibited  a  very  characteristic 
appearance,  and  upon  vSplitting  the  rock  it  was  found  to  be 
closely  perforated  by  the  sponge  for  a  depth  of  two  or  three 
inches.  A  well-known  boring  sponge,  Clio?ia  is  commonly 
found  inhabiting  oyster  and  other  shells  all  round  the 
coast,  but  only  occasionally  is  it  met  with  in  limestone. 
Bowerbank  records  it  thus  only  from  the  limestone  rocks 
around  Tenby. 

Among  the  Crustacea,  a  single  specimen  of  the  small  Isopod, 
Dy7iamene  Montagui,  Leach,  was  obtained  by  Prof.  Johnson 
from  amongst  the  sea- weeds.  It  has  previously  been  recorded 
from  Ban  try  Bay. 

Many  specimens  of  the  Sea-Hare,  Aplysia  punctata,  Cuvier, 
were  met  with  in  the  shallow  rock-pools  west  of  Bundoran, 
and  also  near  Aughrus  Point.  Most  were  in  the  act  of  laying 
their  strings  of  brown-pink  spawn.  The  majority  were  of  a 
uniformly  dark  olive  green  colour,  while  others  were  sprinkled 
with  small  opaque  v/hite  patches  over  various  parts  of  the 
body.  Mr.  Garstang  has  shown  {Jour^i.  Mar.  Biol.  Assoc,  (n.s.) 
vol.  i..  No.  4,  1890,  p.  403)  that  this  species  changes  with 
growth  from  a  violet,  purplish,  or  rose-red  colour,  through 
brownish-red  and  brown  to  olive-brown  or  Olive-green.  The 
rock-surface  of  the  pools  in  which  the  present  specimens  were 
found  was  coated  with  the  pink  Lithothamnio7i  polymorphuvi  to 
which  the  dark  Aplysice  offered  a  great  contrast. 

Prof.  Johnson  found  the  rare    Nudibranch,  Hermcea  bifida^ 
Montagu,  while  examining  the  weeds  collected  at  low-water. 
It  was  living  upon  Haluriis  ( Griffithsia)  cquisdefolius,  to  which 
the  lake-red  colour  in  its  dorsal  papillae  presented  a  remarkable 
resemblance.     This  protective  or  warning  resemblance  to  the 
objects  upon  which  Nudibranchs  live  has  lately  been  the  sub- 
ject of  various  papers  by  Prof  Herdman,  Mr.  Garstang,  and 
others.     Hcrjticea  bifida  has  been  the  object  of  some  of  Mr. 
Garstang's  experiments  at  Plymouth  {[ourn.  Mar.  Biol.  Assoc, 
(n.s.),  vol.  i..  No.  2,  Oct.,  1889,  p.  173)  where  it  is  interesting 
to  find  that  the  creature,  which  there  was  also  collected  by 
Prof.  Johnson,  lives  upon  the  same  Alga  as  at  Bundoran.    It  is 
shown  that  its  colour  is  purely  adventitious,  being  determined 
mainly  by  that  of  the  food  within  it  undergoing  digestion. 


1896,]     DuKRDHN. — Notes  on  the  Rock  Pools  of  Bundormi.       155 

I  obtained  one  specimen  of  the  small  greenish  Nudibranch, 
Hcrmoea  dmdritica,  Aid.  and  Hane.,  living  amongst  the  green 
Algae  Bryopsis  and  Codiurn.  Kept  in  captivity  it  laid  a  charac- 
teristic round  mass  of  spawn.  It  refused  to  live  upon  the 
Codhwi,  and  in  a  few  days  lost  most  of  its  green  colour,  be- 
coming yellowish  brown.  Garstang's  experiments  show  that 
this  species  entirely  avoids  the  red  sea-weeds,  upon  which  its 
colour  would  render  it  conspicuous. 

Many  examples  of  the  Nudibranch,  Eolis  coronata^  Forbes, 
were  found  living  amongst  colonies  of  Tubularia  larynx  col- 
lected from  the  Fairy  Caves,  their  colours  harmonising  with 
the  light  red  of  the  polypites. 


A  SUBMERGED  PINE-FOREST. 

BY   R.    I,I,OYD  PRAKGER,  B-K. 
(Read  before  the  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  March  9th,  1896.) 

Onk  day  in  February  last,  Mr.  R.  Welch  and  I  strolled  along 
the  beach  northward  of  the  new  harbour  at  Bray,  and  just 
within  the  confines  of  the  County  of  Dublin.  At  the  verge 
of  low  water,  where  the  slope  of  coarse  shingle  gives  way 
to  a  more  level  stretch  of  fine  sand  and  boulders,  which  is  only 
left  dry  at  spring  tides,  we  noticed  some  stumps  and  boughs 
of  trees,  and  on  examining  them,  found  that  they  were  em- 
bedded in  a  compact  layer  of  peat,  which  dipped  southward 
at  a  low  angle.  The  peat  was  full  of  branches  and  roots,  and 
of  cones  of  the  Scotch  Fir.  On  the  southern  side  it  disappeared 
under  a  bed  of  fine  blue  clay  containing  sea-shells  ;  to  the 
north,  its  broken  edges  overlay  a  stratum  of  coarse  grey  sand, 
with  rounded  fragments  of  granite.  We  had  but  cursorily 
examined  the  spot  when  the  tide  crept  up  again  and  soon  hid 
it  from  view. 

Here  evidently  was  a  geological  story  to  be  unravelled  ;  a 
long  history  lay  buried  with  this  old  peat-bed  under  the  mud 
and  shingle  which  the  sea  had  heaped  upon  it ;  and  it  was  for 
us  to  read  that  history,  if  we  could.  Thus  it  came  about  that 
in  two  days'  time  we  again  visited  the  place,  and  Mr.  Welch 
secured  several  excellent  photographs  of  the  deposit ;  and  a 
little  later,  selecting  a  spring-tide,  Mr.  I^yster  Jameson  and  I 
went  down  and  thoroughly  examined  the  spot,  and  determined 
the  extent  of  the  different  beds  and  their  relative  position  and 


156  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [June, 

thickness.    What  we  found  may  be  shown  in  the  form  of  a 
section  north  and  south  along  the  beach  (fig.  i).    The  newest 

Fig.  I. 

s. 


bed  is  the  blue  marine  clay,  which  may  be  well  seen  in  the 
space  lying  inside  of  the  crescent-shaped  heap  of  large 
boulders  which  forms  a  conspicuous  object  on  the  shore  at  low 
water  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  north  of  Bray  Harbour.  The 
clay  is  extremely  fine  and  tough,  and  is  full  of  the  shell 
Scrobicularia  piperata,  a  species  whose  habitat  is  between  tide- 
marks  on  mud-flats  and  in  estuaries.  In  most  cases  the  pairs 
of  valves  are  still  in  juxtaposition,  and  upright,  showing  that 
the  shells  are  lying  undisturbed  in  the  place  where  they 
lived  and  died.  With  this  .shell  was  the  well-known  Tellina 
balthica,  which  lives  in  similar  situations  ;  and  a  specimen  of 
Littorina  litorea,  the  Common  Periwinkle,  was  also  found. 
We  had  not  brought  excavating  implements  with  us,  but  with 
the  aid  of  a  broken  coal- shovel,  kindly  lent  to  us  by  the 
nearest  resident,  we  found  that  towards  the  southern  extremity 
of  its  area  the  bed  of  clay  is  at  least  six  feet  thick.  Especially 
in  its  lower  portion,  the  clay  contains  fir-cones  and  fragments 
of  wood,  washed  out  of  the  underlying  peat.  The  peat-bed 
was  next  examined.  Careful  excavation  round  a  selected 
stump,  a  large  one  standing  almost  upright,  revealed  the  fact 
that  it  was  firmly  rooted  in  the  peat ;  the  spreading  branching 
roots  so  characteristic  of  the  Scotch  Fir  could  be  clearly  traced 
from  their  junction  with  the  trunk  to  their  interlaced  ex- 
tremities. Although  it  was  evident  that  various  plants  had 
contributed  to  the  formation  of  this  old  forest-bed,  no  other 
species  could  be  identified  in  the  short  time  at  our  disposal. 
The  peat  rested  abruptly  on  a  couple  of  feet  of  coarse  grey 
sand,  in  which  no  organic  remains  were  detected.  A  little 
further  on,  the  glacial  sands  and  gravels  that  form  the  upper 
part  of  the  fine  coast  section  between  Bray  and  Killiney  rose 
out  of  the  shingle,  cemented  into  a  hard  conglomerate,  as  they 
are  at  other  places  in  the  neighbourhood.  Beyond  this  the 
strand  was  occupied  by  a  denuded  surface  of  boulder-clay, 
burrowed  by  that  pretty  shell  P ho  las  ca?idida. 


1S96.]  PRAKGER. — A  Submerged  Pme- Forest.  157 

Two  facts  in  the  above  description  deserve  our  special  at- 
tention. Firstly,  the  trees  were  rooted  in  the  peat,  showing 
that  they  g7'ew  there,  and  were  not  drifted  by  currents  or 
carried  down  by  streams.  Secondly,  the  marine  shells  in  the 
overlying  clay  lived  where  we  now  find  them.  And  thus  we 
obtain  the  key  to  this  little  earth-story.  Fir-trees  do  not  grow 
in  the  sea,  nor  do  marine  shells  flourish  on  dry  land.  These 
beds  of  peat  and  clay  tell  us  clearly  of  changes  in  the  relative 
level  of  land  and  sea.  To  appreciate  these  changes,  and  to 
confirm  our  interpretation  of  the  phenomena  before  us,  we 
turn  to  a  locality  where  beds  of  this  kind  attain  a  more  ex- 
tensive development,  and  can  be  better  studied  than  on  the 
storm-swept  shore  at  Bray.  The  greater  part  of  the  City  of 
Belfast  is  built  on  thick  deposits  of  post-glacia  lage,  and  the 
deep  and  wide  excavations  made  from  time  to  time  in  the  con- 
struction of  new  docks,  have  afforded  golden  opportunities  for 
their  investigation — opportunities  which  have  not  been  al- 
together neglected.  We  will  take  a  typical  section  from  the 
Alexandra  Dock  Works^  (fig.  2). 

Fig.  2. 

Surface  layers, 

L.  W.  L •■-  .  •     ■•..',; •■.:•■.•     •  •        Sand  and  Clay 

"  6-6." 


Yellow  Sand  2—0." 


Upper  Blue  Clay 
6-0." 


Lower  Blue  Clay 
6'-0." 


Grey  Sand  2'— 0." 
Peat  r— 6." 
Grey  Sand  2'— 0." 

Red  Sand  i'-O." 


r^       Boulder  Clay. 


»  See  Praeger,  *•  The  Estuarine  Clays  at  the   new  Alexandra  Dock, 
Belfast."    Proc.  B.N.F.C.  for  1886-87,  Apfendix. 


15S  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June, 

Here,  below  some  feet  of  sandy  and  muddy  beds,  the  recent 
creation  of  the  River  lyagan,  we  find  a  bed  12  feet  thick  of  blue 
clay,  which  examination  shows  to  be  clearly  divisible  into  two 
zones — an  upper  clay,  exceedingly  fine  and  pure,  full  of  a  rich 
and  luxuriant  fauna  characterized  by  species  which  live  in  from 
5  to  10  fathoms  of  water  ;  and  a  lower  zone,  more  sandy,  which 
yields  in  abundance  remains  of  the  Grass-wrack,  Zostera 
marina^  and  shells,  such  as  Scrobicularia  piperata,  Tapes 
decussatuSy  and  Telliyia  balthica,  that  are  usually  found  living 
with  the  Grass-wrack  on  mudd}^  shores  between  tide-marks. 
Under  these  clays  we  see,  intercalated  between  thin  beds  of 
grey  sand,  a  layer  of  peat,  which  contains  remains  of  Scotch 
Fir,  Hazel,  Alder,  &c.,  as  well  as  bones  of  the  Red  Deer,  Wild 
Boar,  and  Irish  Elk/  The  next  bed  in  order  of  descent  is  a 
fine  red  sand,  a  deposit  that  in  many  places  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Belfast  attains  an  extensive  development,  and  which, 
though  its  stratigraphical  relations  have  not  yet  been  worked 
out,  there  is  good  reason  for  supposing  to  correspond  with  the 
sands  and  gravels  which  form  so  important  a  feature  in  the 
glacial  series  about  Dublin.  And  lastly,  this  bed  of  sand 
reposes  on  Boulder-clay. 

Comparing  now  this  section  with  the  beds  on  the  foreshore 
at  Bray,  we  will  be  immediately  struck  with  the  exact  parallel- 
ism. The  deep-water  clay  which  forms  the  uppermost  bed  of 
the  series  at  Belfast  is  indeed  unrepresented  at  Bray,  but  the 
others  correspond  zone  for  zone,  and  the  clay  and  peat  are 
even  characterized  by  the  same  fossils.  And  we  may  with 
advantage  carry  our  comparison  a  little  further.  The  peat- 
bed  is  to  be  found  in  many  spots  in  the  north-east ;  and  in 
other  places  at  Belfast,  and  at  Downpatrick,  it  is  to  be  found 
underlying  thirty  feet  or  more  of  the  blue  clay.  Again,  at 
Ivarne,  the  Scrobicularia  clay  (as  we  may  call  the  lower  zone), 
which  is  also  very  persistent  along  the  north-eastern  shores, 
has,  superimposed  on  it,  19  feet  of  stratified  marine  gravels, 
which  contain  flint  implements  of  Neolithic  age  from  top  to 
base,  though  none  are  found  in  the  clay.  At  Kilroot,  mid- 
way between  Belfast  and  I^arne,the  beds  present  an  appearance 
exactly  like  that  seen  at  Bray,  for  here,  near  low  water-mark, 


*  Praeger,  op.  cit.^  and  Froc.  B.N.FX>  for  1891-92,  p.  416. 


1896.]  Prakgkr. — A  Submerged  Pme- Forest.  159 

we  have  a  patch  of  Scrobicularia  clay  which  rests  on  peat,  both 
lying  in  a  shallow  basin  in  the  Boulder- clay,  which  crops  out 
close  at  hand.  At  Ballyholme,  again,  on  the  opposite  or 
southern  shore  of  Belfast  lyOUgh,  the  peat  may  be  seen  on  the 
shore  between  tides,  with  15  feet  of  stratified  marine  gravels 
overlying  it,  and  Boulder-clay  below.  Similar  instances  might 
be  multiplied.^ 

The  sections  just  described  throw  much  light  on  the  beds 
at  Bray,  and  will  assist  us  to  form  an  idea  of  their  age,  and  of 
the  conditions  under  which  they  were  laid  down.  The  peat 
evidently  represents  a  period  when  the  land  stood  slightly 
higher  than  at  present.  The  cold  that  characterized  the 
glacial  epoch  appears  to  have  quite  passed  away,  for  the  plants 
and  animals  of  the  peat,  so  far  as  they  are  known,  point  to  a 
climate  resembling  that  which  this  country  at  present  enjoys. 
Then  came  subsidence,  and  the  accumulation  of  marine  clays 
on  the  former  land-surface.  This  may  have  been  the  period 
of  Palaeolithic  man  ;  we  know  at  least  that  it  is  the  zone  under- 
lying the  lowest  which  contains  Neolithic  implements  at  I^arne. 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  characteristic  shell  of  these  clays 

Scrobic2cla?ia  pipcrata,  which  is  present  in  countless  thousands 
both  at  Bray  and  in  the  many  places  where  this  deposit  is  found 
in  Antrim  and  Down — while  it  still  lives  about  Dublin,  has 
become  completely  extinct  in  the  north-east  of  Ireland,  and 
many  other  shells  of  the  clays  have  disappeared  along  with  it. 
The  Bray  series  carries  us  no  further,  but  the  deep-water  clay 
and  extensive  raised  beaches  that  overlie  the  Scrobicularia 
clay  in  the  North-east  are  evidence  of  a  further  period  of 
depression  before  the  land  rose  to  its  present  level. 

And  thus,  as  we  stand  on  the  sea-shore  at  Bray  and  gaze 
along  the  storm-swept  edges  of  these  old  beds,  we  are,  as  it 
were,  looking  down  the  corridors  of  time — glancing  at  a  tale, 
which,  though  long,  occupies  but  the  last  page,  nay,  but  the 
last  sentence,  of  the  great  book  of  geological  history.  The 
peat  tells  us  of  a  forest  of  dark  fir-trees,  under  whose  shadow 
wandered  herds  of  stately  Red  Deer,  and  packs  of  Wild  Boars 
and  Wolves,  and  perhaps  the  great  Irish  E^lk,  while  year  by 


^  See  Praeger ;   Report  on  the  Bstuarine  Clays  of  the  north-east  of 


Ireland.    Proc.  R.LA.  (3)  ii.,  No-  2,  1892. 


i6o  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June, 

year  the  trees  shed  their  cones  and  needles  to  form  the  firm 
brown  mass  at  our  feet.  A  different  chapter  of  the  story  is 
revealed  by  the  fine  blue  clay,  which  points  to  a  shallow  muddy 
shore-line,  like  that  which  we  still  find  on  the  Murrough  of 
Wicklow.  Immediately  above  the  bed  of  clay,  the  broad 
shingle  of  the  present  beach  catches  our  eye,  recalling 
the  never-ceasing  wear  and  tear  of  the  ocean,  ever  carving  and 
levelling,  and  still  making  new  land  out  of  old  ;  while  beyond 
all,  and  over  all,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  villas  and  spires 
of  Bray,  and  hear  the  rattle  of  vehicles  and  rumble  of  trains, 
to  remind  us  that  from  the  dim  twilight  of  the  past,  we  have 
emerged  into  the  broad  daylight  of  the  present. 


THE  SONG  OF  BIRDS. 


The  Evolution  of  Blrd-Songr,  with  observations  on  the 
Influence  of  heredity  and  Imitation.  By  Chari^^S  A. 
WlTCHEi,!..    London  :  A   &  C.  Black,  1896.    5^. 


Mr.  Witchell's  ten  years  "  scientific  investigation  of  the  various  features 
of  bird-song"  has  borne  fruit  in  a  volume  comprising  less  than  250  pages — 
a  fact  proving  that  the  author  possesses  in  full  the  faculty  of  judicious 
compression.  Besides  making  it  his  object  to  acquaint  himself  as  far  as 
possible  with  the  notes  of  all  his  feathered  neighbours,  and  to  ascertain  for 
each  variety  of  bird-note  the  kind  of  occasion  on  which  it  is  uttered, 
Mr.  Witchell  has  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of  resolving  the  songs  of 
birds  into  their  component  parts ;  and  his  account,  given  in  these  pages, 
of  the  probable  course  of  development  of  the  phenomena  of  bird-song,  is 
in  the  main,  well  calculated  to  command  general  acceptance.  Mr. 
Witchell's  theory  is  not  a  very  elaborate  one.  The  most  primitive  bird- 
sounds  he  believes  to  have  been  combat-cries,  which  passed  with  more  or 
less  of  modification  into  defiance-cries  and  alarm-cries,  while  the  latter, 
as  employed  between  members  of  a  family,  would  form  the  origin  of 
the  call-note.  The  earliest  and  of  course  simplest  songs  were  mere 
repetitions  of  the  call-note,  or  sometimes  "  possibly"  (p.  58)  of  the 
defiance-cry.  (Mr.  Witchell  might  surely,  on  his  own  showing,  have 
laid  more  stress  on  this  latter  element ;  and  did  he  never  hear  a  hen- 
whitethroat,  frenzied  with  rage  at  some  peril  to  her  new-fledged  brood 
burst  into  hysterical  snatches  of  her  lord's  song  ?)  Simple  songs  would 
be  varied  by  being  more  rapidly  and  "  forcefully"  uttered,  rivalry  between 
male   birds   occasionally   instigating    other    modifications    which,   if 


1896.]  The  Song  of  Birds.  1 6 1 

agreeable  to  the  females,  would  tend  to  become  hereditary.  Finally, 
male  birds  excelling  in  range  of  voice  would  learn  new  notes  from  their 
environment,  and  develop  into  more  or  less  accomplished  mimics.  Mr. 
Witchell's  chapter  on  the  influence  of  imitation  is  the  part  of  his  book 
which  is  likely  to  be  read  with  most  suspense  of  judgment.  It  contains 
some  excellent  remarks  (pp.  192-3)  on  the  difficulty  of  detecting 
mimicry— especially  when  imperfect— and  on  the  general  impossibility 
of  subjecting  to  proof  the  statements  of  an  observer  who  claims  to  have 
heard  particular  imitations.  No  one  with  the  least  susceptibility  to  Mr. 
Witchell's  evident  love  of  nature  would  question  for  a  moment  the  strict 
fidelity  of  his  record— so  far,  that  is,  as  his  observations  can  be  severed 
from  his  inferences.  But  are  casual  resemblances  so  rare  among  natural 
sounds  that  mimicry  may  fairly  be  inferred  or  conjectured  when  a  heron 
(p.  182)  croaks  like  a  frog  (N.B.— the  dead  heron  does  this  automatically)  ; 
or  a  landrail  (p.  189)  salutes  his  bride  in  measured  tones  attuned  like 
munches  of  a  grazing  cow  .^  The  suggestion  by  the  way  of  the  proximity 
of  the  latter  kind  of  animal  would  be  a  bit  disquieting  to  the  sitting 
female,  and  a  display  of  doubtful  tact  on  her  mate's  part.  The  following 
rendering  of  a  thrush's  song,  in  which  '*  a  phrase  without  recognizable 
mimicry  is  indicated  by  an  '  0'  "  will  serve  as  a  sample  of  Mr.  Witchell's 
readiness  in  detecting  what  he  deems  imitative  resemblances: — "Frocester, 
Glos.,  near  the  church,  17th  May,  1892.  Thrush  singing  : — Golden  plover 
— golden  plover — O — crow—  corncrake — be  quick — O — O — wood  warbler's 
sibilous  notes — cuckoo  (in  rough  tones) — O — young  starling's  cry  after 
leaving  nest— O— butcher-bird — be  quick— O—O—whitethroat's  alarm- 
great  tit  (cry) — O — O — end"  (pp.  203-4.) 

That  a  few  strains  are  here  somewhat  too  willingly  classed  as  imitations 
cannot,  indeed,  be  proved  but  it  can  be  fairly  surmised.  Sometimes, 
certainly,  Mr.  Witchell  does  make  too  much  of  mere  similarities  between 
sounds.  For  instance,  the  resemblance  of  the  wren's  to  the  hedge- 
sparrow's  song  is  quite  superficial,  and  requires  no  such  hypothesis  as 
Mr.  Witchell  offers  in  explanation,— viz.,  that  both  were  "  derived  from 
some  persistent  source  "  (p.  191) — as  an  alternative  to  the  utterly  absurd 
idea  that  one  of  these  birds  copied  the  other.  The  remark,  too,  that 
robins,  even  in  winter,  often  "  reproduce  exactly  "  the  unique  and  beauti- 
ful song  of  the  willow- warbler  (p.  207)  is  startlingly  questionable,  though 
here  again  a  slight  similarity  in  cadence  is  frequently  noticed.  And 
surely  it  was  riding  a  hobby  to  death  to  hint  (p.  187)  that  the  yellow- 
hammer's  song  is  a  mimicry  of  the  grasshopper's,  when  on  a  previous 
page  (p.  48)  the  same  well-known  melody  had  been  grouped  among  those 
inferior  efforts  which  are  obviously  "  more  or  less  repetitions  of  the  call- 
note  "  C.  B.  M. 


i62  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June, 

SOME  RECENT  NATURAI.  HISTORY  PAPERS. 


The  last-issued  part  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  (3)  vol. 
iii.,  No.  4,  December,  1895,  contains  several  natural  history  papers  of 
considerable  interest.  Prof.  Sollas  writes  "On  the  Crystalline  form  of 
Riebeckite,"  the  blue  hornblende  characteristic  of  the  "micro-granite" 
of  Ailsa  Craig,  pebbles  of  which  have  been  found  in  Irish  glacial  drifts 
from  Greenore  to  Greystones.  A  pebble  from  Portrane  contained  cavities 
large  enough  for  well-formed  crystals  of  riebeckite,  whose  angles  Prof. 
Sollas  was  able  to  measure.  The  results  were  slightly  but  obviously 
abnormal,  and  the  author  suggests  in  explanation,  that  "the  crystals 
are  far  from  simple,  and  may  best  be  regarded  as  crystal  complexes, 
simulating  and  making  a  close  approximation  to  a  simple  crystal 
form." 

Mr.  G.  H.  Kinahan  contributes  a  paper  on  "  Quartz,  Ouartz-rock,  and 
Ouartzite."  His  views  on  the  origin  of  these  rocks  have  been  laid  before 
the  readers  of  the  h-ish  Nattci-alist  (yo\.  I.,  pp.  162, 184.)  At  the  end  of  the 
paper  is  the  reference  to  Mr.  W.  W.  Watts'  examination  of  sinter  from 
Iceland  which  led  to  some  correspondence  from  that  gentleman  published 
in  our  last  volume  (p.  340.) 

The  third  of  the  local  surveys  undertaken  by  the  Dublin  Anthropo- 
metric Committee  is  described  by  Dr.  C.  R.  Browne  in  his  important 
paper  on  "  The  Ethnography  of  the  Mullet,  Inishkea  Islands,  and 
Portacloy,  Co.  Mayo."  After  describing  the  physiography  of  the 
districts  which  are  most  isolated,  Dr.  Browne  deals  with  the 
anthropography,  sociology,  folk-lore,  archaeology,  and  history  of  the 
inhabitants.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  information  on  these  subjects 
is  of  the  greatest  interest,  the  people  preserving  many  curious  primitive 
customs.  The  original  inhabitants  seem  never  to  have  been  driven  out, 
though  often  conquered,  but  one  or  tw^o  recent  immigrations  are  known 
to  have  taken  place.  The  people  of  Inishkea  differ  in  many  respects 
from  their  neighbours  of  the  mainland,  and  are  probably  the  most 
unmixed  representatives  of  the  original  population. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Knowles'  "  Third  Report  of  the  Pre-historic  Remains  from 
the  Sandhills  of  the  Coast  of  Ireland"  is  of  interest  to  naturalists  for  its 
reference  to  the  abundance  of  bones  of  the  Great  Atik,  referred  to  by  Mr. 
Barrett-Hamilton  in  his  paper  in  our  last  month's  issue. 

Mr.  John  Hood,  of  Dundee,  has  communicated  through  the  Flora  and 
Fauna  Committee  an  important  paper  "  On  the  Rotifera  of  Co.  Mayo," 
enumerating  220  species  of  those  highly  interesting  microscopic  animals. 
There  are  excellent  figures  of  some  of  the  rarer  forms.  Two  species, 
Ptervdina  bidentata,  TG.rrn.iz,  SinCi  Eo5j)hora  elongata,  Ehrb.,  are  recorded  as 
new  to  the  British  Isles.  On  account  of  the  number  of  lakes  and  vast 
tracts  of  unreclaimed  land,  Mr.  Hood  considers  that  Ireland  should  fur- 
nish a  rich  harvest  to  the  rotifer-collector.  He  gives  a  list  of  all  the 
species  found  in  Ireland  by  Miss  Glascott  and  himself,  amounting 
together  to  about  275,  and  suggests,  in  some  cases,  the  identity  of 
species  described  as  new  by  Miss  Glascott  with  forms  described  by 
previous  authors. 


1896.]  Some  Recent  Nattiral  History  Papers.  163 

Mr.  H.  H.  Dixon  contributes  two  papers  on  the  histology  of  the  vege- 
table cell.  The  first,  "  On  the  Chromosomes  of  Lilmni  lotigijlorum,'' 
deals  with  the  number  of  those  bodies  formed  by  the  nuclear  thread  in 
mitosis.  Investigations  into  the  division  of  the  pollen  mother-  and 
daughter-cells  and  of  the  cells  of  the  embryo-sac  are  described.  Varia- 
tions in  the  number  of  the  chromosomes  were  noticed,  a  phenomenon 
which  the  author  believes  not  to  have  been  hitherto  described  as 
occurring  in  the  gametophyte  of  flowering-plants,  prior  to  the  differen- 
tiation of  the  sexual  cells.  Mr.  Dixon's  second  paper  is  a  "  Note  on  the 
Nuclei  of  the  Endosperm  oiFritillaria  imperialis.'"  Nuclear  division,  as  ob- 
served here,  was  found  to  be  extremely  variable,  and  forms  intermediate 
between  normal  karyokinesis  and  direct  division  are  referred  to  as  of 
special  interest. 

In  the  Ttansaciions  of  the  Manchester  Geological  Society^  vol.  xxiv.,  pt.  7, 
appears  a  paper  b}^  Mr.  G.  H.  Kinahan,  "  On  possible  lyand-Connections 
in  Recent  Geological  Times  between  Ireland  and  Great  Britain."  This 
communication  seems  to  have  been  suggested  by  Dr.  Scharfi's  prelimin- 
ar}^  report  "  On  the  Origin  of  the  Irish  Land  and  Freshwater  Fauna" 
{Proc.  R./.A-iT)),  vol.  iii.,p.479,/r?i-/^A^a/.,vol.iii.,  p.  260).  Mr.  Kinahan  main- 
tains that  all  the  Irish  plants  and  animals  passed  into  the  country  in  late 
Pleistocene  times.  Apparently  he  has  not  taken  the  trouble  to  read  Dr. 
ScharfTs  paper,  as  in  each  of  the  first  two  paragraphs  he  attributes  to 
that  naturalist  the  use  of  the  term  "  Pliocene  "  in  connections  where 
"  Pleistocene  '  was  really  used,  while,  a  little  further  on.  Dr.  ScharfF  is 
credited  with  the  statement  never  made  by  him  that  all  the  lakes  inhab- 
ited by  varieties  of  the  "  pollen  "  [sic)  communicate  directly  with  the  Irish 
Sea.  Mr.  Kinahan  asks  why  Dr.  Scharff  should  found  his  argument  on  ten 
mammals  only,  and  *' eliminate  specially  the  rat,  rabbit,  bat,  roebuck, 
and  wild  cat."  Dr.  Scharff  in  his  paper  plainly  said  why,  because  the 
ten  only  are  undoubtedly  indigenous.  What  naturalist  ever  included  the 
Roebuck  among  native  Irish  mammals  }  Mr.  Kinahan  suggests  that 
the  land-connections  across  which  the  Irish  animals  and  plants  came 
consisted  of  shoals  formed  by  tide-action,  one  at  the  north-east  and  the 
other  at  the  south-east  corner  of  Ireland,  and  adds  that  such  frail  bridges 
would  be  rapidly  washed  away.  He  brings  forward,  in  evidence  of  the 
southern  drift,  the  startling  statement  that  the  Killiney  gravels  are  largely 
composed  of  fragments  of  Wexford  rocks.  There  is  no  attempt  to  answer 
Dr.  Scharft's  argument  for  the  Pliocene  age  of  the  Irish  Fauna,  from  the 
existence  in  Great  Britain  in  Pleistocene  times  of  those  animals  which 
are  British  but  not  Irish,  but  which  should  have  found  their  way  to 
Ireland  had  Pleistocene  land-connections  existed. 


164  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June, 

PROCEEDINGS   OF   IRISH   SOCIETIES. 


RoYAiv  Z001.0GICAI.  Society. 

Recent  donations  comprise  a  Hare  from  Master  Ball,  and  a  Hedgehog 
from  Mr.  W.  M'Donnell.  A  very  fine  pair  of  Burchell's  Zebras,  three 
Mona  Monkeys,  a  Wanderoo  Monkey,  a  Siamese  Ape,  a  Nigger  Monkey, 
a  Siamese  Civet  Cat,  a  Binturong,  three  Virginian  Opossums,  a  Wom- 
bat, a  Golden  Bagle,  and  two  dozen  small  birds  have  been  purchased. 

18,000  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  April. 


Cork  Naturai^ists'  Fiei^d  Ci^ub. 

The  Annual  Meeting  was  held  April  21st,  when  about  25  members 
attended.  Mr.  J.  H.  Bennett,  V.P.,  occupied  the  chair.  The  Secretary 
read  the  fourth  Annual  Report,  of  which  the  following  is  an  abstract : — 
We  are  glad  to  report  an  increase  of  membership — 46  paid-up  members, 
as  against  'i,2i  of  the  previous  year.  We  believe  this  to  be  the  result  of 
increasing  interest  owing  to  the  union  of  the  Field  Clubs,  and  their 
growing  importance. 

The  following  places  were  visited  during  the  summer  of  1S95  : — 

May  II. — The  Lee  Valley,  with  the  object  of  noting  the  physical  geo- 
graphy of  the  district,  under  the  able  guidance  of  Prof.  Hartog,  D.Sc, 
V.P.  May  25. — Fota.  June  15. — Ballyedmund,  Midleton.  July  10. — 
Upton  and  Innishannon.  August  5. — Doneraile  Court  and  Buttevant 
Abbey.  August  24.— Warren's  Court,  by  permission  of  Sir  Augustus 
Warren,  who  entertained  the  party.  September  7, — Castlemartyr,  Lord 
Shannon's  demesne. 

Owing  to  the  Gilchrist  Lectures,  which  our  Club,  jointly  with  the 
Literary  and  Scientific  Society,  were  instrumental  in  securing,  being 
held,  and  also  the  Extension  Lectures,  it  was  deemed  advisable  not  to 
multiply  meetings,  and  accordingly  only  three  Club  meetings  were  held 
during  the  Winter  Session:  — 

November  27,  1895. — Lecture:  "  The  Galway  Field  Club  Conference, 
1895,"  by  R.  Lloyd  Praeger,  Hon.  Sec.  D.N.F.C  and  F.  C.  Union. 
December  12. — Lecture:  "The  Scenery  of  Co.  Antrim,"  by  W.  Gray, 
B.N.F.C.  F^ebruary  11,  1896.— Paper  by  William  Miller:  "The 
Climate  of  Cork,"  which  gave  rise  to  an  animated  discussion,  and  is 
to  appear  in  the  Cork  Historical  and  Archaological  Journal,  followed  by 
"  Notes  on  Rousslet's  method  of  mounting  Rotifers,"  by  Prof.  Hartog, 
D.Sc  (which  has  already  appeared  in  the  Irish  Naturalist). 

On  November  5th,  1895,  your  Secretary  attended  the  Conversazione 
of  the  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  and  on  March  loth,  1896,  a  Con- 
versazione was  held  jointly  with  the  Cork  Historical  and  Archaeological 
Society  in  the  Imperial  Hotel,  attended  by  members  of  the  Dublin  and 
Limerick  Clubs,  and  which  was  most  successful.  The  finances;  including 
a  few  subscriptions  since  paid,  just  about  balance  for  the  year. 


1896.]  Field  Club  News.  165 

The  following  Officers  and  Committee  were  elected  : — 
W.  H.  Shaw,  President ;  Prof.  M.  Hartog,  T.  Farrington,  Miss  Martin, 
J.  H.  Bennett,  J.  Gilbert,  Vice-Presidents ;  J.  L.  Copeman,  Hon.  Sec.  and 
Treasurer;  R.  A.  Phillips,  Curator;  D.  Franklin,  H,  Lund,  Mrs.  Peyton, 
E.  B.  Hughes,  F.  R.  Rolin,  Committee, 

May  2nd. — The  first  excursion  took  place  to  Fota,  Mr.  A.  Smith- 
Barry's  demesne,  and  proved  a  record  one,  about  50  members  and 
friends  attending.  Under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  W.  Osborne  Stewart,  the 
grounds  were  viewed,  and  the  various  rare  pines  and  palms  with  which 
they  abound  examined.  Some  specimens  of  larvae,  &c.,  were  taken  in 
the  ponds,  including  a  "  singing"  Corixa,  which  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  noticed  from  near  Cork,  those  noted  by  Mrs.  Thompson  all  coming 
from  the  Fermoy  district. 


FIKI.D    CLUB   NEWS. 


Lavens  M.  Ewart,  the  new  President  of  the  Belfast  Field  Club,  is 
interested  chiefly  in  the  archaeological  side  of  the  Club's  work.  He  is  a 
well-known  collector  of  local  prints,  &c.,  and  his  collection  of  old  maps 
of  the  Belfast  district  is  the  finest  in  existence.  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  the 
new  Vice-President,  has  for  many  years  devoted  himself  to  botany, 
particularly  mosses  and  hepatics,  and  more  recently  to  phanerogams 
also.  The  formation  of  the  new  Botanical  Section  of  the  Club  was  largely 
due  to  his  influence. 

On  the  invitation  of  the  Hon.  R.  B.  Dillon,  a  party  of  naturalists  will 
spend  a  week  in  June  at  Clonbrock,  Co.  Galway,  exploring  eastern 
Galway  and  Roscommon.  This  district  is  almost  virgin  ground  to  the 
naturalist,  and  Mr.  Dillon's  startling  discoveries  among  the  Lepidoptera 
there  augur  well  for  the  success  of  the  expedition.  The  publication  of 
the  results  will  be  looked  forward  to  with  interest. 

The  Secretaries  of  the  Belfast  Club  desire  us  to  make  it  known  that 
a  dredging  excursion  has  been  arranged  for  Saturday,  July  4,  of  which 
they  invite  members  of  the  various  Field  Clubs  to  take  advantage.  A 
paddle  steamer  from  the  Clyde  has  been  engaged  for  the  occasion.  The 
marine  fauna  of  the  waters  adjoining  Belfast  Lough  is  rich  and 
interesting,  and  it  is  intended  to  pknider  the  treasures  of  the  Turbot 
Bank,  made  famous  by  the  explorations  of  Hyndman  and  Waller. 

Cheering  news  comes  from  Cork,  where  Mr.  Copeman,  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Field  Club  on  April  21,  was  able  to  report  a  substantial 
lise  of  membership,  and  increased  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Club, 
which  he  believed  to  be  largely  due  to  the  formation  of  the  Field  Club 
Union,  and  to  its  influence.  The  Cork  Club  has  now  passed  the  some- 
what trying  period  of  infancy,  and  naturalists  in  Ireland  will  watch  with 
satisfaction  its  continued  progress. 


1 66  The  Irish  Nattiralht.  [June, 

N  O  T  K  S. 


Seasonable  Notes  from  Cushendun.— Swallows  appeared 
here  on  April  2nd  ;  Wild  Anemone  in  flower,  sth  ;  Hawthorn  in  flower, 
19th;  Cardainine pratense  \n  flower,  22nd  ;  Orchis  ?nascula\n  flower,  22nd  ; 
Cuckoo  calling,  22nd  ;  small  white  Butterfly,  19th  ;  Corncrake  calling, 
May  2nd  ;  Vicia  sepiitm  in  flower,  3rd ;  St.  Mark's  Fly,  3rd ;  Swift,  May 
9th. 

Si,.  Arthur  Brenan,  Cushendun. 


BOTANY. 


PHANEROGAMS. 

Ranunculus  tripartltus,  DC,   an  Addition  to  the   Irish 

Flora. — While  botanizing  on  the  3rd  of  April  last  among  the  rocky  hills 

which  lie  to  the  south  of  Baltimore,  Go.   Cork,  I  discovered  in  a  small 

lake  not  far  from  the  sea  a  distinct  and  pretty  little  Batrachian  RanimculuSy 

which  Messrs.  H.  and  J.  Groves  have  kindly  identified  for  me  as  R. 

iripartitus,  DC,  type.    This  is  certainly  an  addition  to  the  flora  of  Ireland 

and  possibly  to  that  of  the  British  Isles  also,  as,  according  to  the  London 

Catalootie,  9tli  ed.,  it  is  represented  in  Great  Britain  only  by  the  variety 

(or  species)  intermedins,  Knaf.,   which  occurs  in  a  few  of  the  southern 

Knglish  counties.    It  is  also  an  addition  to  the  characteristic  group  of 

South-west  European  plants  native  in  Ireland,  its  foreign  distribution 

being  limited  to  Portugal,  Spain,    France,   South  Italy,  Belgium,  and 

Germany. 

R.  A.  Phii,i;ips,  Cork. 


Lathrsea  squamarla  In  Co.  Down.— I  have  within  the  last 
thirty  years  frequently  found  Lathrcea  squamaria  growing  in  the  Tolly- 
more  Park  woods  of  the  Karl  of  Roden,  a  locality  which  is  mentioned 
in  Dickie's  Flora  of  Ulster,  and  Stewart  and  Corry's  Flora  of  the  North-East  of 
Ireland.  Mr.  Ryan  will  find  many  Irish  localities  for  this  plant  given  in 
the  above-named  books,  and  also  in  Moore  and  More's  Cybele  Hibernica 
I  may  mention  two  Co.  Armagh  localities  that  are  known  to  me,  Ard- 
more  Glebe,  on  the  shores  of  Lough  Neagh,  and  the  Lower  Demesne, 
Tanderagee,  where  my  daughter  found  it  7th  May,  1896. 

H.  W.  Lett,  Loughbrickland. 

Lattiraea  squamaria. — In  reply  to  T.  Ryan's  note  (/.  N.,  p.  142). 
Stewart  and  Corry's  Flora  of  N.  E.  Ireland  says  the  Tooth  wort  is  frequent 
in.  Antrim,  Derry,  and  Down,  and  gives  many  localities.  I  have  seen  it 
in  Tollymore  Park.  On  account  of  its  early  flowering  in  April  and  May 
it  is  sometimes  overlooked.  In  Kerner's  Natural  History  of  Plants, 
p.  137,  an  account  is  given  with  illustrations  of  the  structure  of  this 
plant,  from  which  it  appears  not  only  to  be  parasitic  but  also  carnivorous 
in  its  habits.  This  interesting  and  splendidly  illustrated  work  ought  to 
do  much  to  promote  a  more  general  knowledge  of  the  life  of  plants. 

C.  H.  Waddei,!.. 


1896.]  Notes.  167 

Lathraea  squamaria  In  Klngr's  Co,— Lathraa  squamaria  \s  ioun^ 
growing  freely  in  this  county.  It  is  well  developed  on  the  lawn  of 
Geashill  Rectory  under  Beech-trees,  and  quite  lately  I  found  it  about 
nine  miles  from  here  on  a  ditch  along  the  road  through  Glonad  Wood 
The  plant  fastens  itself  to  the  roots  of  the  Beech  by  small  attachments 
or  discs ;  but  it  also  grows  round  the  roots,  forming  a  sort  of  envelope  or 
outer  sheath ;  a  section  which  I  have  prepared  shows  well  the  way  in 
which  the  cellular  tissue  of  the  plant  passes  into  that  of  the  wood. 

C.  D.  RUSSEI,!.,  Geashill. 

Lathraea  squamaria. — I  see  an  inquiry inyourMaynumberasto the 
occurrence  of  Lathraa  sqttaviaria.  It  is  found  at  Heywood,  near  Clonmel ; 
my  impression  is  that  it  is  parasitic  upon  Elm  there.  It  also  grows  in 
Strabane  Glen,  Co.  Tyrone,  on  the  roots  of  Hazel. 

A.  H.  DEI.AP,  Strabane. 

Allium  triquetrum,  L.,  in  Co.  Cork. — This  interesting  South 
European  plant  occurs  in  at  least  two  stations  in  this  county.  In  1890  I 
found  it  (about  20  or  25  plants)  in  a  grassy  hollow  near  Dunkettle  on  the 
northern  side  of  Cork  Harbour,  where  it  has  since  continued  to  hold  its 
own,  and  this  year  Surgeon  W.  G.  Axford,  R.N.,  has  discovered  it  at 
Monkstown,  some  eight  miles  south  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
harbour.  Though  not  a  native,  the  occurrence  of  this  species  here  in  a 
wild  state  is  remarkable,  as  its  British  distribution,  like  that  of  many 
other  Cork  plants,  is  limited  to  Cornwall,  where  it  is  thoroughly 
naturalized,  and  the  Channel  Islands,  while  on  the  continent  it  is  found 
only  in  S.  France,  Spain,  and  Italy. 

R.  A.  Phii,i,ips,  Cork. 

ZOOLOGY. 


SPIDERS. 
Discovery  of  the  grenus  Atypus  In  King's  Co. — A  very  interest- 
ing addition  to  our  Irish  list  of  spiders  has  been  made  by  the  discovery 
of  the  tubular  nest  of  a  female  Atypiis  by  Rev.  Canon  Russell  of  Geashill, 
near  TuUamore.  The  specimen  was  kindly  sent  by  him  to  the  Dublin 
Museum  and  has  been  authenticated  by  Rev.  O.  R  Cambridge.  Pending 
the  discovery  of  the  maker  of  the  nest  the  species  must  remain  doubtful, 
though  it  will  probably  be  the  less  rare  British  form,  Atypus  piceus,  Sulz 
Aiyptis  is  the  only  British  genus  of  the  Aviciilariidx^  the  family  which 
contains  the  great  "  bird-eating  "  spiders  of  the  tropics  and  the  trap-door 
spiders  of  southern  Europe.  This  spider  constructs  a  long  silken  tube 
in  the  earth,  but  there  is  no  trap-door ;  the  end  of  the  tube  protrudes  for 
a  few  inches  above  the  surface.  The  nest  sent  by  Canon  Russell  con- 
tained a  caterpillar  of  Hepialus  hunmli,  which  may  have  been  dragged  in 
by  the  spider  as  prey. 

Geo.  H.  Carpeno^er. 


INSECTS. 
Formica  rufa. — This  ant  occurs  sparingly  in  a  wooded  glen  in  the 
Co.  Waterford,  near  Clonmel,  about  two  miles  south  of  the  town. 

A.  H.  DeIyAP,  Strabane. 


1 68  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [June,  1896 


REPTILES, 
A  Stray  Snake  near  Coleralne. — On  the  evening  of  April  22nd,  a 
lady  friend  called  to  tell  me  that  she  had  killed  a  snake  in  her  garden, 
which  is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Coleraine.  Itis  upon  the  right  bank 
of  the  river  Bann,  and  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  town.  She  des- 
cribed the  reptile's  hiss  and  her  own  alarm  in  such  a  graphic  way,  that 
in  spite  of  the  legend  about  our  Patron  Saint  and  his  expatriation  of  all 
Ophidians,  the  incredulity  with  which  I  at  first  regarded  her  story  gave 
way,  and  I  accompanied  her  to  the  spot  and  found  upon  a  grass  plot  in  front 
of  her  house  the  newly-killed  snake.  It  is  a  Ringed  Snake  {Tropidontus 
natrix)  measuring  twenty-five  and  three-quarter  inches  in  length.  In 
depriving  it  of  its  supposed  power  to  do  harm  she  had  not  used  it 
gently.  Nevertheless,  though  somewhat  mutilated,  the  specimen  was 
well  worth  preserving,  and  so  I  committed  it  to  a  bottle  of  spirits.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  say  that  Ringed  Snakes  are  not  native  here,  but  where 
this  one  came  from,  or  how  it  came  here,  I  have  been  as  yet  unable  to 
make  out. 

James  BeIvIvAS,  Cronbannagh,  Coleraine. 


BIRDS. 
Scarcity  of  Land  Rail. — For  some  reason  the  Corncrake  is  either 
very  late  to  come  or  very  scarce  this  year  in  this  district.     While  the 
Cuckoo  has  been  here  since  istli  April,  and  is  plentiftil,  I  have  only  heard 
one  Corncrake  on  14th  May,  where  they  usually  abound. 

C.  H.  WaddeIvI<,  Saintfield. 

Arrival    of  Spring   Wllgrants   In    Londonderry   District. — 

The  Chiff-chaff" was  as  usual  our  earlier  visitant;  it  reached  us  on  31st 
March.  The  Sandmartin  and  Swallow  were  much  behind  their  usual 
time ;  the  former  arrived  on  12th  April,  and  the  latter  on  13th  April, 
The  Willow  Wren  was  also  very  late  of  coming ;  I  did  not  hear  its  song 
until  23rd  April.  The  Cuckoo  was  first  heard  on  21st  April,  and  the 
Corncrake  on  22nd  April. 

D.  C.  CampbEI.1.,  Londonderry. 

The  Magpie  In  the  Isle  of  Man. —Referring  to  Mr.  C.  B.  Moffat's 

note  in  your  April  number  (p.  116),  I  may  mention  that  the  Magpie  is 

an  introduced  species  in  the  Isle  of  Man.     In  the  history  of  the  Island 

by  Bishop  Wilson'  (cp.  1698-1755)  it  is  stated — "It  is  not  long  since  a 

person,  more  fanciful  than  prudent  or  kind  to  his  country,  brought  in  a 

brood  of  Magpies,  which  have  increased  incredibly,  so  as  to  become  a 

nuisance." 

P.  Rai,fe,  Laxey,  Isle  of  Man. 

1  In  Manx  Society's  Publications,  vol.  xviii.     The  exact  date  of  the 
work  does  not  seem  to  be  given. 


July,  1895.]  169 

THE  GUI.LS  OF  KILIvAI^A  BAY. 

BY  ROBERT  WARRKN. 


Of  the  eight  species  of  gulls  met  with  in  this  locality,  five  are 
resideut  and  breed — namely,  the  Great  Blackbacked,  I^esser 
Blackbacked,  Herring,  Common,  and  Blackheaded  Gulls ; 
one,  the  Kittiwake,  is  only  a  summer  visitor,  departing  after 
the  breeding  season  is  over ;  while  two,  the  Glaucous  and 
Iceland  Gulls,  are  irregular  winter  visitors,  only  occasionally 
seen. 

The  GrKAT  B1.ACKBACKED  Gui.1.  {Larus  marinus),  the 
largest  of  our  native  gulls,  is  common,  but  not  numerous,  a 
few  pairs  frequenting  the  estuary  and  sands  of  the  bay  in 
winter,  while  two  or  three  pairs  of  non-breeding  birds  remain 
about  the  sands  during  summer. 

The  nearest  breeding-haunt  to  Killala  Bay  is  Doonbrista, 
the  pillar-like  rock  off  Downpatrick  Head,  near  Ballycastle  (six 
miles  from  Killala),  where  twelve  or  fifteen  pairs  have  their 
nests  on  the  flat,  grassy  summit,  and  rear  their  young  in 
perfect  safety,  for  the  rock  is  quite  inaccessible  ;  and  strange 
to  sa}^,  though  perfectly  safe  from  disturbance  of  any  kind, 
their  numbers  do  not  seem  to  increase,  for  about  the  same 
number  of  breeding  birds  are  now  to  be  seen  frequenting 
the  rock  as  w^ere  observed  thirty  years  ago  when  I  first  visited 
Downpatrick  Head.  The  next  breeding-station  of  this  gull  on 
the  North  Mayo  coast  is  that  on  the  Stags  of  Broadhaven, 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  west  of  Downpatrick  Head,  where 
a  few  pairs  breed  on  the  largest  of  the  rocks. 

The  Stags  of  Broadhaven  are  situated  about  three  miles 
from  Portacloy,  and  are  four  huge  isolated  rocks,  the  largest 
about  300  feet  in  height,  and  give  one  the  idea  of  four 
miniature  Ailsa  Craigs  with  sharply  triangular  outline.  A 
peculiarity  of  the  rocks  along  that  coast,  especially  at  the  base 
of  the  cliffs,  is  their  broken  shattered  appearance  and  their 
sharp  and  rugged  points  and  edges,  seen  appearing  along 
the  surface  of  the  water  when  the  tide  is  low,  in  some  places 
extending  for  many  yards  be3^ond  the  cliff's  base. 

Some  years  ago  the  Great  Blackbacked  Gulls  of  this 
locality  were  nearly  exterminated  by  poison,  laid  by  the  tenant 

A 


iyo  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [July, 

of  Bartragh  Island  for  the  destruction  of  rats.  A  plague  of 
rats  destroying  the  j^oung  rabbits  in  the  burrows,  thinned 
them  out  considerably,  and  he,  wishing  to  protect  them,  laid 
poisoned  meat  and  fish  amongst  the  burrows  on  the  sand-hills, 
which  the  gulls  (always  on  the  look-out  for  dead  or  dying 
Rabbits)  greedily  devoured,  and  the  result  was  that  numbers 
of  both  Blackbacked  and  Herring  Gulls  were  afterwards  seen 
lying  dead  in  all  directions  about  the  island  ;  and  for  three  or 
four  years  after  very  few  were  seen  about  the  sands. 

These   great   gulls   always  hovering   over  the   sands   and 
shores,  are  like  vultures,    on  the  look-out  for  carrion,  dead 
fish,  or  weakly,  or  wounded  birds.     They  become  a  perfect 
nuisance  to  the  wild-fowl  shooter,  alarming  the  birds  he  is 
setting  up  to  for  a  shot ;  for  the  instant  he  lies  down  to  his 
gun,  the  gull,  seeing  him  in  such  an  unusual  position,  begins 
to  suspect  danger,  and  flies  over,  and  round  the  punt  (out  of 
shot),  looking  down  on  the  shooter,  and  giving  out  his  harsh 
alarm  note,  which  immediately  causes  the  ducks,  or  Widgeon 
to  be  so  much  on  the   alert,    that  the   fowler  is  unable  to 
approach   within   shooting   distance.      However,   if  he   does 
succeed  in  coming  within  range,   and  obtain  a  shot,  any  of 
the  dead  or  wounded  birds  that  escape  him  are  sure  to  be- 
come the  prey  of  the  gulls.     I  well  remember  on  one  occasion 
I  knocked  down  fifteen  Widgeon  at  a  shot,  while  a  *'  dropper  " 
fel,!  dead  some  distance  off,  and  while  I  was  picking  up  the 
dead,  and  chasing  the  cripples,  a  Blackback,  that  had  been 
watching,  and   trying   to   alarm   the   flock  of  Widgeon,    on 
seeing  the  dropper  fall,  at  once  made  for  it,  and  settling  down 
on  the  water  alongside  began  tearing  the  breast,  and  by  the 
time  I  had  secured  my  dead  and  wounded  birds,  I  reached 
the   dropper   only   in   time  to   find   a  well-picked   skeleton. 
A  dead,  or  wounded  bird  is  seldom  (in  winter)  found  lying  on 
the  shore  for  any  time  without  being  clean  picked,  and  many 
a  rare  specimen  cast  up  by  the  sea  is  destroyed  long  before 
the  naturalist  finds  it.      I  was  one  day  so   fortunate   as   to 
rescue  two  fine  specimens  of  the  Fulmar  from  being  destroyed 
by  these  gulls ;  they  had  been  thrown  up  by  the  surf  on  the 
Bnniscrone  sands,  in  so  weak  and  exhausted  a  condition  as  to 
be  unable  to  stand,  when  I  came  on  the  gulls  just  attacking 
them. 


1896.]  WarrKn. —  The  Gulls  of  Klllala  Bay.  171 

The  Herring  Gui<i.  {Lams  argentatus)  is  the  most  numerous 
of  the  large  gulls  on  this  part  of  the  coast.  They  have  many 
breeding-stations  on  the  cliffs  along  the  North  Mayo  coast, 
from  Lacken  Bay  to  Bunwee  Head.  Small  colonies  of  a  few 
pairs  are  to  be  seen  scattered  for  miles  along  the  cliffs,  while 
the  large  colonies  are  located  on  the  ledges  and  shelves  of 
Doonbrista,  and  Downpatrick  Head,  at  Keadue  beyond  Bally- 
castle,  between  Glenglosera  and  Belderig,  Moistha  Island, 
between  the  last-named  place  and  Porturlin,  on  Pig's  Island, 
west  of  the  latter  place,  and  also  between  it  and  Portacloy, 
while  a  few  pairs  also  breed  on  the  Stags  of  Broadhaven.  In 
fact,  there  is  scarcely  a  high  cliff  anywhere  between  Down- 
patrick Head  and  Portacloy,  without  some  Herring  Gulls 
breeding  there,  being  almost  as  widely  distributed  as  the 
Kittiwakes.  On  the  North  Sligo  coast  there  is  a  very  large 
colony — one  of  the  largest  I  have  seen — on  Aughris  Head, 
about  midway  between  Sligo  and  Killala  Bays. 

The  lyKSSER  Bi^ACKBACKED  Guiyi,  {Larus  fusais)  is  not  so 
numerous  as  the  Herring  Gull,  and  is  seldom  seen  in  the  bay 
or  estuary,  for  its  chief  breeding  station  in  Mayo  is  at  present 
on  lyOUgh  Mask ;  though  at  one  time  it  bred  on  I^ough  Conn, 
as  mentioned  to  the  late  Wm.  Thompson  by  Mr,  B.  Ball,  which 
statement  was  corroborated  to  me  by  my  late  friend,  Mr. 
Henry  Knox,  of  Palmerstown,  Killala,  who  told  me  that  when 
he  was  a  young  man  and  fishing  on  Lough  Conn  he  found 
large  numbers  of  these  gulls  breeding  on  islands  in  the  lake. 
A  pair  have  of  late  years  been  seen  every  summer  about  the 
lake,  but  the  nest  was  not  found ;  and  until  last  summer  no 
good  evidence  of  its  breeding  was  had,  when  Mr.  H.  Scroope,  of 
Ballina,  saw  a  pair  of  young  birds  in  the  nestling  plumage, 
following  the  old  ones,  showing  that  they  had  been  bred  some- 
w^here  about  that  lake  or  the  adjacent  Lough  CuUen. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Good,  of  Westport,  told  me  that  this  gull  bred  on 
Lough  Mask  in  large  numbers,  on  one  of  the  islands,  and  that 
odd  pairs  were  scattered  about  through  the  lake  breeding  on 
some  of  the  smaller  islands  also,  which  statement  I  found 
correct  when  visiting  Lough  Mask  with  my  friend,  Mr.  W. 
Williams,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1893.  The  gulls'  island  is 
situated  on  the  western  side  of  the  lake,  opposite  the  Partry 
Monastery,  and  is  about  200  yards  in  length,  quite  low,  and 
thickly  covered  with  rocks  and  large  loose  stones,  amongst 

A  2 


172  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [July, 

which  a  few  bushes  and  patches  of  long  grass  are  growing. 
The  gulls  make  large  nests  of  the  dried  grass  thrown  up  by 
the  winter's  floods,  under  the  bushes  and  between  the  stones. 
Most  of  the  nests  (about  twenty)  had  been  robbed  a  short 
time  previous  to  our  visit,  and  we  found  only  three  or  four  in 
which  the  birds  had  begun  to  lay,  with  one  or  two  eggs  in 
each.  We  also  found  on  the  terns'  island  two  gulls'  nests, 
in  one  of  which  there  were  three  eggs,  and  our  boatman 
informed  us  that  throughout  the  lake  many  solitary  pairs  had 
nests  on  many  of  the  small  islands.  In  June,  1895,  my  friend, 
Mr.  R.  J.  Ussher,  visiting  lyOUgh  Corrib,  found  this  gull 
breeding  in  small  numbers  on  the  islands  about  the  lake 
between  Cong  and  Oughterard,  and  also  found  a  few  pairs 
breeding  on  Lough  Erne,  Co.  Fermanagh.  I  have  not  myself 
found  this  bird  breeding  on  the  sea-cliffs  of  Mayo,  although 
when  visiting  the  north  coast  in  May,  1893,  I  saw  a  solitary 
bird  flying  along  the  cliffs  between  Porturlin  and  Portacloy, 
but  saw  no  trace  of  a  nesting-place. 

The  Common  Gui.i.  {Larus  capitis)  is  not  so  numerous  as  the 
smaller  gulls,  though  it  is  extending  its  breeding-range  to 
places  where  a  few  years  ago  none  were  to  be  seen.  I  first 
met  this  gull  breeding  on  a  small  island  in  Lough  Talt,  about 
twelve  miles  from  the  sea,  in  the  heart  of  the  Ox  Mountains, 
Co.  Sligo,  in  1855  ;  only  two  or  three  pairs  bred  on  the  lough. 
I  saw  the  nests  (one  with  an  addled  G.gg}  on  a  little  rocky 
islet,  and  some  young  birds  just  able  to  fly,  following  their 
parents  about  the  lake.  Since  that  date  the  gulls  have 
deserted  Lough  Talt  as  a  breeding-haunt  in  consequence  of 
boats  having  been  placed  on  the  lake  for  the  convenience  of 
trout  fishers,  who  frequent  the  water  during  the  breeding-time 
in  May.  They  disturbed  the  gulls  so  much  as  to  cause  them  to 
leave  altogether. 

This  was  all  I  knew  of  the  gulls  breeding  in  this  locality, 
until  some  years  later,  when  I  was  told  of  their  breeding  on 
Lough-na-Crumpawn  (the  lake  of  the  stumps)  about  ten 
miles  from  Ballina,  between  Glenmore  and  Crossmolina,  but 
thinking  the  gulls  mentioned  must  be  the  Blackheaded,  I  did 
not  visit  the  lough  until  the  17th  of  May,  1882,  when  in  the 
company  of  my  friends,  Dr.  S.  Darling  and  his  brother  James, 
we  drove  to  Glenmore,  and  taking  a  boy  as  our  guide  walked 
to  the  bog,  which  was  a  wide  expanse  of  low  peat  moor,  with 


1896.]  WarrKN. —  The  Gulls  of  Killala  Bay,  173 

many  little  loughs  and  pools  scattered  all  over  it.  Many  of 
these  loughs  had  little  islets,  or  rather  clumps  of  turf  covered 
with  heath  and  coarse  grass.  On  reaching  the  first  of  the 
loughs,  we  observed  a  gull  resting  on  a  clump  in  the  middle, 
but  seeing  only  a  solitary  bird  that  flew  off  at  our  approach, 
we  had  no  idea  of  a  nest  being  there. 

Dr.  Darling  and  I  went  on  ahead  ;  James  Darling  remaining 
to  take  another  look  round,  and  wading  out  to  the  clump  of 
turf,  found  a  nest  of  dried  grass  on  it  containing  three  eggs. 
This  "  find"  was  most  encouraging,  for  not  seeing  any  gulls 
about  except  the  solitary  one  on  the  clump,  we  were  beginning 
to  fear  that  our  journey  would  have  proved  in  vain.  We  then 
walked  on  to  a  group  of  loughs  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further  on, 
and  there  we  saw  two  gulls  resting  on  clumps,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  we  had  three  pairs  of  the  Common  Gull  circling 
round  us  and  screaming,  plainly  indicating  by  their  anxiety, 
that  at  least  three  nests  must  be  somewhere  about  the  islets 
on  the  loughs  ;  but  unfortunately  for  us,  owing  to  the  great 
depth  of  the  soft  black  mud  on  the  bottom  of  these  loughs,  it 
was  quite  impossible  to  wade  out  to  the  islands  and  search  for 
the  nests.  While  walking  round  the  lough,  vainly  seeking 
for  a  passage  to  the  islet,  we  disturbed  a  pair  of  Dunlins,  but 
were  unable  to  find  their  nest. 

Although  so  far  fortunate  in  finding  a  breeding-haunt  of 
the  Common  Gull,  yet  we  had  not  found  the  particular  lough 
reported  to  me,  and  of  which  we  had  come  in  search.  We 
again  questioned  the  boy,  but  he  knew  of  no  other  loughs,  nor 
of  one  where  the  gulls  built  their  nests  on  the  tree  stumps  of 
an  old  submerged  forest,  as  had  been  described  to  me.  So 
finding  the  boy  of  no  further  use  as  a  guide,  we  decided  on 
o-oing  in  different  directions  over  the  bog,  and,  while  time 
allowed,  persevering  in  our  search  for  the  missing  I^ough-na- 
Crumpawn,  "the  lake  of  the  stumps."  Dr.  Darling  and  I  then 
proceeded  to  examine  some  pools  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
away,  while  James  Darling  and  the  boy  went  off  in  the 
opposite  direction  to  a  little  ridge,  from  which  they  could 
have  a  better  view  over  the  surrounding  bog,  and  perhaps 
discover  the  particular  lough  of  which  we  were  in  search. 
Soon  after  we  heard  the  boy  whistle,  and  saw  James  Darling 
run  to  meet  him  ;  we  afterwards  learned  that  he  had  just  then 
come  on  a  Dunlin's  nest  with  four  eggs. 


174  *J^he  Irish  Naturalist.  [July, 

We  then  saw  them  walk  to  the  top  of  the  ridge,  when 
James  Darling  whistled,  and  waving  his  hat  to  us,  disappeared 
over  the  ridge.  Not  seeing  him  return  we  concluded  that  he 
had  found  the  lough,  so  we  hastened  after  him,  and  on 
reaching  the  top,  we  saw  to  our  great  delight,  in  a  hollow 
about  half  a  mile  off,  the  long-sought  for  lough  easily  identi- 
fied by  the  tree  stumps  studding  its  surface  ;  a  number  of  gulls 
were  flying  over  our  friend,  who  was  wading  out  through  the 
muddy  water  to  where  the  nests  were.  On  reaching  the  lough 
we  soon  had  eight  pairs  of  Larus  caniis  flying  over  us,  and  saw 
eight  nests  composed  of  dried  grass  on  the  tree  stumps ; 
James  Darling  visited  seven  of  these,  six  contained  eggs ;  the 
eighth  he  was  unable  to  reach,  in  consequence  of  the  great 
depth  of  the  black  mud  on  the  bottom  of  the  lough. 

The  foregoing  was  all  the  information  I  had  of  the  breeding 
of  this  gull  in  Sligo  and  Mayo,  until  June,  1890,  when  my 
friend,  Mr.  R.  J.  Ussher,  on  his  way  from  Belmullet  to  Ballina, 
found  a  large  colony  of  at  least  fifty  pairs  breeding  on  an 
island  in  lyough  Dohybaun,  near  Corick,  in  the  last  named 
county.  Since  then  I  have  met  them  breeding  on  lyoughs  Conn 
and  CuUen,  where  they  had  not  been  seen  until  a  few  years 
ago.  On  lyough  Conn  some  odd  pairs  breed  on  the  stony 
points  of  the  small  islands  at  the  upper  end  of  the  lake,  near 
Knniscoe  and  Krrew  abbey,  and  are  probably  scattered  all  about 
the  lake,  for  I  met  them  also  on  the  lower  end,  near  Pontoon 
Bridge ;  and  in  lyOUgh  Cullen  they  are  scattered  about  also, 
while  there  is  a  colony  of  twelve  to  fifteen  pairs  on  the  shores 
of  a  small  island  close  to  the  land,  between  Garrison  Island 
and  the  bridge.  I  have  also  found  the  Common  Gull  breeding 
on  the  shores  of  islands  in  Lough  Mask,  but  not  so  numerous 
as  in  Lough  Cullen. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  these  Gulls  are  extending  their 
breeding-range  in  this  district,  more  especially  to  Lough 
Conn,  where  fifteen  or  twenty  3^ears  ago  none  were  to  be  seen, 
when  I  used  to  visit  the  lake  in  search  of  breeding  birds,  and 
particularly  during  my  close  search  for  the  Sandwich  Terns, 
at  which  time  only  Blackheaded  Gulls,  and  Common  Terns 
bred  about  the  lake.  This  gull,  during  the  breeding  season, 
appears  to  have  been  more  widely  distributed  throughout  the 
north-west  counties  than  was  expected,  previous  to  the  visits 
of  my  friend  Mr.  R.  J.  Ussher,  who  found  them  in  pairs  and 


1 896.  ]  Warrkn  .  —  The  Gn Us  of  Killala  Bay '.  175 

small  colonies  on  the  loughs  in  Connemara,  as  well  as  in 
N.W.  Donegal,  and  Mayo  ;  and  probably  when  Clare  is  ex- 
plored, they  may  be  found  breeding  in  that  county  also. 

The  Kittiwake:  Gui<i.  {Lams  rissa)  is  very  abundant  round 
this  coast  in  summer,  but  very  few  are  to  be  seen  in  winter, 
and  then  only  a  bird  in  miserable  condition  is  occasionally 
seen.  I  have  sometimes  found  birds  Ijang  dead  on  the  shore 
in  winter  evidently  starved  to  death  ;  an}^  I  have  shot  at  that 
time  of  3^ear  were  always  in  the  same  miserable  state,  mere 
bundles  of  bones  and  feathers.  This  gull  breeds  in  many 
small  colonies  along  the  cliffs  extending  from  I^acken  Baj^  to 
Downpatrick  Head,  where  there  is  a  very  large  colony  breeding 
on  the  shelves  and  ledges  of  the  head,  as  well  as  on  those  of 
Doonbrista,  the  rock  on  which  the  Great  Blackbacked  Gulls 
breed.  The  next  breeding-haunt  is  about  ten  miles  further 
west  near  Belderig,  where  many  thousands  breed  on  the  cliffs 
between  that  and  Porturlin,  and  also  on  the  range  of  cliffs 
between  the  latter  place  and  Portacloy ;  while  one  of  their 
largest  colonies  is  on  Pig's  Island,  near  Porturlin. 

The  numbers  of  Kitti wakes,  and  their  numerous  breeding- 
haunts  along  that  line  of  coast,  are  really  astonishing,  and 
must  be  actually  seen  to  be  realized. 

There  is  also  a  great  breeding-haunt  of  Kittiwakes  on  the 
Sligo  coast,  Aughris  Head  (about  twenty-four  miles  from 
Ballina),  where  the  gulls  are  in  two  large  colonies,  one  on  a 
range  of  cliff  about  300  yards  long,  and  the  other  on  one  about 
50  or  60  yards  shorter,  and  as  the  shelves  and  ledges  are  ver}^ 
regular  in  their  formation,  the  gulls  sitting  on  their  nests  can 
be  seen  to  great  advantage,  as  they  appear  in  long  rows, 
tier  above  tier,  on  the  face  of  the  cliff.  This  is  the  largest 
colon}^  of  Kittiwakes  I  have  yet  seen,  for  although  there  are 
greater  numbers  on  the  Mayo  coast  they  are  more  scattered, 
and  not  so  many  are  seen  at  one  colony  as  at  Aughris. 

The  Bi^ACKHEADEjD  Gui,!,  {Lams  ridibundus)  is  the  most 
numerous  of  our  residents,  and  a  few  j^ears  ago  had  two  large 
breeding-haunts  within  two  and  three  miles  of  Ballina,  Cloona, 
and  Rathrouyeen,  but  the  former  has  been  deserted  for  some 
years,  for  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Wm.  Gardiner,  who  strictly 
preserved  the  lough,  the  new  tenant  neglected  doing  so,  and 
in  consequence  the  gulls  were  so  disturbed  and  harassed  by 
the  country  boys  robbing  their  nests  year  after  year,  that  they 


176  The  Irish  Nahiralist.  [July, 

left  the  lake  altogether  and  shifted  their  quarters  to  Rath- 
rouyeen,  where  they  now  may  be  seen  in  thousands.  When  I  first 
visited  Rathrouyeen,  over  thirty  years  ago,  there  were  probably 
not  more  than  between  two  and  three  hundred  pairs  of  gulls 
breeding,  chiefly  on  the  small  island,  where  I  counted  close 
on  200  nests,  while  perhaps  there  were  30  to  50  nests  amongst 
the  reeds  and  rushes  about  the  lake.  But  now  they  have  over- 
flowed so  much  that  the  nests  are  built  everywhere  amongst 
the  reed-beds  and  BuUrushes,  and  all  round  the  margin  of 
the  lake  on  the  tussocks  of  coarse  grass  and  bunches  of 
rushes ;  and  when  any  one  approaches  the  shore  of  the  lake 
the  noise  of  the  screaming  thousands  is  deafening.  There  is 
also  a  small  colony  breeding  on  a  low  gravelly  island  in  I^ough 
Conn  near  Errew  Abbey  and  Enniscoe. 

These  gulls  are  the  first  to  suffer  from  a  hard  winter  and  a 
long-continued  frost.  In  1894  they  suffered  more  than  in  any 
winter  that  I  can  remember,  and  they  were  so  reduced  that 
only  a  mere  tithe  of  their  numbers  assembled  at  their  breeding- 
haunt  the  following  spring.  During  the  severe  frost  of  that 
winter  the  unfortunate  birds  were  so  hard-pressed  for  food 
that  they  came  into  the  farmyards  to  feed  with  the  pigs  and 
the  poultry  ;  large  numbers  came  into  my  poultry-yard  and 
piggery  feeding  on  the  potatoes  and  turnips.  I  fed  them  ever}- 
day  while  the  frost  lasted,  but  each  morning  their  numbers 
lessened  by  death ;  one  day  over  a  dozen  came  into  the 
kitchen,  and  were  so  tamed  by  hunger  as  to  feed  close  round 
the  fire  and  almost  to  snatch  the  food  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
girl  who  was  feeding  them.  They  even  came  into  the  town 
of  Ballina,  feeding  in  the  streets  and  yards  of  the  houses. 

The  G1.AUCOUS  and  Icki^and  Gui.i.s  {Larus  glaucus  and  Z. 
/^2/c^/>/<?r//^),  being  irregular  winter  visitors,  are  only  occasionally 
seen,  and  as  I  have  given  an  account  of  those  coming  under 
my  notice  in  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  October,  1892,  there  is 
no  need  of  my  now  repeating  the  information  given  in  that 
number. 


1896.] 


"^11 


THK   PI.ANTS   OF  INISMURRAY,    CO.   SUGO. 

BY   R.    LT.OYD   PRAKGKR,    B.K. 


On  June  Sth,  on  the  return  of  the  Rockall  expedition,  the 
party  landed  for  an  hour  on  Inismurray,  famous  among 
antiquarians  for  its  wealth  of  primitive  edifices.  Mr.  R.  M. 
Barrington  and  I  spent  the  time  in  botanizing,  and  as  no 
botanist  has  apparently  examined  this  island  previously,  a 
short  note  on  its  flora  may  be  interesting,  even  thouo-h  that 
flora  is  poor  and  devoid  of  any  special  interest.  The  island 
is  composed  of  Carboniferous  sandstone,  and  is  low  and  flat. 
Only  a  portion  is  cultivated.  The  rest  consists  of  stunted 
heath,  marshy  in  places.  In  the  hour  spent  on  the  island,  I 
listed  145  species,  almost  all  of  which  are  plants  of  universal 
distribution  in  Ireland. 

In  the  meadows  and  marshy  spots,  the  Purple  I^oosestrife 
(^Ly thrum  Salicarid)  grew  in  enormous  profusion.     It  was  not 
yet  in  flower,  but  one  could  imagine  the  sheets  of  purple  with 
which  these  green  spots  would  soon  be  covered.     Amono-  the 
grass,  and  on  the  heaths,  three  Orchids  brightened  the  o-round 
b}^  their  abundance — O.  maculata,  O.  latifolia  f?J,  and  Haben- 
aria  bifolia.  The  quantity  of  the  last-named  plant,  coupled  with 
the  almost  complete  absence  of  its  ally  H.  chloroleiica,  was  a 
remarkable  feature  in   the   flora   of  Inismurra}- ;    for  almost 
everywhere  in  Ireland  these  proportions  are  reversed.     Alono- 
the  edges  of  the  meadows,  and  on  banks,   great  masses  of 
Royal  Fern  grew  ;  it  was  a  surprise  to  us  to  find  it  in  such 
luxuriance  in  a  locality  so  bleak  and  wind-swept.     The  other 
ferns  observed  on  the  island  were  Polypodium  vulgare,  Lastrea 
Filix-mas,  L,  dilatata,  Athyruivi  Filix-foefimia,  Pteris  aquili?ia, 
2in^AspIen27im  marhncm  ;  the  last-named  grew  among  boulders 
on  the  exposed  western  shore.     A  leaf  of  Sea-Kale,  l3'ino-  in  a 
boggy  meadow,  made  me  watch  for  this  plant  on  the  stony 
shores,   but   it   was   not   seen.      The   Golden   Rod   {Solidago 
virgaurea)  grew  on  dry  banks,  and  in  wet  places  were  tufts 
of  CEnanthe  crocata.     The  only  plants  that  grew  in  the  few 
pools  and  drains  were  Apium  intv7idat2tvi,  Pot.  polygvnifolius 
and    Scirpus  flidtans ;    Peplis   portula    was   stragglino-    over 
muddy  ground  close  at  hand.     The  commonest  weed  in  the 
corn-fields  was  Sinapis  alba ;  Vero7iica  Buxbauniii  grew  with  it 

A3 


178  The  Irish  Naiu7nlist.  [July, 

The  only  roadside  plant  worthy  of  mention  was  Sagina  77iari- 
tima.  Perhaps  the  most  curious  plant  of  the  island  was  a 
diffuse  form  of  Juncus  conglomeratus,  the  stems  of  which, 
instead  of  growing  erect  in  a  compact  clump  as  usual,  spread 
out  at  every  angle,  from  horizontal  to  vertical,  giving  the 
plant  a  very  strange  appearance,  and  recalling  the  habit  of 
Schcefncs  nigricans ;  this  curious  rush  was  abundant  in  damp 
places  with  the  typical  form.  Mr.  Barrington  found  Radiola 
linoides  and  Cai'dmis  pratejisis,  two  species  which  did  not  occur 
to  me. 


cANis  VUI.PKS  mp:i.anogaste:r,  bona?.,  in 

IRKIvAND. 

BY   R.    F.    SCHARFF,    PH.D. 


This  variety  of  the  Fox  is  characterised  by  having  the  under- 
parts  of  the  body  and  tail  black  or  dark  brown  instead  of 
white.  A  specimen  recently  acquired  by  the  Dublin  Museum 
has  all  the  underparts  of  the  body  and  tail  greyish  black.  It 
is  a  full-grown  rather  undersized  female,  and  came  from  the 
County  Kildare.  I  had  never  seen  an  Irish  specimen  before, 
but  Mr.  Kd.  Williams,  informs  me  that  he  has  stuffed  several 
for  people  in  the  country. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  occurrence  of  this  variety  of  the 
Fox  in  Ireland  lies  in  its  geographical  distribution.  As  far 
as  I  know,  there  is  only  one  previous  record  of  this  variety 
having  been  observed  in  the  British  Islands,  viz.,  in  Warwick- 
shire (Bell's  *'  Brit.  Quadrupeds,"  2nd  Kd.,  p.  231). 

Nilsson  described  it  as  existing  in  Scandinavia,  and  there  is 
also  a  record  from  France.  But  it  is  distinctly  a  southern  form, 
and  has  been  observed  in  Greece,  Southern  Italy,  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  in  the  Mediterranean  Islands.  We  may  suppose 
it  to  have  originated  in  Southern  Europe  and  then  to  have 
spread  along  the  Atlantic  shores  in  times  long  gone  by,  when 
the  British  Islands  were  still  connected  with  the  continent, 
for  the  Fox  must  be  looked  upon  as  probably  the  most  ancient 
of  the  British  Mammals. 

I  should  be  glad  if  any  readers  of  the  hish  Naturalist  would 
inform  me  if  they  have  met  with  this  variety  of  the  Fox. 


1896.]  179 

THE  medusa:   of  VALENCIA   HARBOUR,  COUNTY 

KERRY. 

BY   KDWARD   T.    BROWNE- 
Zoological  Research  Laboratory,  University  College,  London. 


My  friend  and  colleague,  Mr.  F.  W.  Gamble,  published  in  the 
May  number  of  this  Journal  a  preliminary  account  of  the 
results  obtained  by  dredging  and  shore-collecting  in  Valencia 
Harbour.  It  falls  to  my  share  to  give  a  list  of  the  Medusae 
collected  during  April  and  Ma}^,  1895. 

In  selecting  the  locality  on  the  West  Coast  of  Ireland  it  was 
necessary  to  find  a  place  not  only  suitable  for  dredging  and 
shore-collecting,  but   also  for  tow-netting,  a  .place  well-pro- 
tected from  the  swell  and  storms  of  the  Atlantic.     For  tow- 
netting  I  found  Valencia  Harbour  an  exceedingly  good  place, 
naturally  well-sheltered,  and  with  an  excellent  pelagic  fauna. 
When  the  tide  was  flowing  in  from  the  ocean  it   was  only 
necessary  to  anchor  the  boat  and  to  cast  the  net  overboard. 
By  this  method  the  lovely  siphonophore  Agahiopsis  could  be 
taken  in  perfect  condition,  without  the  loss  of  even  a  swim- 
ming-bell.     Everyone  who  has  worked  on  delicate  pelagic 
animals,  knows  that  it  is  not  only  important  to  catch  them  in 
perfect  condition,  but  also  to  be  able  to  examine  them  very 
soon  after  the  net  has  been  taken  on  board.     A  tow-netting 
not  examined  within  an  hour  is  usually  of  little  use,  as  most 
of  the  delicate  animals  are  either  in  a  dying  condition  or  dead. 
The  examination  of  the  specimens  was  greatl)^  facilitated  by 
the  short  distance  of  the  laboratory  from  the  place  for  tow- 
netting. 

Only  a  very  few  species  of  Medusae  had  been  recorded  from 
the  West  Coast  of  Ireland,  and  the}^  conveyed  only  a  vague 
idea  of  what  might  be  expected  to  be  found  there.  As  many 
rare  and  interesting  animals  had  been  taken  along  the  West 
Coast  I  naturally  expected  to  meet  with  a  few  rare  and  interest- 
ing Medusae.  The  species  which  I  collected  were  not  very 
rare,  and  most  of  them  I  had  already  seen  either  at  Port  Erin, 
in  the  Isle  of  Man,  or  at  Plymouth ;  but  some,  even  the 
commonest,  were  of  great  importance  from  a  systematic  point 
of  view.  I  was  able  to  collect  many  early  stages  and  a  few 
complete   series   showing  the  development  of  some  of   the 


i8o  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [July, 

commonest  Medusae,  and  to  extend  the  area  of  distribution  of 
many  species  in  a  westward  direction. 

I  have  described  in  detail  many  of  the  specimens  collected 
at  Valencia  in  a  paper  on  "  British  Hydroids  and  Medusae" 
which  was  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Zoological  Society  of 
London  on  March  17th,  and  will  be  published  in  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Society  in  August. 

I  intend  here  to  give  only  a  list  of  species  taken,  omitting  a 
few  doubtful  ones  which  require  the  collection  of  more 
specimens  to  establish  for  a  certaint}^  their  identity. 

HYDRO  M  EDUS^C. 

ANTHOMED  US.-E. 
Margclis   britarinica   (Forbes)  \=Boii.gainvillea  britannica,  Forbes]. — 

vSoiiie  very  large  adult  forms  taken  in  May. 
Podocorync  carnea,  Sars.  —Only  a  single  specimen  taken. 
t  Corymorpha   nutans,    Sars. — Very  abundant    during  April    and 

Llay.     The  hydroid  was  not  found. 
t  Hytoocodon     prol if cr,    Agassiz    {=Anipliicodon     fritillaria     (Steen- 

strup)]. — A  few  specimens  found  at  the  beginning  of  April.     Some 

carried  young  liydrae  in  the  umbrella-cavity. 

*  Lar     saUellarum,      Gosse      \_—Willsia     stellata^     Forbes].— Fairly 

common  during  April  and  May. 

*  Dtpurena     haltcrata,    (Forbes)      \;=^Slabbena    hallerata^  Forbes.] — 

Only  a  single  specimen  taken  in  April.  Miss  Delap  sent  me  a 
specimen  taken  in  the  harbour  on  July  8th,  and  another  on 
September  6th. 

*  Euphysa  aurata,  Forbes.— Scarce   during  April,  but  increased  in 

number  during  May. 
•'  Tiara    pilcata    (Forskal)      \j=  Oceania    cpiscopalis^   Forbes].— A     few 
early  stages  seen  and  some  splendid  adult  specimens  taken  at  the 
end  of  May. 

*  Llzzia  tolondina,  Forbes.— A  few  taken  at  the  end  of  May. 

*  lYIargelllum      octopunctatum       (Sars.)      [_  —  Lizzia       octopuudaia 

(Forbes)].— Fairly  common  during  April  and  May. 

LEPTOMEDUSAi. 

*  Laodice  calcarata,  Agassiz.— Three  specimens  taken  in  April. 

t  Diplcurosoma  hcmisphaericum    (Allman)    \j=A;ndmngia  haiiu 
■  sphccnca,  Allman].— A  few  taken  in  May. 

*  Tiaropsls  multicirrata  (Sars.)  [Thaumantias   melanops,    Forbes].— 

Two  early  stages  taken  at  the  beginning  of  April. 

*  Euchilota   pilosclla   (Forbes)    \=  Thaumantias  pilosella,    Forbes].— 

Three  specimens  taken  in  April  and  one  in  May. 

*  New  to  the  Irish  Fauna. 

t  Not  previously  recorded  for  the  West  Coast  of  Ireland 


1896.]  Field  Club  News.  181 

*  Pliialidiuni   cymtoaloidcuin  (Van  Benedeii)  {^  —  Thamnantias  cym- 

baloides,   Van    Beneden J — One   of   the   commonest  Medusoe    in   the 
harbour  during  April  and  May. 

*  Phialidium  tcmporarlum,   Browne. — Fairly  abundant  through- 

out April  and  May,  specially  the  early  stages. 

*  Saphenia  miral3iIis(Wright). — Two  specimens  taken  at  the  end  of 

May. 
Specimens  were  also  taken  of  Medusae  belonging  to  the 
following  genera — Sarsia,  CytcEandra,  Obelia  and  Aglantha. 


SCYPHOIVIEDUSiC 

The  complete  absence  of  the  Scyphomedusse  during  April 
and  May  at  Valencia  is  an  interesting  case  in  the  distribution 
of  pelagic  animals  at  different  periods  of  the  year.  I  did  not 
see  a  single  specimen,  not  even  an  early  stage.  The  Misses 
Delap  continued  the  tow-nettings  during  the  summer.  The 
Scyphomedusse  began  to  appear  abotit  June  i  ith  ;  some  belong- 
ing to  the  genus  Chrysaora  measured  a  foot  in  diameter. 
Aicrelia  aurita  appeared  about  a  week  later,  and  Cyancsa  at 
the  beginning  of  August  ;  the  latter  was  very  abundant.  A 
specimen  of  Rhizostoma  pidmo  was  seen  on  October  loth. 


FIELD    CLUB   NEWS. 


We  have  received  from  the  Secretaries  of  the  Belfast  Club  particulars 
of  their  Dredging  Expedition  fixed  for  the  4th  July.  The  steamer  will 
leave  the  jetty,  Queen's  Bridge,  at  9.45  a.m.,  and  return  at  about  7  p.m. 
All  facilities  will  be  given  for  studying  the  marine  forms  of  life  which 
may  be  collected,  and  tea  will  be  provided  on  the  steamer,  which  contains 
a  comfortable  ladies'  cabin.  As  announced  in  our  last  month's  issue, 
the  Belfast  Club  generously  invite  members  of  other  Field  Clubs  to  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunity.  Those  who  wish  to  join  should  send 
immediate  notice  to  the  Secretaries,  Rea's  Buildings,  Belfast.  Tickets 
are  5s.  each. 

The  arrangements  for  the  Field  Club  Union  excursion  to  Cavan  in 
July  are  completed,  and  have  been  announced  to  members.  The  party 
will  reach  Cavan  at  midday  on  July  loth,  and  spend  the  afternoon  in 
examining  the  Farnham  district.  July  nth  will  be  devoted  to  Lough 
Oughter,  and  Monday,  13th,  to  Slieve  Glah.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  large 
party  will  take  the  opportunity  of  vivsiting  a  beautiful  and  little-known 
locality. 


1 82  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [July, 

SCROPHUIvARIA  UMBROSA  (DUM.)  IN  IRELAND. 

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


As    this   somewhat    critical   species   has   not   hitherto   been 
ascertained  to  occur  in  Ireland,  the  Flora  of  Ulster  records  for 
Antrim   having  been   rejected   by  the    authors  both  of   the 
Cybele  Hibernica   and    of  the    Flo7'a    of  North-east    Ireland, 
its  discovery  in  the  county  Dublin  will  be  of  interest  to  Irish 
botanists.     In  August,  1894,  I  met  with  a  few  plants  growing 
by  the  side  of  the  Liffey  in  lyUcan  demesne,  and  on  making 
further  search  in  the  September  of  last  year,  lower  down  the 
river,  between  Knockmaroon  and  Woodlands,  it  was  found 
again,  and  in  considerable  quantity,  on  both  the  right  and  left 
banks,  associated  with  its  congeners,  S.  aquatica  and  6*.  7iodosa. 
My  suspicions   as  to   the  identitj^  of  the   lyiffey  plant  with 
S-  zimdrosa  ('Dnm.)=^S.  Ehrharti  (Stev.)  have  been  confirmed 
by  Mr.  Arthur  Bennett,  the  Rev.  B.  S.  Marshall,  and  the  Rev. 
W.  Moyle  Rogers,  who  have  kindly  examined  specimens.   The 
occurrence  of  the  three  speciesin  association  on  the  Liffey  banks 
makes  it   easy  to  observe  in  the  field  the  marked  differences 
which  separate  them.     Intermediate  in  many  points  between 
S.   aquatica  and   6*.  nodosa,  S.   unibrosa  is  yet  separable  at  a 
glance  from  either  by  the  peculiar  form  of  its  inflorescence. 
The  rigid  branches  of  the  lax  and  widely-spreading  cyme  are 
almost  filiform  in  their  slenderness.     By  an  error,  which  has 
no  doubt  caused  much  confusion  amongst  British  botanists,  the 
terms  descriptive  of  the  C5anes  of  ►S.  umbrosa  and  S-  aquatica 
have  been  transposed  in  the  3rd  Edition  of  Hooker's  Stiidcnt's 
Flora,  those  of  the  first  being  set  down  as  contracted  and  of  the 
second  as  lax.     Further  search  along  the  Irish  rivers  may  be 
expected  to  extend  to  other  districts,  the  range  of  this  in- 
teresting plant,  which   seems  fully  entitled  to  take  specific 
rank. 


1S96.]  .  1 83 

PROCEEDINCxvS   OF  IRISH   SOCIETIES. 


RovAi.  Zooi.oGiCAi,  Society. 
Recent  donations  comprise  a  Rhesus   Monkey  from   Mrs.   Tisdall,  a 
Ilerrin.e^  Gull  from  Captain  Boxer,  a  Hedgehog  from  J.  Keegan,  Esq.,  a 
Ore}'  Parrot  and  an  Angolan  Vulture  from  A.  H.  Ilanley,  Esq.,  and  a  Jack- 
daw from  W.  Williams,  Esq. 

Dubinin  Microscopicat,  Ci.ub. 

May  2ist.— The  Club  met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Greenwood  Pim,  who 
showed  in  the  lantern  photo-micrographs  of  various  objects,  including 
an  ant,  sections  of  basalt,  sucker  of  Rhingia,  portion  of  frond  of 
HyvienophyJhim  showing  chlorophyll  grains  and  nuclei,  group  of  concep- 
tacles  {rom. y^E c id iio? I  ranunculacearnin.,  Coscinosdisciis,Jiingcr))iannia,  &c.  The 
negatives  were  taken  with  a  I^eitz  microscope,  objectives  from  No.  3  to 
No.  7  (and  in  one  case  a  Beck  3-inch).  The  ocular  was  used  in  every 
case,  and  the  ordinary  achromatic  single  lens  of  the  camera  left  in 
situ,  according  to  Mr.  Mitchell's  plan.  No  adjustment  for  difference 
between  visual  and  actinic  foci  was  made,  and  the  definition  left 
nothing  to  be  desired.  The  ^Ecidinm  was  taken  as  an  opaque  object  with 
light  condensed  from   above. 

Mr.  McArdi^E  exhibited  male  plants  of  Scapania  lunhrosa,  Schrader, 
one  of  the  minutest  of  that  group  of  liverworts,  which  he  collected  in 
some  quantity  at  Anniscaul,  Co.  Kerry,  in  1894.  It  is  generally  found 
in  very  small  quantities  amongst  the  larger  Hepatic^e.  The  Anniscaul 
plants  were  found  growing  in  compact  tufts  on  decaj^ed  wood.  The  upper 
portion  of  the  shoots  bear  from  one  to  three  antheridia  in  the  saccate 
base  of  each  leaf ;  the  stems  and  the  lower  portion  of  the  leaves  which 
cover  the  antheridia  are  of  a  brilliant  scarlet  colour,  which  gives  the 
plant  a  peculiarly  handsome  appearance  ;  in  this  way,  and  by  its  smaller 
size,  truly  serrated  leaves  which  are  recurved  at  the  apex,  and  by  the 
truncate  and  entire  mouth  of  the  perianth,  it  is  easily  known  from  all 
other  S cap  a  nice. 

Dr.  McWeexey  showed  a  cultivation  of  the  mould-fungus  Euro/iu/n 
herbariorujJi,  showing  the  sexually  produced  reproductive  bodies  or  peri- 
thecia.  These  are  small  yellow  globular  bodies  containing  a  number  of 
nearl)^  globose  asci,  each  of  which  has  eight  spores.  The  point  of  interest 
is  that  thiis  mode  of  reproduction  is  seldom  resorted  to  by  the  fungus, 
save  under  special  circumstances,  the  usual  mode  being  by  asexual 
conidia  produced  in  a  globose  head. 


Bei^east  Naturalists'  Fiei.d  Ceub. 
May  23rd. — Excursion  to  Armoy  and  Ballj^castle.  The  party  left  the 
train  at  Armoy,  and  at  once  made  for  the  Church,  where  the  remains  of 
the  fine  old  round  tower  still  stand  in  the  graveyard.  Leaving  the 
church  a  short  halt  was  made  at  the  chapel  to  see  a  couple  of  rude  crosses 
in  the  yard. 


184  The  Irish  NaUiralist.  [Jul}', 

The  district  is  full  of  botanical  interest,  especially  as  regards  the 
cryptogamic  flora,  but  the  find  of  the  day  was  the  rare  Whitlow  grass, 
Draba  muralis.  This  is  rare  as  a  British  plant,  and  as  regards  Ireland 
still  more  rare.  It  is  stated  that  one  plant  was  found  long  since 
growing  on  the  walls  of  Blarney  Castle,  in  the  south,  and  Dr.  Dickie 
said  it  was  naturalised  on  old  walls  near  Belfast,  but  it  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  seen  by  any  living  botanist  in  either  place.  On  the  walls  of 
an  old  bridge  near  Armoy,  however,  it  is  plentiful  and  luxuriant.  Draba 
muralis  has  also  been  found  on  walls  of  Glasnevin,  where  it  was  supposed 
to  have  escaped  from  the  Botanic  Garden.  The  occurrences  in  Ireland 
of  this  plant  have  all  been  attributed  to  accidental  escapes  from  gardens, 
but,  if  not  indigenous,  it  is  more  probable  that  they  are  still  lingering 
relics  of  a  more  extensive  cultivation  at  a  remote  period.^ 

The  ruin  of  the  old  church  locally  known  as  Goban  saers  was  visited  ; 
perched  on  an  overhanging  ridge,  its  rude,  strong  masonry  afford  evi- 
dence of  its  early  building.  The  ruined  fort  of  Dun  Rainey,  having  been 
passed  and  the  Mairge  crossed,  a  halt  was  made  at  the  ruins  of  the  Old 
Franciscan  Abbey  of  Bun-na-Mairge.  In  the  old  abbey  the  Rev.  J.  A.  S. 
Woodward,  A.M.,  read  a  short  paper  descriptive  of  the  ruins  and  their 
history.  At  five  o'clock  all  assembled  in  the  Antrim  Arms,  Ballycastle, 
where  an  excellent  tea  was  provided  by  Mr.  Hunter. 

June  6th. — The  Club  held  their  second  summer  excursion,  and  a  fine 
afternoon  brought  the  large  number  of  over  100  members  together  in 
time  to  catch  the  2.15  train  to  Carrickfergus,  from  which  station  the 
whole  party  proceeded  to  the  salt  mines  at  Duncrue,  some  two  rniles 
distant.  Here  they  were  met  by  Mr.  Pennall,  the  courteous  representa- 
tive of  the  owners,  who  placed  his  services  at  the  Club's  disposal  during 
the  afternoon.  The  tedious  business  of  lowering  the  large  party  into  the 
pit  was  then  begun  by  the  two  shafts,  down  each  of  which  the  buckets 
carried  four  persons  at  a  time,  one  of  the  buckets  being  raised  at  the  same 
time  that  the  other  was  lowered  and  by  the  same  engine.  The  depth  of 
the  shaft  is  about  750  feet,  so  that  the  mines  are  considerably  below  the 
sea-level.  On  arriving  at  the  bottom  each  member  was  supplied  with  a 
candle,  and  when  enough  were  collected  a  party  was  formed,  under  the 
guidance  of  some  one  of  the  miners  and  of  one  of  the  geological  members, 
to  explore  the  galleries.  A  number  of  Bengal  and  coloured  lights  were 
brought  down,  which  gave  an  extremely  good  effect  among  the  vast 
piers  that  have  been  left  to  support  the  roof — often  forty  or  fifty  feet 
above  the  floors — while  the  crowd  of  little  twinkling  lights  seen  at  the 
far  end  of  one  of  the  numerous  drives  was  most  picturesque.  So, 
numerous  was  the  party  that  the  first  section  was  up  again  before  the 


1  We  have  seen  specimens  of  this  plant  recently  collected  at  Newry 
by  Rev.  H.  W  •  Lett,  on  a  wall  near  Messrs.  Roger  and  M'Clelland's 
niirsery — no  douljt  imported. — Kds. 


1S96.]  Proceedings  of  Iris/i  Societies.  185 

last  was  down.  At  appropriate  times  Mr.  William  Gray  and  Mr. 
Alexander  G.  Wilson  (Hon.  Secretary)  briefly  described  the  geological 
features  of  the  Triassic  period  and  the  salt-beds  in  particular,  Mr.  Gray 
explaining  the  lithological  characters  and  Mr.  Wilson  giving  a  resume  oi 
some  of  the  recent  discoveries  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  period. 

The  salt  is  here  worked  by  being  quarried  from  the  matrix,  often  in 
an  almost  pure  state,  and  when  raised  to  the  surface  in  buckets  is  tipped 
into  a  reservoir,  from  which  the  brine  flows  down  to  the  evaporating 
pans  near  the  town.  The  best  thanks  of  the  Club  are  due  to  Mr. 
Alexander  Miscampbell,  the  Irish  Manager  of  the  Salt  Union,  for  his 
courtesy  in  allowing  the  members  to  visit  the  mine.  On  reaching  the 
surface  the  members  walked  back  to  Carrickfergus,  some  of  them 
loitering  in  the  neighbouring  fields,  the  result  of  which  was  the  discovery 
of  the  "Water  Soldier"  {Stratiotcs  aloides),  and  the  Wood  Vetch  {Vicia 
sylvaticd).  The  former  plant  was  a  most  interesting  find,  as  in  Stewart 
and  Corry's  flora  it  is  marked  as  "  now  extinct  "  in  the  three  recorded 
localities,  and  this  is  a  new  station  for  it,  and  therefore  the  only  known 
one  in  Ulster.  The  vetch  is  also  rare,  but  the  station  has  been  previously 
recorded.  Those  who  were  not  able  to  go  by  the  earlier  train  left 
Carrickfergus  by  the  8.5  train,  thus  giving  them  all  time  to  visit  the  fine 
old  Church  of  St.  Nicholas,  where  Mr.  W.  J.  Fennell  read  a  short  paper 
on  the  architectural  features  of  the  building,  which  was  illustrated  by  a 
most  excellent  series  of  photos  and  drawings. 

The  GeoIvOGicaIv  Section  held  an  Excursion  on  T6th  May  to  Squire's 
Hill,  for  Cretaceous  strata,  and  basaltic  dykes  and  flows.  A  considerable 
number  of  the  usual  Chalk  and  Greensand  fossils  were  obtained,  from 
various  horizons,  and  several  photos  were  taken  of  the  remarkable  dykes, 
from  one  of  which  was  taken  the  beautiful  junction  of  chalk  and  basalt 
recently  exhibited  at  the  Club's  meetings  by  Mr.  R.  Bell. 

Another  excursion  of  the  section  was  held  on  the  13th  June,  to  Wood- 
burn,  for  the  lower  beds  of  the  Cretaceous  series.  A  number  of  the 
usual  Chalk  and  Greensand  fossils,  such  as  lanira,  Pecten,  Terebratula 
Exogyra,  Rhynchonella,  Catopygus,  &c.,  were  taken,  though  none  were  new 
to  the  local  list.  Those  who  were  also  botanists  were  pleased  to  see  the 
glen  abundant  in  the  Wood  Vetch  and  Guelder-rose  in  full  flower.  The 
beautiful  Eqtiisetu??i  sylvaticwn  was  also  in  quantity. 


Dubinin  Naturalists'  Field  Club. 

May  30th. — Excursion  to  Lambay  Island.  This  excursion  was  of  excep- 
tional interest.  A  party  of  46  left  Dublin  at  lo.o  a.m.  on  board  the  s.s. 
"  Erin's  King,"  and,  steaming  round  the  cliffs  of  Howth,  were  soon  close 
to  the  island  of  Lambay.  The  water  was  quite  smooth,  and  the  sky, 
which  was  cloud}'  at  starting,  speedily  cleared,  and  a  day  of  glorious  sun- 
light ensued.  The  steamer  passed  close  inshore  right  round  the  island, 
and  the  great  colonies  of  sea-birds,  the  sheets  of  wild  flowers  on  the  slopes 
and  cliffs,  coupled  with  the  brilliancy  of  sea  and  sky,  formed  a  scene  not 


186  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [July, 

readily  to  be  forgotten.  The  party  were  soon  ashore  in  the  little  harbour, 
and,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Palmer,  the  steep  slopes  and  cliffs 
of  the  eastern  side  of  the  island  were  visited.  Here  the  Herring  Gulls 
were  breeding  in  great  numbers  among  the  herbage  and  stones,  and  care 
had  to  be  taken  not  to  tread  on  the  dark-spotted  brown  eggs,  or  the  young 
birds,  equally  inconspicuous  in  their  coats  of  dark  mottled  down.  On 
the  steeper  portions,  Guillemots  and  Razorbills  were  perched  in  rows 
beside  their  large  blue  and  brown  eggs,  which  lay  on  the  ledges  of  bare 
rock,  and  hundreds  of  KittiM^akes  occupied  every  cranny  with  their 
nests  of  grass.  Many  of  the  grassy  slopes  were  riddled  with  holes  made 
by  the  Puffins,  which,  in  their  beautiful  black  and  white  plumage  and 
brilliant  red  beaks  and  legs,  stood  like  sentinels  at  the  mouths  of  their 
burrows,  guarding  their  solitary  large,  whitish  ^^^  in  the  nest  within. 
In  a  deep  crevice  a  Cormorant's  nest  was  visited,  in  which  were  three 
young  birds,  already  nearly  fledged.  The  botany  of  the  island  was 
interesting,  and  the  masses  of  colour  presented  by  certain  species,  such 
as  Lychnis  diiirna^  Seditm  acre^  and  Silene  mariiitna  were  very  striking. 
Enormous  groves  of  the  Henbane,  Hyoscyamus  nigei',  were  observed,  four 
feet  in  height,  and  covering  considerable  areas.  Close  to  the  coastguard 
station  a  rare  clover,  Trifolium  sttiatiuu.  was  obtained.  The  beetles,  of 
which  Mr.  H.  K-  G.  Cuthbert  kindly  supplies  a  full  list,  included 
Badister  bipusiulatus .^  Bradycellas  harpalimis,  Fierostichus  striola^  Amara  auHca, 
Trechtis  rnmutus,  Philonthus  varms,  S ten  us  guttula^  Helodes  margiiiatns,  Coryrn- 
bites  aipreiis  (type  and  var.  aeriiginosiis),  Grammoptera  ruficornis,  Crypticus 
ginsquiliiis.  As  to  Hymenoptera,  in  the  Chrysis  group,  Mr.  Cuthbert  met 
with  Chrysis  ignita,  L.,  and  Hedychnim  htcidiihim^  Latr.,  and  in  the  Aculeate 
group,  Megachile  j/iariiif/ia,  Kirb.  (an  addition  to  the  Irish  list),  M.  centtm- 
ciilaris,  Andrena  fulvicrtts,  A.  niimitida,  Sphecodes  dimidiattis,  Odynerus  picttis, 
0.  parietinus,  O.  trimarginatus,  and  Vespa  sylvestris.  The  last-named  species 
was  nesting  in  a  bank,  an  unusual  circumstance  in  the  case  of  an  arboreal 
wasp,  an  instance  having  been  once  before  recorded  by  the  late  Mr. 
Frederick  Smith.  A  very  interesting  find  of  another  kind  was  the  occur- 
rence of  flint-flakes  and  cores  in  low  mounds  of  clay  and  pebbles  near 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  island  ;  quite  a  large  series  was  obtained. 
Messrs.  Greenwood  Pirn  and  R.  Welch  obtained  a  number  of  photographs 
of  the  birds  and  their  nests  and  eggs,  which  will  no  doubt  duly  appear 
on  the  lantern  screen  at  some  winter  meeting  of  the  Club.  All  assembled 
at  the  harbour  at  6.0,  where  Miss  Gardiner  had  tea  ready.  Embarkation 
being  safely  effected,  the  "Erin's  King"  left  at  7.45.  The  evening  was 
dead  calm,  and  lovely  effects  of  light  were  enjoyed  on  the  homeward  run. 
The  party  reached  Dublin  at  9.45,  delighted  with  all  they  had  seen,  and 
very  grateful  to  Count  Considine,  by  whose  kindness  they  were  permitted 
to  explore  the  island. 


Cork  Naturai^ists'  FieIvD  Ci,ub. 
May  30th. — The   third  excursion  took   place,  the  destination  being 
Ballyphehane  Bog  and  Vernon  Mount.     Owing  to  the  prolonged  drought 
the  bog  was  practically  dry  and  but  few  of  the  moisture-loving  plants 


1 896.  J  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  187 

for  which  it  is  esteemed,  were  observed.  The  Yellow  Sedge  i^Carex  flava) 
was  seen  well  in  fruit,  Sparganiuvi  ramosiim  was  in  flower,  and  some  luxuri- 
ant specimens  of  the  smooth  horsetail  {Equisciitni  li/nosuni)  3-4  feet  high 
were  collected.  In  a  neighbouring  hedge  the  Guelder  Rose  {Vibitrmini 
opuhis)  was  found  flowering  handsomely.  The  excursion  was  well 
attended  and  much  interest  was  shown  in  the  collection  of  plants. 
Opportunity  may  be  taken  to  record  the  presence  of  Brassica  temiifolia, 
Boiss.  {Dtplo(axis  tenuifoliaoi  older  botanists),  at  Haulbowline  Island, where 
it  has  been  found  growing  plentifully  in  waste  ground  by  a  member  of 
the  Club.  This  plant  with  a  scanty  distribution  in  the  south  of  England 
has  hitherto  been  only  doubtfully  recorded  from  Co.  Cork.  In  the 
present  case  its  identity  has  been  verified  by  Mr.  R.   A.  Phillips  of  Cork. 


RoYAi.  Irish  Acade:my. 
June  22nd.— The  Earl  of  Rosse),  President,  in  the  Chair.  Rev.  \V.  S. 
Green  read  a  paper  on  a  visit  to  the  islet  of  Rockall,  which  lies  in  the 
Atlantic  220  miles  from  Tory  Island,  and  178  west  of  St.  Kilda.  On 
the  night  of  the  6th  inst.,  he  and  his  companions  reached  the  rock  in 
the  S.  S.  "  Granuaile,"  which  had  been  placed  at  their  disposal  by  the 
Congested  Districts  Board.  The  sea  was  then  breaking  heavily  all  around, 
and  attempts  made  to  dredge  resulted  in  the  loss  of  the  gear.  On  the 
7th,  the  sea  still  running  high,  the  "  Granuaile  "  steamed  away  eastward, 
and  a  trawling  was  made  in  130  fathoms.  The  gear  was  badly  torn,  but 
some  specimens  were  obtained.  The  weather  showing  no  sign  of  im- 
provement, the  vessel  steered  for  Killybegs,  which  was  reached  on  the 
evening  of  the  8th.  A  fresh  start  was  made  on  the  night  of  the  13th,  and 
on  the  15th  Rockall  was  again  sighted.  Dredgings  were  made  in  from 
50  to  100  fathoms.  The  ship  remained  close  to  the  rock  all  night,  and  on 
the  following  morning  the  rock  was  approached  to  within  twenty  yards, 
but  landing  was  impossible.  Every  bird  on  the  rock  was  recognised, 
and  some  were  shot  and  picked  up.  The  weather  giving  no  promise  of 
improvement,  a  course  was  steered  for  St.  Kilda,  a  dredging  being 
made  on  the  Rockall  Bank.  The  result  of  the  dredging  was  very 
varied,  and  some  valuah:)le  specimens  were  obtained.  Over  a  dozen 
species   of  sea-birds  were  noted  on  the  rock  and  in  its  vicinity. 


1 88  The  Irish  Naticralist.  [July, 

NOTES. 


BOTANY. 

PHANEROGAMS. 
Recent   Notices    of  Irish   Plants. — In  the  [otirnal  of  Botany  for 

June,  MevSsrs.  E.  S.  Marshall  and  W.  A.  Shoolbred  publish  an  impor- 
tant list  of  plants  observed  by  them  during  a  fortnight's  stay  in  July, 
1895,  at  Clonbur,  near  the  S.W.  corner  of  Lough  Mask,  and  on  the 
borders  of  Mayo  and  Galway  ;  a  few  notes  from  Kilkenny  and  Clare  are 
also  included.  Of  the  more  interesting  plants  recorded,  the  following 
may  be  mentioned  : — Rajiiinciilus  Droiieiii,  Sithiilaria  aquatica^  Polygala 
oxyptera,  Agrimonia  odorata,  Filago  minima  "  not  recorded  from  the  West  of 
YxQ^?:^^""  (Cyb.  Hib.)  ;  Utriadaria't  neglecia,  Polygonum  macnlaUtm,  Epipactis 
atrortibens,  Potamogeton  filifo7'mis,  Carex  aquatilis,\?ir.  elatior,  Bab.,  C  Pseiido- 
cyperus,  Festtua  Myuros,  Lycopodium  initndatum,  Pilularia  globtilifera.  Some 
of  the  above  furnish  very  important  extensions  of  the  known  range  of 
the  several  plants.  In  a  long  list  of  Rubi,  the  following  are  new  records 
for  Ireland — R,  crythrimis,  R.  dun?noniensis,  R.  argentains,  R.  Sprengelii,  R, 
Babingtonii. 

The  Twelfth  Annual  Report  of  the  Watson  Botanical  Exchange  Club, 
iust  issued,  contains  references  to  a  number  of  Irish  plants,  sent  to  the 
Club  by  the  late  Mr.  H.  C.  Levinge,  and  the  Revs.  C.  H.  Waddell  and 
H.  W.  Lett.  Few  of  these  call  for  special  remark,  but  we  are  glad  to 
see  definite  confirmation  of  the  occurrence  of  Rammcuhcs  floribiindiis  in 
the  North-east  (see  Flor.  N.E.I.  SnppL).  Mr.  Lett  adds  Anthriscus  vulgaris 
to  the  Armagh  Flora,  and  some  interesting  Rubi  are  recorded. 

Flora  of  Nortli-East  Ireland.— On  the  25th  May  I  noticed  on 
Slemish  Mountain,  County  Antrim,  the  folio  wing  plants; — Vaccinium  Vitis 
Idcea  sparingly  on  the  north  face  ;  and  Hieracium  zVzV/^w,  with  the  Vaccinium  ; 
and  Habenaria  albida  plentiful  at  the  S.W.  base.  None  of  these  are  abundant 
plants,  and  the  first  is  very  rare  in  the  north-east  of  Ireland. 

H.  C.  Hart,  Portsalon,  Letterkenny. 

Draba  verna  at  Poyntzpass. — I  noticed  this  spring  on  one  of  the 
walks  in  my  flower  garden  a  plant  ver}^  like  D.  verna.  In  order  to  make 
sure  I  sent  it  to  Mr.  Praeger  who  confirms  my  determination..  It  occurs 
also  on  the  road  between  this  and  Poyntzpass  and  at  the  railway  station. 
The  only  other  locality  in  County  Armagh  is  I  believe  the  Sheep-walk 
at  Armagh,  but  Mr.  Praeger  thinks  it  has  escaped  notice  elsewhere  from 
its  small  size  and  early  habit  of  flowering. 

W.  F.  Johnson,  Poyntzpass, 

The  Clotoe  Flower  in  Co.  Fermanagh. — It  may  interest  botanical 

readers  to  know  that  the  Globe  Flower  {^Trollius  eurupa:us)  grows    in  an 

unquestionably    wild     state     on    the     shores    of   one    of  the     larger 

Fermanagh  lakes.       Mr.  Pike  of  Sydenham  Hill,  London,  first  brought 

the  circumstance  under  my  notice. 

W.  MACMii,r,AN,  Enniskilleu, 


1896.]  iSlotes.  189 

IVIeasurciTicnt  of  a  Scotch  Fir  Stump  In  Fanct,  Co,  Donegal. 

— lu  July,  1S92,  ill  company  with  the  Rev.  A.  Uelap,  I  took  iiieasnrement 
of  a  trunk  of  a  Scotch  Fir,  bared  by  recent  drainage  on  the  shore 
of  Ballyhork  Lake,  in  the  "  Between  Waters,"  Fanet.  The  trunk  was 
3  feet  6  inches  in  diameter.  The  root  at  base  of  trunk  were  in  situ. 
Obviously  the  tree  had  been  felled,  .nnd  the  stem  was  gone.  The  bark 
was  still  on,  the  peat  having  been  but  recently  removed.  Hazel  nuts 
and  oak-wood  were  in  company  with  the  fir.  We  counted  the  rings  from 
the  centre  ;  he  made  out  264,  and  I  made  them  234. 

H.  Chichester  Hart,  Portsalon,  Letterkenny. 


ZOOLOGY. 


Our  Introduced  Species.— I  am  glad  to  see  Mr.  P.  Ralfe's  note  on 
the  introduction  of  the  Magpie  into  the  Isle  of  Man.  I  had  not  pre- 
viously heard  of  the  fact,  though  Bishop  Wilson  is  also  the  principal 
authority  for  the  introduction  (in  his  time),  and  rapid  increase  of  the 
Frog.  The  markedparallelism  between  the  recorded  introductions  in  these 
two  islands  (Ireland  and  Man)  is  an  interesting  piece  of  circumstantial 
evidence  in  favour  of  the  correctness  of  both  records,  and  therefore 
strengthens  the  case  for  the  opinion  generally  held,  but  to  some  extent 
disputed  by  Dr.  Scharff,  that  the  Frog  w^as  really  unknown  in  Ireland 
till  1696. 

C.  B.  Moffat,  Dublin. 


WORMS. 
Freshwater  Annelids  :  An  appeal. — During  a  visit  which  I 
recently  paid  to  the  north  of  Ireland,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  find 
some  very  interesting  forms  of  freshwater  worms.  What  I  saw  convinces 
me  that  the  ponds,  canals,  and  loughs  of  Ireland  will  yield  many 
valuable  forms,  if  only  they  can  be  carefully  worked.  In  order  that  I 
may  make  my  forthcoming  reports  as  full  as  possible.  I  want  to  appeal 
to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  progress  of  science  in  Ireland  to  help 
me.  The  work  I  want  my  fellow-collectors  to  undertake  is  simple,  easy, 
and  not  unpleasant.  I  ask  all  those  who  are  living  near,  or  visit  places 
where  there  are  ponds,  lakes,  canals,  or  other  sheets  of  water,  to  send 
me  wide-mouthed  bottles  filled  with  algae,  pond  weed,  and  decaying 
debris  floating  about,  with  just  a  little  water,  in  the  hope  that  some  new 
forms  of  Nais  and  other  microscopic  annelids  may  be  discovered.  I 
found  at  least  one  new  species  among  such  material  in  a  small  branch 
of  Loch  Erne,  and  have  no  doubt  but  that  others  will  be  forthcoming. 
Those  who  do  not  mind  dredging,  or  putting  their  hands  into  the  silt  by 
the  side  of  streams,  ponds,  and  ditches  or  gutters,  might  also  render 
good  service  by  sending  the  material  thus  collected,  either  in  tins  or 
wide  mouthed  bottles,  labelled  Natural  History  Specimens. 

Hii^DERiC  Friend,  Cockermouth,  Cumberland. 


igo  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [July, 

INSECTS. 


Entomological  Notes  from  Poyntzpass. — My  earliest  captures 
of  lepidoptera  were  Phigalia  pedaria  and  Hybernia  marginaria.,  which  I 
took  on  February  13th  in  the  glebe  grounds.  A  nice  specimen  of  Selenia 
illunaria  was  brought  to  me  on  March  13th.  Bombus  terrestris  put  in  an 
appearance  on  March  20th,  and  Vanessa  tiriicce  on  the  22nd,  and  on  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  there  was  a  remarkable  swarm  of  Dor  Beetles 
{Geotrupes  stercorariiis,  L.)  at  the  railway  station  in  Poyntzpass.  They  must 
have  been  in  great  numbers,  for  two  bo3's  brought  me  about  seventy, 
and  the  next  morning  I  saw  numbers  lying  on  the  pathway  where  they 
had  been  trodden  on  by  passers  by.  I  can  only  suggest  as  the  cause  of 
their  assemblage  the  quantity  of  cowdung  left  in  that  vicinity  after  the 
cattle  fair.  I  have  noticed  these  beetles  particularly  numerous  this  Spring, 
I  think  more  so  than  I  ever  observed  before.  Of  other  early  butterflies  I 
noticed  Pier  is  napi  on  April  17th,  and  Etichloe  cardamines  and  Satyrus 
cgeria  on  the  22nd.  I  saw  the  first  wasp  on  the  wing  on  April  23rd. 
Sallows  are  rather  scarce  here,  and  I  only  obtained  the  commoner 
species  of  Tceniocampa,  viz.,  gothica,  stabilis  and  incerta. 

Among  coleopteral  have  not  met  with  anything  very  remarkable  in  this 
immediate  locality.  On  February  26,  I  gathered  a  bag  of  moss  from  one 
of  my  fields,  the  best  species  in  which  were — Bembidiiim  Mannerheimi^Encep- 
halus  conipUcans,  Megarthrus  depresstis^  Silpha  opaca.,  Hister  neglectus,  Euplectiis 
ainbigtnis,  and  Miccotrogus  picirostris.  In  March  I  took  Lithocharis  ochracea  in  a 
hot-bed  at  Acton  House,  and  Olophtumpiceiim  when  digging  in  the  side  of  a 
drain  in  one  of  my  fields.  On  the  shore  of  the  lake  at  lyoughbrickland  on 
April  9th  I  took  a  single  specimen  oi' Enochrus  bicolor ;  the  only  previous 
record  for  Ireland  is  Mr.  Halbert's  who  took  it  in  quarries  near  Raheny 
(/.  N.,  1894,  p.  203).  My  specimen  is  lighter  in  colour  than  those  I  have 
from  English  localities,  but  not  otherwise  distinguishable. 

On  May  6th  I  received  from  Rev.  J.  Hamilton  of  Coolmore,  Co.  Donegal, 
a  box  of  larvse,  which,  on  examination,  I  found  to  be  those  of  Melitcia 
anrinia.  He  kindly  sent  me  a  further  supply,  and  mentioned  that  they 
had  appeared  in  the  greatest  profusion  in  that  neighbourhood  much  to 
the  alarm  of  the  country  folk.  It  will  be  remembered  that  I  reported 
(/.  N.,  1895,  p.  161),  a  number  of  this  butterfly  being  washed  up  on  the 
beach  at  Coolmore,  and  I  then  supposed  that  they  had  been  blown  across 
from  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay,  but  the  present  capture  of  larvse  shows 
that  my  supposition  was  incorrect,  and  that  they  were  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  probably  somewhat  further  south  towards  the  mouth  of 
River  Erne.  The  larvse  have  fed  upon  Honeysuckle,  and  pupated,  and 
I  hope  soon  to  have  a  number  of  nice  specimens.  On  May  7th,  in  the 
Lower  Demesne  at  Tanderagee,  I  captured  Leistotivphus  nebulosus^  and  Mrs. 
Johnson  picked  up  Geotrtipes  iyhaticus,  in  both  cases  only  a  single  specimen 
was  met  with.  Lepidoptera  are  now  (June)  plentiful;  and  I  have  captured 
in  my  garden  here  Chcerocampa  elpenor,  Plusia  festticcv,  P,  pnlc/if-ina,  Ciicidlia 
u/nbratica,  &c.  1  hope  as  I  become  better  acquainted  with  this  locality 
to  be  able  to  report  more  interesting  captures. 

W.  F.  Johnson,  Acton  Glebe,  Poyntzpass. 


1896.]  Notes.  191 

Achcrontia  atropos  at  Besstorook.— On  vSeptember  26th,  1895, 
I  received  a  specimen  of  the  Death's  Head  Moth  Avhich  had  been 
captured  at  Bessbrook,  and  was  kindly  forwarded  to  nie  by  Mr.  K. 
M'Clelland.  It  is  a  very  fine  example,  measuring  five  inches  across 
the  expanded  wings. 

W.  F.  Johnson,  Poyntzpass. 

Carabus  clathi*atus,  L.  in  Co.  WIcklow.— In  Mr.  Carpenter's 
paper,  lately  published  in  the  Irish  Naturalist,  on  the  "  Mingling  of 
the  North  and  the  South,"  I  find  the  non-occurrence  of  Carabus 
clathralus  in  the  East  of  Ireland  is  specially  commented  on.  I  may  state 
that  I  captured  some  of  these  beetles  on  the  Great  Sugar-loaf  in  Co. 
Wicklow,  in  September,  1891,  and  October,  1892 

H.  G.  CuTHBERT,  Dublin. 


FISHES. 
The  Allis  Shad  in  Irish  waters. — A  specimen  of  this  rare  fish 
(^Alosia  commtmis)  was  caught  at  Donaghadee  early  this  year,  and  has  been 
presented  to  the  Museum  of  the  Belfast  Natural  History  and  Philosophical 
Society.  Londonderry  is  the  only  locality  given  for  the  species  in 
Thompson's  "  Natural  History  of  Ireland." 


BIRDS. 

Irish  Birds.— In  the  Zoologist  for  May,  Mr.  R.  J.  Ussher  writes  con- 
cerning the  reported  occurrence  of  the  Gold- vented  Thrush  and  Spotted 
Eagle  Owl  in  Ireland.  The  writer  gives  full  particulars,  as  far  as  known, 
of  the  history  of  the  specimen  of  each  of  these  birds  alleged  to  have  been 
shot  in  Ireland,  and  the  evidence  which  he  adduces  is  strongly  in  favour 
of  the  view  that  the  records  are  perfectly  bona  fide,  and  that  these  two 
African  species  were  actually  shot  in  this  country.  Mr.  H.  A. 
Macpherson  gives  an  extract  from  a  letter  from  Major-General  Vallancey 
to  J.  C.  Walker,  dated  from  Cove,  January  25th,  1794,  and  published  in 
Thirteenth  Report,  Historical  Commission,  concerning  a  bird  shot  in 
Co.  Cork,  which  from  the  description  Mr.  Macpherson  suggests  may 
have  been  the  Buff-backed  Heron.  Mr.  H.  Chichester  Hart  in  the  same 
number  records  the  occurrence  of  three  Wood  Wrens  at  Carrablagh, 
Portsalon,  Co.  Donegal. 

Spring  Migrants  at  Poyntzpass. — In  spite  of  the  remarkable 
mildness  of  the  season  the  arrival  of  these  birds  was  not  earlier  than 
usual.  The  Chiffchaff  came  on  March  24th,  the  Willow  Wren  April  8th, 
the  Swallow  x^pril  iSth,  the  Sand-Martin  April  23rd,  the  Corncrake 
April  27th,  the  Cuckoo  April  30th,  the  Swift  May  9th,  and  the  House 
Martin  May  nth. 

W.  F.  Johnson,  Poyntzpass 

The  Grasshopper  Warttler  in  Co.  Dublin.— On  the  4th  May  I 

saw  and  heard  a  Grasshopper  Warbler  {Acrocephaltis  lucviits)  near  Tem- 

pleogue  ;  it  was  not  at   all   shy,  and  allowed  me   to   come  within   a   few 

yards  of  it  without  stopping  its  song.     It  remained  in   the  same  spot  for 

three  days. 

G.  P.  Farran,  Templeogue. 


1^2  iThe  hish  Naiuj-alist.  [July,  1896. 

Stock- Dove  in  Co.  Calway. — During  the  week  ending  April  i8th, 
my  steward,  who  is  well  acquainted  with  all  local  birds,  told  me  several 
times  that  he  had  heard  or  seen  what  appeared  to  he  a  Wood  Pigeon, 
which  uttered  an  (to  him)  entirely  strange  note.  It  frequented  a  chain 
of  fir  plantations  near  the  house,  and  in  one  of  these  I  heard  it  myself  on 
Monday,  April  20th,  and  at  once  recognized  the  note  as  being  that  of  a 
Stock-Dove  {Columba  cenas).  One  morning  early  that  week  my  steward 
had  a  good  view  of  it  as  it  sat  "  cooing  "  on  an  oak  tree,  and  when  it  flew 
he  could  see  no  white  bar  on  the  wing.  We  heard  it  frequently  until 
May  ist,  on  which  day  I  first  caught  sight  of  it  as  it  flew  out  of  a  tree  in 
a  wood.  The  bird  was  evidently  alone.  I  see  in  Seebohm  that  it  is 
"unknown  in  Ireland  except  in  the  N.E.,  where,  however,  it  is  very 
rare." 

R.  F.  HiBBERT,  Scariff,  Co.  Clare. 

[The  Stock-Dove  has  extended  its  range  in  Ireland  during  the  last  few 
years.  It  has  been  noticed  in  Co,  Wicklow  {Irish  Naturalist^  vol.  ii.,  p.  202), 
and  in  Co.  Carlow  (vol.  iv.,  p.  296).  Its  occurrence  in  the  far  west  now 
noted  is  of  great  interest. — Eds.] 

Quail  in  Co.  Cork. — I  heard  the  Ouail  near  Bandon  this  evening 
(31st  Ma}').  There  were  two  of  them  crying  to  each  other  from  opposite 
sides  of  a  country  road,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  are  nesting  there. 
It  is  said  that  Quail  were  once  common  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  but  I 
never  heard  one  here  before.  The  unusually  warm  dry  weather  probably 
accounts  for  their  settling. 

Ai^i^AN  P.  Swan,  Bandon. 

Iceland  Cull  on  the  Sligro  Coast. — I  picked  up  dead  on  the  strand 
at  Mullaghmore,  Co.  Sligo,  on  the  5th  June,  an  adult  Iceland  Gull  {Lams 
Icucoptenis^  Fab.).  It  had  evidentl}'  been  shot  at,  as  both  legs  were  broken, 
and  there  were  wounds  in  its  neck  and  stomach.  It  was  identified  by 
Messrs.  Williams  of  Dublin. 

Chari,e;s  IvAngham,  Tempo  Manor,  Co.  Fermanagh. 


GEOLOGY. 

Submerged  Peat-bogs  in  Co.  Donegal,  — Among  submerged 
peat-bogs  it  may  be  worth  while  to  note  those  of  Inver  Bay,  County 
Donegal.  The  most  conspicuous  is  on  its  N.W.  shore,  a  little  beyond 
the  old  house  and  wood  of  Kilmacreddan  (?)  It  is  visible  enough  at 
low  water  of  springs,  and  I  have  found  in  it  fragments  of  riniis 
sylvcstris  and  entire  Hazel-nuts. 

It  may  here  be  noted  that  a  considerable  depression  of  the  opposite 
coast  of  North  America  seems  to  have  been,  geologicall}^  speaking,  not 
far  from  contemporary.  Farther  away  in  Bombay  Harbour,  a  forest  of 
trees,  of  an  existing  species  {Acacia  catechu)  of  the  Peninsula,  was  found 
some  years  ago,  in  digging  the  Prince's  Dock,  man}-  feet  below  low  water 
level.  The  stumps  stood  upright  on  their  roots,  just  as  they  do  in 
many  Irish  bogs  -,  and  the  wood  was  good  enough  to  make  beautiful 
walking  sticks. 

W.  F.  SiNCi^AiR,  London 


August,  1896.]  193 

THK  FIEIvD  CI.UBS  IN  CAVAN. 

BY  R.    I.I.OYD  PRAEGE:r, 
Sec.  I.  F.  C.  Union. 

Cavan,  according  to  the  programme  issued  to  all  members  of 
Irish  Field  Clubs,  was  selected  for  this  year's  joint  excursion, 
on  account  of  its  being  a  promising  county,  which  was  almost 
unknown  to  the  naturalist.  And,  indeed,  of  all  the  counties  of 
Ulster,  Cavan,  the  most  southern,  was  the  one  concerning  the 
flora  and  fauna  of  which  our  knowledge  was  most  incomplete. 
The  party  which  assembled  there  on  July  loth,  therefore,  had 
before  them  the  pleasure  which  ever  pertains  to  the  examina- 
tion of  comparatively  virgin  soil,  although,  on  account  of  the 
highly  cultivated  character  of  the  greater  part  of  the  district, 
and  the  extensive  draining  that  has  been  carried  out,  no  dis- 
coveries of  a  startling  nature  were  anticipated. 

It  was  a  bright  morning  when  we  left  Dublin  and  rapidly 
crossed  the  level  limestone  plain  to  the  lake  district  of  West- 
meath,  and  thence  northwards  through  undulating  ground, 
and   then   over   the   great  bog  which  fills  the  valley  of  the 
Inny,  to  the  rolling  Ordovician  hillocks  of  Cavan  town.     The 
Belfast  party  had  meanwhile  been   travelling  south-west  to 
join  us,  and  welcomed  us  on  the  railway  platform,  where  were 
also  congregated  several  country  members  and  local  friends  who 
had  converged  towards  our  rendezvous.     Thanks  to  the  joint 
meetings  of  the  last  few  years,  and  the  almost  constant  inter- 
course betw^een  the  different  Clubs  that  the  Field  Club  Union 
has  fostered  and  brought  about,  the  meeting  of  the  Belfast  and 
Dublin  parties  was  no  longer  a  meeting  of  strangers,  as  it  was 
on  the  occasion  of  the  first  joint  excursion  to  the  Boyne  some 
few  years  ago,  but  was  more  like  a  meeting  of  old  acquain- 
tances, pleased  with  the  prospect  ofrenewing  their  friendships. 
The  whole  party,  in  number  thirty-six,  met  without  delay  at 
early  dinner  at  the  Farnham  Arms  Hotel,  which  was  head- 
quarters during  our  stay,  and  b}^  2  o'clock  we  w^ere  mounted 
in  brakes  en  route  for  the  woods  of  I^ord  Farnham's  demesne. 
The  vehicles  took  us  through  the  deerpark,  where  under  trees 
the   Broad-leaved   Helleborine   {Epipactis    latifolia)   grew  in 
luxuriance,  and  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  spot  the  Bird's-nest 
Orchid  {Ncottia  Nidus-avis)  below  a  great  Beech  ;  the  former 

A 


194  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

plant  proved  to  be  common  in  the  Cavan  district.  A  brief 
halt  was  made  at  Farnham  House,  where,  by  the  kindness  of 
the  steward,  Mr.  Hamilton,  we  visited  a  mineralogical  museum 
brought  together  by  a  former  owner,  in  which  there  was  a 
remarkably  fine  collection  of  ambers.  Pushing  on,  we  dis- 
mounted in  Derrygid  wood,  with  several  pretty  lakes  flanking 
us  on  the  right  and  left.  The  party  soon  scattered  in  pursuit 
of  their  different  hobbies.  The  continued  rains  of  the  past 
week,  which  concluded  with  the  torrential  downpour  of  July  8 
and  9,  had  almost  drowned  the  country,  and  we  found  all  the 
lakes  and  streams  risen  several  feei  above  their  normal  limit, 
rendering  the  search  for  aquatic  and  paludose  species  often 
difficult  and  sometimes  impossible.  The  woods  did  not  prove 
productive,  but  the  stony  and  often-flooded  margin  of  Farnham 
Lough,  fringed  with  a  scrub  of  native  Birch  and  Aspen,  fur- 
nished excellent  hunting-ground.  There  at  many  points  the 
Buckthorn  (^Rhainmis  catharticus)  grew,  loaded  down  with 
green  berries.  In  wet  ground  the  Purple  and  Yellow  Loose- 
strife {Lythnun  salicaria  and  Lysimachia  viilgaris)  brightened 
the  thick  growth  of  grass  and  sedges,  among  which  the 
beautiful  and  local  plant,  Carex  Pseicdo-cyperus  was  conspicuous 
by  its  abundance.  The  Great  Water-dock  {Rtcmex  Hydrola- 
pathuni)  and  Great  Spearwort  {Rarumcuhis  Lingua)  were 
also  among  the  species  noted. 

The  conchologists  were  well  pleased  by  finding  abundance 
of  the  land  shell,  Claiisilia  laminata,  which  in  Ireland  is  con- 
fined to  a  very  limited  area  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
country.  Lepidoptera  also  came  in  for  a  good  deal  of  attention. 
The  best  species  noted  were  Uivptcryx  savibiicaj'ia,  Lasiocaiupa 
qucrciis  var.  calhiiics,  and  larvae  of  Chcsrocampa  elpciior. 
Others  took  advantage  of  the  picturesqueness  of  the  scene  and 
brilliant  light  for  sketching,  and  got  some  pretty  *'  bits," 
where  the  tall  oaks  and  dark  pines  rose  above  the  birchen 
thickets  that  fringed  the  calm  waters  of  the  lake.  All  spent  a 
profitable  afternoon,  and  met  at  9  o'clock  supper,  well  pleased 
with  their  first  experience  of  Co.  Cavan. 

Next  morning  the  well-known  whistle  summoned  the  party 
to  breakfast  at  8  o'clock,  and  before  9.0  we  were  out  in  the 
brilliant  sunshine  and  off  for  a  long  day's  exploring.  Driving 
south-westward,  the  first  halt  was  made  at  Kilmore  Cathedral. 
There   the  archaeologists  came  to  the  front,  and  discussed 


1S96.]  Prakokr. —  The  Field  Chibs  in  Cavan.  195 

the  wonderfully-preserved  ornament  of  the  beautiful  old  door- 
way, taken  from  Trinity  Abbey  on  Lough  Oughter,  and  now 
built  into  the  wall  of  the  recently-erected  church,  which  was 
carefully  examined  and  its  graceful  proportions  admired.   The 
tomb  of  the  famous  Bishop  Bedell,  in  the  old  graveyard,  was 
duly  visited,  and  also  a  very  fine  earthen  fort,  with  a  deep 
fosse,  in   a   meadow   adjoining.     There  I  noted  the  Rough 
Chervil   {^Chcsrophylhwi   temuluni),    a   rare   plant  in   Ireland. 
When  the  party  were  once  again  brought  together,  and  Mr. 
Welch  had  finished  photographing  the  doorway  and  tomb,  we 
proceeded  towards  Crossdoney.     Near  Lisnamandra  the  geolo- 
gists, under  Prof.  Cole,  found  in  a  field  by  the  roadside  an 
interesting    section,    showing    a   dark    andesitic    intrusion, 
baking  the  overlying  Carboniferous   sandstones,   which   are 
Ijere  almost  horizontal.     Close  at  hand,  a  gre}^  eurite  appears, 
probably  an  offshoot  from  the  pre-Carboniferous  granite  of 
Crossdoney.      A  larger   rock-exposure  occurs  by   the   road- 
side close  to  Crossdoney,  where  excellent  hand-specimens  of 
the   biotite-granite   were    obtained.      Thence   a   short  drive 
brought   us   to    Bellahillan  bridge   and   the   Erne,   where    a 
brief  halt  was  made.     We  turned  northward  now,  and  having 
surmounted  a  couple  of  steep  hills  on  foot,  a  rapid  drive,  with 
lovely  and  ever-changing  peeps  of  Lough  Oughter,  brought  us 
to  Killykeen  cottage,  and  lunch,  within  three  minutes  of  the 
appointed  time,  2  o'clock.     Killykeen  cottage  is  situated  on  a 
long  promontory  among  the  mazy  windings  of  Lough  Oughter. 
Straight  opposite  a  similar  promontory,  occupied  by  the  woods 
of  Gartnanoul,  projects  till  the  lake  between  is  narrowed  to 
the  width  of  a  stone-throw.     To  left  and  right,  the  water 
extends,  branching  on  each  side  among  a  series  of  wooded 
points  and  grassy  islands.     Lunch  was  speedily  disposed  of 
on  the  grassy  sward  by  the  water's  edge,  and  then  a  movement 
was  made  towards  the  boats,  which  had  been  most  kindly 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  party  by  Messrs.  H.  H.  Moore, 
W.  H.  Halpin,  and  Samuel  Jones.     In  these  the  majority  of 
the  party  started  southward  to  visit  the  ruins  of  Trinity  Abbey. 
A  second  detachment  crossed  to  the  Gartnanoul  side  to  col- 
lect in  the  woods  and  on  the  shores,  while  others  elected  to 
explore  the  woods  of  Killykeen.     On  the  young  Aspens  that 
fringed  the  water  on  the  Gartnanoul  shore  Mr.  Kane  discovered 
the  larvae  of  the  rare  moth,   Cymatophora  or,  and  a  band  of 

A  2 


196  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

willing   helpers   assisted  him  to  collect  the  pairs  of  leaves 
between  whose  fastened-together  edges  the  larvae  were  to  be 
found.     Almost   the   whole   party  eventually  met   at   Clogh 
Oughter   Castle,   or   Bedell's   Tower,    a   mile   to  the   north- 
ward— a   massive   circular   keep,    one-half  of  it   now   fallen 
down,    standing   on   an   islet   in   the    centre   of  one   of  the 
reaches     of    the    lake.       The     return     to     Killykeen     was 
made     in     time     to     allow     a     half-hour's     hunt    over    the 
bog     at     Derrywinny,    where,    on    a    preliminary    visit     to 
Cavan  in  May,  I  had  noted  several  uncommon  plants.    These 
were  all  found,  and  some  additional  .species  of  interest.     The 
flora  of  the  bog  includes  the  Great  Sundew  {Drosera  anglica). 
Marsh  Andromeda  {A.  polifolid),  three  species  of  Bladderwort 
( U.   vulgaris,    U.  intermedia,   U.  mifior),  the  Frog-bit  {Hydro- 
charis   Morsus-rauce),  White   Beak-rush   {Rhynehospora   alba)^ 
Cyperus  S^dg^{Carex  Pseudo-cyperus),  and  Spinulose  Buckler- 
fern  {Lastrea  spiiiulosa).     A  drive  along  beautifully  wooded 
roads  brought  us  back  to  Cavan.     In  the  evening  the  tables 
were  cleared,  and  bottles,  jars,  collecting  boxes,  and  dr3dng 
paper  took  the  place  of  knives  and  plates,  and  we  had  an 
exhibition  and  examination  of  the  specimens  collected  on  our 
first  two  days.     Prof.  Cole,  Miss  Thompson,  and  A.  G.  Wilson 
showed  the  rock-specimens  obtained  in  the  CroSvSdoney  dis- 
trict.    W.  F.  de  V.  Kane,  Hon.  R.  E.  Dillon,  and  Kndymion 
Porter  produced  their  entomological  finds.    H.  Lyster  Jameson 
had  two  species  of  bats,  and  the  rare  shell  Clausilia  lafuinala. 
W.  D.  Donnan  and  I  had  some  flowering  plants  ;  and  others 
contributed  according  to  their  means.     By  request,  the  Dublin 
President   (Prof   Cole)   gave   a  brief  general   sketch  of  the 
geological  construction  and  history  of  the  district.     He  said 
that   the   geology    of  the   vicinity  afforded    some   contrasts, 
beneath  the  uniform  scenery  of  rounded  hills  and  intervening 
little  lakes,  which  are  such  a  feature  of  Co.  Cavan.     The  floor 
of  the  country  is  formed  of  Ordovician  shales  and  sandstones, 
finely  seen  upon  Slieve  Glah,  and  uptilted,  as  usual,  by  earth 
movements  prior  to  the  Carboniferous  period.    At  Crossdoney, 
a  biotite-granite,  with  associated  veins  of  compact  grey  eurite, 
penetrates  the  Ordovician  beds,  probably  as  an  accompaniment 
of  these  same  movements.     The  alteration  of  the  Ordovician 
shales  along  the  junction  had  been  well  seen  in  several  sections. 
To  visitors  from  Dublin,  the  comparison  with  the  muscovite- 


1896.]  Praegkr. —  The  Field  Clubs  in  Cavan,  197 

granite  of  the  L<eiiister  chain,  which  occurs  similarly,  made 
Crossdoney  of  especial  interest.  Unconformably  on  the 
Ordovicians,  the  Lower  Carboniferous  sandstone  was  laid 
down,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  great  Carboniferous  Linie- 
stone,  which  forms  the  country  west  of  Cavan,  and  which 
includes  the  basin  of  Lough  Oughter.  The  sandstone,  which 
is  only  of  local  occurrence,  had  been  seen  below  Lisnamandra. 
The  relations  of  a  small  exposure  of  eurite  to  the  adjacent 
rocks  had  not  been  determined  in  the  short  time  available ; 
but  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  eurite  belongs  to  the  Cross- 
doney series,  and  was  cold  and  denuded  before  the  grey 
quartzite,  now  seen  close  against  it,  was  deposited  as  a  sand- 
bed  in  the  Carboniferous  sea.  The  true  position  of  this  eurite 
is,  however,  a  matter  of  much  interest,  as  it  ma}^  after  all, 
represent  a  post-Carboniferous  intrusion,  like  the  adjacent 
andesite.  The  glacial  deposits  consist  of  thick  boulder- clay, 
with  very  little  sand  and  gravel.  The  boulder-clay  capping  so 
many  of  the  hills  gives  them  and  their  slopes  the  typical  dome- 
like contour,  whether  the  underlying  rock  is  Ordovician  or 
Carboniferous  ;  but  the  limestone  of  the  latter  period  has 
larger  lakes  upon  its  surface,  solution  doubtless  aiding  their 
formation  ;  and  the  broad  hollow  of  the  Erne  lies  in  it, 
stretching  away  from  Cavan  to  Bnniskillen. 

Afterwards,  I  was  called  on  to  give  a  short  account  of  the 
Bladderworts  and  their  allies,  as  these  interesting  plants  had 
been  particularly  in  evidence  that  day.  Then  a  pleasant 
function  was  performed  as  Prof.  Cole  presented  to  Henry 
Hanna  a  prize  recently  awarded  to  him  by  the  Committee  of 
the  Belfast  Club  for  the  best  set  of  twenty-four  microscopical 
slides  showing  general  excellence.  Afterwards  we  returned 
to  our  specimens,  and  until  a  late  hour  the  crowd  of  town's- 
people  round  the  hotel  windows  showed  the  interest  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Cavan  took  in  our  mysterious  researches. 

Cavan  is  notoriously  a  wet  count)^  and  the  statement  made 
with  some  positiveness  by  local  members,  that  there  could  not 
be  more  than  two  such  fine  da5's  in  succession,  proved  correct. 
Sunday  morning  was  gloomy,  and  after  breakfast  heavy  rain 
began  to  fall.  But,  indeed,  if  it  had  to  rain,  the  weather  was 
most  considerate,  for  a  less  inconvenient  time  for  rain  during 
our  stay  could  not  have  been  found.  The  church-goers  were 
in  no  way  deterred,  and  a  large  party  started  oj6f  for  Killykeen 


198  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

in  excellent  spirits  in  the  very  heaviest  downpour.  We  had 
a  six-mile  drive  in  the  rain,  and  a  swim  in  the  lake,  and  as  we 
sat  at  lunch  in  the  little  tea-house,  the  clouds  lifted,  and  soon 
the  sun  came  out,  and  a  brilliant  and  delightful  afternoon 
succeeded.  In  three  boats  we  rowed  northward,  and  again 
visited  Bedell's  Tower,  and  explored  the  adjoining  lake- 
shores  ;  and  then,  leaving  a  contingent  sketching  on  the 
margin,  we  rowed  back  by  a  narrow  and  tortuous  channel, 
only  navigable  in  flood-time,  with  splendid  woods  rising  on 
either  hand.  On  one  small  islet  we  found,  submerged  below 
about  six  inches  of  water,  half  a  dozen  terns'  nests  with  eggs, 
showing  how  great  was  the  flood.  We  re-assembled  at 
Killykeen  for  tea,  and  on  the  way  home  had  another  hour 
on  the  bog  at  Derrywinny,  and  got  further  specimens  of  its 
interesting  plants — including  a  large  quantit}^  of  delicious 
wild  Raspberries.  Even  the  approach  of  darkness  did  not 
put  an  end  to  scientific  enquiry,  for  long  after  our  late  dinner 
a  bat-hunting  party  set  oitt  in  the  dusk,  to  scour  the  district 
for  these  little-known  mammals. 

Our  last  day  (Monday)  was  finer  than  ever,  and  in  brilliant 
sunshine  we  left  the  "  Farnham  Arms"  at  9.0  a.m.  and  drove 
south-east  to  the  base  of  Slieve  Glah,  and  by  10.30  our  ad- 
vance guard  had  taken  possession  of  the  summit.  Though 
only  1,057  f^^t  high,  this  hill  looks  imposing  from  any  point 
of  view,  on  account  of  its  isolated  position  ;  and  for  the  same 
reason  a  remarkably  extensive  view  is  obtained  from  its  sum- 
mit. This  day  was  not  exceptionally  clear,  and  yet  we  could 
clearly  identify  no  less  than  fourteen  counties.  To  the  east, 
beyond  the  fertile  fields  of  Cavan,  stretched  the  plains  of 
Meath  and  I^outh,  with  the  ridge  on  which  Tara  stands,  and 
the  high  ground  about  Collon  clearly  distinguishable.  To 
the  north-east,  a  haze  or  shower  hid  the  mountains  of 
Mourne ;  but  beyond  the  undulations  of  Monaghan,  Slieve 
Gullion  in  Armagh  rose  faint  and  blue.  Tyrone  was  prob- 
ably in  view,  but  we  could  not  identify  any  particular 
point.  To  the  north-west  stretched  the  valley  of  the  Erne, 
and  on  its  southern  side  the  limestone  mountains  of  Fer- 
managh and  Eeitrim  rose  clear  and  high,  with  Cuilcagh  in 
the  centre.  Westward  stretched  the  plains  of  Roscommon 
and  Longford,  with  the  moat  and  chapel  spire  of  Granard  to 
the  south-west.     Southw^ard  lay  the  valley  of  the  Inny,  with 


1896.]  pRAEGER. —  The  Field  Clubs  in  Cavan.  199 

Lough  Sheelin  spread  in  the  foreground,  and  the  limestone 
hills  that  overlook  Lough  Kinale  and  Though  Derevaragh  in 
Westmeath  standing  up  conspicuously,  and  far  beyond  these 
lay  the  long  blue  outline  of  the  Slieve  Bloom  Mountains,  on 
the  borders  of  King's  and  Queen's  Counties.  To  the  south- 
east we  probably  saw  Kildare,  though  it  could  not  be  identified, 
but  beyond  it  the  high  granite  range  of  Dublin  and  Wicklow 
rose  wonderfully  clearly,  its  southern  end  fading  into  blue 
dimness,  its  northern  end  boldly  standing  out  in  the  Two- 
rock  and  Three-rock  Mountains.  In  the  foreground  the  rolling 
hills  and  fertile  fields  of  Cavan  spread  in  every  direction,  with 
lakes  and  woods  giving  variety  to  the  scene. 

The  appearance  of  so  large  a  party  on  the  mountain  had 
thrown  the  district  quite  into  a  commotion,  and  by  this  time 
most  of  the  neighbours  had  joined  us,  one  old  fellow  being 
particularly  obliging  in  retailing  information  respecting  the 
locality,  giving  due  prominence  to  the  giants,  witches,  and 
fairies  of  both  past  and  present  days.  Descending  the  hill  to 
the  northward,  our  party  scattered,  and  several  finds  were 
made.  The  Stag's-horn  Club-moss,  Lycopodiuvi  clavatum,  was 
found  in  considerable  abundance,  and  already  in  fruit ;  and 
Miss  Kelsall  obtained  a  single  specimen  of  the  Moonwort 
{Botrychium  Lunaria).  The  entomologists  took  Acronycta 
myriccB  var.  ino7iiivaga,  and  larvae  of  Saturyiia  carpini  and 
Eupithccia  nanata.  After  lunch  it  was  time  to  return  to  Cavan, 
and  the  bustle  of  packing  was  succeeded  by  a  final  cup  of  tea, 
when  many  plans  for  future  excursions  were  discussed,  and 
many  invitations  exchanged  between  the  members  of  the  differ- 
ent Clubs.  The  northern  party  were  the  first  to  leave,  amid 
friendly  farewells,  and  they  were  accompanied  to  the  train  by 
several  of  the  Dubliners,  and  by  Messrs.  H.  H.  Moore  and  S. 
Jones,  who  had  been  indefatigable  in  their  efforts  to  assist  the 
visitors,  and  whose  local  knowledge  proved  of  the  greatest  ser- 
vice. An  hour  later  the  Dublin  members  departed,  and  all 
reached  home  delighted  with  their  visit  to  Cavan,  improved  in 
health  and  spirits  by  their  long  da5^s  in  the  open  air,  and  many 
of  them  bearing  with  them  material  for  scientific  papers,  which 
will,  no  doubt,  in  due  course  find  their  way  into  these  pages. 


200  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

HEPATIC^   COI^IvECTED   IN   CO.   CARIvOW. 

(For  the  R.I. A.  Flora  and   Fauua  Committee.) 
BY   DAVID   M'ARDI,K. 


On  the  30th  of  March  last  year  I  joined  Dr.  R.  F.  Scharff  and 
Mr.  J.  N.  Halbert/  of  the  Science  and  Art  Museum,  at  Borris, 
where  they  were  investigating  the  fauna ;  and  we  were  soon 
on  our  way  to  the  banks  of  the  River  Barrow.  In  a  small 
plantation  amongst  granite  rocks  near  the  bridge  at  Graigue, 
I  was  fortunate  in  gathering  Scapania  compada  in  a  fertile 
state.  The  late  Dr.  D.  Moore  considered  it  a  very  rare  liver- 
wort, and  the  only  specimens  he  collected  of  it  were  found  in 
two  localities  in  the  County  Kerry,  in  both  places  sterile. 
Scapania  cequiloba  and  5-  aspera  also  grew  plentifully  amongst 
the  moist  crumbling  rocks.  We  returned  through  the  demesne 
to  Borris.  The  following  day  was  spent  collecting  on  both  sides 
of  the  river  between  Ballyluglea  Bridge  at  Borris,  and  Gores- 
bridge,  distant  about  five  miles.  Amongst  other  liverworts  I 
collected  Lejunea  flava,  var.,  and/.,  patens,  and  on  damp  rocks 
in  a  wood  the  rare  Lophocolea  spicata.  Part  of  a  day  spent  in 
Oakwood  Park  near  Carlow  concluded  this  interesting 
excursion. 

In  the  following  list  of  Hepaticae  I  enumerate  ^^  species 
and  3  varieties,  many  of  them  rare  and  of  botanical  interest, 
such  as  fertile  specimens  of  Metzgeria  conjugata,  Jwigermania 
alpestris,  &c.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  we  have  no 
previous  list  or  even  a  locality  quoted  for  liverworts  in  the 
County  Carlow  that  I  am  aware  of.  Had  our  visit  been  of 
longer  duration  I  could  have  pushed  on  to  the  Blackstairs 
Mountains,  and  possibly  I  would  have  been  enabled  to  further 
extend  this  list.  Hepaticae  are  very  scarce  in  the  granite 
districts,  but  a  few  genera,  such  as  Seapajiia,  Nardia,  8lc., 
abound.  On  the  limestone  formation  they  are  more  abundant 
both  in  genera  and  species. 

FruIIania  dilatata,  Linn. — Wood  by   the  roadside  at  Graiguena- 
managh,  Goresbridge,  Oak  Park  demesne,  on  trees,  common. 

F.  tamarisci  (Mich.  L.)— Spreading  in  large  patches  on  rocks  and 
trees  about  Graigue,  Goresbridge,  Oak  Park  demesne,  very  common. 

Lejeunea  serpyllifolia  (Dicks.)  Libert. — On  a  damp  bank,  Graigue. 
On  trees  in  the  wood  near  Goresbridge. 


*  Mr.  Halbert  has  publivShed  a  list  of  the  Coleoptera  which  he  captured, 
in  the  /ris/t  Naturalist  for  December,  1895,  p.  330. 


1896. J         M'Ardi^e:. — HcpaticcB  collected  in  Co,  Carlow,  201 

L.  patens,  Ivindberg,— Wood  by  the  roadside,  Graigue,  and  Gores- 
bridge,  rare.  There  is  an  excellent  figure  of  this  plant  in  Moore's 
"  Irish  Ilepatica),"* 

L.  f  lava,  Swartz,  van— Damp  places  amongst  rocks  about  Graigue, 
and  on  trees  near  Goresbridge,  rare. 

Radula  complanata,  Linn.— Common  on  the  trunks  of  trees  about 
Graigue,  Oak  Park  demesne,  and  Goresbridge. 

Lepidozla  rcptans,  Linn. — Damp  places  near  the  River  Barrow, 
Graigue.     On  decayed  wood  at  Goresbridge,  fertile. 

Bazzanla  trllobata,  Linn.  (Hook.  Brit.  Jung.,  tab.  76;  Mastu 
gobryiim  trilobalum,  G.  L.  et  N.  Syn.  Hep.,  p.  230). — Amongst  rocks  near 
the  bridge  at  Graigue,  rare. 

Cephalozia  blcuspldata,  Linn. —Damp  places  about  Graigue 
and  Goresbridge,  very  common. 

C.   catcnulata,  Huben.    (Hepaticol.    German.,  169;   Carrington  in 
Trans.  Bot.  Soc.  Edin.,  vii.,  p.  449,  t.  11.,  fig.  2).— Amongst   damp  rocks 
near  the  bridge,  Graigue,  rare. 
Lophocolea  bidentata,  Linn.— Common. 

L.  splcata,  Taylor.— Amongst  damp  rocks  in  the  wood  near  Gores« 
bridge,  very  rare. 
Kantia  trlchomanes,  Dicks.— Common. 

K.  arguta  (N.M.)  Lindb.  (Eng.  Bot.  tab.  1875).— Damp  bank  in 
wood  by  the  roadside,  Graigue,  rare. 

Saccogyna  vltlculosa,  Mich.— On  a  damp  boggy  place  in  wood 
by  the  roadside,  Graigue. 

Scapania  com  pacta,  Dumort.  {lungermania  compacta,  Roth, 
Germ.  3,  p.  375  ;  Lindenb.  Synop.  Hep.,  p.  58 ;  lungermania  resupinata. 
Hook.  Brit.  Jung.,  tab.  23,  excellent  fig. ;  Sm.  Kng.  Bot.,  tab.  2498.)^ 
Amongst  granite  rocks,  bank  of  the  River  Barrow  near  Graigue  (fertile), 
rare.  Dr.  D.  Moore  in  his  work  on  the  Irish  Hepatic^  states  this  is  a 
rare  plant  in  Ireland ;  the  only  specimens  he  collected  were  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Brandon,  Co.  Kerry,  sterile  in  both  places  where  it 
was  found  growing. 

S.  aeciulloba,  Dumort.    (Carrington,  Brit.  Jung.,  p.  81,  no.  3,  pi.  8,  fig. 

26).— On  rocks  near  the  River  Barrow  at  the  bridge  at  Graigue,  plentiful, 

S.  aequlloba,  var.  near.S.  aspera. — On  rocks  near  the  bridge  at  Graigue, 

S.  aspera,  MuUer  and  Bernet.     (Pearson  in /wr«a/^/ ^5^/.,  Vol.  xxx, 

p.  353.  plate  329,  1893).— Amongst  damp  rocks,  side  of  the  River  Barrow 

near  the  bridge  at  Graigue,  plentiful. 

S.  ncmorosa,  Dumort. — Amongst  damp  rocks,  side  of  the  River 
Barrow  at  Graigue. 
S.  undulata,  Linn. — Margin  of  a  stream  near  the  bridge  at  Graigue. 
Dlplophyllum  albicans,  Linn.— Damp  banks  in  the  plantations 
about  Graigue,  very  common. 

Plaglochlla  asplenloldes,  Linn. — Damp  banks  in  Borris  demesne 
and  plantations  about  Graigue,  common. 

P.  asplenloldes,  Linn.,  var.   minor  (  =  /*.  Dillcnii,  Taylor).     On 
rocks,  in  damp  wood,  Graigue. 

P.  punctata,  Taylor. — Damp  banks  in  a  wood  at  Graigue,  rare. 

?  Prqc.  R.I.A,   Ser.  2,  vol.  ii. 

A3 


202  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [August, 

Junerermania  (Lophozia)  alpestrls,  Schl.  {Jung,  alpestris, 
Schleich,  Bxs.,  cent.  2,  n.  59;  Nees  Europ.  L,eberm ;  11.,  p.  104;  G.  L.  et 
N.  Syn.  Hepat.,  p.  113.) — Dioecious.  Stem  strong,  creeping  or  erect 
from  the  upper  half,  simple  or  divaricately  branched  near  the  apex, 
clothed  on  the  under  side  with  white  rootlets  proceeding  from  the  often 
violet-coloured  stem.  I^eaves  in  two  rows,  vertical,  increasing  in  size 
from  the  base  upwards,  sub-quadrate,  two-lobed,  rarely  three-lobed, 
segments  ot  various  depths,  acute  or  obtuse,  often  widely  and  shallowly 
notched  at  the  apex,  in  some  leaves  sinus  scarcely  perceptible.  Peri- 
chaetial  leaves  three  or  four  times  acutely  divided,  stipules  none.  Peri- 
anth obovate  or  obovate  oblong,  terminal  or  lateral.  Antheredia 
remarkably  large,  placed  singly  at  the  base  of  each  leaf,  which  are 
closely  imbricated  and  saccate  at  the  base,  patent  at  the  apex,  recurved, 
of  a  pale  violet  colour.  Amongst  damp  rocks  near  the  side  of  the  River 
Barrow  at  Graigue.     Very  rare. 

J«  (Cymnocolea)  afflnis,  Wilson  (in  Hook.  Brit.  FL,  11.,  p.  128; 
Jung,  turbinata,  Wils.,  in  Kng.  Bot  Suppl.,  t.  2744,  nee  Raddi;. — Quarry 
bank  near  Goresbridge. 

Nardia  emarglnata,  Ehrh. — Amongst  damp  rocks,  side  of  the  River 
Barrow  near  the  bridge  at  Graigue.     Plentiful. 

N.  scalarlSf  Schrader. — Amongst  damp  rocks,  side  of  the  River 
Barrow  at  Graigue. 

N.  hyallna,  Ivyell. — Moist  bank  in  a  plantation,  Graigue.     Rare. 

Pellla  eplphylla,  Di]l.  (L-) — Damp  places.     Common. 

Conocephalus  conlcus,  Neck. — Banks  of  the  River  Barrow. 
Common. 

Metzgrerla  furcata,  Ivinn. — On  the  trunks  of  trees  about  Graigue; 
Oak  Park  near  Carlow.     Common. 

M.  furcata,  Linn.  var.  frutlculosa,  Dicks.  (Lindberg's  Monogr. 
MetMgeria  ;  Jungermania  frutkulosa,  Eng.  Bot.,  Vol.  35,  tab.  2514.  /.  furcata 
var.  ceruginosa,  Hook.,  Brit.  Jung.,  55  et  56).  On  the  trunks  of  trees 
in  the  wood  at  Goresbridge.  A  very  distinct  form  growing  in  compact 
crisped  tufts  not  unlike  some  large  alga.  Fronds  tapered  near  the  apex, 
sharply  forked,  with  the  margins  shallow  and  closely  recurved,  giving 
the  ramuli  the  appearance  of  being  reduced  to  the  nerve.  Colour 
near  the  apex  a  brilliant  verdigris  green,  or  blue  green  apex  erect,  bear- 
ing copious  gemmae. 

M.  conjugata,  fDill.  (Lindberg's  Monogr.  Metzgetid),  Autoecious. 
Fronds  robust,  not  much  elongated, more  or  less  dichotomous,  irregularly 
pinnated  or  decomposite,  linear,  narrower  in  some  parts  than  in 
others,  in  transverse  section  semilunar,  hairs  longish,  stout,  often 
in  pairs  on  margin  and  divergent.  The  paucity  of  hairs  and  more  solid 
substance  of  the  frond  with  copious  innovations,  and  above  all  the 
autoecious  inflorescence  abundantly  distinguishes  this  species  from 
Metzgeria  furcata,  which  is  dioecious,  and  all  other  known  species  of 
this  singular  genus.  On  granite  rocks,  banks  of  the  Barrow  at  Graigue 
{fertile),  on  the  trunks  of  trees  in  the  wood  near  Goresbridge  {fertile). 

Rlccardla  plneuls*  Linn. — Crevices  of  rocks  in  a  quarry  at  Gores- 
bridge. 


I896.]  20 j 

THE    QUAIL    IN    IRELAND: 

ITS  PRESENT  AND  RECENT  VISITS. 
BY   C.    B.   MOFFAT. 


The  re-appearance  in  1896  of  the  Quail  has  already  been 
reported  from  the  counties  of  Cork/  Tipperary,^  and  Wicklow,' 
and  doubtless  observers  in  many  other  localities  have,  like 
myself  in  Co.  Wexford,  heard  and  seen  the  bird. 

The  general  conditions  prevailing  this  year  so  strongly 
resemble  those  of  1893,  when  Quails  excited  attention  in  a 
number  of  localities  throughout  Ireland,  that  the  return  of 
the  birds  in  1896  will  scarcely  cause  surprise  ;  but  it  would  be 
a  mistake  to  make  too  little  of  our  erratic  visitant,  for  whose 
next  re-appearance  on  our  shores  we  may  have  many  years  to 
wait. 

At  the  time  when  the  Irish  Naturalist  was  founded  in  1892 
the  Quail  was  looked  upon  as  practically  lost  to  our  fauna. 
There  were  still  a  few  counties  in  which  it  could  not  be  said 
to  have  ceased  to  breed,  at  least  occasionally — (Donegal, 
Louth,  Dublin,  Roscommon,  and  Wexford  were  those  from 
which  Mr.  Ussher  had  recent  notes  of  its  nesting) ;  but  the 
localities  were  very  few,  and  the  records  therefrom  I  believe 
rather  meagre.  At  Ballyhyland  (in  the  last-named  county)  it 
had  been  unknown  for  many  years.  In  the  first  number  of 
this  periodical  Mr.  Ussher  referred  to  the  rapid  decrease  in 
Ireland  of  the  Quail,  Golden  and  Sea  Eagles,  and  Marsh 
Harrier — all  four  species  being  then  apparently  on  the  verge 
of  extinction. 

Rather  curiously,  it  was  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year 
that  the  Quail  began  to  put  in  his  appearance  again,  though 
the  incursion  of  1892  was  little  noticed  at  the  time  by  or- 
nithologists in  this  country.  I  happened,  that  summer,  to 
spend  several  whole  nights  in  the  fields  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Ballyhyland,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  improving  my 
acquaintance  with  a  family  of  Nightjars ;  and  it  was  on  one 
of  these  occasions  that  I  first  heard  the  cry  of  **  wet-my-lip" 
(or  "  quick- whip-it "  as  it  rather  sounds  to  m}^  ear)  with  which 
the  Quail  is  wont  to  enliven  the  cool  hours.    The  moon  being 

*  See  p.  192.        ^  Fields  July  nth.        3  Land  and  Watery  June  13th. 


204  ^'^^  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

full,  the  Quail  called  incessantly  from  midnight  till  twenty 
minutes  before  sunrise,  at  which  time,  following  the  Fern-owl's 
example,  he  ceased  ;  though  the  Grasshopper- warbler,  who  had 
been  similarly  vociferous  through  the  night,  still  reeled  on 
unwearied.  This  was  in  July,  and  it  seems  to  me  more  than 
probable  that  there  was  then  a  nest  in  the  vicinity. 

A  few  months  later  a  number  of  letters  in  the  Field  drew 
attention  to  the  fact  that  1892  had  been  decidedly  a  Quail-year 
in  England ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  next  year,  when  a  con- 
siderably larger  incursion  took  place,  that  the  return  of  the 
birds  was  at  all  generally  noticed  in  Ireland.  However,  in 
reading  the  communications  on  this  subject  forwarded  by 
different  observers  to  the  Irish  Naturalist  in  1893,  I  was 
struck  by  the  fact  that  several  of  them  incidentally  mentioned 
reports  of  the  Quail's  having  also  been  heard  the  year  before : 
so  that  the  Quail-wave  of  1892,  if  not  a  heavy  one,  would  still 
appear  to  have  been  widely  distributed  over  the  British 
Islands. 

At  Ballyhyland  I  found,  as  might  have  been  expected,  plenty 
of  Quails  in  the  summer  of  1893  ;  but  as  far  as  I  could  ascer- 
tain, they  were  strictly  confined  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  ground  on  which  I  had  heard  them  in  1892.  The  Quails 
were  sometimes  in  grass-fields,  sometimes  in  barley,  and  some- 
times in  potatoes  ;  one  night  a  pasture -field  in  which  I  stood 
seemed  thick  with  Quails,  emulously  whistling  all  around  me 
in  the  faint  light ;  in  the  day-time  also  a  few  were  sometimes 
audible  at  the  same  spot ;  but  no  other  ground  than  that 
occupied  in  1892  appeared  to  contain  a  Quail.  This  I  think 
tends  to  show  that  our  '93  visitation  was  merely  a  return  in 
increased  force  of  the  wave  of  '92. 

It  is  to  the  same  ground,  again,  after  a  two-summers'  absence, 
that  the  Quail  has  returned  in  June,  1896.  In  fact  it  was  in 
crossing  the  very  field  (half  pasture  and  half  furze-knock) 
where  I  first  heard  its  note  four  years  ago,  that,  as  if  again  in 
response  to  the  song  of  my  old  friend  the  Nightjar,  who  was 
strumming  in  the  heath  on  one  side,  I  heard  in  the  grass  on 
the  other  a  gentle  **  quick- whip -it."  It  was  an  hour  past  sun- 
down, and  the  bird  was  of  course  quite  invisible  on  the  ground. 
I  walked  up  to  it,  however,  when  it  rose  and  skimmed  for  a 
short  distance,  to  drop  again  in  the  dry,  dewless  grass.     This 


1896.] 


Moffat. —  The  Quail  in  Ireland. 


205 


attachment  to  a  particular  spot  seems  singular  in  the  case  of  a 
bird  which  comes  to  us  only  at  irregular  intervals. 

The  general  similarity  which  subsists  between  1896  and  1893 
does  not  extend  to  1892,  but  the  three  Quail-years  resemble 
one  another  in  the  unusual  dryness  of  their  spring  months — 
March,  April,  and  May.  I  extract  from  the  Ballyhyland 
register  the  following  figures,  showing  the  rainfall  here  for 
each  of  the  spring  months  for  the  past  twenty  years : — 


1877. 

1878. 

1879- 

1880.  1 881 

1882. 

1883. 

1884. 

1885. 

1886. 

March, 
April, 
May,  . 

Total,     . 

3-59 
5-52 
3-97 

1-22 
376 

5-OI 

2-49 
2-68 
1-68 

4-17 

3-91 
1-09 

3-68 

2-13 

2-98 

2-40 

5-87 
3-02 

1-92 

3-23 
252 

4-56 
i-oi 
2-6i 

3-85 

4-12 

2-89 

3  99 
2-53 
4-08 

13-08 

999 

6-85 

9-17 

879 

11-29 

767 

8-i8 

IO-86 

io"6o 

1887. 

1888. 

1889. 

1890. 

1891. 

*i892 

*i893 

1894. 

1895- 

*i896. 

March, 
April, 
May,  . 

176 

1-36 

4-04 
2-51 
3-19 

I '32 
2-46 

3-85 
7-63 

4'26 
1-67 
3 '60 

9"53 

i'3i 
2-87 
3 '99 

8-17 

I -16    0-56 
I  '02    078 
3'75    2'i7 

I 

1-94 
4-67 
4-5 1 

3'8i 
2'33 
0-45 

3-04 
072 
007 

Total,     . 

4-94 

974 

5-93 

3'5i 

II'I2 

6'59 

3-83 

*  Indicates  the  Quail-years. 

The  above  figures  as  they  stand  show  that  the  springs  of 
'93  and  '96  were  the  driest  of  the  series,  and  that, ;w^ith  the  sole 
exception  of  the  Jubilee  year  (1887),  the  remaining  Quail-year, 
'92,  ranks  next.  On  the  whole,  they  favour  the  view  that 
unusual  drought  in  spring  directs  the  flight  of  Coturnix  cofn- 
viunis  towards  this  island  ;  but  it  may  be  objected  that  on  this 
hypothesis  we  ought  to  have  had  Quails  in  the  3^ear  of  Her 
Majesty's  Jubilee,  when,  if  they  came  to  us,  they  certainly 
attracted  no  special  notice. 

The  similarity  in  the  rain-gauge  results  for  my  three  Quail- 
years  is,  however,  far  from  being  fully  brought  out  by  the  above 
table  ;  for,  on  looking  closer,  I  find  that  in  each  of  those  years 
the  greater  part  of  what  rainfall  we  had  was  enjoyed  either 
early  in  March  or  late  in  May.  Now,  supposing  that  the 
Quail,  which  crosses  the  Mediterranean  in  April,  has  to  select' 
its  breeding  ground  in  our  latitude  by  about  the  middle  of 


2o6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

May,  the  fact  of  a  continuous  drought  having  characterized 
the  preceding  8  weeks  might  in  several  ways  do  much  towards 
influencing  its  choice.     It  appears,  then,  that 

In  1892  the  rainfall  for  8  weeks  ending  May  nth  was  1*63  ; 
„  1893  „  „  „  May  15th     „     1-65 ; 

„  1896  „  „  „  May  17th     „     1-22; 

and  in  nearly  every  other  year  of  the  series,  including  '87,  the 
heaviest  of  these  rainfalls  was  surpassed  in  April  alone.  The 
only  exceptions  were  1884,  when,  however,  the  6  weeks 
ending  May  4th  were  sufficient  to  produce  2*45  inches,  and 
1890,  when  the  same  6  weeks  produced  4-20.  The  three  years 
in  which  I  have  found  the  Quail  (apparently  breeding)  at 
Ballyhyland  therefore  easily  distance  all  other  recent  years  in 
the  severity  of  their  droughts  for  the  period  precedent  to  the 
middle  of  May. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  suggest  that  extraordinary  drought 
attracts  the  Quails ;  it  appears  to  me  far  more  probable  that 
the  consequent  sparseness  of  vegetation  in  their  Continental 
resorts  may  at  such  times  drive  the  birds  further  afield  in 
search  of  localities  where  cover  and  food  are  more  obtainable. 
If  Mr.  Howard  Saunders  is  right  in  including  slugs'  among 
the  principal  ingredients  of  the  Quail's  diet,  an  additional 
reason  for  its  spreading  further  in  dry  seasons  is  at  once 
apparent. 

One  can  scarcely  suppose  that  any  of  the  ordinary  requisites 
of  Quail-life  are  lacking  in  Ireland  in  a  normal  summer,  con- 
sidering how  common  the  bird  formerly  was  here,  many  as  a 
rule  even  staying  the  winter :  during  which  season,  as  we 
learn  from  Thompson,  seven-eighths  of  its  food  consisted 
of  seeds  of  such  invariably  plentiful  plants  as  Chickweed 
(Stellaria  media)  and  different  species  of  Dock,  Plantain,  and 
Knot-grass.  True,  reclamation  of  waste  land  may  have  re- 
duced its  facilities  for  enjoying  this  island  as  a  winter  home  ; 
but  the  discontinuance  of  its  summer  visits  remains  an 
apparently  insoluble  puzzle.  The  diminished  cultivation  of 
wheat  is  sometimes  assigned  as  the  cause  ;  to  this  view,  how- 
ever, there  are  several  objections,  besides  the  fact  that  in  my 

*  Thompson  found  slugs  in  only  one  of  thirty  Quails  whose  crops  he 
examined ;  these  birds,  however,  had  all  been  shot  in  winter  or  early 
spring.  The  one  Quail  had  eaten  11  specimens  of  that  highly  mischievous 
slug,  Agriolimax  agresUs. 


1896.]  A  New  Bird-Book.  207 

(of  course  local)  experience  Quails  show  no  partiality  whatever 
for  wheat-lands,  but,  if  their  distribution  indicates  a  choice, 
prefer  barley.  In  England,  certainly,  the  Quail's  decrease 
set  in  long  before  it  did  here ;  and  though  wheat  has  never 
ceased  to  be  extensively  grown  in  that  country,  Quails, 
according  to  Mr.  More  {IbiSy  1865)  had  more  than  thirty  years 
ago  almost  ceased  to  breed  regularly  in  Britain.  Moreover, 
Quails  abounded  in  Elizabethan  Ireland,  scarcely  a  paradise  of 
wheat-growers.  The  enormous  numbers  yearly  netted  on  the 
Mediterranean  passage  have  suggested  another  explanation, 
but  apparently  this  cause  had  not,  till  quite  recently,  affected 
their  abundance  on  the  Continent ;  in  1892  Mr.  More  {Irish 
Sportsman,  May  21)  cited  evidence  to  the  negative.  Still  it  is 
refreshing  to  learn  that  the  French  Government  now  strenu- 
ously combats  this  traffic  ;  giving  us  additional  grounds 
for  hope,  that,  should  caprice  of  climate  again  fetch  it  to 
nest  with  us  for  a  few  successive  seasons,  the  Quail's  lost 
habit  of  annually  visiting  our  shores  may  be  re-acquired. 


A  NP:W  BIRD-BOOK. 


A  Concise  Handbook  of  British  Birds.      By  H.   Kirke  Swann. 
IvOiidon  :  J.  Wheldon  and  Co.,  1896.     3^.  6d. 

The  portableness  and  cheapness  of  this  Utile  volume  fairly  justify  its 
claim  to  serve  as  a  *'  handy  text-book  for  reference  that  has  had  as  yet  no 
rivals."  It  purports  to  give  some  account  of  every  species  occurring  in 
the  British  Islands,  defining  the  habitat,  or  range  in  the  breeding  season, 
of  each,  with  brief  descriptions  (except  where  these  are  held  to  be  un- 
necessary) of  plumage,  nidification,  and  general  habits.  To  fulfil  this 
task  within  the  limits  of  208  fcap.  8vo.  pages  was  somewhat  of  a  tour  de 
force,  and  it  must  be  added  that  the  type  of  the  book  is  good  and  not 
overcrowded.  The  principal  shortcomings  are  such  as  might,  under  the 
circumstances,  have  been  expected.  Conciseness  frequently  degenerates 
into  vagueness,  as  where  a  species  is  merely  stated  to  nest  in  the 
•*  Northern  Palaearctic  region."  The  uselessness  of  this  phrase  becomes 
apparent  when  we  find  it  applied  without  further  detail  to  the  breeding 
areas  of  such  a  heterogeneous  assortment  of  birds  as  the  Merlin,  Black 
Grouse,  Lesser  Spotted  Woodpecker,  Tengmalm's  Owl,  and  Jack  Snipe  ! 
We  should  certainly  be  surprised  to  hear  of  the  last  named  species  nesting 
either  with  Tetrao  tetrix,  in  the  Apennines,  or,  with  Dendrocopus  minor^  iu 


2o8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

the  Azores.  Again,  the  curiously  intercrossed  Continental  ranges  of  the 
Hooded  and  Carrion  Crows  deserved  some  delineation.  It  is  disappoint- 
ing to  find  "  Kurope,  excepting  extreme  north  "—at  once  too  little  and 
too  much — the  sole  definition  of  habitat  accorded  Corviis  corone.  To  come 
nearer  home,  it  is  an  encouraging  fact  that  upon  the  subject  of  the  Irish 
fauna  our  author  has  been  at  pains  to  compile  his  information  from  the 
best  sources ;  but  here,  too,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  he  has  sacrificed  too 
much  to  compression;  e.g.,  we  read  that  the  Blackcap  "in  Ireland 
breeds  locally  in  nearly  every  county."  Mr.  Ussher  in  1894  recorded  it 
as  known  to  breed  regularly  in  four  counties  and  occasionally  in  five 
others  ;  there  was  therefore  a  wide  margin  remaining  to  be  filled.  Mr. 
Swann's  boiling-down  process  occasionally  also  mars  his  descriptions. 
The  male  Crossbill's  plumage  is  described  as  "  suffused  with  light  crim- 
son "  ;  the  fine  clear  yellow,  which  several  ornithologists  believe  to 
indicate  his  full  maturity,  despite  Mr.  Seebohm's  conjecture  that  it 
belongs,  perhaps,  to  "  old  and  barren  birds,"  is  not  mentioned.  The 
Pheasant  is  likewise  assumed  to  need  no  description ;  although,  as  the 
author  rightly  observes  that  most  of  our  Pheasants  are  of  hybrid  descent, 
it  might  have  struck  him  that  some  mention  of  the  distinguishing  marks 
of  a  pure-bred  Phasiantis  colchicns  could  not  be  absolutely  uncalled  for. 
Nor  would  descriptions  oi\\i^  young  Pied  Wagtail  and  Blue  Titmouse, 
which  diflfer  much  from  the  adult  females,  have  been  superfluous.  The 
Black-headed  Gull  is  said  to  breed  "all  round  our  coasts."  This  is  mis- 
leading, for  its  breeding  places  are  generally  inland.  Among  the  Jack- 
daw's nesting  sites,  rookeries  and  rabbit-burrows  should  have  been 
mentioned  (by  an  odd  slip  this  bird's  habitat  is  stated  to  be  the  "  Eastern 
Palsearctic  region  ")  ;  and  the  description  of  the  Willow-wren's  nest  as 
•'  rarely  on  ground  "  will  surprise  many,  and  possibly  puzzle  not  a  few. 
The  author's  list  of  birds  does  not  include  Tunius  migratorius  or  Chionis 
alba,  both  obtained  in  Ireland  of  late  years  under  circumstances  that 
seemed  to  indicate  actual  migration  ;  they  might  at  least  have  received 
a  place  in  the  Appendix,  in  which  thirty  such  doubtful  "  Britishers"  as 
the  Golden-winged  Woodpecker  {Colaptes  auratus)  are  decorously  shelved. 
Our  author  adopts  **  trinominals  "  for  each  of  his  seventeen  sub-species 
Thus  our  indigenous  Dipper  is  Cinclus  cinclus  aqualicus  (Bechst.),  and 
*'  Loxia  curvirostra  pityopsittacus  (Bechst.),"  is  the  Brobdingnagian  title  of  the 
Parrot  Crossbill,  of  which  handsome  bird  it  is  fervently  to  be  hoped  that, 
no  new  variety  needing  a  quadrinominal  appellative  will  be  discovered. 

C.  B.  M. 


1896.]  209 


THE  BELFAST  CLUB  AND  ITS  WORK. 

Annual  Report  and  Proceedings  of  the   Belfast  Naturalists' 
Field  Glut)  for  the  Year  ending^  3Ist  lYIarch,  1896.     Belfast : 
Printed  for  the  Club,  1896. 
This,  the  narrative  of  the  thirty-third  year's  work  of  the  Belfast  Field 
Club,  has  just  been  issued.      It  occupies  sixty-six  octavo  pages,  and  fur- 
nishes interesting  reading.     From  the  annual  report,  we  learn  that  "  the 
creation  of  an  entrance  fee  has  acted  as  desired  in  keeping  the  member- 
ship of  the  Club  wdthin  working  bounds."     As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  had 
the  effect  of  reducing  the  membership  (which  had  been  steadilj'  rising 
lor  many  years)  from  516  to  480 — a  result  certainly  not  to  be  deplored, 
for,  as  we  took  occasion  to   remark  last  year,  one  of  the  weaknesses  of 
this  Society  was  the  strength  of  its  membership.       The  report  contains 
several  items  which  give  evidence  of  the  activity  and  width  of  scope  of 
the  Club's  work.    Thus,  the  Geologists'   Association,  London,  and  the 
Home  Reading  Union,  had,  during  their  visits  to  the  North  of  Ireland, 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  local  Society,  and  this  means  a  great  deal 
where  long  excursions,  often  to  somewhat  inaccessible  regions,  are  the 
order  of  the  day.     A  hard  week's  work  in  geology  was  carried  out  under 
Professor  Cole,  each  day  being  devoted  to  field  work,  each  evening  to  prac- 
tical petrography.    The  Celtic  Class  has  nowforsaken  the  sheltering  wing 
of  the  Club,  and  has  started  an  independent  existence  as  the  Belfast  Gaelic 
League.      Nineteen  pages  are  devoted  to   an  account  of  the  excursions 
of  the  year.    These  appear  to  have  been  uniformly  successful,  and  we  are 
glad   to  note  at  least  a  slight  improvement  on  last  year  in  the  way  of 
scientific  results.    The  next  fourteen  pages  go  to  the  winter  meetings, 
and  brief,  very  brief,  abstracts  of  the  papers  brought  forward.      Then 
follow  reports  from  the  Secretaries  of  the  Microscopical,  Geological,  and 
Botanical  Sections.       The  Geological  Section  has  again  a  good  deal  to 
show  for  its  year's  work,  and  here,  indeed,  the  energy  of  the  Club  appears 
to  be  centred.     Glacial  geology  occupies  the  chief  place,  and  if  the  listing 
of  erratics,  examination  of  boulder-clays,  and  general  examination  of  the 
district  is  continued  systematically,  the  results  cannot  fail  to  throw  much 
light  on  the   Glacial  Period   in  the  North-east  of  Ireland.      The  "  Pro- 
ceedings "  are  neatly  printed  on  good  paper,  but  we  regret  to  notice  not 
unfrequent  misprints — surely  the  Committee  might  avoid  such  a  disfigure- 
ment of  their  publications.  The  volume  is  swelled  by  an  80- page  appendix 
— ''  A  Bibliography  of  Irish  Glacial    and  Post-Glacial  Geology  " — which 
will  be  noticed  in  our  next  number. 

R.    Li,-   p. 


2IO  The  Irish  Naturalist.  t August, 


INSECTS   COttfiCTKD   ON   LUGNAOUII.I.A   AND   IN 

GLENMAI.UR  VAEI^EY,   CO.   WICKI.OW. 

(For  the  R.I.A.  Fauna  and  Flora  Committee.) 

BY  J.    N.    HAI^BKRT. 


Owing  no  doubt  to  the  difficulty  of  access,  many  of  the  most 
interesting  parts  of  the  highlands  of  Co.  Wicklow  are  practically 
unknown  as  regards  their  insect  fauna.  Probably  none  of  the 
old  collectors  possessed  a  greater  knowledge  of  the  county^ 
exclusive  of  Lepidoptera,  than  the  late  A.  H.  Haliday,  to 
whom,  from  certain  evidence  afforded  by  his  collection,  it 
seems  to  have  been  a  favourite  hunting  ground.  Yet  un- 
fortunately he  left  few  S3^stematic  notes  of  his  own  experiences 
for  the  assistance  of  future  workers,  resting  contented  with 
the  recording  of  a  comparatively  small  number  of  his  captures, 
as  for  example,  his  discovery  of  the  most  interesting  ground- 
beetle  Calathus  nubigiiia,  Hal.,  from  the  summit  of  L^ugnaquilla. 
Accompanied  by  my  friend  Mr.  M'Ardle,  I  paid  a  brief  visit 
to  this  district  at  the  end  of  last  month.  The  day  selected  for 
the  attempt  seemed  at  first  unfavourable,  threatening  clouds 
had  gathered  and  mists  hung  about  the  hills,  but  as  we 
approached  Drumgoff  the  weather  fortunately  cleared  and  we 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  after  a 
toilsome  climb  under  a  scorching  sun.  We  made  the  ascent  by 
the  Clohernagh  Brook,  which  seemed  to  be  the  readiest  way 
from  the  Drumgoff  side,  although  a  safer  route  might  be 
found  in  a  wet  season.  On  the  following  day  we  explored  the 
fine  old  birch  and  oak  wood  clothing  the  eastern  side  of  the 
valley  for  over  a  mile  of  its  extent.  This  wood  seemed  to 
teem  with  larvae,  and  I  have  no  doubt  a  collector  of  Eepidoptera 
would  reap  a  rich  harvest  by  a  little  hard  work,  as  the  pos- 
sibilities of  finding  rare  species  are  undoubtedly  great.  The 
following  list  contains  the  most  notable  of  the  Coleoptera  and 
Hemiptera,  excluding  many  common  species. 

COLEOPTERA. 
Carabus  catcnulatus,   Scop.— vSlopes  of  Luguaquilla.     It  was  de. 

cidedly  disappointing  not  to  find  either  C.  glabratus  or  C.  clathratus  ; 

no  doubt  both  occur  ;  the  latter  has  been  taken  by  Mr.  H.  G.  Cuth- 

bert  on  the  Great  Sugar-loaf. 
Notlophilus  palustrls,  Duft.— Abundant.    Also  on  summit. 


i«96-]     HAI.BKRT. — insects  collected  in  Cou7ity  Wicklow,  211 

Nebria  Cyllenhall,  Sch.— Abundant,  both  the  red  and  black-legged 
forms  occurred  on  the  summit. 

Calathus  melanocephalus,  L.,  var.  nubig^ena,  Hal.— Specimens 
of  the  variety  occurred  both  on  the  summit  and  lower  slopes,  having 
the  thorax  entirely  suffused  with  black,  and  having  the  legs  and 
antenniij  pitchy.  The  type  seems  to  be  extremel}'  rare,  or  absent 
from  the  district. 

Taphria  nivalis,  Panz.— Common  in  Glenmalur  valley. 

Trechus  minutus,«F.,  var.  obtusus,  Er.— Abundant  on  summit, 
where  I  found  one  example  of  the  type;  all  had  the  wings  rudimen- 
tary, not  exceeding  one  and  a  half  mm.  in  length.  Type  specimens 
from  the  lowlands  are  said  to  be  always  winged. 

Patrotous  assimilis,  Chaud.— A  fine  series  obtained  on  summit. 

PhiIonthusaclclcndus,Sliarp.  ,  ^1  ,      „,     , 

^    .  Glenmalur  Wood. 
Halyzia  xvi -guttata,  L.  ) 

Byrrhus  pillula,  L.— Common  under  stones  on  the  slopes  andsummit 
of  Lugnaquilla. 

B.  fasciatus,  F. — One  specimen. 

Phyllopertha  horticola,  Iv.— This  insect,  the  well-known  'June-bug,' 
simply  swarmed  in  the  valley  and  over  the  hill-sides.  It  will 
probably  be  very  abundant  this  season  in  Ireland.  A  few  examples 
of  the  dark  form  were  noted. 

Corymbites  quercus,  Gyll.— Common  with  variety  ochropterus, 
Steph. 

Dascillus  cervinus,  L. — Frequent  on  Bracken. 

Podabrus  alpinus,  Payk. — Common  in  Glenmalur  Valley  by  sweep- 
ing, also  beaten  off  Larch,  Broom,  etc.  All  having  the  elytra  black. 
A  local  species,  has  occurred  near  Dublin,  in  Tollymore  Park,  Co. 
Down,  and  at  Rostrevor  (Furlong). 

Tclephorus  pellucidus,  P\ — With  preceding,  but  rarer. 

T.  f  iguratus,  Mann. — Taken  by  sweeping  rushes  at  the  edge  of  the 
Clohernagh  Brook.  Although  never  definitely  recorded,  this  insect 
occurs  in  other  localities,  but  has  hitherto  passed  under  the  name  of 
T.  hcF.morrhoiiialis,  F.  These  Glenmalur  specimens  seem  to  be  quite 
dark  enough  to  pass  for  T.  scoticus,  Sharp  ;  but  as  they  do  not  ao-ree 
in  toto  with  the  description  of  that  variety,  it  is  more  satisfactory  to 
refer  them  to  the  type.  (I  am  indebted  to  Mr..G.  C.  Champion  for 
verifying  this  identification.) 

T.  paludosus,  Mann. — In  same  locality  as  the  foregoing.  Not  pre- 
viously recorded  from  Ireland  Mr.  Haliday's  collection  contains  a 
single  example  marked  as  Irish,  but  bearing  no  locality  label.  This 
is,  in  all  probability,  from  the  same  place.  The  species  is  found  in 
northern  and  mountainous  districts  in  Britain. 

Rhagonycha  pallida,  F. — Abundant  in  Glenmalur  Wood. 

Donacia  discolor,  Panz. — Common  in  swampy  places  on  the  lower 
slopes  of  Lugnaquilla. 

Deporaus  )t)ctuIae,L.  )  Both  abundant  on   Birch  in  Glen-- 

Polydrusus  cervinus,  L-         >  malurWood. 


212  The  Irish  Naturalist  [August, 


HEMIPTKRA. 

The  following  species  were  taken  in  Glenmalur  Wood  : — Acanthosoma 
JiodDiorrhoidaJe,  Calocoris  striatclliis  off  Oaks,  Cyllocoris  histrionic  us  ^  Harpocera 
ihoracica,  Phylits  i/ielaiwcephalus,  Psalliis  varians.  In  the  valle}'  and  on  the 
lower  slopes  of  lyUgnaquilla  occurred: — Velia  curretis,  Miris  holsatiis,  and 
Heterocordylus  tibialis,  the  last  abundantly  off  Broom.  The  sub-alpine 
species  Go-ris  casta,  H.  S.,  occurred  on  small  bog-pools  at  a  considerable 
altitude  on  Lugnaquilla  in  company  with  the  common  G.  lacusiris. 


NOTES. 


BOTANY. 


Tccsdalia  nudicaulis  in  Ireland. — On  June  28th  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  receiving  from  Mrs.  Leebody  fine  specimens  of  this  plant, 
which  she  had  gathered  on  26th  inst.  on  the  sandy  shore  of  Washing 
Bay,  on  Lough  Neagli,  in  Co.  Tyrone.  This  locality  is  at  the  south-w^est 
corner  of  the  lake,  in  a  remote  and  unfrequented  place,  and  Mrs.  Leebody 
reports  that  the  plant  grows  in  abundance  there.  Although  Tcesdalia 
is  distributed  all  over  England,  and  in  Scotland  as  far  north  as 
Elgin,  it  has  not  hitherto  been  known  in  Ireland,  and  furnishes  an  in- 
teresting addition  to  our  flora. 

R.  L1.OYD  PraegER. 

Lepidium  Draba,  L. — In  the  Journal  of  Botany  for  July,  Mr. 
Britten  notes  the  receipt  of  a  specimen  of  this  alien  from  roadside  near 
Enniscorthy,  Co.  Wexford.    The  finder's  name  is  not  stated. 

Pinguicula  grandiflora,  Lam.,  introduced!  in  Co.  Wexford. 

—  I  think  it  may  be  of  interest  to  record  the  successful  establishment  of 
a  colony  of  Pingtiicida  gratidiflora  in  Co.  Wexford.  About  half-a-dozen 
roots  were  brought  from  Co.  Cork  in  1879,  and  planted  in  a  bog  at  the 
foot  of  Blackstairs  Mountain  ;  these  have  now  increased  to  twenty-seven 
plants,  and  they  bloom  beautifully  every  year  in  May.  The  only  butter- 
wort  which  is  indigenous  to  these  parts  is  Pinguicula  lusitanica. 

E.  V.  Cooper,  Killaune,  Co.  Wexford. 

IVlercurialis  perennis  in   Co.    IVIonag^han. — Mr.  W.  F.  de  V. 

Kane    has    sent    me    specimens    of    this    plant    from    Bellanode   near 

Monaghan,  where  it  grows  in  a  hedge-bank.     It  has  long  been  known 

to  grow  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Armagh,  but  is  local  and  rare  in 

Ireland. 

R.  Ll,OYD  PRAEGER. 


1896.]  Notes.  213 

ZOOLOGY. 

CRUSTACEANS. 

Trichonlscus    roscus,  Koch. — This  very  rare  wood-louse  I  find 

fairly  plentiful  among  damp  cinders  and  old  bricks  in  a  corner  of  m}'  own 
yard.  Dr.  Scharff,  who  verified  the  specimens  for  me,  found  it  under 
similar  conditions  in  Dublin  in  autumn  (/.A^.,  1894,  p.  26). 

R.  Wei,CH,  Belfast. 


INSECTS. 
Vcspa  norvegica,  F.,  at  Omeath,  Co.  Louth. — I  spent  June 
25tli  at  Omeath,  and  while  searching  for  beetles  on  some  young  fir  trees, 
I  nearly  ran  against  a  wasp's  nest  hanging  from  the  l:)ranch  of  a  Larch. 
Having  retreated  to  a  safe  distance,  I  watched  my  opportunity  and  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  several  specimens  of  the  workers,  and  obtained  a 
male  from  another  nest  which  had  been  taken  close  by.  The  yellow  base 
of  the  antennae  showed  me  that  I  had  got  something  different  from 
V.  viilgaris,  and  on  my  return  home  I  found  that  the  specimens  I  had  cap- 
tured belonged  to  the  above  species.  The  wasps  were  too  busy  to  be 
vicious,  for  I  stood  only  about  eight  feet  from  the  nest  while  catching 
them,  and  none  attempted  to  attack  me. 

W.  F.  JOHNsox,  Poyntzpass. 

SPIDERS. 
Atypus  in   King's  Co. — Rev.  Canon  Russell  writes  that  the  Alypus 
tube  from  King's  Co.,  recorded  in  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  June,  was  found 
by  Mrs.  Reamsbotham. 


MOLLUSCS. 

Helix  arbustorum. — During  a  short  visit  to  Ballycastle,  North 
Antrim,  in  May,  I  spent  a  day  collecting  at  Murlough  Bay,  and  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  find  some  fine  specimens  of  this  beautiful  shell  among 
Nettles  in  the  plantation,  which  I  had  often  searched  before  without 
success.  Thompson  recorded  it  from  Larne,  and  specimens  collected  by 
Waller  about  thirty  years  ago,  are  labelled  Drumnasole  (near  Carnlough). 
Dr.  Scharff  tells  me  that  he  does  not  know  of  any  other  finds  later  than 
those  for  this  district.  The  three  other  localities  in  which  this  shell  was 
lately  found,  are  in  Donegal,  Armagh,  and  Sligo,  as  recorded  in  the  Irish 
Naturalist. 

R.  \Vei.ch,  Belfast. 

West  of  Ireland  MoIIusca. — Messrs.  Edward  Collier  and  Robert 
Standen  contribute  to  the  April  number  of  the  Journal  of  Conchology 
a  good  paper  on  the  mollusca  collected  on  the  Galway  excursion 
of  the  Field  Club  Union  last  year.  Mr.  Standen  contributed  to  this 
Journal  a  full  list  of  the  species  found,  which  was  published  in  the  special 
"  Galway  Conference  "  number  (September,  1895).  The  present  paper  is 
more  detailed,  and  deals  particularly  with  the  species  and  varieties  of 
land  and  fresh-water  shells  collected  on  that  excursion. 


214  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [August, 

BIRDS. 
American  Robin  In  Connaught.— DuringarecentvisittoCarrick- 
on-Shannon,  I  was  informed  by  Mr.  G.  C.  Beresford  Whyte  that  his 
keeper  at  Newtown  Manor,  near  Lough  Gill,  had  shot  there  and  pre- 
served a  strange  thrush  with  a  red  breast.  On  visiting  the  place,  I  was 
shown  the  bird  by  Mr.  Robert  West,  whom  I  found  to  be  a  most  ob- 
servant and  careful  man.  I  placed  him  in  communication  with  Dr. 
Scharflf,  and  the  result  is  that  the  bird  is  now  in  the  Science  and  Art 
Museum,  Dublin,  the  second  example  obtained  in  Ireland;  the  previous 
one,  also  in  the  Museum,  having  been  shot  in  Co.  Dublin  on  4th  May, 
1891.  Mr.  West  writes  about  his  bird — "The  thrush  was  shot  on  or 
about  7th  December,  1892,  in  a  large  water-meadow  very  near  the  shore 
of  Lough  Gill,  Newtown  Manor  side,  feeding  with  a  similar  bird,  also 
with  Snipe,  Lapwing,  Fieldfares,  and  Redwings.  By  my  diary  I  find  the 
heavy  snow  began  to  thaw  on  the  5th."  Unlike  the  previous  occurrence 
in  May,  this  specimen  was  obtained  at  the  end  of  a  very  severe  period  of 
frost  and  snow  in  December. 

R.  J.  USSHER,  Cappagh,  Co.  Waterford. 

Occurrence  of  the  Crane  (Crus  communis)  at  Inch, 
Lough  Swilly. — On  24th  June,  Mr.  John  M'Connell,  of  Burtslob 
House,  brought  me  for  identification  a  fine  male  specimen  of  the  above 
species,  which  he  had  shot  the  previous  evening  on  Inch  Slobs.  The 
following  are  particulars  taken  by  me.  Total  length,  421  inches  ;  wing, 
22i  inches;  expanse  from  tip  to  tip,  6  feet  5  inches;  bill,  4  inches; 
weight,  8  lbs.  12  ozs.  The  plumes  were  very  slightly  developed,  the  red 
brown  warty  patch  on  the  top  of  head  was  very  prominent.  The  plum- 
age was  light  gray,  tinged  very  faintly  with  brown,  primaries  and 
secondaries  black,  latter  tinged  with  gray.  This  is  another  rarity  added 
by  Mr.  M'Connell  to  the  list  of  Inch  birds. 

D.  C.  CAMPBEiyiy,  Londonderry. 

The  Quail  In  Co.  Wlonaghan. — On  26th  May  I  heard  the  Quail 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Newtownbutler. 

W.  MacMii,t.an,  Enniskillen. 

Cormorants  In  Co.  Donegal.— Mr.  H.  C.  Hart  contributes  to 
the  Zoologist  for  June,  a  note  on  the  nesting  habits  of  the  Great  and  Green 
Cormorants,  as  observed  by  him  near  Portsalon. 

Razorbill  on  Lough  Neagh.— Whilst  sailing  on  Lough  Neagh 
yesterday  a  Razorbill  passed  flying  close  to  the  boat  and  alighted  on  the 

water  some  200  yards  further. 

H.  D.  M.  Barton,  Antrim. 

Stock  Doves  In  Co.  Down. — Some  years  since  I  addressed  a  note 
to  your  paper  on  the  subject  of  these  birds  being  seen  and  nesting  in  Co. 
Antrim.  Since  that  time  I  have  frequently  seen  them  in  this  locality, 
but  have  only  now  learned  that  they  breed  in  considerable  numbers  in 
thfe  Mourne  Mountains,  Co.  Down.  This  year  I  have  had  reliable  infor- 
mation of  no  less  than  five  nests  being  found,  all  of  them  placed  in 
rabbit  holes  on  the  face  of  a  rather  steep  mountain   and  within  a  radius 

of  less  than  half  a  mile.  „   _    „   ^  *    .. 

^  H.  p.  M.  Barton,  Antrim. 


1896.]  "  215 

PROCEEDINGS   OF   IRISH   SOCIETIES. 


RoYAi,  ZooivOGiCAi,  Society. 
Recent   donations  comprise  a  seal  from  L.  Powell,  Esq.  ;    a  monkey 
from  C.  S.  Donnelly,  Esq.  ;  a  pair  of  Axolotls,  and  six  Japanese  Fantail 
Goldfish  from  J.  B.  O'Callaghan,  Esq.,  and  a  Squirrel  from  Sergt.  Talbot. 
12,200  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  June. 


Dubinin  Microscopicai,  Ci,ub. 

June  i8th. — The  Club  met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  F.  W.  Moore,  who 
showed  SphcTrostilbe flavo-vindis.  This  species  belongs  to  the  same  group 
of  Fungi  as  Voliitclla  and  Myrotheciitm,  species  of  which  had  been  exhibited 
by  Mr.  Moore  on  former  occasions.  The  present  species  was  found 
growing  on  the  condensed  sap  which  had  exuded  from  a  cut  shoot  of 
Beaumonfia  grandi^ora  in  a  stove  house  at  Glasnevin.  The  peculiar  stem- 
like structure,  made  up  of  a  number  of  hyphae  joined  together,  was  well 
shown.  The  conidia-bearing  ends  formed  a  roundish  structure  of 
small  dimensions,  of  a  yellowish  green  colour.     The  species  is  scarce. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Carpenter  showed  Chemes phalerahis,  Simon,  a  false-scorpion 
new  to  the  Irish  fauna,  taken  at  Woodenbridge,  Co.  Wicklow,  by  Mr. 
J.  N.  Halbert.  The  species  occurs  in  the  New  Forest,  England,  and  at 
Fontainebleau,  France. 

Mr.  Henry  J.  Seymour  showed  a  thin  section  of  the  phonolite  from 
Blackball  Head,  discovered  by  Mr.  \V.  W.  Watts,  and  mentioned  in  his 
Guide  to  the  Geological  Survey's  Collection  of  Rocks  (p.  91).  This  rock, 
which  is  very  compact,  and  of  a  dark  green  colour,  is  the  only  recorded 
occurrence  of  a  phonolite  in  Ireland. 


Irish  Fiei^d  Club  Union. 
A  general  account  of  the  joint  excursion  made  to  Cavan  and  Lough 
Oughter  on  July  loth  to  13th,  appears  on  a  previous  page  of  the  present 
number. 


Bei<fast  Naturai^ists'  Fiei<d  C1.UB. 

June  2oth. — G1.ENARM.  On  account  of  the  inclement  weather,  only  a 
very  small  number  went  to  Glenarm,  and  little  work  was  done.  A  couple 
of  souterrains  were  visited  at  the  Sallagh  Braes  and  the  old  fort,  and  a 
few  ordinary  plants  collected.  The  return  was  made  by  the  coast  road 
past  Carncastle. 

GE01.0GICAI,  Section,  24th  June.— F.  W.  Lockwood  in  the  chair. 
Miss  S.  M.  Thompson  exhibited  specimens  and  sections  of  the  riebeckite- 
bearing  rocks  of  Skye  and  Ailsa  Craig,  obtained  from  the  collection 
in  Jermyn  St.,  through  the  kind  assistance  of  W.  W.  Watts,  F.G.S.,  etc. 
Other  rock  specimens  were  shown,  and  twenty-four  microscopic  sections 
presented  by  the  Rev.  J.  Andrew  ;  pamphlets  by  Prof.  C01.E  ;  erratics 
by  R.  Bei.i<,  and  a  collection  of  Red  Crag  fossils  by  the  Chairman. 


2i6  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [August,  1896, 

An  Excursion  to  Glenavy  on  the  i8th  July  proved  fruitless,  owing  to 
the  flooded  condition  of  Lough  Neagh,  which  prevented  access  to  the 
leaf-beds  which  formed  the  object  of  the  expedition. 

Dublin  NaturalisTvS'  Field  Club. 
June  27. — BecTive  and  the  Boyne.— A  party  of  about  twenty-five 
members  proceeded  to  Kilmessan  by  the  9.30  train,  and  walked  thence 
to  Bective,  to  explore  the  portion  of  the  valley  of  the  Boyne.  The  well- 
known  and  picturesque  ruin  of  Bective  Abbey  was  first  visited,  and  then 
the  members  scattered,  a  botanical  party  making  for  the  marshy  margins 
of  the  rivers,  while  others  proceeded  to  Trim,  to  examine  the  antiquities 
of  that  historic  town.  The  botanists  found  the  reedy  margins  of  the 
Boyne  highly  interesting,  and  many  rare  plants  were  gathered,  including 
the  Meadow  Rue  {Thalictnim  flavuni),  Spearwort  {Ranunculus  Lingua), 
Marsh  Stitchwort  {Stellaria  glaiica),  Narrow-leaved  Water  Parsnip  {Shim 
angustifoliujji),  Great  Water-Dock  {Rtanex  Hydrolapathum),  Frog-bit 
{Hydrocharis  Morsus-ram^),  Sweet  Flag  {Acorus  Calainns),  Lesser  Bank  Sedge 
{Carex  paludosa),  and  Reed  Meadow  Grass  {Glyceria  aqnatica),  while  the 
great  groves  of  reeds  and  bull-rushes,  9  or  10  feet  in  height,  added 
picturesqueness  to  the  scene.  On  the  dry  banks  overlooking  the 
marshes  were  the  Gromwell  {LitJwspcrinuni  officinale),  Vervain  [Verbena 
officinalis),  Teazel  [Dipsacus  sy  Ives  ft  is),  and  Goat's-beard  {Tragopogon 
praiensis').  Entomology  was  not  represented  in  the  party,  but  the 
botanists  discovered  in  the  stems  of  the  Reed-mace  thelarvEe  oiNonagria 
typhiv.  Subsequently  the  party  returned  to  Kilmessan,  where  tea  was 
served  by  Miss  Gardiner.  Time  was  still  left  for  a  stroll,  and  in  a  gravel 
pit  in  the  village  the  botanists  again  scored,  finding  among  other  plants 
the  Henbane  (^Hyoscyamus  niger),  three  of  the  four  British  species  of  poppy 
{P.  Rhceas,  dubium,  Argenwne),  the  purple  Hempnettle  [Galeopsis  Ladanum), 
the  Swine's  Cress  (Sencbiera  Coronopits),  and  other  uncommon  plants. 
By  roadsides  and  in  fields  during  the  walk  there  were  noted  the  Field 
Chamomile  (^Matricaria  Chamomilla),  Wild  Mignonette  {Reseda  lutea). 
Toothed  Q.om-^2X2A(  Valerianella  denlala).  Good  King  Henry  {Chenopodium 
Bo}ius-Henricus),Sindi  Rough  Chervil  {Chcerophyllum  temuluni').  The  party 
returned  to  town  at  8.45. 

Cork  Naturalists'  Field  Club. 

June  10.— -A  small  party  visited  the  grounds  of  Ballincollig  Powder 
Mills  and  the  Lee  Valley. 

July  i.— Carrigaline  and  Revine's  Point  were  visited.  Thirteen 
members  went  and  had  a  most  enjoyable  drive  of  about  twenty  miles 
each^  way.  Several  stoppages  were  made  to  enable  botanists  and  others 
to  collect,  and  a  good  number  of  specimens  were  obtained,  though  no 
records  were  made. 

July  ii. — The  glen  between  Waterfall  Station  and  Ballincollig  was 
explored  by  a  good  number,  and  yielded  a  good  supply  of  flowers  and 
insects  to  collectors. 


Sept.,  1S96.]  217 

NOTES   ON  THE    FAUNA  AND   FI,ORA  OF 
CI.ONBROCK,  CO.  GALWAY. 


PREFATORY  NOTE- 
BY   K.   J.    McWEENEY,  M.D.,    AND   R.  EEOYD   PRAEGER,    B.E- 

Among  the  many  results  which  have  followed,  directly  or 
indirectly,  the  Galway  Conference  of  the  Irish  Field  Clubs  in 
1895,  and  the  gathering  and  intercourse  of  naturalists  on  that 
occasion,  few  will  be  looked  back  to  with  greater  pleasure  and 
interest  by  those  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to  participate  in  it, 
than  the  week  spent  in  June  last  by  a  representative  party  of 
the  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club  at  Clonbrock,  Co.  Galway, 
on  the  invitation  of  our  fellow-member,  the  Hon.  R.  E-  Dillon. 
A  very  deep  debt  of  gratitude  is  due  to  our  host  and  hostess, 
the  Right  Hon.  LrOrd  Clonbrock  and  I^ady  Clonbrock,  whose 
unfailing  kindness  was  only  exceeded  by  the  interest  they 
displayed  in  our  researches,  and  the  assistance  they  rendered 
us  in  numberless  ways.  When  to  this  is  added  the  fact  that 
every  corner  of  the  large  estate  was  thrown  open  to  us,  and 
all  the  resources  of  the  estate  placed  at  our  disposal,  it  will  be 
seen  that  we  pursued  our  field  work  under  circumstances  of 
unusual  advantage  and  pleasure. 

It  may  be  well  to  preface  the  scientific  notes  of  the  different 
members  of  the  party  with  a  general  narrative  of  our  doings. 

On  Tuesday,  June  i6th,  the  party,  consisting  of  R.  F.  Scharff', 
PH.D.,  E.  J.  McWeeney,  m.d.,  David  M'Ardle,  and  J.  N.  Halbert, 
left  Dublin  b}^  the  9.15  train  for  Ballinasloe,  which  was  reached 
at  12.30.  The  party  was  met  at  the  station  by  one  of  I^ord 
Clonbrock's  carriages,  into  which  M'Ardle  and  Halbert  lost  no 
time  in  transferring  themselves,  whilst  Scharff  and  McWeeney 
mounted  their  machines,  and  the  8|  miles  to  Clonbrock  were 
quickly  negotiated.  The  party  was  received  by  Eord  and 
I^ady  Clonbrock  and  the  Hon.  R.  E-  Dillon,  and  after  lunch 
were  accompanied  round  the  ground  and  gardens,  and  through 
the  more  nearly  adjoining  woods.  They  visited  the  "  Old 
Orchard,"  a  veritable  jungle  of  densely  packed  plant-life,  and 
passing  into  the  open  wood  were  shown  the  bank  on  which 
grows  that  most  remarkable  fungus  Morchella  elata.  This 
bank  in  Clonbrock  Wood  and  its  immediate  neighbourhood 
are  the  only  British  localities  for  the  "Tall-growing  Morel." 

A 


X 


2 1 8  The  Irish  Natu ra list.  [  Sept., 

Ocular  demonstration  of  its  existence  here  was  afforded  by 
the  numerous  shrivelled  and  dried-up  specimens  with  which 
the  slope  was  studded. 

After  dinner  Mr.  Dillon  conducted  a  party  to  examine 
the  contents  of  an  apparatus  devised  by  himself  for  trapping 
moths,  whilst  the  non-entomologists  sat  in  the  large  drawing- 
room — converted,  by  the  way,  into  an  admirably  commodious 
laboratory — and  discussed  plans  for  the  morrow. 

Wednesday  opened  windy  and  wet.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
party  scorned  such  slight  drawbacks,  and  it  was  not  long  after 
ten  when  they  started,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Dillon,  for 
the  western  pine^vood  and  neighbouring  boggy  land.  The 
chief  botanical  feature  which  w^as  observed  in  the  pine- 
wood  was  the  enormous  abundance  of  the  Tway-blade 
{Listera  ovata),  which  was  here  quite  the  commonest  herb. 
McWeeney  observed  a  cluster-cup  fungus  growing  abundantly 
on  the  back  of  its  leaves,  and  betraying  its  presence  by  yellow 
spots  on  the  upper  surface.  It  proved  to  be  a  stage  in  the  life 
history  of  a  "rust,"  Piicci7iia  violiJiicE.  A  rare  ladybird  beetle, 
Chilocoris  bipustulatus,  was  taken  by  Halbert,  who  also  secured 
on  Sheep-pool  Bog  a  crab-spider,  Xysticus  sabulosus,  new  to 
Ireland,  and  a  rare  and  interesting  wolf-spider,  Pardosa 
herbigradaj  also  new  to  Ireland,  figured  in  the  current  number 
(Plate  3). 

At  two  o'clock  all  were  back  at  the  house  for  lunch,  and 
afterwards  most  of  the  party  started  off  to  explore  the  south 
side  of  the  river  as  far  as  the  avenue  ;  others,  having  a  con- 
siderable number  of  specimens  to  work  through,  remained  at 
home.  Mr.  Dillon  had  occasion  to  go  across  the  lawn  to  the 
pheasantry,  which  he  uses  as  a  breeding-place  for  moths  and 
butterflies,  and  returned  in  a  few  minutes  with  two  fungi 
that  he  had  found  in  the  pheasantry.  One  of  them,  a  red 
club-shaped  specimen,  about  two  inches  long,  was  growing 
out  of  a  huge  chrysalis,  and  was  none  other  than  the  famous 
Cordyceps  militaris,  which  mysteriously  originates  from  L,epi- 
dopterous  larvae.  This  carnivorous  fungus,  though  not 
absolutely  uncommon  in  England,  has  been  detected  hitherto 
in  Ireland  only  at  Powerscourt  {Irish  Naturalist,  Oct.,  1893). 
The  other  specimen  was  a  beautiful  little  agaric,  Lepiota 
felina,  Fr.,  which  has  not  previously  been  recorded  from 
Ireland. 


1896.]  McWkknKy&PrAKGER. — Fatma  and  Flora, Clonbrock.  219 

The  da}^  concluded  with  a  demonstration  of  specimens  after 
dinner — and  the  usual  moth-hunt,  from  which  the  enthu- 
siastic lepidopterists  were  in  nowise  deterred  by  the  heavy 
rain. 

On  Thursday  the  whole  party  went  to  the  woods  and 
separated,  each  collector  going  whithersoever  his  instinct  led 
him  to  hope  for  booty.  Lachnca  heinisphccrica — a  fungus  new 
to  Ireland— was  found  on  the  damp  soil  in  the  pine-wood : 
while  Halbert  secured  the  rare  ground-beetle,  Calathiis  piceus, 
in  the  oak-wood,  and  Orcdochilus  villosits  in  Clonbrock  River. 
After  lunch  most  of  the  party  returned  to  the  wood.  The 
evening  was  spent  arranging  specimens  and  looking  at 
microscopic  preparations,  M'Ardle's  demonstration  of  the 
rotatory  movements  of  the  protoplasm  in  an  internodal  cell  of 
Chara  being  much  appreciated. 

^On  Friday  morning  the  party  separated,  Mr,  Dillon  proceed- 
ing on  foot  with  M'Ardle  and  Halbert  to  Doon  Wood,  whilst 
Scharff  and  McWeeney  cycled  to  near  Mount  Bellew,  and  did 
some  collecting  along  the  road.  Doon  Wood  proved  a  good 
entomological  locality,  yielding  a  beetle,  Phalacvus  substri- 
ahis,  and  two  spiders,  Corniadaria  vigilax  and  Tetragnatha 
obtusa,  all  new  to  Ireland.  Returning  to  Clonbrock  at  i.o, 
the}'  picked  up  a  well-stocked  luncheon  basket  at  the  house, 
and  rejoined  their  colleagues  at  Doon  Wood.  Some  good 
work  was  done  by  M'Ardle  in  the  domain  of  flowering  plants. 
He  had  taken  the  Bee  Orchis  {Ophrys,  apifcra),  and  Marsh 
Helleborine  {Epipactis  palustris)  to  preserve.  A  striking 
feature  of  Doon  Wood  is  the  enormous  abundance  oi  Listcra 
ovata,  and  the  luxuriant  development  of  the  plant.  One 
specimen,  which  measured  27  inches  in  height,  was  brought 
home,  but  Praeger,  on  being  shown  the  specimen  later  on  in 
the  evening,  recollected  having  found  this  plant  four  feet  high, 
which  caused  the  Doon  specimen  to  hide  its  diminished  head. 
Starting  on  the  homeward  journe}^  the  party  passed  through 
the  deer-park.  Here  ]\Ir.  Dillon  pointed  out  Iris  fcetidisshna. 
In  turning  over  a  large  trunk,  McWeeney  came  across  a  fluffy 
fungal  mass  which  proved  to  be  Botryospormvz  diffjcsuvi,  Ca., 
one  of  the  most  exquisite  of  British  moulds.  At  dinner  the 
party  was  joined  by  Praeger,  who  had  come  through  from 
lyondonderry,  via  Belfast  and  Dublin,  since  the  previous 
evening. 

A  2 


220  The  Irish  Naturalist.  C  Sept., 

On  Saturday  afternoon  Scharff  and  McWeeney  had  to  leave 
for  Dublin,  much  to  their  regret,  so  they  did  not  join  the 
party  which  started  at  lo.o  in  a  wagonette  for  some  extensive 
boo-s  to  the  northward.  We  first  examined  a  wood  near 
Ty'cooly  House,  and  then  spread  out  over  the  adjoining  bog. 
Here  Praeger  made  an  interesting  find,  the  Brown  Beak-rush 
(Rhynchospora  fusca\  a  very  rare  plant  in  the  British  Isles,  and 
in  Ireland  known  previously  only  from  stations  much  nearer 
the  western  ocean.  It  was  subsequently  found  again  growing 
in  profusion  on  bogs  at  Killasolan,  with  its  congener  R.  alba. 
Tramping  over  an  extensive  bog,  we  visited  the  banks  of  the 
Shiven  River,  which  were  ornamented  with  tufts  of  Royal 
Fern,  and  came  back  by  the  Killasolan  bogs.  A  rapid  drive 
brought  us  back  in  time  for  dinner,  and  a  long  evening  among 

our  specimens.  ^  r.-u    -d-  ^ 

Sunday  dawned  fine.  At  breakfast  specimens  of  the  Birds- 
nest  Orchis  {Ncottia  Nidiis-avis)  were  produced  by  Praeger, 
gathered  under  beech-trees  not  far  from  the  house.  His 
morning  ramble  had  a  more  important  result,  for  a  pondweed 
collected  in  the  Clonbrock  River,  and  at  the  time  unknown,  is 
believed  by  Mr.  Arthur  Bennett  to  be  a  new  form  of  the  rare 
Potamo^don  layiceolatus  ;  study  of  the  growing  plant  will,  it 
is  hoped,  settle  its  identity.  M'Ardle,  Halbert,  and  Praeger 
were  early  afoot,  and  investigated  the  bog  beyond  the  "  Lurgan 
Plantation"  and  the  Clonbrock  River  adjoining.  In  the  after- 
noon, accompanied  by  Lord  and  Lady  Clonbrock,  we  explored 
the  Deer-park,  and  pushed  on  to  Doon,  where  the  abundant 
Orchid-flora  of  that  place-including  the  Bee  Orchis,  Marsh 
Helleborine,  Sweet-scented  Orchis,  Butterfly  Orchis  Frog 
Orchis,  Tway-blade,  and  others-was  again  studied  with 
admiration  and  interest.  Specimen  of  Cholcva  jnmata,  a  beetle 
new  to  Ireland,  occurred  in  dead  birds  in  the  woods. 

On  Monday  morning  we  drove  eastward  to  the  River  Suck, 
which  here  bounds  the  counties  of  Galway  and  Roscommon, 
and  spent  some  highly  profitable  hours  collecting  along  its 
banks  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bellagill  bridge.  This  place 
yielded  a  rich  haul  of  flowering  plants  to  the  botanists,  though 
poor  in  cryptogams ;  while  the  entomologists  secured  m 
TrccMis  discus  a  ground-beetle  new  to  Ireland,  and  m  Erzrrhzjms 
cEthioi^s  a  very  rare  weevil.  But  our  work  was  doomed  to 
interruption  in  the  afternoon.    The  rain,  which  had  threatened 


1896-]  McWeKNEY&  Praeger. — Fatina  and  Flora, Clonbrock.  221 

all  morning,  at  last  canni  down  in  earnest,  and  it  was  a 
drenched  and  bedraggled  party  that  reached  Clonbrock  at 
about  four  o'clock.  The  rain  continued,  so  we  spent  a  very 
busy  afternoon  putting  away  specimens,  and  sorting  and 
arranging  the  spoil  of  the  last  few  days. 

The  pleasantest  time  must  have  an  end,  and  on  Tuesday 
morning  we  bade  a  grateful  adieu  to  our  host  and  hostess,  and 
drove  to  Ballinasloe,  stopping  for  an  hour  at  some  gravel-pits 
by  the  roadside,  which  yielded  a  number  of  plants  which  we 
had  not  seen  at  any  other  place  in  the  district — plants,  such 
as  the  poppies,  which  love  light  soils.  Ballinasloe  was  reached 
in  good  time,  and  in  due  course  we  once  again  glided  under 
the  familiar  roof  of  Broadstone  terminus. 


LAND  PIvANARIANS  AND  LEECHES. 
BY  R.  F.  SCHARFF,  PH.D. 


Several  specimens  of  the  only  British  land  planarian, 
EhyncJiodemus  terrestris  (almost  all  planarians  being  either 
marine  or  freshwater  species),  was  secured  under  dead  tree- 
trunks  in  Clonbrock  forest.  This  little  worm,  as  I  pointed  out 
in  Nattire  (vol.  50,  p.  617),  is  exceedingly  rare,  and  is  only 
known  from  about  a  dozen  European  localities.  This  is  the 
second  Irish  record,  having  been  first  discovered  in  Ireland 
at  Blackrock,  near  Dublin,  by  Miss  Kelsall.  It  is  a  very 
inconspicuous  black  slug-like  worm,  about  half  an  inch  in 
length,  and  it  seems  to  love  damp  shady  places. 

Halbert  and  I  took  several  hauls  in  the  Clonbrock  river  on 
the  second  day,  and  among  other  interesting  objects,  secured 
two  species  of  freshwater  leeches,  viz.,  Glossiphonia  complanata^ 
ly.,  and  G>  hetcroclita,  L.  The}^  are  both  about  half  an 
inch  long  when  at  rest,  and  are  parasitic  on  water-snails. 
The  former,  which  is  the  commoner  of  the  two,  is  of  a  reddish- 
grey  colour  and  semitransparent,  so  that  its  internal  organs 
are  plainly  visible.  Another  curious  feature  about  this  leech 
is  that  it  carries  its  young  about  with  it,  and  one  of  the  speci- 
mens taken  had  about  a  dozen  very  minute  leeches  fixed  to 
the  underside  of  the  mother  by  their  posterior  sucker.  The 
other  leech  is  yellowish,  and  its  six  eyes  are  arranged  in  a 
triangle,  so  that  with  an  ordinary  lens  only  three  are  visible, 
though  each  of  these  is  really  composed  of  two. 


>- 


222  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Sept., 

EARTHWORMS. 
BY   RKV.    HII,DE:RIC    FRIEND,    P.I,.S. 


Through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Scharff  I  have  been  able  to 
examine  a  typical  set  of  Earthworms  from  Clonbrock,  Co. 
Galway,  which  contained  several  species  already  recorded 
for  other  parts  of  the  country.  I  submit  a  full  list  of  species 
received. 

LuiYifarlcus  herculeus,  Savigny  (Common  Earthworm).  Usually 
known  as  Litnihricns  terrestris.  A  fine  typical  specimen,  well  developed, 
with  girdle  extending  over  segments  32-37.  On  one  side  of  segments 
25,  26,  there  were  ventral  papillae  such  as  often  occur  in  adult  forms. 
The  specimen  was  placed  in  spirits  and  returned  to  Dublin. 

Lumbrlcusrubellus,  Hoffmeister  (Red  Worm).  This  worm  has  the 
good  fortune  to  be  without  synonyms.  It  is  known  by  the  girdle  ex- 
tending across  segments  27-32.  Sometimes  it  begins  abnormally  ou 
segment  26.  The  colour  is  purple  and  iridescent.  It  is  much  smaller 
than  the  last,  and  often  twice  as  large  as  the  next,  which  in  other  respects 
it  very  closely  resembles.  It  has  no  papillae  on  segment  15  in  connection 
with  the  male  apertures. 

Lumbricus  castaneus,  Savigny  (Purple  Worm).  Long  known  as 
L.purpiireus.  A  small,  clean,  lively  worm,  with  girdle  on  segments  28-33. 
There  is  here  also  an  absence  of  glandular  swellings  on  the  fifteenth 
segment.  ">  e- 

Lumbricus  rubescens,  Friend  (Ruddy  Worm).  Beddard  regards 
this  as  synonymous  with  the  Enterion  festivwn  of  Savigny,  and  the 
Lujubrictis  fcstivus  of  Duges.  Though  the  accounts  of  the  worm  given 
by  these  two  authors  are  brief  and  imperfect,  I  am  prepared  to  accept 
the  identification,  in  which  case  the  worm  will  be  known  as  Luuibrkus 
ftstivus  (Savigny).     I  first  described  it  in  Nature,  1891,  p.  273. 

Allolobophora  fcetlda,  Savigny  (Brandling).  A  well-marked 
species,  abundant  in  old  manure,  and  much  sought  after  by  the  angler. 
It  exudes  a  yellow  fluid  when  irritated,  and  is  known  b}'  its  alternate 
yellow  and  ruddy-brown  coloured  bands. 

Allolobophora  subrubfcunda,  Eisen  (Gilt-tail).  A.  worm  with  a 
large  list  of  names,  first  differentiated  by  Dr.  Gustav  Eisen,  in  1873.  It 
is  often  no  more  than  an  inch  in  length,  though  it  sometimes  reaches 
three  inches.  The  girdle  covers  segments  26-31,  and  it  is  a  great 
favourite  with  certain  kinds  of  fish. 

Allolobophora   chlorotica,    Savigny   (Green  Worm).      There    is 

usually  little  difficulty  in  identifying  this  species,  first  on  account  of  its 

well-marked  colour  and  habits,  and  next  because  of  the  three  pairs  of 

pores  {tube7'cu/a)  on  alternate  segments  T)^^  Z2>^  35-      It  usually  coils  itself 

.  up  when  disturbed,  and  is  very  sluggish. 


1896.]  223 

LAND  AND  FRESHWATBR  MOLLUSCA. 
BY  R.  F.  SCHARFF,  PH.D. 


As  one  would  expect  from  the  abundance  of  wood,  most  01 
the  species  of  Hyalinia  are  abundant  in  the  Clonbrock 
demesne,  especially  the  otherwise  rare  Garlic  Snail  {Hyalinia 
alliaria).  When  writing  my  paper  on  the  Irish  I^and  and 
Freshwater  Mollusca  {Irish  Naturalist^  vol.  i.,  1892),  I  was 
under  the  impression  that  the  European  range  of  this  species 
was  much  more  restricted  than  it  really  is,  having  since  taken 
it  on  the  BrUnig  Pass  in  Switzerland  (see  NacJirichtsblatt  d.  d, 
Malakol.  Gesellsch.  1895).  Another  uncommon  species  which 
is  known  only  from  three  or  four  Irish  localities  is  Hyaliiiia 
Drapafnoiudi.  The  commonest  species  were  H.  nitidula^  H, 
cellario.^  and  H.  crystalli7ia.  Both  H.  ptira  and  H.  radiatiila 
were  noticed  under  decaying  leaves  and  twigs,  and  also /^ 
fulva. 

As  regards  slugs,  they  were  not  so  abundant,  not  even  the 
ubiquitous  Agriolimax  agrestis,  whilst  A.  Icsvis  was  not  to  be 
seen  anywhere.  The  only  really  common  slug  was  Limax 
marginatus  {arborum)  which  gracefully  glided  up  and  down 
the  dripping  tree-trunks  after  the  heavy  showers  we  had. 
Under  leaves  and  dead  wood  were  secured  Arion  ater  (the 
brown  and  blade  forms),  A.  siibfuscus,  A.  horterisis  (the  bluish 
variety),  A.  circuinscript7cs  (BourguignatiJ,  and  A.  intermedius 
(ini7iimus),  also  Limax  maxinius,  but  I  was  much  surprised 
not  to  meet  with  a  single  specimen  of  the  keeled  slugs — 
belonging  to  the  genus  Amalia. 

I  was  delighted  to  meet  with  such  a  number  of  the  rarer 
Helices  at  Clonbrock.  The  stems  of  the  stately  Beech-trees 
are  tenanted  by  numerous  H.  fusca,  one  of  the  rarest  species 
of  British  Helices,  and  which  in  other  localities  I  had  only 
observed  among  the  leaves  of  Liizula  sylvatica.  Other  rare 
species  found  among  leaves  on  the  ground  were  Helix 
laniellata,  H.  acicleata,  and  H  pygmcza,  whilst  H.  ritpestris 
occurred  among  the  crevices  of  old  limestone  walls. 
McWeeneywas  fortunate  in  discovering  a  scalariform  monstro- 
sity o^  Helix  roticndata  among  the  small  fungi  he  was  examin- 
ing. I  had  never  seen  such  a  form  before,  and  quickly  trans- 
ferred  it    to   m}^   collection.     H.  rufescefis,    our    commonest 


224  "^h^  Irish  Naturalist.  [  vSept., 

Dublin  garden  snail,  is  exceedingl}^  rare  at  Clonbrock.  Other 
species  of  Helix  observed  were  H.  hispida,  H.  ericetorum,  and. 
H.  ncmoralls.  Not  a  trace  anywhere  of  the  common  Helix 
aspersa.  Coclilicopa  lubrica  and  Clausilia  bidentata  abounded ; 
indeed,  as  Mr.  Dillon  observed,  the  denomination  bidentata 
seems  somehow  or  other  to  have  always  been  applied  to  very 
common  species. 

The  rare  Pitpa  anglica  —  a  species  confined  to  southern 
Europe  and  a  few  British  localities — was  abundant ;  at  any 
rate  it  was  more  common  than  P.  cyUndi'acea  {umbilicatd). 
Vertigo  was  represented  by  the  sylvan  V.  edentula,  whilst  V. 
pygmcca  w^as  noticed  under  stones  at  the  roadside  on  the  way 
to  Mount  Bellew. 

Near  the  river  I  found  among  the  thickly-growing  reeds 
Succinea  Pfeifferi,  which  I  think  should  be  looked  upon  as  a 
distinct  species,  and  not  as  a  variety  of  the  South  European 
S.  elegans,  as  I  formerly  thought. 

In  the  Clonbrock  river  itself  were  taken  Limncea  stagnalis, 
Physa  fontinalis,  Bythinia  tentaculata,  Valvata  pisci7ialis,  and 
Neritina  fluviatilis.  In  a  cold  spring  near  the  house,  I  found 
numerous  very  fine  examples  of  a  form  somewhat  intermediate 
between  the  typical  LimncEa  peregra  and  L.  ovata,  and  on 
Doon  Bog  I  secured  specimens  of  L.  truncatula. 

The  more  remarkable  absentees,  besides  those  already 
referred  to,  include  the  following  :  Helix  acuta,  H  virgata, 
and  H.  intersecta,  Balea  perversa,  Clausilia  lamifiata,  and  the 
genera  Planorbis,  A7icylus,  and  Sphceriimi. 

Altogether  the  demesne  and  the  surrounding  country  of 
Clonbrock  are  thoroughly  good  hunting-grounds  for  the 
conchologist,  and  I  am  convinced  that  further  search, 
especially  along  the  river  Suck,  whence  Halbert  brought 
me  Lim7icea  palustris,  would  yield  an  additional  number  of 
Species, 


1896.]  ■  225 

ISOPODS. 
BY   R.    F.    SCHARFP,    PH.D. 

The  large  grey  Oniscus  ascllus  is  exceedingly  abundant  under 
logs  of  wood,  under  stones,  and  under  all  kinds  of  refuse.  The 
very  minute  red  woodlouse  {TricJioniscus  pusillus)  is  common 
in  Clonbrock  wood  under  moss,  and  indeed  everywhere  where 
there  is  sufficient  dampness  to  suit  its  comfort.  Philoscia 
m7iscor76m,  which  swiftly  darts  about  among  the  twigs  and  moss, 
and  Porrcllio  scaber  frequent  much  drier  localities.  All  these 
are  species  which  occur  in  almost  all  parts  of  Ireland,  and, 
except  Metoponorthus pruinosus^n.Q>  rare  woodlice  were  observed. 
The  latter  occurs  at  Clonbrock  only  among  garden  refuse, 
and  even  there  it  is  very  scarce. 

The  most  striking  feature  is  the  absence  of  the  *  Pill  Wood- 
louse '(^rwa^////^/z^;;2  vidgare),  a  species  which  is  so  abundantly 
met  with  around  Dublin. 


SPIDERS. 
BY  GKORGK  H.   CARPKNTKR,   B.SC 


Unabi^E  to  join  the  Clonbrock  collecting-party  myself,  I  looked 
forward  eagerly  to  the  examination  of  the  spiders  and  harvest- 
men  which  Scharff  and  Halbert  were  so  good  as  to  secure  for 
me  from  that  now  famous  locality.  The  result  proves  most 
gratifying,  as  the  thirty-three  species  of  spiders  collected 
comprise  five  which  I  had  not  before  identified  from  any  part 
of  Ireland.  Several  of  the  other  species  are  now  recorded  as 
Irish  for  the  first  time.  This  collection  must  represent  but  a 
small  fraction  of  the  spider-fauna  of  the  district,  and  many 
other  novelties  and  rarities  doubtless  await  discovery  there. 

I  had  some  hopes  that  traces  oi  Atypus—OMX  only  British 
genus  of  the  Aviculariidcs,  whose  nest  has  recently  been  dis- 
covered in  King's  Co.' — might  have  been  found  at  Clonbrock. 
These  expectations,  however,  were  disappointed ;  nor  was  a 
species  of  the  Dysderidce  to  be  found  in  the  collection,  though 
several  probably  occur  in  the  district.  The  large  family  of 
the  DrassidcE  was  represented  only  by  the  ubiquitous  Clubiona 
reclusa,  Cb.,  and  the  more  interesting  Anyphcsna  acce?iftiata, 
Wick.,  a  species  not  included  in  Workman's  list^,  but  collected 

'  See  p.  167  of  this  vohime.  *  Entomologist,  vol.  xiii.,  1880,  p.  125. 

A  3 


226  The  Irish  Nattiralist.  [Sept., 

and  received  by  me  from  many  Irish  localities,  and  apparently 
generally  distributed.  There  were  two  species  of  Didyiiidce. 
— Didyna  u7icinata,  Thor.,  and  D.  latens,  Bl. ;  I  do  not  think 
that  the  latter  has'ever  been  recorded  from  Ireland,  though  Mr. 
Freeman  first  took  it  near  Dublin  several  years  ago.  No 
representative  of  the  AgelaiidcE  was  secured. 

The  small  Theridiidcs,  which  comprise  the  majority  of  our 
spiders,  are  not  numerous  in  June.  Theridion  sisyphium,  CI., 
was  common,  as  might  have  been  expected.  Linyphia  mon- 
tana,  CI., — a  species  that  with  us  seems  to  be  found  in  parks 
and  gardens — was  taken  in  the  demesne,  together  with  L. 
pusilla,  Sund.,  L.  horte?isis,  Sund.,  Labulla  thoracica,  Wid., 
Leptyphantcs  tenuis,  Bl.,  and  L.  Blackzvallii,  Kulcz.  The  com- 
mon species  Erigone  atra,  Bl.,  and  Go7iatiiim  bituberculatum, 
Wid.,  were  also  secured,  as  well  as  the  tiny  Maso  Sundevallii, 
Westr.  The  only  other  theridiid  taken  was  one  of  the  prizes 
of  the  expedition — Coriiicularia  vigilax,  BL,  a  ver}'  rare  species 
in  the  British  Isles,  found  only  in  Dorsetshire  and  North 
Wales\  with  a  wide  but  discontinuous  continental  range  from 
France  to  Galicia-,  and  occurring  also  in  the  United  States. 
Both  sexes  of  this  species  were  secured  by  Halbert,  a  male  at 
Doon  and  a  female  in  the  demesne. 

Six  species  of  the  EpeiridcB  or  orb-weavers  were  collected. 
Besides  the  common  Tetragnatha  extciisa,  ly.,  Halbert  secured, 
by  sweeping  heather  on  Sheep-pool  Bog,  a  female  of  T.  obtusa, 
C.  Koch,  a  species  with  less  elongate  abdomen,  hitherto 
unknown  as  Irish.  Since  determining  this  spider,  I  have 
found  another  female  in  a  collection  sent  me  last  year  from 
Skibbereen,  Co.  Cork,  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Wolfe.  As  might  be 
expected,  Ilfeta  segmcntata,  CL,  Epeira  diadcmata,  CI.,  and  E. 
cormcta,  Cl.>  were  common.  The  other  epeirid  taken,  Singa 
sangidnea,  C  Koch,  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  Irish  list; 
being  rare  in  Great  Britain,  and  apparently  confined  to  the 
southern  counties^. 

Th-ere  were  three  Thomisidce  or  crab-spiders: — Philodromus 
aureolus,  CI,  and  Xysticus  cristatus,  CI. — both  common  species 
everywhere — together  with  another  addition  to  the  Irish 
fauna,  also  found  by  Halbert  on  Sheep-pool  Bog — X.  sabulosus, 


>  O.  P.  Cambridge,  "Spiders  of  Dorset,"  Sherborne,  1879  (p.  113). 
•"'  E.  Simon,  *'  Arachnides  de  France."  Tome  v.,  Paris,  1881  (p.  848). 
'  O.  P.  Cambridge,  op.  cif.,  p.  248. 


Irish  Xaturaust,  Voi..  V.] 


LPI.ATK  3. 


Fig.   I.     Pardosa  hcrhigrada,  Bl.,  female,  natural  size. 
Fig.  2.  „  „  „  magnified. 

Fig.  3.     Epigyne,  highly  magnified. 


1896.]        Carpenter. — Clonbrock  Expedition,  Spiders.  227 

Hahn.  This  handsome  species  was  known  as  a  British  spider 
only  from  the  south  of  England^  until  its  recent  discovery 
in  Inverness-shire"".  It  is  of  interest  to  be  able  now  to  record 
it  for  one  of  the  western  counties  of  Ireland,  its  known  range 
in  the  British  Isles  being  thus  strangely  discontinuous,  though 
it  doubtless  awaits  discovery  in  intermediate  localities. 

Coming  lastly  to  the  Lycosidce  or  wolf-spiders,  it  was  interest- 
ing to  find  several  immature  specimens  of  the  'gr^dX  Dolomedes 
fi7?ibriatus,  Wick.,  which  attracted  so  much  attention  on  the 
Galway  expedition  of  last  year^.  The  genus  Lycosa  was  repre- 
sented only  by  two  common  species — L.  pulverulenta,  CI.,  and 
L.  ruricola,  DG. ;  while  there  were  five  species  of  Pardosa.  P. 
amcntata,  CI.,  P.pullata,  CI.,  and  P.palustris,  ly.,  are  probably 
common  species  everywhere,  while  P.  7iigriceps,  Thor.,  is 
generally  distributed  and  not  scarce.  The  remaining  species 
represented  by  a  single  female  taken  by  Halbert  on  Sheep- 
pool  Bog  running  close  to  a  drain,  proves  to  be  P.  herbigrada, 
Bl.,  a  very  handsome  addition  to  the  Irish  fauna.  Since 
determining  this  specimen  I  have  found  another  female  in  a 
collection  made  by  Prof.  D'Arcy  Thompson  at  Roundstone,  in 
August,  1894.  "I^his  spider  has  a  peculiar  discontinuous  range. 
In  Great  Britain  it  has  been  found  in  Dorset*,  Northumber- 
land^, and  the  Scottish  Highlands".  On  the  continent  it 
occurs  in  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Galicia^  According  to 
Simon^  it  has  not  been  found  in  France  ;  but  it  probably 
inhabits  at  least  the  north-west  of  that  country,  as  it  has  lately 
been  discovered  in  Guernsey'. 

This  beautiful  spider  (see  Plate  3)  is  remarkable  among  the 
species  of  Paj'dosa  on  account  of  the  extensive  area  of  the 
yellow  markings  on  the  cephalothorax,  the  dark  lateral 
bands  being  generally,  as  in  the  present  specimen  (fig.  2), 
interrupted.     Most  species  of  the  genus  are  predominantly 

*  Carpenter  and  Kvans,  Ann.  Scoit.  Nat.  Hist.,  1894,  p.  233. 

2  O.  P.  Cambridge,  op.  cit.,  p.  301. 

3  Irish  Nat.  vol.  iv.,  1895,  p.  255. 

4  O.  P.  Cambridge,  0^.  cit.  (p.  385.) 

5  O.  P.  Cambridge.  Proc.  Berw.  Nat.  Club,  1875. 

•  Carpenter  and  Evans,  /.  c.  (p.  235). 

7  T.  Thorell,  "  Remarks  on  Synonyms  of  European  Spiders,"  Upsala, 
1870-3,  (p.  282). 

8  "  Arachnides  de  France,"  Tome  iii.  (p.  323). 

'  F.  O,  P.  Cambridge  "  Trans.  Guerns.  Soc.  Nat>  Sci.,  1894. 

A4 


228  The  Irish  Naturalut.  [Sept., 

dark  in  colour,  the  yellow  bands  tending  to  become  narrow 
and  broken  up.  The  nearest  ally  of  Z'.  herbigrada  is  P.  palustris^ 
L,.,  an  abundant  spider  in  which  the  cephalothorax  is  mostly 
of  a  black-brown  colour,  showing  three  narrow  yellow  bands, 
the  central  drawn  out  to  a  fine  point  in  front.  But  in  the 
specimen  of  P.  palustris  taken  at  Clonbrock  the  central  band  is 
somewhat  widened  behind  the  eyes.  This  form  I  have  received 
from  several  Irish  localities  and  the  series  goes  far  to  bridge 
the  gap  between  typical  P.  palustris  and  P.  herbigrada.  In 
the  females  of  both  these  species  the  epigyne  is  very  large 
and  of  a  truncated  triangular  form.  This  structure  in  these 
and  allied  species  has  recently  been  carefully  described  and 
figured  by  Rev.  F.  Pickard- Cambridge^.  In  P.  herbigrada  it  is 
relatively  larger  and  more  prominent  than  in  P.  palicstris,  but 
it  varies  somewhat  in  different  individuals  of  the  same  species, 
andi'in  tile  present  specimen  the  hind  corners  are  extremely 
prominent  and  rugose  (fig.  3). 

'It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  in  some  of  the  dusky  species 
6uch  as  P.  amentata,  CI.,  and  P.  agricola,  Thor.,  the  yellow 
colour  is  predominant  in  the  cephalothorax  of  very  young 
specimens  ;  as  the  spider  grows  older,  the  amount  of  dark 
colour  in  the  pattern  increases.  This  suggests  that/^.  herbigrada^ 
with  its  broad  expanse  of  yellow  when  adult,  represents  an 
old  stage  in  the  evolution  of  the  genus,  a  suggCvStion  supported 
by  the  rarity  and  discontinuous  range  of  the  species.  While 
its  dark-hued  relation  P.  palustris  is  spread  abundantly  over 
our  islands,  and  is  found  on  the  Continent  from  I^apland  to 
Italy,  P.  herbigrada  is  apparently  absent  from  the  greater 
part  of  Central  Europe,  and  almost  restricted  to  northern  and 
western  regions  in  Scandinavia,  Britain  and  Ireland.  It 
would  seem,  therefore,  that  P.  palustris  is  the  younger  and 
more  vigorous  species,  and  has  largely  superseded  P.  herbigrada 
in  the  struggle  for  existence.  The  problem  remains  whether 
the  darkening  of  the  cephalothoracic  pattern  has  been  itself 
an  advantageous  factor  in  the  conflict,  or  whether  it  is  but 
the  necessary  accompaniment  of  other  and  deeper  causes. 

^  Amu  Mag,  Nat.  Hist.  (6),  vol.  xv.,  1895  (p.  34,  pi.  iv.) 


1S96.]  229 

HKMIPTERA  ^ 
BY   J.    N.   HALBKRT. 


The  Hemiptera  or  Plant-bugs  are  summer  insects,  though  a 
comparatively  few  hibernate  through  the  winter.  A  great 
number  were  in  the  immature  state  when  we  were  at  Clon- 
brock,  yet  the  early  season  had  caused  some  species  to  appear, 
in  the  adult  condition  before  the  usual  time.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  specimens  of  a  large  shield-bug,  in  the  larval  state» 
occurring  on  the  heaths  about  Clonbrock,  are  referable  to. 
Podisus  hiridics,  Fab.,  but  as  the  species  has  not  been  recorded, 
from  the  country  it  must  be  given  with  reserve  until  fully 
developed  specimens  are  found.  I  swept  several  examples  of 
Cymus  gra7idicolor,  Hahn.  off  Flags  in  marshy  places.  Micro- 
physa  eleganficla,  Baer.,  was  a  rather  satisfactory  capture.  It 
occurred  freely  by  beating  old  lichen-covered  Sloes  near  the 
Deer-park.  I  had  not  met  with  this  species  previously,  the 
only  Irish  specimens  that  I  know  of  being  in  Mr.  Haliday's 
collection.  Myrrnedobia  tenella,  Zett.,  also  occurred  by  general 
sweeping;  it  is  said  to  be  rare,  though  from  its  small  size  it  is 
probably  overlooked  by  x:ollectors.  I  found  Tetratocoris 
Saiindersi,  D.'and  S.,  in  a  marshy  field  beside  Doon  wood,  very 
similar  to  localities  in  which  it  had  occurred  on  the  east  coast. 
Allodapiis  rufesce?is,  H.  S.,  has  not  been  previously  recorded 
from  any  Irish  locality.  A  single  macropterous  specimen 
occurred  by  sweeping  heather,  at  dusk,  and  it  is  apparently 
a  rare  species  in  England.  Several  species  of  Psalhcs  were 
more  or  less  common  in  the  woods,  the  rarest  being  P. 
dhninuhis,  Kb.  now  recorded  as  Irish  for  the  first  time. 
Amongst  other  captures  were  the  following : — 

Nabis  flavomargmattcs,  Scholtz.,  common  ;  N.  enccforiim, 
Scholtz.,  on  heath;  Salda  scotica,  Curt.,  river  banks;  Acompo- 
coris pyginae2is,V'3\\.,  Dicyplms  stackydis,  Reut.,  and  Plesiocoris 
rugicollis,  Fall.,  the  last  in  some  numbers  off  Willows  at  Sheep- 
pool  Bog.  I  managed  to  secure  a  good  many  Homoptera, 
including  several  species  I  had  not  previously  met  with,  but 
it  is  necessary  to  reserve  these  as  they  include  many  critical 
forms  still  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  J.  Edwards,  F.E.S.,  awaiting 
further  investigation. 


230  The  Irish  Nahiralist,  [  Sept., 

COIvBOPTERA. 
BY  J.    N.  HALBKRT. 


The  great  success  attending  Mr.  R.  E-  Dillon's  researches 
amongst  the  lepidoptera  of  East  Galway  are  now  well  known 
to  all  students  of  the  order.  This  success  is  mainly  due  to 
the  varied  nature  of  the  district,  comprisingsomefine  remnants 
of  natural  forest  and  extensive  moorlands,  and  to  no  small 
extent  also,  to  steady  collecting  in  the  same  localities  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  year.  In  an  order  so  numerous  in  species 
as  the  Coleoptera,  we  could  only  hope  during  our  visit  to 
obtain  a  general  idea  of  the  species  occurring  in  the  district, 
and  as  three-fourths  of  the  collecting  was  done  on  boggy 
heaths,  a  general  sameness  in  results  to  those  obtained  in  many 
places  in  west  and  central  Ireland,  was  to  be  expected.  We 
managed,  however,  to  secure  a  fair  number  of  local  forms. 
Mr.  Dillon  had  preserved  a  small  collection  of  beetles  from 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  ;  amongst  these  were  two  or 
three  rarities  taken  during  the  previous  m.onth,  that  all  our 
efforts  failed  to  refind,  showing  that  on  account  of  the  abnor- 
mal earliness  of  the  spring,  many  species  were  practically 
over  at  the  time  of  our  visit.  The  following  notes  refer  only 
to  the  less  common  species. 

The  Carabid^  or  ground-beetles  are  rather  poorly  repre- 
sented at  Clonbrock,  as  in  such  inland  localities  they  are 
chiefly  to  be  found  on  the  stony  margins  of  lakes  and  rivers ; 
and  it  is  to  the  scarcity  of  these  conditions  that  the  absence 
of  such  species  as  Carabits  clathratus  and  Pelophila  borealis 
may  perhaps  be  attributed. 

The  first  species  to  be  noticed  in  our  list  is  Carabus  aruensis, 
F.,  here  of  the  usual  shining  bronze  colour.  Mr.  Dillon 
found  two  specimens  running  on  a  pathway  earlier  in  the  year; 
it  is  widely  distributed,  though  local,  occurring  chiefly  on 
heaths.  Calathus  piceiis,  Marsh.,  was  fairly  common  in  damp 
moSvSy  places  in  the  Oak-wood,  where  also  Dro7nuis  quadri- 
maculatus,  ly.,  abounded  under  bark.  Perhaps  the  best  place 
for  ground-beetles  was  along  the  banks  of  the  Suck  ;  here  I 
was  fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  Trechiis  discus,  F.,  a  very 
local  species,  not  previously  recorded  from  Ireland.  Other 
notable  captures  in  this  locality  were  Chlceniiis  iiigricoriiis,  F., 
Bembidium  guttula,  F.,  B.  assimile^  Gyll,  and  B,  bipimctatum^ 


1896.]         HalberT. —  Clonbrock  Expedition,  Colcoptcra,  231 

L-,  the  last  occurring  abundantly  amongst  shingle  at  the  edge 
of  the  river. 

We  were  much  too  late  to  do  any  good  with  the  water- 
beetles,  the  rivers  seemed  to  produce  very  few  species  ;  the 
best  results  were  obtained  in  the  pools  and  drains  half  choked 
by  vegetation.  There  were  amongst  others  Haliplus  fiilvus, 
F.,  Hydroporus  erythrocephahis,  ly.,  and  Agabiis  Shirmii,  Gyll. 
I  took  a  single  Hydropoms  memnonius,  L,.,  by  sweeping  at 
dusk,  at  some  distance  from  water.  O^'edochilus  villosjis,  Mull., 
a  nocturnal  beetle,  occurred  freely  in  the  Clonbrock  river, 
lurking  amongst  a  thick  growth  of  weed. 

The  StaphylinidcE  or  rove-beetles  were  not  numerous  in 
species.  ALeochara  brevipe^tnis,  Grav.,  is  noteworthy,  as  it  is 
one  of  those  species,  restricted,  so  far  as  we  can  at  present 
judge,  to  a  southern  and  western  range  in  Ireland,  though  of 
wide  distribution  in  Britain.  I  found  Gyrophccna  affijiis, 
Mann.,  in  Boleti,  an  addition  to  the  Irish  list,  and  Philo?ithzis 
qtiisqiiiliarius,  Gyll,  a  local  southern  species,  occurred  under 
stones  on  the  banks  of  the  Suck. 

We  kept  a  careful  look  out  for  all  dead  animals  for  the 
NfCTophaga  or  carrion -feeders.  One  of  the  less  common 
black  and  orange  burying-beetles,  Necrophorus  77iortuoriim,  F., 
swarmed  in  a  dead  squirrel,  while  Dr.  Scharfif  got  Necordes 
littoralis,  I^.,  in  a  rat.  This  species  is  of  local  occurrence 
inland,  but  it  is  much  commoner  in  maritime  localities. 

Numbers  of  a  species  of  Choleva  occurred  in  dead  birds 
in  the  woods,  proving  to  be  C  fumata,  Spence,  as  far  as  I 
can  ascertain  not  previously  recorded  from  Ireland.  Mr. 
A.  H.  Haliday  possessed  Irish  examples,  bearing,  however, 
no  definite  localitj^  I  was  very  pleased  to  meet  with  Silpha 
dispar,  Herbst.,  when  collecting  on  the  banks  of  the  Suck. 
This  is  one  of  the  rarities  so  far  monopolized  by  the  Rev.  W, 
F.  Johnson,  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  where  he  has  taken  it  on 
the  south  shore  of  lyough  Neagh,  and  also  near  Armagh  ; 
this  extension  of  range  is  therefore  of  interest.  Several 
common  species  of  Coccijiellidce  abounded  in  the  woods,  the 
only  one  of  interest  being  Chilocoris  bipustulatus,  111.,  found 
on  willows  in  boggy  places.  This  also  seems  to  be  a  south- 
western species,  at  least  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  recorded 
from  any  eastern  locality.  Near  Doon  Wood  I  found  by  sweep- 
ing in  a  marshy  meadow  two  uncommon  beetles,  i.e.,  Phalacrus 
mbstriattis,  Gyll.,  and  Antherophagus  pallens^  Gyll.,  the  former 


232  '  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Sept. 

indeed  being  unrecorded  from  Ireland ;  a  single  example  only, 
which  is  considerably  larger  than  certain  types  in  the  museum 
collection,  but  agrees  with  them  in  every  other  respect ;  and  I 
may  add  that  Mr.  G.  C  Champion,  F.i,.s.,  has  kindly  verified 
this  identification.  Epurcea  deleta,  Br.,  was  not  uncommon  in 
fungi  on  trees,  and  Elmis  Volkmari,  Panz.,  under  stones  on 
river-banks. 

Passing  over  many  common  insects,  the  next  species  of 
note  is  E later  pomoriim,  Herbst.,  a  handsome  shining  black 
click-beetle  with  deep  red  wing-cases  ;  Mr.  Dillon  found  it 
commonly  enough  on  birch  in  the  beginning  of  Maj^ 
Although  said  to  be  very  local  in  England,  it  would  seem  to 
be  not  uncommon  with  us,  as  it  has  now  been  recorded  from 
Co.  Armagh^  the  Bog  of  Allen  near  TuUamore-,  and  I  have  just 
seen  a  specimen  taken  by  Mr.  F.  Neale  in  south  Clare,  close  to 
a  lake-shore,  where  he  discovered  the  beautiful  ground-beetle, 
Panagceus  cmx-major^  L.,  that  formed  such  an  unexpected 
addition  to  our  Irish  list.  Corymbites  tessellatus,  F.,  another 
large  species,  occurred  occasionally  on  the  heaths.  The 
Longicorns  were  singularly  scarce  at  the  time  of  our  visit ;  we 
really  expected  to  meet  with  some  novelties,  seeing  that  the 
district  is  so  suited  to  their  habits,  but  unfortunately  no  new 
species  rewarded  our  search.  Mr.  Dillon  found  Leiopiis 
7iebulosus,  ly.,  earlier  in  the  year.  The  large  and  handsome 
Rhagium  bifasciatiim,  F.,  is  evidently  not  uncommon  in  the 
fir- woods,  and  a  small  black  Grainmoptera  r^ificomis,  F., 
found  on  flowers,  were  all  that  were  observed. 

In  water-plants  in  the  Clonbrock  river  several  species  of 
Do7iacia  occurred,  but  all  were  common  with  the  exception 
perhaps  of  D.  impressa,  Payk.,  a  species  that  has  now  been 
recorded  from  at  least  three  localities  in  the  south  and  west. 
Other  captures  were  D.  discolor,  Panz.,  frequent  on  the  heaths, 
Chrysomela  hypericin  Forst.,  and  Haltica  oleracea,  ly. 

The  Hdcromera,  a  section  of  the  Coleoptera  containing  such 
well  known  insects  as  the  "  cellar-beetles"  and  "  meal-worms," 
are  very  poorly  represented  in  Ireland.  One  small  species, 
Salpingus  castaneus,  Panz.,  occurred  by  sweeping  at  edge  of 
a  fir-wood  ;  all  the  previous  records  for  this  species  are  from 
the  east.  The  Oil-beetles  {Meloe)  also  belong  to  this  section, 
but  search  should  be  made  for  these  very  early  in  spring. 

1  W.  W.  Fowler.     "  Coleoptera  of  British  Islands,"  vol.  iv.  (p.  91). 

2  /.  Nat.,  vol.  iv.,  1895,  p.  173. 


1896.]         Hai^bert. — Clonbrock  Expcditio7i,  Coleopfcra.  233 

The  Rhyiichophora  or  weevils  usually  come  last  in  beetle 
lists  ;  they  are  without  exception  vegetable-feeders,  the  greater 
number  being  extremel}^  conservative  in  keeping  to  their 
respective  food-plants.  The  first  weevil  deserving  of  notice 
in  the  Clonbrock  list  is  Rhyiichites  jjiinutus,  Herbst.,  found  on 
two  occasions  by  sweeping  near  willows.  This  species  was 
added  to  the  Irish  list  last  year  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Walker,  who  found 
it  at  Queenstown.^  Apioii  Gyllcnhali,  Kirby,  and  ^.  marchicuvi, 
Herbst.,  were  the  best  species  of  that  extensive  genus ; 
although  I  had  previously  collected  the  latter,  generally  in 
marshy  places,  I  have  never  succeeded  in  taking  more  than 
one  or  two  specimens  on  any  occasion.  Sweeping  large 
patches  oi  Eqiiisctum  in  drains  produced  Grypidius  cquheti,  F., 
a  queer  beetle  looking  not  unlike  a  seed-head  of  that  plant,  to 
which  it  is  exclusively  attached.  One  of  the  most  satisfactory 
discoveries  made  on  this  excursion  was  the  occurrence  of 
Erirrhinus  csthiops,  F.  I  found  a  single  specimen  of  this  rare 
weevil  under  a  stone,  on  the  banks  of  the  Suck.  Up  to  the 
present  it  had  been  found  only  by  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson 
in  Co.  Armagh"^.  According  to  Canon  Fowler,  the  species 
is  of  extreme  rarity  in  England,  but  it  occurs  in  several  Scotch 
localities  ;  it  will  probably  be  found  commonly  enough  when 
the  midlands  are  better  v/orked.^  Amongst  other  captures 
I  may  mention  the  following  : — Polydrusus  cejvinus,  L,., 
Orchestes  rusci,  Herbst.,  and  O.  ilicis,  F.,  Doiytovius  maculattis, 
Marsh.,  abundant ;  D.  pedoralis,  Gyll.,  Cceliodes  7'iibicunduSy 
Herbst.,  and  Poophagus  sisymbrii,  F. 

The  beetles  occurring  on  the  banks  of  the  Suck  afforded 
a  rather  typical  example  of  the  gathering  of  northern  and 
southern  forms,  that  adds  such  interest  to  collecting  in  Ire- 
land. In  company  with  Erh^himis  cEthiopSy  which  has  a 
decidedly  northern  range,  I  found  a  ground-beetle  {Trechus 
discus)  having  for  its  habitat  the  river-valleys  of  the  midland 
English  counties,  while  with  both  might  be  found  a  rove- 
beetle  {Philo7ith2cs  qui squiliar ills),  a  species  that  has  apparently 
Cambridgeshire  for  its  northern  limit  in  Britain.  Examples 
of  this  mingling  may  be  found  in  almost  any  part  of  Ireland, 
but  they  are  undoubtedly  most  characteristic  of  the  west. 

1  /.  Nat.,  vol.  iv.,  1895,  p.  209.       -^  W.  W.  Eowler,  op.  cit.,  vol.  v.  (p.  270.) 

2  I  have  just  seen  a  fine  series  of  this  beetle  in  a  collection  made  at 
Tempo,  Enniskillen,  by  Mr.  C.  Langham. 


234 


The  Irish  Naturalist. 


[Sept., 


FUNGI. 

BY    E.    J.    MCWKENKY,    M.A.,    M.D. 


Hymenomyce'TES. 

Ltpiota  felina,  Pers.  Pheasantry. 
New  to  Ireland. 

Mycenajuncicola,  Fr.     Fir-wood. 

M.  tenerrima,  Bk. 

Omphalia  Jihxda,  Bull. 

Pleurotus  acerosus,  Fr.  New  to  Ire- 
land. 

Claudopus  depluens,  Batsch. 

Hypholoma  sp. 

Ijyex  sp.  immature. 

Exidia  glandulosa,  Fr. 

Tremella  indecorata,  Somm. 

Dacryomj/ces  stillaius,  Nees. 

MUCEDINES  and  DEMaTiEI. 

Monilia  aurea,  Genel.  New  to  Ire- 
land. 

Botryosporiwn  diffusum,  Ca. 

Wdnotrichum  repens,  Preuss. 

Peronospora  parasitica,   Pers. 

Stachylidium  cyclosponmi,  Grove. 
New  to  Ireland. 

UREDINEI. 

Puccinia     priiimlce,      D.C.     Teleuto- 

spores    much     commoner    than 

cecidia. 
P.  lyclmidearum,  Link. 
P.  niolijiice,  Tub.     CRcidia  abundant 

on  Lisiera  ovata, 
P.  saniculcs,  Grev. 
P.  violce,  Schum. 
P.  cartels,  Schum.    CFJcidia  on  Urtica 

dioicQ. 


UrEdinEI. — continued. 

Uromyces  Valeriana,   Schum.     Sper- 

mogonia  only,  in  fir-wood.     New 

to  Ireland. 
}(Ecidium   sonchi,  Johnst.     New   to 

Ireland. 
tE.  sp.  On  Carduus  paJustris. 


DiSCOMYCETES  and  PyrENOMY- 
CETES. 

MorcheUa  e/ata,  Fr.    On  a  mossy  bank 

in   Clonbrock    wood — the     only 

British  locality  for  this  species. 
Peziza   atrohiwmea,    Phil.      New   to 

Ireland. 
Laclmea    hemisphcerica,    Wigg.     New 

to  Ireland. 
Dasyscypha  viryinea,  Fckl. 
Lachnella       corticalis,      Pers.        Not 

hitherto  recorded  from  Ireland. 
Propolis      faginea,       Karst.  Not 

hitherto  recorded  from  Ireland. 
Phyllachora  cegopodii,  Fckl. 
Cordyceps  militaris,   Fr.     On  buried 

lepidopterous  larvse  and  pupse  in 

pheasantry. 
HypoxyJon  vndtiforme,  Fr. 
RoseUinia  mastoidea,  Fr. 
Sphmria.     Two  sp.  undetermined. 

Myxomycetes. 

CEthalium  septicum,  Fr. 
Lycoyala  epidendrum,  Fr, 
Trichia  sp. 


1896.]  -  235 

MOSSES    AND    HEPATICS. 
BY  DAVID  M*ARDI.i:. 


Thk  number  of  species  of  Mosses  found  at  Clonbrock  is  low, 
and  there  was  a  striking  similarity  of  collections  made  on 
different  parts  of  the  estate.  A  peculiar  feature  on  the  Sheep- 
pool  bog  was  the  patches  of  Ftinaria  hygrometrica^  yards  in 
extent ;  the  brilliant  red  colour  of  the  countless  numbers  of 
setae  and  sporangia  of  the  matured  plants  at  once  attracted 
attention,  and  was  visible  for  a  considerable  distance.  Most 
of  the  trees  had  their  stems  clothed  with  many  forms  of 
Hyp7uivi  cupressiforjfie,  notably  the  var.  filiforme,  which  hangs 
in  long  festoons.  Orthotrichum  crispum  selected  the  tips  of 
branches  and  luxuriated  in  neat  compact  tufts.  O.  affi?ie  was 
common  on  the  trunks  near  the  base.  The  ground  in  the 
woods  was  carpeted  with  Hypmwi  trlquctrum  2i\i&H.  proliferu7n, 
with  large  patches  of  Dicra^iimi  palustre.  On  the  bogs 
Leucobryum  glaucum  grew  in  large  hassocks ;  Cainpylopus 
fragilis  and  C.  setifolius  were  very  common  ;  and  in  wetter 
places  Aiilacovmion  palustre.  On  the  drain-banks  Dicranella 
varia  and  Fisside?is  adiantoides  were  plentiful,  in  the  streams 
the  water-moss  Fo?iti?ialis  aiitipyretica  was  abundant.  The 
Sphagnums  were  plentiful,  and  large  patches  of  6*.  cymbifoliiun^ 
S. papillosum,  and  5,  rubellum,  with  many  forms  of  S.  acutifolium 
were  collected,  in  the  bog-pools  6*.  aispidahim  var.  phmiosum 
was  plentiful ;  it  is  by  no  means  a  common  plant.  On  Doon 
bog  I  found  S-  papillosicm  var.  coiiferhmi,  a  rare  plant,  only 
found  by  Professor  Lindberg  and  myself  on  Connor  Hill,  Co. 
Kerry ;  it  is  very  close  to  the  rarer  5.  Austini,  which  I  took 
it  for  at  Clonbrock  as  I  did  in  Kerry,  but  the  microscopical 
difference  is  very  marked.  In  the  cell-walls  the  papillae 
are  regular  and  conical.  On  Tycooley  bog,  near  the  banks 
of  the  Shiven  River,  I  was  fortunate  in  finding  the  rare 
6".  Austi7ti,  which  differs  in  its  peculiar  branching,  and  in 
having  the  cell-walls  of  the  leaves  furnished  with  pectinate 
ridges.  It  was  first  found  in  Ireland  by  the  Rev.  H.  W. 
I^ett,  in  a  bog  at  Glenariff,  Co.  Antrim,  in  1889,  and  he 
afterwards  collected  it  in  a  bog  near  Geashill,  King's  Co. 
{LN.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  22),  as  did  Rev.  Canon.  Russell  and 
myself.  These  are  the  only  known  localities  for  this 
rare  Sphagntim.  There  is  an  excellent  figure  and  descrip- 
tion of  the  plant  in  the  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,  June 


236  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [  Sept,, 

17th,  187 1,  p.  215,  by  Dr.  Braithwaite,  and  the  following 
account  of  its  distribution  "  Hab.  swamps  Farrago,  Ocean 
county,  New  Jersey,  United  States  (^Aiistiii).  In  Europe  only 
found  in  Sweden,  Hunneberg  Mountain,  Westrogothia,  1859, 
{Lindberg).  Viby,  Nerike,  i860  {Zcttcrstedt),  both  sterile." 
He  whites  me  that  the  Clonbrock  specimen  is  referable  to  the 
var.  ivibricatum,  and  identical  with  specimens  taken  in  I^ewis 
by  Dr.  Moore. 

The  investigation  of  the  Hepaticae  was  the  principal 
object  of  my  visit.  I  endeavoured  by  every  means  to  make 
as  complete  a  collection  as  possible.  In  the  Oak-wood  alone 
I  made  thirty-three  gatherings,  and  on  Doon  bog  and  adjacent 
woods  thirty  distinct  gatherings.  These  and  many  others 
collected  on  other  parts  of  the  Clonbrock  estate  were  subjected 
to  a  careful  microscopical  examination,  with,  I  regret  to  say, 
verv  poor  results,  on  account  of  the  similarity  between  the 
specimens  collected  on  different  bogs  and  in  different  woods 
and  plantations,  although  remote  enough  from  each  other. 
Out  of  all  the  material  collected  I  enumerate  only  thirty 
species  of  Hepaticae.  Of  these  the  following  eleven  species 
only  are  local  on  the  estate  ;  the  remainder  are  widely  distribu- 
ted there,  and  I  may  truly  say  through  Ireland. 

Lejeunea  hamatifolia,  Hook. — On  trees,  Tycooley  wood. 

Lcjeunea  serpyllifolia,  lyibert.  — In  the  oak-wood. 

Lepidozia  reptans,  Linn. — Bog  at  Killasolan. 

Jungermania  exseda,  Schmidel  — Sheep-pool  bog,  oak-wood, 
Doon  bog.     A  rare  species. 

Jimgcrmayiia  affiiiis,  Wilson. — Damp  bank  in  oak-w^ood, 
Doon  bog. 

Cephalozia  divaricata,  Smith. — Doon  bog. 

Cephalozia  cateyiulata,  Huben. — Doon  bog. 

Cephalozia  Lainmcrsia7ia^  Huben. — Doon  bog. 

Astrella  hcmisphcsrica,  Beauv.^-Doon  bog. 

Riccardia  latifro7is,  Lindberg. — Doon  bog,  rare. 

Scapania  itndulata,  Linn.    -Doon  bog. 

The  small  number  of  species  of  Lejeunea  which  were  met 
with  is  remarkable.  Out  of  the  three  which  were  collected 
L.  hamatifolia  only  is  rare  in  Co.  Galway  ;  it  was  collected 
in  the  woods  at  Kylemore  Castle  demesne,  by  the  late  Dr. 
D.  Moore,  in  1874,  and,  in  July,  1895,  I  found  it  sparingly  on 
Carn  Seefin  in  the  same  county.  The  commonest  liverwort 
;n  the  district  is  Lejeu7iea  f7ii7iutissima<     I   collected  it  on  all 


1896.1  M'Ardi.K. — Clonbrock  Expedition,  Mosses  &  Hepatics.  237 

parts  of  the  estate  ;  it  luxuriates  on  the  trunks  of  the  huge 
Beech-trees  which  dot  the  verdant  lawn,  and  in  the  woods 
adjacent  to  the  bogs,  on  almost  every  tree. 

Out  of  fourteen  species  oiLejeunea  known  to  grow  in  Ireland 
the  number  of  species  collected  at  Clonbrock  is  very  small. 
They  are  curious  little  plants  in  their  structure  and  habits, 
and  love  the  moist  warm  glens,  and  tell  of  climatal  conditions 
in  as  marked  a  manner  as  the  rare  flowering  plants  do. 
Amongst  some  of  the  liverworts  that  were  remarkable  by  iheir 
absence  I  may  mention  Lophocolca  heterophylla.  L.  bidentata 
was  very  common,  but  the  former  is  a  distinct  plant,  and  I 
searched  for  it  in  vain  on  the  decayed  logs.  It  differs  from 
the  latter  in  having  some  of  the  leaves  bidentate,  others  with 
the  apex  plane  or  slightly  obtuse,  and  above  all  in  having 
paroecious  inflorescence,  i.e.,  the  antheridia  are  in  the  axils  of 
the  leaves  just  beneath  the  perianth.  By  this  character  it  is 
well  separated  from  L.  bidentata,  which  has  the  antheridia  in 
spikes  or  amentae. 

Cephalozia  sphagni  was  abundant  on  all  the  bogs,  but  no 
specimen  of  the  rare  C  deymdata  was  found,  which  grows  so 
abundantly  on  the  Hill  of  Howth,  and  Corslieve  Mountain,  Co. 
Mayo,  also  sparingly  on  Bear  Island ;  these  are  the  only 
localities  known  in  Ireland.  The  range  of  C  sphagni  is  pro- 
bably wider  than  that  of  any  other  species  belonging  to  this 
singular  family  of  plants.  It  abounds  in  the  north  temperate 
zone,  and  luxuriates  in  the  hot  forest  plains  of  the  equator;  it 
is  always  found  on  living  plants  of  Sphagmcm,  Leucobryum, 
&c.  C.  denudata,  on  the  contrar}^  is  found  mostly  on  decaying 
vegetable  matter,  such  as  rotting  logs,  peat,  &c.  ;  and  is  a 
plant  of  the  hills.  C.  sphagni  is  found  on  the  plains,  and 
rarely  at  high  elevations.  Cephalozia  curvifolia,  one  of  the 
prettiest  of  the  genus,  reported  from  Kylemore,  was  not  to  be 
found.  I  searched  the  drains  and  moist  banks  for  an}^  species 
of  the  curious  genus  Riccia,  but  without  success.  One  of  the 
commonest  plants  amongst  the  frondose  section  was  Metzgeria 
conjtigata,  which  was  first  collected  at  O'Sullivan's  Cascade, 
Killarney,  in  1873,  by  Professor  Lindberg,  who  pointed  out  its 
remarkable  autoecious  character,  i.e.,  its  having  the  antheridia 
on  one  branch  of  the  thallus,  and  the  calyptra  which  contains 
the  capsule  and  spores  on  a  separate  branch  of  the  thallus,  of 
the  same  plant ;  by  this  character  it  is  separated  from  all  the 


238  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Sept. 

other  species  of  Metzgcria,  which  are  dioecious,  having  the 
antheridia  or  male  inflorescence  on  one  plant,  and  the  calyptra 
which  contains  the  female  inflorescence  on  another  plant. 
Recent  researches  of  myself  and  others,  show  that  the  plant 
is  to  be  found  in  almost  every  county;  it  is  as  widely  dis- 
tributed in  Ireland  as  M.  furcata.  In  specimens  of  both 
species  collected  at  Clonbrock,  I  have  been  struck  by  the 
remarkable  examples  they  exhibit  of  adventitious  budding  or 
branching,  and  it  is  obvious  that  they  reproduce  themselves 
more  by  this  method  than  they  do  by  spores.  I  shall  quote 
one  instance  where  this  means  must  be  adopted  to  reproduce 
the  species.  Metzgeria  picbcscens  is  a  rare  plant,  confined  to  a 
few  stations  in  Co.  Antrim.  We  have  only  the  male  plant  in 
Ireland  ;  the  female  has  not  been  found,  so  far  as  I  am  aware. 
In  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  April  last  year,  from  copious 
specimens  I  have  been  enabled  to  demonstrate  the  subject  of 
adventitious  branching  or  budding  with  a  figure  of  Metzgeria 
conjugata  bearing  young  plantlets,  which  I  trust  will  serve  to 
explain  this  singular  mode  of  reproduction. 

Amongst  the  rarer  species  which  I  collected  JungermaMia 
exsecta,  Schmidil,  must  not  be  forgotten.  I  found  it  once 
before,  in  Co.  Wicklow.  It  is  a  curious  plant,  not  like  any 
other  liverwort  that  I  know.  The  leaves  are  in  two  rows, 
ovate  in  outline,  the  apex  bluntly  bi-  or  tridentate,  and  having 
about  the  middle  on  the  upper  margin  a  strong  tooth,  pointing 
obliquely  upwards  across  each  leaf.  The  specimens  from 
Sheep-pool  bog  are  luxuriant ;  they  were  growing  amongst 
Jungermania  incisa  and  bore  gemmae,  but  no  fertile  specimen 
was  found.  The  plant  is  beautifully  figured  by  Sir  J.  W.  Hooker, 
in  his  grand  work  on  the  British  Hepaticas,  at  tab.  19,  and 
supplement,  p.  i.  In  his  description  of  the  plant,  he  writes — 
"  This  singular  species  of  Juiigermayiia  seems  to  be  confined  to 
the  two  most  eastern  counties  in  the  Kingdom  (Norfolk  and 
Suffolk),  at  least  I  never  heard  of  its  being  found  in  any  other 
places,  excepting  indeed,  very  latel}^  near  Bantry,  by  Miss 
Hutchins,  of  whom  it  may  almost  with  truth  be  said,  that  she 
finds  everything."  It  has  since  that  time  been  found  by  Dr. 
Carrington  at  Killarney  ;  and  at  Gleniff",  Co.  Leitrim,  and  at 
Sallagh  Braes,  Co.  Antrim,  by  the  late  Dr.  D.  Moore.  We 
have  no  previous  record  for  Co.  Galway. 


IS96.] 


239 


FIvOWERING  PIwANTS  AND  VASCUIvAR  CRYPTOGAMS. 
BY   R.    I,I,OYD   PRAKGER,  B.E. 


When  the  time  arrived  for  our  visit  to  Clonbrock,  I  was  far 
out  at  sea,  exploring  that  inhospitable  islet  of  Rockall,  in  the 
N.E.  Atlantic  ;  and  a  heavy  gale  off  the  Hebrides  further 
delayed  junction  with  my  colleagues,  so  that  I  did  not  reach 
Clonbrock  till  the  pleasant  week  was  half  spent.  My  notes 
on  the  phanerogamic  flora  are,  therefore,  not  so  complete  as 
might  be  desired  ;  but  they  will  convey,  nevertheless,  a  fair 
general  idea  of  the  botanical  character  of  the  district. 

The  area  in  which  Clonbrock  is  situated  is  composed 
entirely  of  the  Carboniferous  limestone  formation,  and  is,  in 
every  particular,  a  characteristic  piece  of  the  great  Central 
Plain.  The  streams  flow  sluggishly  in  broad  shallow  basins, 
through  pasture  and  marshy  meadows.  The  only  hills  are 
gently-swelling  and  inconspicuous  ridges.  The  rock  is  seldom 
seen.  P^skers  are  wanting,  though  one  or  two  mounds  of 
gravel  occur.  The  pasture  and  tillage  is  broken  by  great 
bogs,  which  stretch  for  miles  ;  their  edges  are  often  wooded, 
chiefly  with  Scotch  Fir.  I^arge  areas  are  under  timber, 
chiefly  Oak,  Beech,  and  conifers.  I^akes  there  are  none. 
From  this  description,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  flora  to  be 
expected  was  that  which  characterizes  the  Central  Plain,  and 
that  neither  the  lake  or  mountain  rarities  of  Connemara,  nor 
the  limestone  pavement  flora  of  Burren,  was  likely  to  be 
represented,  although  both  of  these  interesting  districts  lie 
within  fifty  miles.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  just  one  characteristic 
West  Coast  species  turned  up — Rhynchospora  fusca,  furnishing 
an  important  extension  of  range  of  this  rare  plant,  fifty  miles 
east  of  its  most  easterly  recorded  station.  In  mentioning 
briefly  the  more  interesting  plants  found,  they  will  be  dealt 
with  in  the  natural  order,  for  convenience  of  reference. 

Of  Raimjicidacece,  the  most  conspicuous  species  was  the 
Great  Spearwort  {Ranunculus  Li7igua),  which  grew  abundantly 
on  the  marshy  edges  of  the  Shiven  River,  and  on  both  the 
Galway  and  Roscommon  banks  of  the  Suck.  The  Marsh 
Meadow- Rue  {Thalictruviflavinn)  was  seen  on  the  Roscommon 
bank  of  the  River  Suck. 


240  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Sept., 

Funiaria  Borcei  grew  on  both  sides  of  the  River  Suck  in 
cultivated  land  ;  with  it  was  F.  officinalis.  F.  muralis  was 
gathered  on  the  Roscommon  bank.  Viola  canina  was  noted 
on  old  worked-out  bog  at  Killasolan. 

The  Poppies  were  well  represented  for  a  district  so  far  to 
the  westward.  The  lyong  Prickly-headed  {P.  Argcmo7ie)  grew 
on  roadsides  and  in  gravel-pits  a  couple  of  miles  on  the 
Ballinasloe  side  of  Ahascragh — the  only  gravel-pits  in  the 
neighbourhood;  with  it  were  the  two  smooth-headed  species 
(/*.  RhcBas  and  P.  dubituii)  in  abundance,  and  these  two 
occurred  in  many  places  south  and  east  of  that  spot. 

Among  crucifers,  the  Marsh  Cress  {^Nasturtium  palustre)  and 
Water  Radish  (A^.  amphibium)  grew  by  the  River  Suck,  and 
in  fields  it  was  noticed  that  the  White  Mustard  {Sinapis  alba) 
in  this  district  quite  took  the  place  of  the  usually  all  too 
common  Charlock  {S.  arve^isis),  which  was  hardly  seen  at  all, 
while  its  ally  was  most  abundant. 

Caryophyllaceoi  had  no  representatives  of  much  rarity,  but 
the  Three-nerved  Sandwort  {^Areua^da  trinervid)  grew  in  many 
places,  and  was  much  more  abundant  than  the  commoner 
Thyme -leaved  Sandwort  {A.  serpyllifolia). 

Five  species  of  St.  John's-wort  were  noted — Hypericum 
AndroscEmum,  perforatum,  dzibitwi,  quadrangulu77t,  pulchrum. 
The  third  is  the  only  one  which  is  not  generally  distributed 
in  Ireland. 

The  only  Rosaceous  plant  of  interest  was  the  Bird-cherry 
{Pnmus  Padus),  which  grows  in  great  profusion  in  one  old 
wood  at  Clonbrock.  A  few  brambles  were  collected,  but  have 
not  yet  been  submitted  to  a  specialist. 

The  beautiful  Grass  of  Parnassus  {Paruassia  pahistris')  was 
everywhere  abundant  in  marshy  land.  On  the  bogs  all  three 
species  of  Sundew  {Di'osera  anglica,  intermedia,  rotundifolia) 
grew  in  charming  profusion,  often  brightening  the  wetter 
portions  b}^  the  large  patches  of  red-haired  leaves,  glistening 
as  the  sunlight  caught  the  heads  of  viscous  fluid  with  which 
all  the  hairs  are  copiously  tipped.  Two  species  of  Millfoil 
were  found — Myriophylhim  vcrticillatum  on  the  Galwaj''  side  of 
the  Suck,  and  the  commoner  M.  alterniflorum  in  various 
places. 

Umbelliferous  plants  were  not  largely  represented,  the  onlj'' 
uncommon  species  being  the   Broad-leaved    Water-Parsnep 


1S96.]  Prakgkr. — Clonhrock  Expedition,  FloiucrbigPlants,  6*r.  241 

{Slum  latifoliiin)  which  grew  on  the  Galway  bank  of  the  Suck. 
Of  the  Valerian  tribe,  the  Toothed  Corn-salad  ( Valeriajiella 
dcjitata)  was  one  of  several  plants  found  only  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  gravel-pits  already  mentioned. 

To  come  now  to  the  large  order  of  Composite  plants,  the 
Mountain  Cudweed  {A7ife7i7ia7^ia  dioica)  was  quite  conspicuous 
by  its  abundance  everywhere.  The  Bur-Marygold  {Bide7is 
cc7iiua)  grew  by  the  Shiven  River.  x\  much  rarer  plant,  the 
Field  Chamomile  {Matrica7'ia  Chauioniilld)  occurred  in  many 
places  on  roadsides  ;  though  possibly  originally  introduced 
with  seed,  as  it  certainly  is  sometimes,  it  appears  in  this 
district  to  have  settled  down  as  a  resident.  Among  the 
Thistles,  Ca7ii7ia  vulgaris  occurred  but  sparingly.  The 
Slender-flowered  Thistle  {Ca7'duus  te7iuifio7'us),  a  species 
usually  found  near  the  coast,  grew  in  the  gravel-pits  ;  the  Bog 
Thistle  (C  p7'atc7isis)  was  one  of  the  most  abundant  plants 
in  the  district.  Among  the  Ligiiliflof'ce,  or  Dandelion-like 
plants,  the  Yellow  Goats-beard  {T7'agopogo7i  prate7isis)  was 
found  in  one  field  halfway  between  Ballinasloe  and  Ahascragh. 
The  Hairy  Hawkbit  {Lco7itodo7i  hirtus)  was  common  ;  its 
ally,  the  Rough  Hawkbit  {L.  hispidus)  was  not  seen ;  it 
appears  to  be  a  much  rarer  plant  in  Ireland,  and  I  doubt  if  it 
has  a  wider  range,  as  stated  in  Cybele  Hibcr7iica. 

Of  that  beautiful  order  of  which  the  Heaths  are  the  type, 
two  interesting  plants  abounded  on  the  bogs — the  Cranberry 
( Vacci7iiic7ii  Oxycoccos)  whose  delicate  pink  flowers  had  in 
many  places  already  given  way  to  the  large  berries  ;  and 
the  Marsh  Andromeda  {A.  polifolia),  its  lovely  pink  bells 
still  lingering  on  a  few  belated  shoots.  One  gentian,  G. 
A77iarclla,  was  found,  though  not  yet  in  flower,  still 
sufiiciently  advanced  for  determination.  Its  ally,  the  Yellow- 
wort  {Blackst07iia  pcrfoliata)  occurred  sparingly.  The  Prim- 
rose order  was  represented  by  eight  species — the  Yellow 
lyoosestrifs  {Lysi77iachia  vulgaris),  which  grew  by  the  Suck, 
and  with  it  the  Brook-weed  {Sa77iohis  Valera7idi),  and  the 
tiny  Bog  Pimpernel  {A7iagallis  te7iella)  ;  in  the  woods  the 
Moneywort  {L.  iic77i07'U77i)  was  remarkably  abundant ;  while 
the  Scarlet  Pimpernel,  Cowslip,  and  Primrose  made  up  the 
balance. 

Of  Boragi7iacecB^  the  only  uncommon  species  was  the  Field 
Gromwell  {Lithosper77iU7it  arve7ise)  gathered  in  a  potato-patcli 


242  The  Irish  Nahiralist,  [Sept., 

on  the  Roscommon  side  of  the  Suck.  Of  Scrophzdariaceos,  the 
Mullein  ( Verbasciim  Thapsus)  flourished  at  the  gravel  pits, 
and  the  Cow- wheat  {Melampyriim  prate7ise)  on  Tycooly  bog  ; 
of  ten  species  of  Veronica  noted,  the  only  one  worth  men- 
tioning is  V.  polita,  gathered  on  the  Galway  side  of  the  Suck. 

Two  of  these  interesting  carnivorous  plants,  the  Bladder- 
worts,  grew  in  the  bog-holes,  both  in  blossom — the  Com- 
mon {Utriaclaria  vulgaris)  and  I^esser  {^U.  minor)  \  that 
characteristic  west  coast  species,  U.  intermedia,  was  not 
found.  Of  their  equally  interesting  allies,  the  Butterworts, 
two  species  were  noted — Pinguicula  vulgaris,  the  common 
species,  and  the  rarer  Pale  Butterwort  {P.  lusitanica)  usually 
a  mountain  plant,  but  here  growing  on  an  old  worked-out  bog 
at  an  elevation  of  only  about  150  feet.  The  great  Water  Dock 
{Rttniex  Hydrolapathnm)  grew  with  other  marsh-loving  species 
on  the  Galway  bank  of  the  Suck. 

The  native  trees  included  both  species  (or  varieties)  of  the 
Birch  {Betula  pubescens  and  B.  verrucosa)  which  everywhere 
fringed  the  bogs,  along  with  Willows,  of  which  seven  species 
were  noted,  all  common  except  Salix  penta7idra  and  S.  pur 
purea.  The  remaining  indigenous  Ame7itiferoe  were  the  Oak, 
Alder,  and  Hazel. 

Orchids  were  well  represented,  and  one  of  the  prettiest  and 
most  interesting  sights  we  saw  was  at  Doon,  where,  on  a 
rough  piece  of  boggy  land,  sparsely  dotted  over  with  low 
stunted  fir-trees,  a  remarkable  variety  of  Orchids  grew 
together.  The  large  white  or  pinkish  flowers  of  the  Marsh 
Helleborine  {Epipactis  pahcstris)  were  perhaps  the  most 
conspicuous.  M'Ardle  found  some  plants  in  which  the  whole 
flower  was  suffused  with  a  rich  rose-red.  With  it  grew  the 
beautiful  Bee  Orchis  {Ophrys  apifera),  and  great  abun- 
dance of  the  Sweet-scented  {Gymnade^iia  conopsea),  and 
Tway-blade  {Listera  ovata),  and  in  less  quantity  the 
Smaller  Butterfly  Orchis  {Habenaria  bifolia),  Frog  Orchis 
{H.  viridis),  Broad-leaved  {Orchis  i7tcar7iata),  and  Pyramidal 
{0.  pyra77iidalis).  The  only  species  found  in  the  district 
which  were  not  at  Doon  were  the  Early  Purple  {O. 
mascula),  gathered  in  fruit ;  the  Greater  Butterfly  {H. 
chlora7ithd)  which  was  very  rare,  while  H.  bifolia  was  common  ; 
and  lastly,  the  rare  Bird's-nest  {Neottia  Nidus-avis),  which 
grew  under  trees  at  Clonbrock. 


1896.J  Prakgkr. — Clonbrock Expedition,  Flowcri^ig Plants,  &•€.  243 

Of  Pondweeds,  three  species  grew  abundantly  in  the  River 
Suck — Potamogdon  luccns,  P.  Zizii,  and  P.  heteivphyllics  var. 
gmnmii/oliics.  In  the  Clonbrock  River,  not  far  from  the  house, 
were  gathered  F.  plantagineus,  and  another  form  of  much 
interest,  on  which  Mr.  A.  Bennett  supplies  the  following 
note  : — 

"  This  plant  is  doubtless,  in  a  wide  sense,  to  be  placed  under  P. 
lanccolaiits,  Smith,  but  differs  from  the  Anglesea,  Cambridge,  or  French 
specimens,  as  such  supposed  hybrids  would  do.  It  seems  that  these 
specimens  may  have  been  produced  by  P.  hetcrophyllus,  Schreb.,  v. 
graminifoUiis,  as  the  one  parent,  and  P.  ptisillus,  L.,  as  the  other.  The 
difficulty  of  reference  to  any  known  form,  causes  one  to  wish  that  it 
could  be  cultivated;  the  hybrid  theory  is  an  easy  way  out  of  a  difficult 
problem,  and  yet  it  is  not  easy  to  suggest  in  this  case  any  other.  '  Make 
a  new  species  of  it,'  would  be  another  way,  and  easy  enough  from  some 
views,  but  if  eventually  proved  an  error,  is  only  adding  to  synonymy 
unnecessarily.  As  a  supposed  hybrid,  it  is  an  uncertain  quantit}^  and 
leaves  it  open  for  experiment.  I  consider  all  supposed  hybrids  that  have 
not  been  actually  produced  by  cultivation,  as  doubtful  plants,  although 
naturally  the  amount  of  faith  or  credence  that  may  be  placed  in  them  is 
very  variable. 

The  present  specimens,  by  their  longer  and  broader  (relatively)  upper 
leaves,  with  a  much  smaller  part  of  the  leaf  occupied  by  the  chain-like 
areolation,  so  conspicuous  in  the  Anglesea  and  Cambridgeshire  speci- 
mens%  bear  the  same  proportion,  as  to  shape  and  size,  that  the  others 
do  to  their  supposed  parents.  On  these  specimens  the  glands  of  the 
graminifoUus  section  are  very  conspicuous. 

If  a  name  is  required  for  it,  it  might  be  called  var.  hibeniicus  (or  f. 
hibernictis).  characterized  by  its  longer,  and  broader  upper  leaves,  longer 
lower  leaves,  slightly  longer  flower-spikes,  and  the  structure  of  the 
leaves." 

Among  the  Sedges  and  their  allies,  the  most  interesting 
find  was  the  Brown  Beak-rush  {Rhynchospora  fusca),  which 
has  been  already  referred  to  in  the  general  account  of  our 
trip  (p.  220).  Of  sixteen  sedges  collected,  the  best  was  Carex 
tcretiusada,  which  was  found  in  marshes  by  bog-holes  in  many 
places.  Mr.  A.  Bennett  remarks  of  specimens  submitted  to 
him,  "  very  near,  if  not  identical  with  /3.  Ehrhartianar  The 
twenty-five  grasses  found  offer  nothing  of  special  interest  ; 
Bronncs  raceniosics,  B.  commutatus,  and  Festuca  loliacea,  Huds. 
were  gathered  within  the  Galway  area. 

*  In  P.  pusilhis,  L,.,  when  having  spathulate  upper  leaves  (as  in  P. 
panorniitanus,  Bivona),  the  tendency  is  to  produce  this  chain-like  areo- 
lation— A.B. 


244  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Sept., 

Ferns  were  tolerably  well  represented.  The  abundance  of 
Lastrea  spi7iulosa  was  remarked.  Tlie  Scale  Fern  {Ceterach 
officinaruvi)  grew  at  Clonbrock,  and  the  great  rarity  of  the 
Black  Spleenwort  {Asplenium  Adiantuvi-nigriwi)  was  noticed  ; 
it  is  equally  rare  in  King's  and  Queen's  Counties,  and  perhaps 
it  shuns  the  lyimestone  Plain.  The  Royal  Fern  {Osvninda 
regalis)  grew  in  several  places  ;  the  Moonwort  {Botrychitmi 
Ltmaria)  was  gathered  sparingly  at  Killasolan ;  and  the  Adder's 
Tongue  {Ophioglossum  mclgatuvi)  grew  in  pastures  at  Clon- 
brock. The  only  Club-moss  found  was  the  little  Selaginella 
spinosa,  which  grew  on  worked-out  bog  at  Killasolan,  and 
abundantly  on  the  gravel-ridge  near  Ahascragh. 

The  total  number  of  plants  noted  in  the  three  days  I  had 
at  Clonbrock  was  360,  but  a  number  of  critical  plants  were 
also  collected,  which  have  not  yet  been  determined ;  these 
will  bring  up  the  list  to  close  on  400  species. 


PROCKKDINGS   OF  IRISH  SOCIETIES. 


RoYAi,  Zooi^oGiCAi,  Society. 

Recent  donations  comprise  a  Peregrine  Falcon  from  L.  Powell,  Esq.  ; 
a  Moose  Deer  from  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen ;  a  Sparrow  Hawk  from  Master 
Stubbs ;  a  pair  of  Cockatoos  from  V.  W.  Brown,  Esq.  ;  a  pair  of  Doves 
from  Miss  Perry  ;  freshwater  fish  from  F.  Godden,  Esq.  ;  a  pair  of  Horse- 
field's  Tortoise  from  A.  Jamrach,  Esq.  ;  and  some  Rabbits  from  Mrs. 
Lennan.  A  pair  of  Siberian  Cranes,  a  Brazilian  Cariama,  twenty 
Budgerigars,  a  pair  of  Ibex,  a  pair  of  Toggenburg  Goats,  and  a  Tibet 
Goat  have  been  purchased ;  while  four  Puma  cubs  have  been  born  in  the 
Gardens. 

13,360  persons  visited  the  Gardens  during  July. 

Dubinin  Microscopicai,  Ci^ub. 

August  6th.— The  Club  met  at  the  house  of  Prof.  T.  Johnson,  who  ex- 
hibited a  section  of  Asperococais  covipressiis,  a  brown  alga,  recently  obtained 
by  Miss  Hensman  and  himself  by  dredging  oflf  Go  Island  (Co.  Donegal). 
A.  compressiis  was  dredged  by  the  exhibitor  three  years  ago  in  Bantry  Bay. 
It  is  now  recorded  for  the  first  time  as  a  member  of  the  Irish  marine 
flora ;  a  southern  type  of  weed,  its  occurrence  so  far  north  is  of  interest. 

Mr.  Greenwood  Pim  showed  sections  of  the  petioles  of  Nyinphcea 
alba  and  A^.  marliacea,  and  drew  attention  to  the  curious  internal  hairs 
which  occur  in  the  air-canals  in  these  and  in  other  aquatic  plants.  They 
seemed  especially  numerous  in  N.  fjiarliacca,  a  hybrid  raised  by  M. 
Marliac,  and  now  common  in  gardens  where  water-plants  are  grown. 


1896.]  Proccedi7igs  of  Irish  Societies.  245 

Prof.  Coi,E  showed  a  section  of  andesitic  volcanic  tuff,  as  an  example 
of  the  series  known  as  "  pyroxenic  rocks  "  near  the  summit  of  Slieve 
Gallion,  west  of  Lough  Neagh.  These  rocks  had  hitherto  been  regarded 
as  metamorphic,  but  Prof  Cole  hoped  to  show  that  a  considerable 
volcanic  series  occurred  as  a  capping  above  the  granite  of  that  area, 
which  had  intruded  into  it  at  a  later  date. 

Mr.  M'ArdIvE  exhibited  specimens  oi  Jiingermania  exsecta,  Schmidel,  a 
rare  liverwort  which  he  collected  last  June  on  Sheep-pool  Bog,  Clon- 
brock.  The  leaves  are  arranged  in  two  rows,  ovate  in  outline,  with  their 
apex  bluntly  bi-  or  tridentate,  and  having  about  the  middle  of  the  upper 
margins  a  strong  tooth  which  points  obliquely  upwards.  The  plant  is 
very  local.  Dr.  Carrington  found  it  at  Killarney,  and  Dr.  D.  Moore 
recorded  it  from  Gleniff,  Co.  Leitrim,  and  Sallagh  Braes,  Co.  Antrim.  It 
has  not  been  previously  found  in  the  Co.  Galway. 

]\Ir.  W.  HaughTON  showed  specimens  of  Triboliiim  ferruginetwi.  Fab., 
which  had  been  found  on  empty  flour-sacks.  These  small  beetles  often 
occur  in  large  numbers  in  mills  and  warehouses  among  flour,  and 
multiplying  at  a  high  rate,  are  very  injurious  and  hard  to  exterminate, 

BEI.FAST  NaTURAI^ISTS'   F1KI.D   C1.UB. 

Dredging  Cruise. 
On  Saturday,  4th  July,  the  Belfast  Club  held  a  somewhat  unusual  ex- 
cursion :  a  dredging  cruise  having  been  arranged  to  Belfast  Lough 
and  adjacent  bays.  There  has  not  been  a  dredging  trip  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood for  some  time,  so  that  it  was  of  some  interest.  Unfortunately 
for  the  enjoyment  of  the  party,  the  morningproved  very  wet  and  drizzling, 
but  no  wa}'  deterred  a  party  of  nearly  fifty  from  assembling  on  board  the 
Steam  Tug  "Storm  Light"  before  ten  o'clock;  at  which  time  the  whistle 
blew  for  the  last  time,  and  the  vessel  started  for  the  day's  work.  The 
guiding  genii  of  the  day  held  a  conference  almost  immediately,  to  settle 
the  plans  of  action,  following  which  the  boat  was  headed  for  Carrick- 
fergus :  on  arrival  at  the  desired  locality,  all  the  appliances  having  been 
previously  made  ready,  the  vessel  was  slowed  down,  and  the  first  dredge 
lowered  over  the  side.  Ten  minutes  or  so  was  allowed  for  the  filling  of 
the  net,  and  on  the  signal  being  given,  a  number  of  willing  helpers  lent  a 
hand,  and  soon  had  the  first  haul  on  board  :  a  cast  of  the  lead  showing 
3J  fathoms.  The  take  proved  to  contain  a  large  quantity  of  corallines  of 
various  species,  with  much  other  material,  all  of  which  was  emptied  out 
into  large  flat  trays  and  distributed  about  the  after  end  of  the  vessel,  for 
purposes  of  examination.  Hitherto  the  weather  had  been  getting 
steadily  worse,  until  at  this  point  the  collecting  of  specimens  was  eagerly 
being  carried  on  amid  a  downpour  of  rain.  Meanwhile  the  "Storm 
Light"  proceeded  at  full  speed  to  the  second  station,  three  quarters  of  a 
mile  from  Whitehead,  where  a  scrape  in  9^  fathoms  brought  up  a  most 
miscellaneous  haul,  which  kept  the  collectors  of  ascidians,  crustaceans, 
seaweeds,  worms,  &c.,  occupied  until  the  vessel  was  well  under  the 
great  cliffs  of  the  Gobbins.  Here,  sailing  close  under  the  precipitous 
face,  the  steam  whistle's  blast  raised  from  their  ledges  a  cloud  of  sea- 
gulls, whose  screaming  cries  and  wheeling  flight  distracted  the  scientists' 


246  The  Irish  Nahiralist.  [  Sept., 

attention  from  the  spoils  of  the  deep,  in  order  to  gaze  at  the  beautiful 
picture,  with  the  blue  sk}-,  now  fast  clearing  of  clouds,  as  a  brckground. 

No  time  was  lost,  however,  but  another  haul  was  made  in  fourteen 
fathoms,  at  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  cliffs,  bringing  up  a  great 
mass  of  small  pebbles,  among  which,  however,  two  Terebraiulce  were 
found,  to  the  delight  of  many  (or  indeed  most)  of  the  party,  who  had 
never  previously  seen  a  living  one.  The  hopes  of  getting  more  rarities 
in  the  deeper  waters  of  this  locality  induced  the  party  to  try  a 
fisherman's  mussel-dredge  of  large  mesh,  in  twenty-five  fathoms,  close 
by  the  last  station.  This  appliance  brought  up  very  little  in  bulk,  but 
among  its  contents  was  a  very  large  and  perfect  sponge,  measuring 
nearly  four  inches  across ;  there  were  also  two  sea-urchins  in  splendid 
condition,  whose  movements  in  one  of  the  large  belljars  on  deck  provided 
much  interest  to  many  of  the  members.  Several  crabs  of  different  quaint- 
looking  species  {Hyas,  Fortunns)  also  disported  themselves  in  an  adjoin- 
ing jar  to  the  detriment  of  a  fine  worm,  which  rapidly  disappeared,  and 
to  the  amusement  of  the  watchers.  Meanwhile,  the  gallant  little  tug 
was  making  all  possible  speed  outwards  towards  the  "  Maidens,"  but 
owing  to  the  roughness  of  the  water  where  unprotected  by  the  land,  the 
project  of  taking  a  netful  from  the  deep  w^ater  of  mid-channel  had  to  be 
abandoned  for  fear  of  losing  the  tackle  ;  fate  however  was  adverse,  and 
on  trying  to  make  a  haul  off  I/arne,  one  of  the  dredges  was  carried  away 
altogether,  and  the  other,  a  brand  new  one  of  novel  make,  came  up  with 
its  frame  bent,  and  quite  empty.  This  so  disgusted  members,  that  full 
speed  was  at  once  made  for  Whitehead,  under  whose  sheltering  cliffs  tea 
was  quickly  prepared  and  most  thoroughly  enjoyed. 

Clearance  of  tea-things  having  been  made,  it  was  suggested  that  the 
next  trial  should  be  made  off  the  centre  of  the  mouth  of  the  lough ; 
which  proposal  being  acted  on,  resulted  in  another  empty  net.  The 
increasingly  rough  water,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  lough,  made  it 
advisable  not  to  risk  the  remaining  dredges,  so  orders  were  given  to 
return  in  Kilroot  direction,  where  a  haul  resulted  in  an  enormous 
number  of  dead  Vemis  shells  being  brought  up. 

Time  now  began  to  run  short,  and  no  time  was  lost  in  making 
for  Belfast  again.  On  nearing  the  jetty  at  Queen's  Bridge,  Mr.  Alec. 
G.  Wilson  (Hon.  Sec.)  proposed  briefly  that  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  be 
given  to  Mr.  Waterson,  the  owner  of  the  "Storm  I^ight,"  for  his  invalu- 
able  assistance  in  making  the  trip  the  success  it  proved  to  be.  This  was 
passed  without  further  ceremony  by  a  hearty  round  of  applause.  Three 
new  members  were  then  elected.  During  the  trip,  the  Club  was  pleased 
to  entertain  four  members  of  the  Dublin  Club,  who  availed  themselves 
of  the  invitation  to  the  other  Club,  and  whose  services  during  the  day 
proved  of  great  value.  Prof.  Johnson  and  Dr.  C.  H.  Hurst  being  specialists 
in  their  respective  lines  of  marine  botany  and  zoology.  Prof.  Johnson's 
notes  on  the  Algse  collected  and  Dr.  Hurst's  list  of  the  animals  observed 
will  be  published  next  month. 


1896.]  247 


NOTES. 

BOTANY. 

PHANEROGAMS. 
Veronica  percgrlna  L.  in  ireland.— This  plant  was  recorded 
from  Belfast  in  1S57  by  Rev,  W.  M.  Hind,  who  found  it  "  fully  esta])lished 
as  a  weed  of  the  soil  at  The  lyodge"  iJPhytologist,  n.s.  ii.  p.  47).     It  does 
not  appear  to  have  made  headway  in  this  district,  as  it  has  not  been 
found  near  Belfast  by  any  subsequent  botanist,  and  Mr.  Stewart  remarks 
(^Flor.  N.E.I?)  "perhaps  extinct  about  Belfast."     In  Co.  Tyrone  it  was 
observed  so   far  back  as   1S36,   according  to  Cybelc  Hibeniir.a,  "growing 
abundantly  within  the  demesne  of  Barnescourt "  [Baron's  Court],  and 
subsequently   "  in   several  localities  between  that  place  and  London- 
derry,"   and  in  More's   "  Recent  Additions,"    {Jom-n.   Bot.,    1872),   three 
Donegal  localities  are  added,  two  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Hart,  the 
other  on  that  of  Mr.  Hind ;  also  the  more  distant  stations  of  Rockingham 
in  Roscommon,  and  Hazelwood  in  Sligo,  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Moore. 
In  Donegal  it  would  appear  to  have  become  quite  naturalized,  for  Mr. 
Hart  says  of  it  in  1883  "in  many  places  from  east  to  west  of  Donegal 
this  has  become  the  commonest  garden  weed.      Except  in  gardens  I 
have  not  met  with  it"  [Jotim.  Bot.,  xxi.,  p.  208.)     In  its  head-quarters  in 
the  valley  of  the  Foyle,  it  appears  to  have  thoroughly  established  itself, 
as  Mrs.  Leebody  has  this  season  sent  me  fine  specimens  which  she 
collected  in  abundance  in   gardens  at  Duncreggan  near  Londonderr}', 
while  she  has  also  found  it  abundant  in  a  nursery  garden  near  the  same 
town,  and  at  Culmore  (all  these  stations  are  on  the  Donegal  side  of  the 
Foyle) ;  also  at  Favor  Royal  and  Donaghmore,  both  in  Co.  Tyrone.    This 
plant,  therefore,  would  appear  to  be  thoroughly  established  in  cultivated 
ground  in  the  north-west  of  Ireland,  and  the  fact  is  of  interest,  as,  so  far 
as  I  can  find,  it  is  unknown  in  England,  and  in  Scotland  is  recorded 
from  Perth  alone.     In  the  "  London  Catalogue  "  it  does  not  find  a  place 
being  apparently  treated  as  merely  a  casual,  and  unworthy  of  insertion 
but  the  above  records  show  that  it  merits  recognition  as  a  British  plant 
quite   as   much   as,   say,    Camelina  sativa  or  Cotida  coronopifoHa.     Veronica 
peregrina  is  an  American    species,   now  found,   according  to  Nyman's 
Conspectus,  in  Spain,  France,  Belgium,  Holland,  Germany,  Italy,  &c.,  and 
it  appears  to  be  one  of  the  several  American  immigrants  that  has  settled 
down  as  a  colonist  on  European  soil. 

R.  Ivi^oYD  Prae;g^r. 

Sclrpus  parvulus,  R..&S.  (=  S.  nanus,  Sprcngr,)— Mr.  R.  M. 

Barrington  sends  fresh  specimens  of  this  very  rare  little  plant,  collected 
on  July  14th  at  Arklow.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that,  despite  recent 
changes,  the  plant  still  survives  in  its  only  Irish  station. 

R.    IwIyOYD  PrA^GEJR. 


248  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Sept.,  1896. 

ZOOLOGY. 


MOLLUSCS. 

Llttorina  obtusata  at  Bunowcn,  Connamar'a.--Ontlie  occasion 
of  the  Easter  trip  to  Roundstone  and  district  by  a  number  of  members 
of  the  Belfast  and  Dublin  Field  Clubs,  many  of  those  who  were  at  Bun- 
owen  Bay,  near  Slyne  Head,  noticed  the  great  numbers  of  this  common 
little  shell,  at  one  end  of  the  strand.  There  is  a  small  cove  at  the  west- 
ward end,  cut  off  from  the  main  beach  ;  in  this  cove  the  surface  of  the 
sand  above  highwater  mark  was  covered  with  shells. 

From  the  surface  I  collected  at  random  as  many  shells  as  covered 
about  two  to  three  square  yards,  taking  care  not  to  select  special  patches. 
The  following  is  the  list  of  species  thus  gathered : — Littorina  obttisaia^ 
509  individuals  ;  Trochus  cinera^'ius,  57 ;  T.  timbilicatics,  55  ;  Littorina  littorea 
16;  Helix  ericetorwn,  15;  Purpura  lapilhis,  10 ;  Trochus  zizyphinus,  2-,  Patella 
vulgaia,  i ;  Helix  acuta,  i.  In  addition  to  these,  which  were  all  practically 
unbroken  shells,  were  the  following: — Small  pebbles,  5;  fragments  of 
Cardiiim  edule,  i ;  fragment  of  Ostrea,  i.  This  list  seems  so  remarkable  that 
I  am  sending  it  up  for  publication,  in  order  to  find  out  any  parallel 
instances  of  great  preponderance  of  one  species. 

A.  G.  Wii^SON,  Belfast. 
^  SpirialJs  rctrovcrsus  in  Killala  Bay. — During  the  recent  neap 
tides  and  in  fine  calm  weather  I  visited  the  Island  of  Bartra,  lying  across 
Killala  Bay,  and  having  a  long  range  of  sandy  beach  exposed  to  the 
Atlantic.  I  thought  it  would  be  a  favourable  day  for  shell  drift,  but  the 
most  interesting  occurrence  was  the  immense  deposit  of  Spirzalis 
retroversus.  It  lay  along  the  water-mark  in  a  broad  band  varying  in 
width  from  three  feet  to  a  few  inches,  and  heaped  up  in  some  places  to  a 
depth  of  two  inches.  This  deposit  extended  along  the  beach  for  about  a 
mile,  where  it  lay  like  froth.  Though  in  colour  a  pale  milky  chocolate, 
the  mass  had  evidently  been  wafted  in  alive,  as  the  odour  was  most  un- 
pleasant, and  remained  on  those  I  brought  away  for  some  da3^s.  Besides 
this  froth-like  deposit,  which  extended  for  quite  a  mile,  there  was  a 
smaller  quantity  mixed  with  the  usual  drift  all  along  the  beach. 

Once  before  I  met  with  this  shell  in  the  froth-like  masses,  though  not 
to  such  an  extent.     The  shells  were,  for  the  most  part,  very  small. 

Amy  Warren,  Ballina. 

FLSHES. 

The  AIlls  Shad  In  Irish  Waters. — The  July  number  of  the /m// 
Naturalist  mentions  that  a  specimen  of  the  AUis  Shad  had  been  lately 
taken  near  Donaghadee,  and  quotes  Thompson  as  an  authority  for  sa3'ing 
that  Londonderry  is  the  only  Irish  locality  where  it  has  been  found. 

Dr.  Day  on  the  other  hand  quotes  this  same  Thompson  as  reporting 
that  it  is  often  abundant  in  some  parts  of  Ireland,  and  specially  men- 
tions two  or  three  instances  from  Donegal,  and  I  have  myself  seen 
two  specimens  taken  in  Inver  Bay  on  the  west  coast  of  that  county. 

W.  SiNCi^AiR,  Strabane. 

[Thompson  (J^at.  Hist,  of  Lreland,  vol.  iv.,  p.  178)  gives  Londonderry  as 
the  only  Irish  locality  on  the  authority  of  the  Ordnance  Survey. — Eds.] 


Oct.,  1896.]  •  249 

MEDICAGO  SYI.VESTRIS  IN  IRHEAND. 

BY  R.  TJ.OYD  PRAEGER,  B.E^. 


In  June,  1894,  on  a  dry  sand}^  bank  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  Portmarnock  dunes,  opposite  the  village  of  Baldoyle,  I 
noticed  among  the  close-cropped  herbage  the  leaves  of  a  plant, 
apparently  a  Medicago  or   Trifolhim,  with  which  I  was  not 
familiar.     A  search  revealed  the  fact  that  it  grew  on  several 
other  dr}'  banks  in  the  vicinity,  but  no  trace  of  flower  or  fruit 
could  be  found.     On  looking  up  "  Cybele  Hibernica"  and  the 
*'  British  Association  Guide,"  I  could  find  no  plant  recorded 
from  Portmarnock  with  which  the  short  leafy  shoots  of  my 
plant  appeared  to  correspond,  so  I  went  back  at  the  end  of 
Jul}^  in  hopes  that  it  would  then  be  in  flower,  but  no  appear- 
ance of  blossom  could  be  detected.      Walking  into  Malahide, 
I  found  a  large  patch  of  the  same  plant  on  the  sand-dunes 
near  the  Baths.     Roots  from  Portmarnock  were  brought  aw^aj^ 
and  cultivated ;  they  grew  vigorously,  and  in  August  of  the 
next  year  (1895)  they  came  into  blossom  ;  and  at  first  sight, 
judging  by  its  large  size  and  clusters  of  purple  flowers,  I  took 
the  plant  to  be  a  form  of  Medicago  sativa.     But  before  the  plant 
had  ripened  its  fruit,  which  in  the  Medicks  furnishes  the  most 
satisfactory  specific  criterion,  it  was  accidentally  cut  down  to 
the  ground,  and  the  opportunit}"  of  critically  examining  it  was 
lost.     I  visited  Portmarnock  and  Malahide  again,  but  although 
there  was  an  abundance  of  leafy  shoots,  no  flower  or  fruit  had 
been  produced,   or  if  it  had,  had    been  eaten  down  by  the 
rabbits.     This  year,  however,  the  cultivated  specimens  shot 
up,  and  flowered  sparingly  at  the  end  of  Jul3%  and  when  the 
fruit  ripened  in  August  I  found  it  to  consist  of  a  pod  twisted 
in    the  shape  of  a  single    flat   or   slightly    spiral  ring,    thus 
corresponding  exactly  with  Medicago  sylvestris,   Fries,  a  very 
rare  plant,  known  in   Great  Britain    to  grow  onl}^  in  sandy 
or  gravelh'  places  on    one   limited  area,  which  extends  into 
the  counties  of  Suffolk,  Norfolk,  and  Cambridge.     A  fortnight 
later,  Prof.  G.  F.  Fitzgerald,  f.r.s.,  sent  me  specimens  of  the 
plant  in  flower  and    fruit  from  Malahide  for  determination, 
suggesting   the    name   Medicago   sylvcsfiis.       I  again  visited 

A 


i^6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Od , 

Portmarnock  and  Malahide,  and  found  the  plant  flowering 
and  fruiting  at  both  places.  At  Portmarnock  it  could  be 
traced  along  the  dr}-  banks  over  a  considerable  area,  but 
flowering  very  sparingly.  At  Malahide  it  appeared  to  be 
confined  to  the  limited  area  in  which  I  had  first  noticed  it ; 
here  most  of  the  flowers  assumed  the  peculiar  greenish- 
yellow  colour  that  is  characteristic  of  the  plant, '  others 
being  purple,  while  at  Portmarnock  almost  all  the  flowers 
were  bright  purple,  a  few  only  being  greenish-purple.  Though 
there  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of  the  plant, 
specimens  were  sent  to  Mr.  Arthur  Bennett,  who  promptly 
confirmed  my  determination,  adding  the  remark,  "  closely 
approaching  in  habit  the  wild  Suffolk  plant  as  I  have 
gathered  it." 

Two  points  in  connection  with  this  plant  and  its  occurrence 
in  Co.  Dublin  invite  comment — its  standing  (i)  as  a  good 
species,  and  (2)  as  a  native.  As  regards  its  specific  distinct- 
ness, and  its  relationships,  botanists  appear  to  be  much  at 
variance.  Fries^  first  described  it  as  a  species.  Hooker  and 
Arnott^  treated  it  as  a  variety  of  31.  falcata  ;  Reichenbach^, 
and  Grenier  and  Godron^,  considered  it  a  hybrid  between 
M.  falcata  and  M.  saliva  ;  Wallroth''  and  Koch^'  called  it  M^ 
falcata  /3.  versicolor.  Sj'me^  states  that  he  never  saw  the  plant 
alive,  and  therefore  "  adopts  the  middle  course"  of  giving  it 
sub'Specific  rank  under  M.  falcata.  Babington  treated  it  as  a 
good  species  in  the  last  edition  of  his  "  Manual,"  and  the 
same  course  is  followed  in  the  latest  edition  of  *'  I^ondon 
Catalogue." 

Discussing  the  question  of  its  hybridity,  and  Fries'  emphatic 
denial  of  the  possibility  of  this,  Syme  states  that  in  England 
it  frequently  occurs  where  M.  saliva  is  absent.  A  similar 
argument  against  its  hybrid  origin  might  now  be  advanced 
as  regards  its  Irish  stations,  for  M.  falcata  is  unknown  in 
Ireland  except  as  a  rare  casual,  and  the  other  supposed  parent, 
M.,  saliva,  only  occurs  occasionally  where  sown.  Indeed,  the 
occurrence  in  some  quantity  of  a  hybrid  where  one  parent  is 
absent,  and  the  other  is  a  fleeting  plant  of  cultivation,  strikes 
one  as  very  improbable. 

*  Mant.  III.     '^  Brit.  Flora^  ed.  8.     3  _/,■/.  Genu.  Eocciin.    ^  Flore  de  Frame,  I. 
'5  Sched.  Crit.        ^  Synopsis  Fl.  Germ,  el  Helv.,  ed,  2.        '  Efigl.  BoL,  ed.  3. 


189^.]         I'RAICGKR. — Medlcago  s'yivestrh  hi  Ireland.  25 1 

Again,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  reason  for  supposing 
the  plant  to  have  been  introduced  in  its  Irish  stations.     True, 
there  are  scattered  cottages  near  its  Portmarnock  home;  but 
there  is  very  little  cultivation  around  or  near  these  cottages. 
The  close-cropped  mossy  grass  extends  on  every  hand,  and 
no  other  introduced  plants   accompany  the   Medick.     The 
Malahide  station  is  nearer  the  influences  of  agriculture  and 
civilization,  but  the  occurrence  of  the  plant  here,  in  a  habitat 
exactly  similar  to  the  Portmarnock  one,  and  at  a  distance  of 
three  and  a  half  miles,  is  itself  an  argument  against  the  theory 
of  introduction.     Portmarnock  has  long  been  known  as  pro- 
ductive of  alien  plants,  it  is  true,  but  these  appear  to  have 
their  home  among  the  cultivated  fields  around  the  head  of  the 
Portmarnock  inlet,  and  not  among  the  natural  sward  at  the 
extremity  of  the  promontory,  where  several  rare  native  plants, 
such  as    Viola  hirta,  Vicia  lathyroides,  and  Epipactis  palustris^ 
have  long  been  known  to  flourish.     Another  plea  might  be 
put  forward  in  favour  of  its  introduction — that  so  large  a  plant 
is  not  likely  to  have  so  long  escaped  notice  in  localities  which 
have  been  thoroughly  known  to  botanists  for  a  century  past. 
But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  M,  sylvestris,  growing  stunted  among 
short  herbage  along  with  Ono7iis,  Trifolium,  and  other  similar- 
leaved  plants,  is  in  reality  quite  inconspicuous,  the  more  so  on 
account  of  its  sparse  and  late  blossoming ;  when  it  took  me 
three  seasons  to  discover  its  identity,  it  appears  possible  that 
botanists  have  overlooked  it,  or,  even  if  gathered,  that  it  was 
passed  by  as  an  indeterminable  fragment  of  probably  a  common 
species. 

When  once  studied,  M.  sylveslris  may  be  easily  recognised, 
even  in  the  absence  of  flower  or  fruit.  The  leaflets  are  smaller 
and  narrower,  and  the  stems  thinner,  more  branched,  and 
much  more  spreading  than  in  M,  saliva^  and  the  whole  plant, 
even  when  fully  developed  (as  it  appears  to  never  be  in  its 
Irish  stations,  thanks  to  rabbits  and  sheep)  is  smaller  than 
that  species.  In  blossom,  the  smaller  flowers,  in  shorter 
racemes,  furnish  an  additional  feature,  not  to  mention  their 
peculiar  colour  when  typical.  In  fruit,  the  pod,  coiled  in  a 
single  plane  or  slightly  spiral  circle,  supplies  a  character  that 
cannot  be  mistaken.  I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  com* 
paring  it  with  M.  falcata  in  a  living  state. 

A2 


252  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [  Oct., 

AI.G^   FROM  THE  NORTH  SIDE  OF  BELFAST 

LOUGHi. 

(Dredged  by  the  B.  N.  F.  C.  Expedition,  4tli  July,  1896.) 
BY   PROF.   T.   JOHNSON,   D.SC,    AND   MISS   R.    HENSMAN. 


To  the  request  of  the  B.N.F.C.  Secretaries,  that  we  of  the 
Dublin  Field  Club  who  happened  to  possess  any  special  know- 
ledge of  marine  fauna  and  flora  investigation,  should  go  over 
and  help  them,  there  could  be,  having  regard  to  the  kindly 
welcome  for  which  Belfast  is  noted,  but  one  answer.  Accord- 
ingly Dr.  C.  H.  Htirst,  H.  Lyster  Jameson,  Miss  Hensman, 
and  I,  joined  the  dredging  excursion,  of  which  some  of  the 
results  are  here  recorded. 

Remembering  that  the  weather  was  so  rough  the  day  the 
excursion  took  place  that  the  Belfast  Regatta  was  postponed, 
ihe  results  of  the  excursion,  as  recorded  below,  must  be  con- 
sidered satisfactory.  A  little  organization  of  the  enthusiasts 
who  faced  the  lough  on  the  4th  of  July  should  produce 
some  good  algologists. 

The  Belfast  Field  Club  would  do  a  splendid  piece  of  natural 
history  work,  if  it  would  make  such  arrangements  as  would 
enable  some  of  its  members  to  examine  thoroughly,  by  shore- 
hunting  and  dredging,  the  coast  of  Co.  Antrim,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Cushendall  and  Cushendun.  Practically  nothing 
has  been  added  to  the  knowledge  of  the  marine  flora  of  the 
N.  K.  of  Ireland  since  the  time  of  Harvey,  when,  mainly 
through  the  work  of  W.  Thompson  and  Dr.  D.  Moore,  the 
district  was  as  well  known  as  any  other. 

During  the  past  few  years  a  committee  has  been  investigating 
the  marine  flora  of  the  Clyde  sea  area,  and,  thanks  more 
especially  to  E.  A.  L-  Batters  (whose  lists  have  been  published), 
a  better  knowledge  of  this  district  is  now  possessed.  Several 
competent  members  of  the  Club  (whose  names  need  not  be 
mentioned)  should  be  encouraged  to  do  a  similar  piece  of  work 
for  the  N.  E.  of  Ireland. 

So  far  as  time  has  allowed  the  examination  of  the  material 
collected  to  proceed,  some  sixty  species  have  been  identified, 
of  which  the  more  interesting  are  here  given. 

•  For  a  general  account  of  the  Dredging  Excursion  on  which  these 
algse  were  obtained,  see  pp.  245-6. 


1896.]    Johnson  &.  Hknsman. — Algcsfrom  Belfast  Lough,     253 


Names  preceded  by  f  are  now  recorded  for  the  North-east 
of  Ireland  for  the  first  time.  Names  preceded  by  *  are  first 
records^  for  Ireland.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  all  is 
Halicystis  ovalisj  a  green  stalked  alga,  the  size  of  a  small 
pin-head.  This  alga,  though  known  to  occur  on  the  French 
and  Scandinavian  coasts,  has  been  only  once  before  recorded 
for  Britain — from  the  Clyde  district  by  the  late  Prof.  Schmitz 
and  G.  R.  Murray,  F.I..S. 


Cyanophyce^. 

AHyella  cccspitosa. 

\ Plectonema  terebrans. 

'\ Mastigocoletis  testariini. 

Chi,orophyce-<^. 

*  Halicystis  ovalis. 
*Pringsheimia  sciitata. 
\ Epicladia  Flustnx. 
t  Goniontia  polyrhiza. 

Ph^ophyce^. 

Arthrocladia  villosa. 
Stilophora  rhizodes. 
Sporochmis  pedunailatus. 
\Aglaozonia  reptans. 


Rhodophyce^. 

f  Conchocelis  rosea. 

^Erythrotrichia  carnea. 

\Scinaia  fiircellata. 

Phyllophora  Brodicei. 

* Adinococcus  snbaitaneus. 

Rhodophyllis  bifida. 

f  Gon  imophyllum  Buff  ham  i. 

Odonthalia  dentata. 

^Rhodochorton   memhranacetinu 

*R.  mesocarpum. 

Ceramium  diaphaniim. 

\Melobesia  Lejolisii. 

f  J/.  Co  rail i me. 

* Lithophylluvi  Lenormandi. 

\ Lithothamnion  calcareiim? 

\L.  corallioides. 


*  It  should  be  stated  that  though  the  records  are  new,  many  of  the 
species  have  been  already  found  by  the  writers  at  other  points  on  the 
Irish  coast. 

-  It  was  interesting  to  find  a  coralline  off  Carrickfergus,  identical  with 
the  much  discussed  Melobesia  coinpressa,  which  M'Calla  found  in  Dalkey 
Sound. 


254     •  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Oct., 

OLDHAMIA  IN  AMERICA. 

BY  PROF.    GRENVII.I.E  A.  J.   COI.K,    M.R.I.A.,   F.G.S. 


Oldha7?iia,  the  obscure  ridge-like  and  radiating  marking 
that  occurs  in  the  shales  of  the  Bray  series,  has  made  the 
county  of  Wicklow  famous  among  geologists  throughout  the 
world.  Continental  text-books  have  figured  these  problematic 
objects,  adding,  perhaps,  even  greater  firmness  to  their  out- 
lines, and  greater  symmetry  to  the  disposition  of  their  rays. 
The  handsome  specimens  in  the  Survey  collection  in  the 
Dublin  Museum  are,  indeed,  enough  to  stimulate  curiosity, 
even  if  they  are  disappointing  to  those  who  look  for  distinct 
organic  structure.  The  vSupporters  of  the  organic  view  of 
Oldhaviia  will,  however,  receive  much  encouragement  from 
the  discovery  of  similar  objects  in  America  iji  strata  of  Cavit)rian 
or  Lower  Ordovician  age.  Mr.  C  D.  Walcott,  Director  of  the 
U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  has  published  {Proc.  U,  S.  Natio7ial 
Museum,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  313)  a  valuable  description  of  Oldhamia 
occidens  Walcott,  from  shales  near  Troy,  New  York  State.  I 
am  indebted  to  the  author  for  kindly  sending  me  a  copy  of  a 
paper  not  easily  accessible. 

Mr.  Walcott  throws  doubt  on  Hall's  Oldhamia  friUicosa, 
from  the  Trenton  Limestone  (Upper  Ordovician)  of  Wisconsin, 
but  accepts  Lapworth's  determination  of  an  Oldha^nia,  species 
uncertain,  from  the  Cambrian  slates  of  Farnham,  in  the 
province  of  Quebec. 

The  specimens  on  which  the  new  record  are  based  were 
sent,  with  various  indeterminable  tracks  and  impressions,  by 
Mr.  T.  N.  Dale  to  his  chief  in  1893.  Oldhamia  occidens  is 
placed  under  the  sub-genus  Mtirchisonites-,  proposed  by  Brady 
for  O.  antiqua  in  1865  ;  but  it  differs  from  that  species  by  the 
fact  that  each  fan-like  tuft  springs  serially  from  the  summit 
of  that  preceding  it — or,  as  appears  from  the  figure,  from  some 
point  slightly  behind  the  summit,  so  that  the  "fans"  are 
grouped  along  a  straight  line,  the  broad  edge  of  one  just  over- 
lapping on  the  point  of  origin  of  that  following  it. 

The  description  of  the  beds,  which  are  "  post  Lower  Cam- 
brian and  pre-Trenton,"  reminds  one  very  strikingly  of  those 
of  Bray. 


i^96-l  C01.K. — Oldhavim  hi  America,  255 

The  literature  relating  to  the  Irish  examples  was  quoted 
in  the  first  number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist  (vol.  i.,  p.  13). 
Although  the  American  specimens  do  nothing,  as  Mr. 
Walcott  points  out,  to  advance  "  the  position  of  Oldhamia  in 
the  classification  of  organic  forms,"  yet  the  whole  question  is 
evidently  still  an  open  one;  while  the  absence  of  the  structure 
from  post-Ordovician  shales  has  still  to  be  explained  by  those 
who  regard  it  as  inorganic. 


CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  GLACIAIv  GKOIvOGY. 


A  IVIap  to  show  the  distribution  of  Eskers  In  Ireland.    By 

Prof.  W.  J.  Sollas,  l,lv.D.,  F.R.S.     {Sci.   Trans.  Royal  Dublin  Society,  vol.  v., 
part  xiii.     Price  2j.) 

In  this  paper  we  have  another  example  of  that  excellent  system  of 
publication,  by  which  single  memoirs,  read  before  a  learned  society, 
are  made  accessible  to  the  outer  world.  As  a  review  of  the  literature  of 
eskers  alone,  this  part  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  most  geologists  and  of  all  "  glacialists."  Its  title 
is  misleading,  for  it  is  far  more  than  a  map ;  and  the  map  given,  by-the- 
bye,  illustrates  only  a  certain  part  of  Ireland.  In  the  north  especially, 
numerous  fine  eskers  exist,  which  are  not  set  down  upon  the  maps  of  the 
Geological  Survey,  these  sheets  having  been  already  hachured ;  but  in 
the  region  between  Galway  and  Dublin,  Longford  and  Roscrea,  Prof. 
Sollas  has  been  able  to  extract  the  eskers  from  the  unshaded  i-inch 
maps,  and  from  the  documents  of  the  Geological  Survey,  and  has 
brought  together  a  striking  picture  of  their  distribution  and  of  their 
confluence.  He  sums  up  his  own  observations  as  telling  strongly 
in  favour  of  the  subglacial  origin  of  eskers  ;  the  materials  of  the  esker 
have  been  accumulated  in  the  lower  part  of  the  ice-sheet,  and  have  been 
left  behind  when  the  mass  melted  away.  Hummel,  in  1874,  suggested 
that  streams  running  beneath  an  ice-sheet,  or  beneath  a  local  glacier, 
hollow  out  tunnels,  which  become  choked  with  sand  and  gravel ;  the 
eskers  are  to  be  regarded  as  casts  of  these  tunnels.  Hoist,  two  or  three 
years  later,  held  that  eskers  originated  in  the  gravel  washed  into  the 
ravines  and  beds  of  rivers  which  were  cut  in  the  surface  of  the  ice  ;  the 
glacier,  on  melting,  yielded  up  the  drift  which  it  contained  at  various 
levels  within  it,  as  well  as  that  which  lay  upon  its  surface,  and  this 
material  became  arranged  along  the  beds  of  the  streams ;  finally,  the 
complete  melting  of  the  ice  left  these  river- accumulations  in  the  form 
of  ridges,  their  sides  having  been,  until  then,  banked  up  by  the  ice.  Dr 
James  Geikie  adopted  the  englacial  or  subglacial  view  of  eskers  in  1877, 
and  it  is  to  him  that  geologists  in  the  British  Isles  are  indebted  for  an 
introduction  to  Hummel's  and  Hoist's  most  suggestive  papers.  Prof. 
Sollas  does  justice  to  other  independent  workers,  such  as  Winchell  and 


256  .      The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Oct., 

Upham   in   America ;    but  should  not   Mr.   J.   G.   Goodchild   also  ap- 
pear prominently  in  this  connexion  ?    Mr.  Goodchild  (i)  put  forward 
in  1874  the  somewhat  curious  view  that  drumlins  and  eskers  accumulated 
on  rock-bosses  and  rock-ridges  bet-ween  the  channels  of  subglacial  streams, 
i.e.,  between  the  channels  of  greatest  flow  ;  but,  if  he  did  not  indepen- 
dently proceed  precisely  on  Hummel's  lines  of  argument,  his  papers 
contain  much  that  is  strikingly   original,   and  much   that  appears  to 
anticipate  the  work  of  Hoist.     Had  he  been  more  familiar  with  Irish 
eskers,  his  theory  would  doubtless  have  widened,  and  he  would  have  no 
longer  demanded  a  rocky  boss  as  a  base  for  every  accumulation.     His 
papers  contain  consistent  and  valuable  explanations  of  the  form  and 
inner  structures  'of  drift-mounds,    as  well  as  the  suggestion   that  the 
occasional  contortions  are  due  to  the  settling  down  of  ice-blocks  in  the 
glacier-mass  (2).     Prof.  Sollas,  after  his  review  of  the  literature,  gives  a 
topographical  account  of  the  principal  esker-systems  in  the  area  selected 
by  him,   showing  how  each  "presents  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  a 
map  of  a  river-system.     The   narrow  linear  outlines,  the  meandering 
course,  the  branches  converging  like  tributaries,  or  diverging  like  the 
channels  of  a  delta,  the  loops  and  knots  are  singularly  alike  in  each  " 
(p.  817).     He  ranges  himself  as  an  adherent  of  Hummel's  view  rather 
than  that  of  Hoist,  the  materials   of  the  esker  having  "been  deposited 
on  the  place  where  they  are  now  found  by  the  action  of  running  water," 
and  not  "  precipitated  in  mass  from  the  bottom  of  sinking  ice-canons  " 
(p.  819).     The  striking  observations  of  Russell  on  the  Malaspina  glacier 
certainly  afford  the  strongest  support  to  the  subglacial  rather  than  the 
englacial   theory.     Where  eskers  run  across  the  general  direction  of 
glacial  striae    in    the    district,    their   origin    is   somewhat    boldly    at- 
tributed   to    crevasses,    at  the  base   of  which   the  gravel   is    held  to 
accumulate. 

Certainly,  when  we  see  an  esker,  like  those  in  the  romantic  district 
west  of  Cookstown,  running  up  and  down  across  a  valley,  with  the  air 
of  the  Great  Wall  of  China,  and  breached  at  right  angles  by  the  stream, 
we  feel  that  we  have  still  a  good  deal  to  learn.  But  Prof.  Sollas  has  done 
for  Ireland  what  has  been  done  for  parts  of  eastern  America  and 
Scandinavia,  and  has  given  us  a  comprehensive  view  which  raises  pro- 
bability a  long  way  towards  proof.  The  map  is  beautifully  printed,  in 
four  colours  and  a  groundwork,  and  two  portions  are  given  in  the  text 
on  a  larger  scale.  There  is  also  a  "  fig.  3,"  apparently  showing  the  re- 
lation of  eskers  to  lines  of  bog ;  but  to  this  we  have  been  unable  to 
find  a  reference.  As  we  have  already  hinted,  the  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject in  the  text  is  even  more  important  than  the  map ;  and  the 
paper  becomes  a  permanent  work  of  reference  upon  eskers. 

G.  A.  J.  G. 


(1)  "  On  Drift."  Geol.  Mag.,  1874,  pp.  509  and  510.  Also  "The  glacial 
phenomena  of  the  Eden  Valley,  &c."  [Read  June  24,  1874].  Qjtart./otcrn. 
Geol.  Soc.  London,  vol.  xxxi.  (1875),  p.  95. 

(-)  Geol.  Ma§.  1874,  p-  508,  and  Q.J.  Geol.  Soc,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  96. 


1396.]  Contributiojis  to  Glacial  Geology.  257 

A  BiblioiTi'aphy  of  Irish  Glacial  and  Post-CIacial  GeoIog:y. 

By  R.  Lloyd  P^aeger,  b.E.     {^Proc,  Belfast  Nat.  Field  Club,  vol.  ii.,  Appendix 
6;  1S96;. 

This  work  appears  as  one  of  the  now  well  known  series  of  appendices 
published  by  the  northern  Field  Club  ;  but  it  is  also  issued  in  a  separate 
form,  so  as  to  be  accessible  to  all  geologists.  And,  indeed,  it  is  difficult 
to  name  the  geologist  to  whom  it  might  not  prove  useful ;  even  the 
continental  student  of  post-Pliocene  faunas  will  find  such  a  bibliography 
of  constant  service. 

Mr.  Praeger  brings  to  his  task,  involving  the  selection  and  cataloguing 
of  767  works  and  pamphlets,  the  knowledge  and  method  of  a  librarian. 
But,  unlike  some  bookmen  who  have  essayed  such  duties,  he  has  also  the 
judgment  of  a  naturalist,  and  is  able  to  give  us  a  note  on  every  paper, 
briefly  indicating  its  scope.  The  arrangement  is  alphabetical,  according 
to  authors,  and  two  indexes  follow,  one  grouping  the  papers  under  their 
geological  aspects,  while  the  other  classes  them  under  counties. 

No  such  list  can  ever  be  complete,  for  there  must  be  passing  references 
to  Irish  soils,  or  to  discoveries  of  shells  or  bones,  in  works  dealing  with 
subjects  far  other  than  glacial  geology.  But  Mr.  Praeger  has  gone  as  far 
as  he  could,  short  of  reading  every  work  in  which  Ireland  is  accor- 
ded prominence,  and  he  has  thus  given  us  Young's  reference  to 
Mitchelstown  Cave  in  "  A  Tour  in  Ireland,"  and  Parkinson's  account  of 
the  great  Irish  deer  in  "  Organic  Remains  of  a  former  World."  Kven 
human  bodies  found  in  bogs,  if  sufficiently  far  down,  come  within  his 
scope  ;  and  he  has  found  it  very  hard  to  draw  the  line  between  flint 
gravels  and  chipped  flints,  between  post-glacial  geology  and  human 
archaeology.  Mr.  Praeger's  tendency  to  give  even  trifling  references  is 
surely  very  much  on  the  safe  side,  and  he  seems  to  have  kept  well  clear 
of  vain  repetitions  and  purely  second-hand  sources  of  information.  The 
handsome  printing  of  the  list  will  enable  us  to  insert  any  later  references 
as  foot-notes,  or  in  the  margin  ;  but  we  shall  hope  for  an  appendix 
from  Mr.  Praeger  himself  every  ten  years  or  so,  and  a  complete  new 
edition  about  a.d.  1926.  Were  the  present  bibliography  never  touched 
or  reproduced,  its  value  to  geologists  v,^ould  remain  ;  it  is  a  pleasant 
gift  from  a  busy  worker  to  his  fellows,  and  will  vastly  lighten  the 
labours  of  all  who  deal  with  recent  deposits  in  the  British  Isles.  As  to 
those  who  call  themselves  "  glacialists,"  they  will  do  well  to  keep 
the  list  constantly  at  their  elbow ;  and  its  comprehensive  character 
may  make  us  indeed  hesitate,  before  we  add  one  sheet  of  foolscap  to 
the  controversial  side  of  glacial  geology.  May  we  look  in  time  for  a 
digest  of  the  whole  matter  from  Mr.  Praeger,  a  history  of  Ireland  in 
post-Pliocene  times,  which  shall  bring  together  the  scientific  results 
of  his  own  observations,  together  with  those  of  the  authors  whose  works 
he  has  so  carefully  kept  before  us  } 

G.  A.  J.  C. 


A  3 


^58  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Oct., 

THE  SKUAS  OF  KII,I,AI,A  BAY. 

BY  ROBERT  WARRKN. 


Oni,y  three  species  of  the  skua  family  have  as  yet  been 
known  as  visitors  to  this  bay  and  estuary — the  Pomatorhine, 
Richardson's,  and  the  lyongtailed  or  Buffon's  Skua. 

The  PoMATORHiNK  Skua  {Lestris ponmtorhimis^  up  to  the  date 
of  Wm.  Thompson's  "Birds  of  Ireland,"  was  very  little  known 
as  an  Irish  visitor,  only  nine  specimens  being  recorded  by 
him,  of  which  two  were  obtained  in  Belfast  Bay ;  one  in  the 
autumn  of  1834,  ^^^  ^^^  second  on  the  i6th  of  October,  1848, 
both  immature  birds. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  this  skua  began  in  1862,  when 
large  numbers  visited  the  bay  on  their  way  to  the  south.  For 
several  days  previous  to  the  22nd  of  October  the  weather  had 
been  very  stormy,  the  wind  blowing  in  wild  squalls  from  the 
south-west,  accompanied  by  heavy  showers  of  rain.  On  that 
morning  I  was  standing  at  the  parlour  window  of  Moyview, 
looking  down  the  estuary  towards  Bartragh,  when  suddenly  a 
flock  of  ten  or  twelve  dark-coloured  birds  appeared  in  view, 
flying  slowly  up  the  river  from  the  sea.  I  immediately  took 
my  gun  and  ran  down  to  the  shore,  but  only  reached  it  in 
time  to  see  the  skuas  pass  out  of  shot.  My  disappointment, 
however,  did  not  last  long,  for  a  few  moments  after  a  flock  of 
five  birds  passed,  out  of  which  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  secure 
a  fine  specimen  of  the  Pomatorhine  Skua  in  almost  perfect 
adult  plumage.  Several  other  flocks  passed  on  afterwards, 
and  I  was  able  to  obtain  a  second  bird  in  a  similar  stage  of 
plumage.  But  soon  after  I  had  shot  the  last  bird  I  was  called 
away  to  attend  to  some  business  matters,  which  delayed  me 
for  some  time,  and  when  I  returned  to  the  shore  found  that 
the  flight  of  skuas  had  ceased  for  that  day. 

On  the  morning  of  the  23rd  the  gale  still  continued,  but  had 
changed  round  to  the  west- north-west,  and  consequently  the 
skuas  in  their  flight  up  the  river  kept  close  to  the  eastern  (or 
Mayo)  side,  and  none  came  within  shot  of  the  Sligo  side,  upon 
which  Moyview  is  situated.  On  both  days  the  skuas  after 
keeping  along  the  tidal  course  of  the  river  for  about  two  miles 
directed  their  flight  across  the  country  to  the  south-west. 


1896]  Warrkn, — The  Skuas  of  Killala  Bay.  259 

I  had  an  excellent  opportunity  for  observing  those  that 
passed  on  the  22nd,  and  have  little  or  no  hesitation  in  con- 
sidering the  greater  part,  if  not  all,  to  have  been  Pomatorhines  ; 
the  first  flock  that  passed  v^ere  undoubtedly  of  that  species, 
their  great  size  and  clumsy-looking  tails  clearly  pointing  them 
out  as  such,  and  all  exhibiting  white  underneath,  and  long 
tails  which  proved  them  to  have  been  adults. 

When  seen  during  flight  the  Pomatorhine  Skua's  tail  pre- 
sents a  very  clumsy,  awkward  appearance,  in  contrast  to  the 
elegantly  pointed  tails  of  the  smaller  skuas  ;  this  is  caused  by 
the  two  elongated  tail-feathers  being  bluntly  rounded  at  the 
ends  and  twisted  for  nearly  half  their  length  at  almost  right 
angles  to  the  plane  of  the  short  tail-feathers,  so  that  when  a 
side  view  of  the  bird  is  taken  the  full  breadth  of  the  long  tail- 
feathers  is  shown,  giving  the  tail  that  thick,  clumsy  appearance 
which  so  easily  identifies  this  species  of  skua  on  the  wing. 

Very  few  dark- coloured  birds  were  seen  on  either  day — 
probably  not  one  to  ten  of  the  white-breasted  ones. 

I  could  not  be  quite  certain  as  to  which  species  the  birds 
seen  on  the  second  day  belonged,  for  they  passed  at  too  great 
a  distance  for  me  to  judge  of  their  size  and  appearance  ;  but 
as  the  first  day's  flight  was  undoubtedly  made  up  of  Pomato- 
rhines, it  niaj^  be  safely  inferred  that  the  second  day's  was  a 
continuance  of  the  first,  and  therefore  was  of  the  same 
species. 

A  very  interesting  letter  from  J.  C.  Neligan,  of  Tralee,  was 
read  at  a  meeting  of  the  late  Dublin  Natural  History  Society, 
in  March,  1863,  describing  his  meeting  with  a  large  flight  of 
skuas  (many  of  them  Pomatorhines)  in  Tralee  Harbour  on 
the  25th  of  October,  1862,  just  two  days  after  the  last  of  the 
skuas  left  this  on  the  23rd,  and,  I  think,  almost  satisfactorily 
proving  that  the  skuas  after  leaving  this  bay,  and  crossing 
the  island,  continued  their  flight  along  the  coast  to  Tralee 
Harbour,  where  they  took  shelter  and  remained  while  the 
stormy  weather  lasted. 

Since  the  above  date,  this  skua,  so  far  as  I  am  aware  of,  has 
only  occasionally  occurred  in  this  and  the  adjoining  County 
of  Mayo:  four  specimens  only  having  come  under  my  notice. 
An  adult  bird  of  the  black  variety  was  shot  on  lyough  Conn  by 
my  friend,    Mr.  John  Garvey,  of    Ballina,  on    the   24th  of 


26o  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Oct., 

October,  1890;  and  on  the  8th  of  November  same  year, 
the  late  Dr.  Burkitt  sent  my  friend,  Mr.  R.  J.  Ussher,  of 
Cappagh  House,  Co.  Waterford,  an  adult  bird  that  he  had  found 
dead  in  a  field  close  to  his  house,  near  BelmuUet,  County  Mayo. 
Then,  during  the  last  week  of  November,  1890,  Dr.  Scott  of 
Bnniscrone  gave  me  an  immature  specimen  of  the  black 
variety,  that  was  shot  by  his  nephew,  as,  in  company  of  two  or 
three  others,  it  was  flying  over  a  bog  near  Kilasser,  twelve  or 
fourteen  miles  from  the  sea.  And  a  fourth  vSpecimen,  a  very 
fine  adult,  with  long  tail  and  white  under-parts,  was  found 
lying  dead  (but  quite  fresh)  on  the  Bnniscrone  sands  by  Miss 
Amy  Warren  on  the  2nd  October,  1892. 

Richardson's  Skua  (Lestris  crepidat7is~)  visits  the  ba}^  and 
estuary  much  oftener  than  either  of  the  other  two  species, 
some  being  observed  nearly  every  autumn,  during  the  migra- 
tory^ months  of  September  and  October. 

This  skua  first  came  under  my  notice  in  October,  1851, 
when  residing  with  my  brother,  Mr.  B.  H.  Warren,  on  the 
island  of  Bartragh.  We  observed  the  first  of  the  skuas  on  the 
8th,  when,  as  we  were  returning  from  Killala  to  Bartragh,  two 
flocks  of  six  and  eight  birds  were  seen  at  a  great  height  coming 
from  the  open  bay,  and  passing  across  the  country  to  the  south- 
west; but  these  were  only  the  precursors  of  the  large  numbers 
that  followed  on  the  15th  and  i6th.  .  The  wind  had  been  blow- 
ing in  wild  squalls,  with  heavy  showers  of  rain  on  the  morning 
of  the  15th,  when  my  brother  observed  four  skuas  flying  from 
the  bay  ;  about  half-past  nine  o'clock,  nineteen  birds  passed, 
one  of  which  I  shot  (an  immature  Richardson's).  At  eleven, 
I  saw  twenty-two  pass ;  about  twelve,  I  saw  ten,  and  at  one 
o'clock,  seventeen  birds  passed  over  ;  all  flying  in  the  same 
direction,  up  the  river  to  the  south-west  These  flocks,  to- 
gether with  the  stragglers  that  passed  singly  while  we  were 
watching,  altogether  made  up  the  number  to  seventy-two  birds, 
counted  without  mistake.  On  the  morning  of  the  i6th  the 
flight  still  continued,  the  birds  passing  in  small  flocks,  and  up 
to  eleven  o'clock  (we  were  unable  to  remain  longer)  upwards 
of  one  hundred  birds  were  seen. 

They  appeared  to  be  all  Richardson's  (I  did  not  notice  the 
large  Pomatorhine  amongst  them),  and  the  greater  part  were 
dark-coloured  birds,  and  mostly  immature,  for  very  few  long- 


1896.]  Warren.— 77/^  Skuas  of  Killala  Bay.  261 

tailed,  or  white-breasted  ones  were  seen  ;  some  of  the  skuas 
appeared  tired  with  their  long  flight  against  the  wind,  and 
would  occasionally  light  on  the  water,  resting  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  then  rise  and  follow  their  companions.  Strange  to  say, 
though  there  were  plenty  of  gulls  about  the  sands  on  both  days 
while  the  skuas  were  passing,  j^et  we  never  saw  any  attempt 
to  chase  the  gulls,  though  quite  close  to  them. 

The  next  occasion  on  which  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
skuas  on  migration  was  on  the  iSth  September,  1869 — a  fine 
bright  calm  day,  as  I  was  in  one  of  my  fields  looking  on  at 
some  reapers  at  work,  and  chancing  to  look  upwards,  my 
attention  was  drawn  to  a  flock  of  fifteen  birds  passing  at  an 
immense  height  on  their  usual  course  to  the  south-west,  and 
if  the  daj^  had  not  been  so  clear  I  could  not  have  recognised 
them  as  skuas,  for  I  was  only  just  able  to  make  out  their  dark 
long  tails  against  the  clear  blue  sky.  Again  on  the  3rd  of 
October,  1874,  I  was  fortunate  in  witnessing  a  small  flight  of 
skuas  migrating  in  the  usual  direction.  The  weather  had  been 
ver}^  stormy,  with  heavy  showers  for  some  days  before  :  wind 
north-west  on  this  day,  when  about  ten  o'clock  I  observed  a 
flock  of  twenty  birds  flying  up  the  river  from  the  sea  ;  a  short 
time  afterwards  four  more  passed ;  then  a  little  flock  of  three, 
w^hich  v/ere  followed  by  four,  and  in  about  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  a  solitarj^  bird  (which  I  think  was  a  Pomatorhine) 
brought  up  the  rear,  and  as  far  as  I  saw  ended  the  flight  for 
the  daj^ 

I  have  frequently  observed,  and  shot  solitary  birds  of  this 
species  during  the  migrator}^  months  of  September  and  October, 
but  their  spring  visits  are  very  rare. 

In  May,  1877,  a  party  of  six  birds  accom^panied  a  large  flight 
of  Common  and  Arctic  Terns  visiting  the  bay  and  estuar}- : 
three  of  the  skuas  were  in  light-coloured  plumage,  and  three 
in  the  very  dark,  or  black  stage,  and  I  imagined  at  the  time, 
from  seeing  a  light  and  a  dark-coloured  bird  keeping  company, 
that  these  colours  marked  the  male  and  female,  and  in  order 
to  ascertain  if  my  surmise  was  correct,  I  shot  three  birds,  a 
light-coloured  one,  a  bird  in  an  intermediate  stage  of  plumage, 
and  a  dark,  or  nearly  black  one,  all  three  having  long  tails, 
showing  that  they  w^ere  adults.  However,  much  to  my  sur- 
prise, on  skinning  and  dissecting  them,  they  all  three  turned 

A4 


262  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Oct., 

out  to  be  females,  the  ovaries  of  each  containing  eggs  varying 
in  size  from  No.  8  to  B  shot. 

The  lyONGTAii^ED  or  Bupfon's  Skua  (^Lestris  parasiticzcs) 
is  of  very  rare  occurrence  on  this  part  of  the  coast,  and  has  only 
on  two  occasions  come  under  my  notice — first,  on  the  24th  of 
October,  1862,  I  was  on  the  shore  near  Scurmore,  looking  out 
for  any  rare  birds  that  might  have  been  driven  in  by  the  gale 
of  the  two  previous  days,  when  a  small  skua  flew  past,  which 
I  fired  at  and  wounded,  but  it  escaped  over  the  sandhills.  On 
the  following  day  when  walking  along  the  Bnniscrone  sands, 
on  the  bay  side  of  the  sandhills,  and  nearly  in  the  same  place 
where  on  the  previous  day  I  had  found  two  fine  specimens  of 
the  Fulmar  Petrel,  I  picked  up  a  dead  skua,  and  fancied  it 
was  the  bird  I  had  fired  at  the  day  before.  After  I  got  home 
I  skinned  the  bird  and  found  that  it  was  wounded  by  No.  6 
shot,  the  same  that  I  had  used,  .so  felt  pretty  certain  that  it 
was  the  bird  I  had  wounded.  It  proved  to  be  an  immature 
specimen  of  Buffon's  Skua. 

The  second  specimen  was  given  to  me  by  the  late  Mr.  N. 
Handy  of  Ballintubber,  near  Killala,  on  the  18th  of  October, 
1867,  who  told  me  he  met  it  when  out  grouse-shooting,  and 
shot  it  as  it  rose  from  the  carcase  of  a  hare,  upon  which  it  had 
been  feeding.  This  was  also  an  immature  bird,  but  as  it  had 
been  kept  too  long,  I  was  unable  to  preserve  it. 

The  only  instance  that  I  am  aware  of  this  skua  being  seen 
on  its  spring  migration  in  Ireland,  is  that  mentioned  by 
Lieutenant  Crane,  of  the  67th  Regiment,  in  a  letter  read  at  a 
meeting  of  the  late  Dublin  Natural  History  Society  on  the 
7th  February,  1862,  in  which  he  says  :  — 

"The  specimens  of  Buffon's  Skua  were  shot  by  me  on  the  i6th  of  May, 
i860,  on  the  Shannon,  about  five  miles  south  of  Athlone. 

"  I  was  out  with  two  brother  officers  shooting  Land-rails,  which  are  very 
plentiful  on  that  part  of  the  river.  The  day  was  very  stormy,  and  cold 
for  the  season,  the  wind  from  north-west.  I  was  sitting  in  a  boat  at  a 
place  called  lyongisland,  when  a  flock  of  about  twenty  skuas  passed 
over.  I  saw  at  once  that  they  were  not  common  birds  :  the  long  tail 
feathers  marked  them  at  once  ;  but  as  I  was  sitting  in  the  bow,  the  flock 
had  nearly  passed  over  before  I  saw  them,  but  I  succeeded  in  killing 
one.  Sometime  after  another  flock  of  about  the  same  number 
passed,  but  I  could  not  get  a  shot ;  but  a  third  flock  came  over,  out  of 
which  I  killed  one  with  each  barrel,  making  three  in  all.      I  gave  two 


I 


1S95.]  Warren. —  The  Skuas  of  Killala  Bay.  263 

of  them  to  the  late  Mr.  Glennon,  and  he  then  showed  me  another,  which 
he  told  me  had  been  killed  from  a  flock  in  the  Co.  Donegal  on  the  I7tli, 
the  day  after  I  got  mine.  The  birds  were  following  the  course  of  the 
Shannon,  flying  north.  I  gave  the  third  specimen  to  Major  Newton, 
R.A.,  who  sent  it  to  his  brother,  Alfred  Newton,  Esq.,  so  well  known 
for  his  work  on  eggs.     I  saw  between  sixty  and  seventy  in  all." 

From  the  foregoing  notes  on  .skuas  seen  on  their  southern 
migration,  and  from  the  fact  that  my  brother,  when  residing 
on  Bartragh  island  from  February,  185 1,  to  December,  1855, 
observed  skuas  every  October  passing  over  Bartragh,  and 
crossing  the  country  to  the  south-west,  I  think  it  may  be 
safely  inferred  that  the  line  of  flight  of  a  part  of  the  southern 
migration  is  along  our  north-west  coast  until  Killala  Bay  is 
reached,  and  then,  to  avoid  the  longer  course  round  the  rugged 
coast-line  of  Mayo  and  Galway,  they  enter  Killala  Bay,  and 
taking  the  shorter  and  more  direct  course  over  Bartragh,  con- 
tinue their  south-west  route  across  the  countr}^  and  striking 
on  the  coast  again,  probably  at  Galway  Bay,  continue  their 
flight  to  the  south. 

It  may  also  be  noted  that  the  skuas  were  never  seen  in 
any  large  numbers,  unless  during  very  stormy  w^eather  occur- 
ring in  October  :  and  that  if  the  w^eather  was  calm  and  fine 
during  that  month,  only  a  few  straggling  birds  w^ere  seen, 
probably  birds  not  strong  enough  to  keep  up  with  the  main 
flight. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  IRISH   SOCIETIES. 


RoYAi,  Zooi^oGiCAi,  Society. 

Recent  donations  comprise  a  magnificent  pair  of  Crown  Cranes  from 
L.  O.  Hutton,  Esq. ;  a  pair  of  Bibron's  Frogs  from  A.  E.  Jamrach,  Esq. ; 
a  pair  of  Wild  Cats  from  Miss  Cunningham  ;  a  Merlin  from  Sir  Douglas 
Brooke  ;  a  snake  from  the  Editor  of  the  Irish  Field  ;  two  parrots  from  J. 
H.  Davidson-Houston,  Esq. ;  an  eagle  from  F.  H.  Young,  Esq.  ;  a  Merlin 
from  C.  J.  Wisdom,  Esq.  :  a  Cape  Canary  from  Mrs.  Cannon  ;  and  some 
Loach  from  Miss  Phillipson.  Two  Lion  cubs  and  two  Capybaras  have 
been  born  in  the  Gardens,  and  a  Somali  Lioness  has  been  purchased. 

19,928  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  August. 


264  The  Irish  Nationalist .  [Oct., 


BEI.FAST  NaTURAI^ISTS'   FlEI,D   C1.UB. 

August  15. — The  Club  held  an  excursion  to  Slieve  Gallion,  in  County 
Derry.  The  party,  numbering  over  twenty,  left  the  Northern 
Counties  Station  at  eight  o'clock,  arriving  at  Moneymore  at 
ten.  Cars  were  at  once  taken,  and  the  long  drive  will  be  a  pleasant 
recollection  to  all  the  party,  the  hedgerows  being  bright  with  black- 
berries and  the  brilliant  scarlet  of  the  honeysuckle-berries.  Arriving 
at  Lough  Fea,  a  boat  was  kindly  provided  on  the  lake  by  Mr.  Russell 
to  explore  the  crannog  showing  so  conspicuously  in  the  centre.  A 
short  notice  of  the  geology  of  the  district  was  read,  written  by  Professor 
Cole,  who  had  been  working  out  the  local  rocks,  the  main  features  being 
the  intrusion  of  granite  in  pre-Carboniferous  times  into  the  much  older 
pyroxenic  and  hornblendic  rocks,  formerl}'  supposed  to  have  been  altered 
shales  and  sandstones,  but  now  recognised  as  being  volcanic  in  origin, 
ashes  and  tuffs  having  been  found  in  considerable  quantity,  and  vesicular 
structure  being  often  seen.  The  melting  up  of  the  older  rock  by  the 
intrusive  gra,nite  seems  to  have  produced  a  curiously  mixed  rock  on  a 
regional  scale.  This  is  described  by  the  Geological  Survey  and  elsewhere 
as  diorite,  and  was  supposed  to  have  been  of  separate  origin.  It  is  also  of 
considerable  interest  to  see  the  small  capping  of  our  familiar  basalt  and 
Chalk,  showing  what  a  gigantic  amount  of  denudation  has  gone  on 
in  geologically  recent  times  in  order  to  clear  all  the  basalt  and  most  of 
the  Chalk  from  the  great  valleys  on  either  side  of  the  mountain.  The 
members  were  then  free  to  ascend  the  mountain  or  explore  the  lake ; 
but  the  party  decided  to  climb,  so  a  start  was  at  once  made  over  the 
fields  and  by  cart  lanes  until  the  open  heath  was  reached.  Investigating 
each  crag  and  exposure  of  the  rock,  the  party  gradually  reached  the 
summit  (1,623  feet),  from  which  the  view  proved  somewhat  disappointing 
owing  to  the  heavy  clouds  covering  the  sky-  After  a  short  rest  the 
descent  was  undertaken,  passing  exposures  of  the  mingled  rock  above 
referred  to.  Another  long  and  lovely  drive  brought  the  members  to  the 
top  of  Carndais}'  Glen.  The  little  stream  has  cut  down  through  gravels 
and  sands  until  it  now  has  got  some  way  into  the  rock,  the  sides  of  the 
gorge  rise  steeply,  beautifully  timbered  on  either  hand,  while  the  carriage 
road  runs  down  close  by  the  stream.  Leaving  the  vehicles,  the 
members  scattered  in  pursuit  of  their  various  avocations,  the  fungi  being 
(though  still  early)  especially  noticeable.  The  Hedgehog  Mushroom 
Hydmim  repandwii)  was  in  considerable  quantity,  as  were  several  species  of 
Kiissula,  Boletus  (including  the  locally  rare  B.  satanas),  Amaiiita  and  Peziza. 
Halfway  down  the  glen  the  surprising  sight  was  seen  of  the  stream 
apparently  rushing  against  the  steep  bank,  and  having  cut  through  it,  flow- 
ing at  right  angles  to  its  old  course,  now  quite  dry.  This  has  been  caused 
by  a  second  stream  cutting  its  way  from  outside,  till  its  bed  was  lower 
than  the  main  one,  thus,  when  cut  far  enough  back,  tapping  the  larger 
stream  and  producing  the  above  effect.  On  arriving  at  the  end  of  the 
glen  cars  were  again  mounted,  and  the  few  miles  separating  Carndaisy 
from  Moneymore  were  soon  covered,  bringing  the  party  quickly  to  the 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  265 

Drapers'  Arms,  where  tea  was  iu  readiness.  It  should  be  mentioned 
that  some  members  of  the  Gaelic  League  accompanied  the  Field  Club, 
and  succeeded  in  finding  quite  a  number  of  Irish-speaking  people,  though 
even  the  magic  key  of  silver  failed  to  extract  Gaelic  from  the  j^ounger 
members  of  the  community. 

September  5. — The  last  long  excursion  of  the  season  was  held  to 
Ballynahinch  and  Slieve  Croob,  where  a  pleasant  and  enjoyable  day  was 
spent  amongst  the  rocks  and  mountains  of  what  is,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Mournes,  the  wildest  portion  of  County  Down.  The  party 
drove  through  Ballynahinch,  past  the  historic  height  of  Ednavaddy,  to 
where  the  Belfast  Water  Commissioners  are  having  a  section  made  of 
their  new  Mourne  scheme.  Here  a  short  halt  was  called  to  allow  the 
members  to  inspect  a  deep  cutting  through  which  a  concrete  tunnel  has 
been  made.  Shortly  after  this,  the  little  village  of  Dromara  was  reached, 
and  then  the  mountain  road  was  taken  skirting  the  Lagan.  A  good 
climb  up  the  beds  of  different  streams,  each  party  intent  on  discovering 
the  real  source  of  the  Lagan,  soon  brought  all  the  members  to  different 
little  wells  of  limpid  water,  where  lunch  was  taken.  The  sloping  sides 
of  Monahoor  were  then  passed,  and  the  heights  of  Cratlieve  left  behind, 
making  it  but  an  easy  pull  up  to  the  topmost  cairn,  1,755  f^^t  high,  of 
Slieve  Croob  itself.  Here  a  halt  was  called,  and  some  photos  taken 
around  the  great  cairn,  which  has  been  pulled  down  and  erected  into 
small  modern  piles.  A  little  work  would  restore  this  cairn  to  its  original 
conical  condition — the  covering  and  monument  of  some  long-forgotten 
hero.  From  the  cairn  the  descent  was  eas}-  and  rapid  to  the  vehicles, 
which  were  soon  mounted,  and  the  road  taken  to  the  little  chapel  of 
Dunmore,  high  perched  upon  a  rocky  knoll.  Here  Father  Quail,  who 
had  been  the  Club's  local  guide  throughout  the  day,  showed  the  members 
some  geological  specimens  and  other  things  of  interest.  Time  did  not 
permit  of  a  long  delay,  so  the  road  was  once  more  taken  to  the  Spa, 
where  an  excellent  tea  was  provided  by  Miss  Brelsford,  after  which  the 
following  new  members  were  elected : — The  Rev.  G.  Foster,  Mrs. 
Stevens,  and  the  Rev.  Richard  Cole.  The  President,  Mr.  Lavens  M. 
Ewart,  M.R.I. A.,  in  a  few  well-chosen  words,  then  thanked  Father 
Quail,  on  behalf  of  the  members,  for  his  great  kindness  and  hospitality 
throughput  the  day. 

Geot^ogicai.  Section. — This  section  met  in  the  Museum  on  the  29th 
July,  when  Mr.  A.  G.  Wilson,  Honorar}^  Secretary,  described  a  recent 
visit  with  Professor  Cole  to  the  Slieve  Gcllion  district,  illustrating  his 
remarks  by  a  collection  of  rock  specimens,  which  he  subsequently 
presented  to  the  Club.  Mr.  R.  Bell  mentioned  that  the  well-known 
Rhsetic  beds  in  Colin  Glen,  which  had  been  inaccessible  for  many 
years,  are  exposed  by  recent  floods,  exhibiting  specimens  of  the  bone 
bed.  He  also  presented  a  series  of  rhyolites  from  Cloughwater,  Kirk- 
inriola,  Ballyloughan,  and  Bslerstown.  After  some  discussion,  the 
Pomero}'  excursion  was  relinquished,  as  the  section  to  be  visited  occurs 
in  the  bed  of  a  stream.  The  recent  excursion  to  Glenavy  was  also  spoiled 
by  the  severe  rain,  which  had  made  Lough  Neagh  unusually  high. 


266  The  Irish  Nahtralisf.  [  Oct., 

Dubinin  Naturai^ists'  Fiei.d  CIvUB. 
August  15. — Kei,i.y's  GIvEn.  A  party  numbering  close  on  thirty 
proceeded  by  car  and  cycle  to  Whitechurch,  and  thence  on  foot  up  Kelly's 
Glen.  Some  elected  to  search  along  the  stream,  where  rough  banks 
strewn  with  rocks  invited  the  naturalist ;  others  struck  up  the  heather- 
clad  side  of  Tibradden  Mountain,  and  along  its  high  ridge  to  the  summit, 
where,  from  the  ruined  sepulchral  earn,  a  fine  view  of  the  Dublin  and 
Wicklow  hills  was  to  be  had.  The  party  re-assembled  at  a  whitewashed 
cottage  at  the  head  of  the  glen,  where  tea  was  spread  on  the  grass.  Close 
at  hand  rose  the  green  slopes  that  covered  a  deposit  of  much  geological 
interest — the  highest  of  the  celebrated  series  of  Dublin  high-level  glacial 
gravels.  The  descent  was  made  across  the  ridge  to  Ticnock,  and  thence 
to  Dundrum.  The  season  was  rather  advanced  for  flowering  plants,  but 
Trifolium  medium  was  observed  in  one  of  its  few  Co.  Dublin  stations  ; 
with  it  grew  the  Golden  Rod  (Solidago  virgaia-ea).  The  Sweet-Scented 
Orchis  {Gymnadenia  conopsea)  and  Grass  of  Parnassus  {Parnassia  palustris) 
were  still  in  flower  in  damp  spots,  and  the  mountain  variety  of  the  Cow- 
wheat  {Melampynaii  pratense  var.  montammi)  was  gathered  both  on  Ti- 
bradden and  Kilmashoge.  Among  the  Liverworts  collected  by  Mr. 
M'Ardle  were  Scapania  nemorosa,  S.  umb)-osa,  Nardia  gracillima,  axidi  Riccardia 
inultifida  var.  pinnatijida. 

September  5.  —  BriTTas  Bay.  A  rainy  morning  kept  a  few 
members  away,  but  a  party  of  close  on  twenty  disembarked  at  Wicklow 
from  the  train  leaving  Dublin  at  lo.o.  The  day  brightened  as  the  party 
drove  southward,  through  pretty  undulating  country  and  hedges  laden 
with  sloes,  hips,  haws,  and  blackberries.  The  sands  of  Brittas  Bay  were 
reached  shortly  after  mid-day,  and  as  the  sun  burst  forth  the  party 
scattered  among  the  dunes.  Here  that  fine  and  rare  rush,  /uncus  acuius, 
grew  plentifully.  Specimens  were  measured  seven  feet  in  height.  Other 
plants  of  the  sand-hills  were  Carlma,  Cynoglossutn,  Euphorbia  paralias^  and 
E.  portlandica.  On  the  sand-hills  the  entomologists  noted  a  fair  number 
of  species.  Amongst  the  beetles  the  following  are  noteworthy:  — 
Dej?ietrius  atricapillus,  Dromius  nigriventris,  Otiot-rhynchus  ovatus,  and  a  very 
white  form  of  the  common  Philopedon  geminatus.  In  the  marshy  ground 
behind  the  sand-hills  Aphodius  fatens  occurred,  a  very  local  species  in 
Ireland.  Two  uncommon  plant-bugs  were  found  on  the  sand-hills, 
Metacanthus  pundipes  and  Nabis  lativentris.  The  former  occurred  in  abund- 
ance under  Lotus  corniculatus ;  it  had  previously  occurred  only  on  Portmar- 
nock  sands.  The  Spiders  collected  included  Lycosa  leopardus,  L.  picta, 
Fardosa  monticola,  and  an  immature  Drassus  (probably  D.  delinquens)  new  to 
the  Irish  Fauna.  Along  the  rocks  of  Mizen  Head  were  found  Statice 
occidentalis  and  Carex  exiensa.  Fcrniculum  and  Arte?nisia  Absinthium  grew  on 
roadsides  adjoining.  A  note  on  the  fungi  taken  will  be  found  on  p.  268. 
At  3.30  a  sumptuous  tea  was  provided  by  Mrs.  Johnson,  and  subse- 
quently the  party  drove  back  to  Wicklow,  and  caught  the  mail  train  to 
town.  Hon.  R.  K-  Dillon  and  Brigade-Surgeon  Wellington  Gray  were 
elected  members  of  the  Club, 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  267 

Cork  Naturai^ists'  P^iei^d  Ci,ub. 

August  12. — Rostei.i<an  and  Castile  Mary.  Fifteen  members 
left  by  12.10  train,  and  proceeded  by  steamer  to  Aghada  from  Passage. 
Driving  to  Rostellan  the  grounds  were  explored,  and  along  the  boggy 
margins  of  the  lake  were  found  the  Common  Skullcap  (^Scutellaria 
galericulatd)  in  abundance,  the  Gipsywort  {Lycopus  cicropaus),  the  Mares- 
tail  {Hippuris  vulji^aris),  and  the  Marsh  Willow-herb  {Epilobiuni  paltistre). 
Crossing  the  fields  to  Castle  Mary,  the  Dwarf  Spurge  [Euphorbia  exigua) 
was  noted,  a  species  local  in  Ireland.  Two  fungi  were  collected,  Boletus 
edulis,  frequent  in  the  moist  woods  at  Rostellan,  and  Coprimes  comatus 
under  the  beeches  at  Castle  Mary.  The  margins  of  the  lake  at  Rostellan 
were  evidently  rich  in  insect  life,  but  time  prevented  many  captures. 
Numerous  fine  specimens  oi  Argynnis  aglaia  were  seen.  After  tea  at  Cloyne 
the  fine  old  cathedral  was  visited,  and  the  round  tower  inspected.  A 
drive  of  four  miles  back  to  Aghada,  then  steamer  and  train,  and  Cork 
was  reached  at  9.45,  after  a  most  delightful  day's  outing. 


FIKI.D  CI.UB  NEWS. 


The  Dublin  Club  has  recently  been  elected  a  Corresponding  Society 
of  the  British  Association,  and  was  for  the  first  time  represented  at  the 
Corresponding  Societies'  Conference  at  the  recent  meeting  at  Liverpool. 
Prof.  Johnson,  Treasurer  of  the  Club,  was  the  delegate  on  this  occasion. 

Several  English  conchologists — Dr.  Chaster,  Mr.  R.  Standen,  and 
Mr.  Hardy — have  recently  been  collecting  in  North  Antrim,  under  the 
able  guidance  of  Mr.  R.  Welch.  We  trust  some  account  of  their  results 
will  shortly  appear  in  these  pages. 

We  note  with  pleasure  that  the  Hon.  R.  B.  Dillon,  who  initiated  and 
organized  the  recent  week's  field-work  at  Clonbrock,  the  results  of  which 
filled  our  last  issue,  has  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Dublin  Club. 
Mr.  Dillon's  name  is  already  well-known  on  account  of  his  remarkable 
entomological  discoveries  in  Co.  Galway. 

Mr.  Charles  Elcock,  long  a  member  of  the  Belfast  Field  Club,  and  a 
microscopical  manipulator  of  great  skill,  has  been  appointed  Curator 
of  the  Art  Gallery  and  Museum  at  the  Free  Public  Library  in  Belfast, 
in  place  of  Mr.  J.  F.  Johnson,  whose  recent  mysterious  disappearance 
caused  some  sensation  locally. 

The  Cork  Club  are  losing  a  valued  member  by  the  removal  of  Surgeon 
W.  G.  Axford,  r.n.,  f.i,.s.,  from  H.M-S.  Black  Prince,  Queenstown,  to 
Devonport,  where  he  has  been  appointed  Surgeon  to  the  Dockyard  at 
Keyham.  His  presence  on  the  various  excursions  this  year  have  been 
most  helpful  to  the  members,  and  while  congratulating  him  on  pro- 
motion, they  much  regret  his  removal. 


268  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [  Oct, 

NOTES. 


BOTANY. 


FUNGI. 


Nev\^  Irish  Fungi. — Mr.  Praeger  has  lately  sent  me  the  follow- 
ing specimens: — Glyccim  aqtiatica  affected  with  the  long  linear  sori  of 
Ustilago  longissima,  Sow.,  which  ultimately  cause  the  leaves  to  split  up  and 
die,  and  the  stem  to  wither  away  without  flowering.  The  spores  are  very 
small ;  it  would  take  sixty-four  millions  to  cover  a  square  inch !  The 
affected  grass  was  gathered  at  Bective,  and  near  Enfield,  Co.  Meath. 
Ustilago  caricis^  Pers.  (=6^.  urceoloj-iim,  Tul.),  is  a  smut-fungus  which  converts 
the  fruit  of  sedges  into  a  little  mass  like  a  grain  of  charcoal.  Its  spores 
are  four  times  as  large  as  those  of  U.  longissima.  It  was  found  on  Carex 
panicea  near  Enfield  by  Mr.  Praeger,  From  the  same  locality  comes 
an  inflorescence  of  Hole  its  sp.,  with  a  large-spored  smut,  Tillctia 
Ramuejihofii,  Fischer  v.  Waldheim,  a  species  allied  to  the  well-known 
"  bunt "  of  wheat,  and  like  it  smelling  of  herring-brine  when  rubbed. 
All  three  fungi  are  new  to  Ireland,  and  the  last-mentioned  species  has 
not  to  my  knowledge  been  hitherto  published  as  British,  but  Dr. 
Plowright,  the  British  authority  on  the  subject,  informs  me  that  he 
found  it  on  Holctis  mollis  near  Doncaster,  in  1891. 

Ed.  J.  McW:eENKY,  Dublin. 

Fungi  from  Brittas  Bay  Excursion,  D.N.F.C.— The  follow- 
ing were  the  rarest  of  the  few  agarics  collected  : — Clitopihis  carncoalbus^ 
Wither;  Entoloma  jubatitm,  Fr.  ;  Stropliaria  iminctus^  Fr, ;  Inocybe  rimosa^ 
Bull.  (This  common  agaric  is  mentioned  on  account  of  the  peculiar 
locality  where  it  was  found,  viz.,  amongst  the  sand-hills  on  the  seashore ; 
the  pileus  was  in  many  cases  quite  coated  with  sand).  Of  Ureduid  and 
Ustilaginci  one  species  was  found  (by  Mr.  Halbert)  which  I  have  not 
hitherto  met  with,  though  I  have  often  sought  for  it,  Puccinia  hydrocotyks, 
lyk.,  forming  pustules  chiefly  on  the  upper  side  of  leaves  of  the  Marsh 
Pennywort.  Mr.  M'Ardle  found  Pucctnia  caltluc,  lyk.,  a  decidedly  rare 
species,  within  afewyards  ofMr.Halbert's  capture,  on  the  marshy  land  west 
of  the  coast-road  to  Arklow  and  north  of  the  cross-road  at  Brittas  Bay. 
The  other  Fungi  taken  comprised  Erinella  apala,  Mass.,  an  exceedingly 
beautiful  tiny  PeziM  growing  on  dead  culms  of  rush.  It  is  covered  with 
long  hairs,  whitish  round  the  margin,  fawn-coloured  elsewhere,  and  its 
spores,  resembling  compact  bundles  of  slender  rods  (4o/iX2)u),  form  an 
interesting  high-power  object.  Cyphella  ■villosa,  Karst.,  a  minute  woolly 
Species,  closely  resembling  a  Pcziza,  was  also  found.  It  covered  a  con- 
siderable area  of  a  dead  herbaceous  stem.  This  is  the  first  occasion  on 
which  I  have  found  this  species.  My  measurements  of  the  spores  come 
out  a  little  smaller  (9x7)  than  those  given  in  Massee,  but  the  agreement 
is  otherwise  perfect. 

E.  J.  McW^KNijY,  Dublin. 


1896.]  Notes.  269 


PHANEROGAMS. 


Flora  of  Loug^h  Dergr- — The  following  notes  as  to  some  of  the  rarer 
species  which  I  observed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lough  Derg  in  June 
and  July,  1895,  may  perhaps  be  of  interest : — 

Thalicinim  collinum. — A  few  plants  among  rocks  near  mouth  of  Ross- 
more  river  (Co.  Galway).  Thalictriim  Jlavum. — Abundant  on  banks  of 
Borrisokane  river  (Co-  Tipperary).  Aquilcgia  vjilt^ans. — Frequent  in 
stony  places  throughout  the  district.  Erysimum  cheiranthoides. — One  plant 
at  Brocka  (Co.  Tipperary).  Geranium  sanguineum. — Plentiful  among  rocks 
at  Drominagh  (Co.  Tipperary.)  Galium  boreale. — Abundant  at  Brocka. 
Imda  salicina — A  fine  clump  of  this  striking  plant  found  on  rocky  shore 
of  Lough  Derg  at  Curraghmore,  seen  also  on  Brynas  Island,  both  on 
Tipperary  shore  of  Lough.  Caniuus  pratensis. — Abundant  in  bogs. 
Tcucrium  scorduun. — In  profusion  among  rocks  on  shore  of  Rossmore 
river,  and  also  at  Drominagh.  Ophrys  apt/era.— 'Brequent  in  limestone 
pastures  at  Borrisokane.  Epipactis  ^a/z^^/rw.— Moderately  abundant  in  a 
rocky  meadow  at  Bellevue,  on  the  Tipperary  side  of  Lough.  Habenaria 
conopsea. — Frequent  at  Brocka.  Sisyrinchium  angustijolium. — Growing 
freely  on  rocky  shore  at  the  mouth  of  Rossmore  river.  The  district  is  a 
most  interesting  one  to  a  botanist,  as  it  yields  some  species  not  found 
elsewhere  in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  appears  to  be  the  only  European 
habitat  of  the  beautiful  Sisyrinchium  angustifolium. 

C.  J.  Li;/i^Y,  Larne. 

Sisyrinchium  californicum,  Dryander,  in  Ireland.— To  the 
Journal  of  Botany  for  August,  Rev.  E.  S.  Marshall  contributes  a  note  on 
the  occurrence  of  this  plant  in  marshy  meadow-land  north  of  Rosslare 
station,  Co.  Wexford,  where  he  states  it  grows  in  abundance,  among 
plants  all  of  which  are  undoubtedly  indigenous.  S.  californiaim  is  a 
native  of  California  and  Oregon,  and  Mr.  Marshall  says  he  is  "  quite  con- 
vinced that  this  plant  has  not  been  accidentally  introduced"  in  its  Co. 
Wexford  station. 

Dryas  octopetala  in  Co.  Antrim.— Among  some  plants  which  I 
gathered  in  1884  at  the  Sallagh  Braes,  in  Co.  Antrim,  and  which  had  got 
astray  among  my  papers,  I  have  recently  found  a  specimen  of  Dryas 
octopetala.  This  discovery  is  interesting,  as  the  only  record  of  this  plant 
from  Co.  Antrim  is  in  Mackay's  Flora  Hibernica  (1836),  without  any  locality 
being  mentioned,  viz.  : — "  County  Antrim,  Mr.  Templeton''' ;  on  which  the 
editors  of  the  Flora  of  the  North-east  of  Ireland  (1888),  p.  48,  remark  :  "  In 
Flora  Hibernica  Mr.  Templeton  is  erroneously  credited  with  finding  this 
plant  in  Antrim."  I  have  since  heard  from  my  friend  Mr.  Stewart,  the 
surviving  editor,  that  neither  he  nor  his  coadjutor,  the  late  Mr.  Corry, 
found  in  Templeton's  MSS.  any  note  of  D.  octopetala  in  Antrim,  hence 
their  reason  for  doubting  the  correctness  of  the  statement  in  the  Flora 
Hibernica.    Mr.  Stewart  ha^  seen  my  plant,  which  has  come  as  a  surprise  tQ 


270  The  Irish  NaUiralist,         ^  [Oct., 

him.  He  has  often  searched  the  Sallagh  Braes,  but  as  my  plant  is  an  old 
barren  one,  it  was  probably  overlooked  from  its  habit  of  creeping  close 
to  the  ground,  and  resembling  Salix  repens.  To  me  it  is  very  satisfactory 
to  be  able  to  verify  Mr  Templeton's  record. 

H.  W.  Lett  (in  /oum.  Bot,  for  August). 

[We  are  not  sanguine  that  the  foregoing  note  will  convince  Irish  bota- 
nists  as  to  the  occurrence  of  Dryas  octopetala  in  County  Antrim.  The  fact 
that  a  plant  so  striking  and  distinct  was  not  recognised  at  the  time,  but 
should  turn  up  long  afterwards  amongst  papers  admittedly  mislaid,  does 
not  tend  to  inspire  confidence  or  conviction.  The  remark  that  "  as 
my  plant  was  an  old  barren  one,  it  was  probably  overlooked  from  its 
habit  of  creeping  close  to  the  ground,  and  resembling  Salix  repens"''  strikes 
one  as  strange.  The  resemblance  to  Salix  repms  is  surely  fanciful,  and 
our  experience  is  that  old  plants  do  not  creep  closer  to  the  ground,  or 
flower  less  than  younger  ones.  It  must  be  noted  also  that  several  records 
credited  to  Templeton  by  various  writers,  but  not  mentioned  in  his  own 
notes,  have  already  proved  erroneous,  Euphorbia  hiberna  and  Chrysosplenium 
altcrnifoliitm  for  instance,  and  that  the  Sallagh  Braes  have  been  well 
searched  by  botanists  ever  since  Templeton's  time,  notably  so  by  the  late 
Dr.  Moore.  From  these  considerations  the  desirability  of  Mr.  Lett's 
verifying  his  specimen  by  the  discovery  of  the  plant  in  sittt  is  manifest, 
and  while  we  do  not  for  a  moment  cast  doubt  on  the  bona  fide  nature  of 
his  communication,  it  appears  to  us  that  there  are  now  two  records  which 
invite  verification— Mr.  Templeton's,  and  Mr.  Lett's.— Eds.] 

Carex  tcretiuscula,  Good.,  in  County  Down.— This  sedge  has 
just  now  been  re-found,  July,  1S96,  in  a  wet  sphagnous  bog  near  the 
Giant's  Ring  at  Ballylesson,  Co.  Down,  which  was  in  all  likelihood  Orr's 
original  locality,  and  it  is  thus  a  restoration  to  the  county  of  a  plant 
which  was  excluded  by  the  authors  of  Flora  N.  E.  Ireland  as  not  now 
being  found.  Indeed,  until  it  was  lately  discovered  at  Killelagh  Lough 
in  County  Derry,  by  Mrs.  Leebody  and  Mr.  Praeger,  as  recorded  in  the 
Supplement  to  the  Flora,  it  was  considered  as  probably  extinct  in  the 
north  of  Ireland.  The  history  of  the  occurrence  of  this  species  in  the 
district,  particularly  as  relating  to  County  Antrim,  is  amusingly  curious. 
It  was  believed  that  there  was  neither  bog  nor  marsh  at  or  near  the 
Giant's  Ring.  The  habitat  in  the  case  of  Templeton's  locality  in  County 
Antrim,  given  by  him  as  "old  moss  holes"  at  Cranmore  (which  place 
was  for  a  long  time  the  residence  of  that  careful  and  indefatigable 
naturalist)  was,  in  transcription,  changed  to  marl  hole,  and  then  from 
marl  hole  it  was  altered,  in  Flora  Hibernica,  to  the  marble  hole,  Cran- 
more, and  again  transformed  in  Cybele  Ilibet-nica  to  Marble  Hall,  Carn- 
money;  but  nobody  seems  to  be  aware  of  the  existence  of  any  Marble 
Hall  at  that  place  or  elsewhere  in  the  county,  nor  is  the  plant  to  be  found 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Carnmoney.  Possibly  it  may  still  exist  at  Cran- 
more, but  since  Templeton's  time  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  seen 
there.  In  conversation  with  my  friend,  Mr.  Stewart,  concerning  this 
species,  he  told  me  that,  as  mentioned  in  the  Flora,  he  did  not  know  of 


1896.  J  Noics,  271 

any  bog  near  the  Giant's  Ring,  but  stated  that  he  had  sought  for  it  be- 
tween that  singular  relic  of  antiquity  and  the  River  Ivagan,  where,  as  a 
raattei:  of  fact,  there  is  no  bog.  Recollecting  that  some  years  ago  I  had 
examined,  bryologically,  a  bog  at  the  foot  of  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
Giant's  Ring,  close  by  the  roadside,  the  approach  to  which  is  by  a  lane 
directly  opposite  the  Ballylesson  National  School,  we  concluded  it  to  be 
highly  probable  that  this  might  prove  to  be  the  spot,  where,  on  the 
authority  of  David  Orr,  C.  teretiusada  had  been  detected  by  him  more 
than  half  a  century  ago;  and  I  determined,  though  too  late  in  the 
season  to  find  the  plant  in  perfection,  to  adventure  in  quest  of  it,  if  haply 
it  might  still  be  found  there.  The  result  showed  our  supposition  to  be 
correct.  A  very  few  specimens  of  a  starved  form  of  the  plant  were  ob- 
tained in  different  parts  of  the  bog,  but  for  the  most  part  it  is  confined 
to  a  cutting  running  at  right  angles  with  the  road,  where  it  occurs, 
growing  in  the  water,  in  considerable  profusion  and  luxuriance.  At  the 
time  of  my  visit,  the  latter  end  of  July,  the  fruit  was  thoroughly  ripened, 
and  indeed  most  of  it  had  disappeared,  but  sufficient  was  secured  to 
facilitate  the  accurate  identification  of  the  plant,  in  the  examination  of 
which  I  had  the  friendly  assistance  of  Mr.  Stewart.  The  height  of  this 
sedge  is  given  in  Babington  as  one  to  two  feet,  which  may  be  generally 
correct,  but  the  Ballylesson  plant  is  fully  three  feet  high,  and  many 
specimens  were  found  measuring  very  little  under  four  feet.  The  re- 
discovery of  the  species  in  the  county  may  not  be  without  some  interest 
to  North  of  Ireland  botanists.  When  Cybele  Hibernica  was  published  the 
plant  could  be  recorded  for  only  two  counties,  Down  and  Antrim,  but 
it  is  more  widely  distributed  than  it  was  then  known  to  be,  and  there 
are  specimens  to  vouch  for  its  occurrence  in  Tyrone,  Derry,  and  Donegal. 

J.  H.  Da  VIES,  lyisburn. 


ZOOLOGY. 

Fauna  of  Belfast  Lough.— The  following  is  a  record  of  species 
taken  on  a  dredging  expedition,  on  July  4th,  1896,  organised  by  the 
Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club.  Names  in  parentheses  (  )  are  given  on 
the  authority  of  Dr.  Hurst  alone  ;  those  in  brackets  [  ]  on  Mr.  H. 
Hanna's  authority  alone.  Those  without  brackets  on  the  authority  of 
both  :— 

Protozoa. — (Cemfjum,  sp.) 

PORIFERA. — {Lmcoselinia  botrydides,']  \_Sycon  covonatum.']  [Euspongiuy 
sp.] 

HydrOZOA — Plumularia,  sp.  Tubularia  indivisa.  [Obelia  gemcu/ata.l 
iSertularia  abietina.  [^SertiUaria pumila.']  [FileUum  serpens.']  {Clytia  Johnstmii.) 
(jOalycella  syringa.)  {Diphasia  rosacea  ?.)  {Garveia  nutans.)  {Antennularia 
ramosa.)    {Coryne,  sp.)      (^Hydrallmania  falcata.) 

POI^YZOA. — Pedicellina  (cernua).     Flustra  {foUacea).    Flustra  {securifrons). 
Crista    (eburnea).      {Veskularia    spinosa.)      {Amathia    lendigera.)      (Mucrotie/la 
Peachii.)     {Gemmellaria  loricata.)     {Cellaria  sinuosa.)     {Scrupocellaria  scruposa.') 
Vqlheriq  uva.)     (Eucratea  chelata.)     (Bugula  plumosa.)     {Buyula  flabellata.) 


272  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Oct., 

BrachiOPODA- — (Terehrahda,  sp.) 

Ch^TOPODA. — [^Serpala  pectinata.^  {_Sabella  vesiculosa.^  ffennione,  sp. 
Ne  reis^  sp.]      [^Polynoe  propinqua,^ 

Crustacea.— (//3/as  coarctatus.)  (Portwms  depurator.)  (Ebalia  Pennantii.) 
(^Pandalus  anmdicornis.)     (Eurynome  aspera.)     (^Bcdanits,  sp.) 

PVCNOGONIDEA. — (Ammothea  /cevis.) 

BCHINODERMATA (^Echinocy amus    pusilhis — dead.)        {Ophiacantha,   sp.) 

{OpMoglypha  albida.)     {Echinus  sphcera.)     (Sputangus pu7'pureus.) 

Moiyl^USCA. — {Venus  casina.)  {Astarte.  sulcata.)  {Aporrhais  pes-pelicani.) 
(Dentalium,  sp. — dead.) 

TuNiCATA. —  \_Ascidia,  sp.]  [^Ciona  intestinalis.']  [Aplidium  elegans.'] 
[Lepidium,   sp.]      [Perophora  Listeri.']     Clavellina  lepadiformis. 

This  list  is  of  course  very  far  from  being  complete. 

Some  species  I  have  been  unable  to  identify  with  certainty,  and  in  such 
cases  I  have  given  Mr.  Hanna's  names,  or  no  specific  name  at  all,  or 
indicated  my  doubt  by  a  note  of  interrogation. 

No  special  comment  is  called  for  in  the  case  of  any  of  the  above 
species:  all  are  well  known  as  occurring  in  British  waters,  and  most, 
if  not   all,  of   them    have    been   previously  .recorded  from   the   same 

district. 

C.  Herbeirt  Hurst,  Dublin. 

INSECTS. 
wasps  catching  Flies  on  Cattle. — On  August  28th,  about  i  p.m., 
I  noticed  a  number  of  wasps  buzzing  about  m}-  cows,  which  were  lying 
down  quietly  chewing  the  cud,  and  whisking  their  tails  now  and  then  in 
a  lazy  fashion  to  remove  the  flies.  It  was  a  field  between  two  woods, 
and  the  cows  were  lying  far  away  from  any  bank  or  hole  likely  to  con- 
tain a  wasp's  nest.  I  could  not  therefore  imagine  what  the  wasps  were 
doing — four  to  eight  about  each  cow — and  as  the  cows  did  not  mind 
them  in  the  least,  it  was  evident  that  the  wasps  were  not  stinging  them. 
Closer  inspection  revealed  a  most  interesting  sight.  The  wasps  were 
all  busy  catching  flies— darting  quickly  hither  and  thither  along  the 
cows'  flanks — and  pouncing  with  the  rapidity  of  hawks  after  birds  on 
the  flies  as  they  tried  to  settle  or  rest  on  some  favorite  part  of  the  cow. 
One  white  cow  drew  more  wasps  than  any  of  the  others,  because  the 
moment  a  fly  alighted  it  was  seen  at  once  against  the  skin.  I  do  not 
think,  however,  that  wasps  can  see  very  well — because  one  little  black 
speck  which  looked  like  a  fly  (but  was  not)  was  pounced  on  by  a 
disappointed  wasp  more  than  once.  When  a  wasp  catches  a  fly  it 
immediately  bites  off  both  wings  (this  is  the  work  of  an  instant) — some- 
times a  leg  or  two,  and  I  believe  occasionally  the  head.  I  saw  some  of 
the  wasps  when  laden  with  one  fly  catch  another — without  letting  go 
the  first,  and  then  fly  away  with  both.  They  were  coming  and  going 
as  long  as  I  watched — there  was  a  constant  stream  of  wasps  carrying 
away  flies — I  suppose  to  feed  the  larvse  in  their  nests,  and  returning 
again  to  the  cows  to  catch  more.  In  about  20  minutes  I  estimate 
between  300  and  400  flies  were  caught,  on  two  cows  lying  close  to  where 

I  stood,  . 

•RiCHD.  M.  BarringTon,  Bray. 


1896.]  Notes.  273 

Entomolog^lcal  Notes  from  N.  E.  Ireland.— In  a  collection 
of  insects  made  by  the  Rev.  H.  W.  Lett,  when  a  boy,  n  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Clough,  Co.  Antrim,  I  found  a  specimen  of  Caraims  clathratiis. 
This  appears  to  be  the  furthest  N.  E.  record  for  this  beetle.  Mr.  C.  B. 
Moffat,  who  is  preparing  for  publication  the  journals  of  the  late  Mr.  A. 
G.  More,  found  a  note  of  the  capture  of  C.  clathratiis  by  Rev.  G.  Robinson 
on  Deer's  Tsland,  in  Lough  Neagh  Mr.  Robinson  frequently  told  me 
that  he  had  taken  C.  clathratus  at  Tartaraghan,  among  turf.  In  fact  the 
beetle  seems  particularly  attached  to  tutf,  for  all  the  captures  that  I  am 
acquainted  with  have  been  made  where  there  was  turf,  or  bog  suitable 
for  turf. 

The  records  given  above  are  interesting,  as  showing  the  junction  in 
the  line  of  its  distribution  with  its  Scottish  habitats.  In  Rev.  H.  W. 
Lett's  collection  were  also  Blethisa  inultipundata,  Pelophila  borealis,  Chlcenius 
nigi'itornis,  Stoinis  pwnicatits^  Amara  spinipes^  Silpha  opaca,  a  very  narrow 
brown  form  of  Silpha  siibrotuyidata^  and  Barynotus  obscunis. 

Both  Blethisa  and  Pelophila  thus  like  C.  clathmtics  complete  the  line  of 
connection  with  Scotland,  though  the  former  is  by  no  means  so  northern 
a  species  as  the  latter.  Mr.  Lett  had  also  some  lepidoptera  in  his 
collection,  of  which  I  may  mention  the  following: — Chrysophanas  phla:as 
var.  Schinidtii,  this  is  the  only  specimen  of  this  form  that  I  have  seen  in 
Ireland,  and  I  do  not  know  of  any  record  of  it  from  this  country ;  Chcero' 
campa  elpenor,  Snierinthus  popiili,  Sattcrnia  pavonia,  Apaniea  didynia  (a  very 
black  form),  A.  basalis,  Xylocampa  lithorrhiza^  and  Hybei-nia  progemtnaria. 

I  have  two  fresh  localities  for  Sirex  gigas — on  July  22nd,  a  specimen 
was  forwarded  me  from  Caledon,  Co.  Tyrone,  where  it  was  found  on  a 
Larch,  and  two  days  later  a  specimen  was  found  close  to  the  glebe  here, 
also  on  Larch.  These  captures  would  seem  to  indicate  a  spread  of  this 
Saw-fly  in  the  country,  a  thing  by  no  means  to  be  desired,  as  it  is  very 
injurious  to  timber. 

On  June  6,  I  paid  a  short  visit  to  Greencastle,  on  the  Co.  Down  shore, 
opposite  Greenore.  I  had  only  about  half  an  hour  to  search  for  insects, 
and  confined  my  attention  to  the  beach,  where  I  met  with  Calathus  fuscns^ 
Amara  fulva^  Heterothops  leinotata^  Lathrobium  tricolor,  diXidt.  Alecinus  pyraster,  also 
numbers  of  Otiorrhynchus  atroaptenis.  Lathrobiwn  tricolor  also  occurred  at 
Omeath  when  I  was  there  on  June  25th.  I  have  captured  a  few 
Hymenoptera  here,  among  them  being  Halictus  j-ubicundus,  Andrena 
cineraj'ia,  Bo?}ibns  agrorwn,  B.  lapidariiis^  and  B.  smithiaiiua ;  of  this  last  I 
found  a  couple  of  very  strong  nests  in  my  lawn  when  the  ha}'  was  being 
cut.  They  were  very  fierce,  and  chased  me  a  considerable  distance  when 
disturbed.  This  appears  to  be  the  first  record  of  their  occurrence  in 
Ireland.  Megachile  centiincidaris  I  captured  in  my  garden  on  July  21st,  in 
the  act  of  cutting  a  piece  out  of  a  rose  leaf.  Vespa  norvegica  occurred  on 
July  27th.  V.  vulgaris  is  not  as  plentiful  as  I  had  expected  after  the  mild 
winter  and  spring,  but  there  is  quite  a  sufficient  supply.  Among  the 
butterflies  I  have  noticed  a  great  abundance  of  Pararge  cegeria  here  ;  it 
quite  swarms  in  my  garden,  and  abounds  along  the  roads  and  lanes.  I  have 
seen  a  couple  of  Janessa  atalanta,  but  V.  urtiav  has  not  been  at  all  as  plenti- 
ful as  usual ;  possibly  the  torrential  rains  of  last  month  had  something  to 


i274  ^^^  Irish  Nattcralisi.  [Oct., 

do  with  its  scarcity.  I  may  mention  that  the  larvae  of  Melitaa  aurinia^ 
which  I  mentioned  in  a  former  note  {I.N.,  vol.  v.,  190)  duly  pupated  and 
emerged,  giving  me  a  very  handsome  series  of  this  pretty  butterfly,  some 
being  very  dark. 

W.  F.  Johnson,  Acton  Glebe,  Poyntzpass. 


MOLLUSCS. 

Marine  MoIIusca  of  Co.  Galway.— In  April  last,  the  following 
species  were  collected  on  the  extensive  strand  between  Bunowen  and 
Slyne  Head,  Connemara,  in  addition  to  the  many  commoner  ones  that 
characterize  the  shell-sand  of  Roundstone  (see  LJSf.,  ^895,  pp.  264-5). 
The  shells  have  been  kindly  determined  by  Dr.  Chaster. 

Aclis  minima^  Jeff.  ;  A.  stipraniiida  ;  A.  unica ;  Scalaria  communis ;  S. 
dathratuta  ;  Houialogyra  atomus ;  H.  rota  ;  Odostoniia  rissoides ;  0.  nivosa ;  0, 
insculpta  I  (9.  diaphana ;  O.  Warreni ;  0.  nitidis si>na ;  Eulima  incut  va ; 
Cerithiopsis  concatenata  {~-puhhella^  Jeff.) ;  Rissoa  Jtdgida  ;  R.  obiusa  (==.soluta, 
Jeff.);  Cyclostremaserpuloides ;  C,  nitens. 

R.  We;i,CH,  Belfast. 

MoIIusca  of  Cavan  Excursion.— Land  and  Freshwater  Shells 
collected  near  Cavan,  loth  to  13th  July,  1896: — Vitrina  pellucida,  Kilmore 
graveyard ;  Hyalinia  cellaria^  Kilmore  graveyard ;  H.  Draparnaudi^  Kil- 
more graveyard;  H.  allariuy  Kilmore  and  Farnham  woods;  H.  fulva^ 
old  quarry  at  Crossdoney;  H,  crystallina^  Kilmore,  on  old  mossy  wall ;  H» 
nitidula^  Kilmore  graveyard  ;  Ation  ater,  Limax  maxiniusy  Agriolimax  agres' 
tis,  in  woods  and  shore  of  lake  near  Killykeen ;  Helix  rotundata^  a  few 
only  under  fallen  trees  in  Farnham  demesne,  and  at  Crossdoney  and 
Killykeen ;  H>  hispida,  H.  rufescens^  almost  everywhere  ;  H.  nemoralis, 
Killykeen ;  H,  ncnioralis  var.  iniernipta^  Farnham  demesne  ;  H.  aspersa^ 
Trinity  Abbey ;  Cochlicopa  lubrica^  everywhere  in  damp  moss  and  under 
stones,  Kilmore ;  Pupa  cylindracea^  everywhere  on  old  mossy  walls  and  on 
Beech  trunks  near  Derrywinny  bog,  some  very  light-coloured  specimens ; 
Vertigo  pygmcza^  on  fallen  leaves  in  old  quarry  near  Crossdone}^  plentiful ; 
V.  aniivertigo^  on  lake-shore,  Killykeen ;  Clausilia  laminata,  common  on 
Beech  trunks  in  Farnham  woods ;  C.  Indentata,  damp  walls  and  old  trees 
almost  everywhere ;  Succitua  putris,  on  shore  of  Trinity  Island,  and  fine 
large  specimens  on  small  island  near  Killykeen ;  Carychium  miniinu/fi, 
lake-shore  near  Killykeen,  a  few ;  Li/nncea  stagnalis,  a  few  on  cause- 
way at  Trinity  Abbey  ;  L.  peregra^  Trinity  Abbey,  and  on  lake-shore  near 
Killykeen,  and  Lough  Cuttragh  ;  L.  palustris,  a.  few  in  rejactamenta  on 
Lough  Oughter  shore ;  L.  truncatula,  Lough  Oughter,  and  in  old  quarry, 
Crossdoney ;  Physa  fontinalis,  locality  not  noted ;  Planorbis  vortex^  cause- 
way at  Trinity  Abbey,  very  plentiful ;  P.  contortusy  P.  albus,  P.  fontanusy 
Lough  Cuttragh ;  Bythinia  tentaculata,  Trinity  Island  shore,  and 
rejactamenta  at  Killykeen;  Valvata  //jY««a/z.j-,  Trinity  Island  shore,  and 
rejactamenta  at  Killykeen  ,•  Pisidium  nitidumy  Trinity  Island. 

R.  Wi5i,CH,  Belfast. 


1S96.]  Notes.  575 

FISHES. 

The  Shade  Fish  or  IVIaigrre  (Sciaena  aquila)  on  the  Irish 
Coast. — Mr.  Thonihill,  of  Castle  Bellingham,  recentl}-  obtained  a  speci- 
men of  this  rare  fish  in  the  salmon-nets,  near  Annagassan,  in  Dundalk 
Bay.  He  sent  it  in  the  first  place  to  Messrs.  Williams  &  Son,  of  Dame- 
street,  to  have  it  mounted  for  himself,  but,  at  their  suggestion,  he 
has  kindly  presented  it  to  the  Dublin  Museum,  as  there  was  no 
specimen  of  the  species  in  the  Natural  History  collection.  It  may  be  of 
interest  to  note  that  this  is  only  the  second  record  of  this  fish  having 
been  observed  on  the  Irish  coasts,  a  specimen  having  been  once  caught 
in  the  harbour  of  Cork.  Maigre,  the  French  name  of  the  fish,  is  some- 
times applied  to  it,  and  refers  to  the  bloodless  appearance  of  its  flesh.  It 
is  a  large  fish,  somewhat  like  a  huge  perch,  and  of  great  strength,  the 
present  specimen  measuring  over  three  feet  in  length,  and  weighing 
about  30  lbs.     Its  stomach,  Mr.  Williams  tells  me,  was  full  of  flat-fish. 

The  genus  Scueua  has  a  very  wide  distribution,  and  though  most  of  the 
species  are  marine,  some  of  them  inhabit  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  the 
United  States.  The  fish  known  to  Americans  by  the  name  of  the  Drum 
or  Thunder-pumper  on  account  of  the  peculiar  noise  it  makes,  is  one  of 
these.  The  Shade-fish  has  of  all  the  species  of  Stucna  the  widest  range, 
since  it  has  occurred  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  on  the  south  coast 
of  Australia. 

R.  F.  SCHARFF,  Dublin. 

BIKDS. 
Ouall  in  Co.  Dublin.— In  the  early  part  of  June,  this  year,  a 
Quail's  nest  was  found  in  a  meadow  near  Dundrum  by  some  farm  boya, 
who  unfortunately  managed  to  break  all  the  eggs  (ten  in  number)  except 
one,  which  they  gave  to  me,  Messrs.  Watkins  and  Doncaster  identified 
the  ^gg, 

H,  Bui,i,oCk,  Dundrum, 

The  Wood-Sandpiper  (Totanus  grlareola)  in  the  Co.  Wlck«< 
low. — While  out  shooting  on  Calary  bog  (which  is  at  least  some  half 
dozen  miles  from  the  sea)  on  the  first  of  August,  my  dog  sprang  three 
bifds  of  the  sand«snipe  appearance ;  not  recognizing  what  they  were,  I 
emptied  my  choke  barrel  on  one  of  them,  and  got  him — the  others  were 
so  wild  that  I  could  not  mark  them.  On  more  careful  examination  I 
found  the  bird  obtained  to  be  the  Wood-sandpiper,  a  bird  as  far  as  I  can 
make  out  only  once  before  recorded  to  have  been  shot  in  Ireland.  Sun- 
day being  the  following  day  I  could  not  of  course  look  out  for  the  others, 
but  was  up  on  the  spot  at  dawn  on  Monday  morning,  and  had  the  luck 
to  see  and  obtain  another,  which  was  by  itself,  its  mate  probably  being 
shot  in  the  interval,  and  doing  service  for  a  snipe  to  some  fellow  sports- 
man. The  two  birds  are  being  preserved  by  Mr.  Williams  of  Dame- 
street.  If  any  reader  could  give  me  information  of  the  distribution  of 
this  bird  in  Ireland  I  should  feel  much  obliged. 

Ern£:st  Bi^ake;  KnoXj  Bray. 


276  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Oct.,  1896. 

Occurrence  of  the  Night  Heron  in  County  Cork. — Duriug 
a  visit  to  my  brother  this  summer,  who  was  stationed  near  Kilworth  for 
the  manoeuvres,  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  gentleman  who  kindly 
presented  me  with  the  skin  of  an  immature  Night  Heron  {Nyctkorax 
griseus),  I  regret  to  say  he  did  not  ascertain  the  sex  after  he  had  skinned 
it.  It  was  obtained  by  him  in  March,  1894,  not  far  from  the  town  of 
Fermoy,  as  it  was  feeding  in  company  with  a  Common  Heron  on  the 
River  Blackwater,  My  friend  did  not  know  what  it  was,  and  it  was 
quite  a  chance  that  he  had  taken  the  trouble  to  preserve  it. 

C.   B.   HORSBRUGH. 


GEOLOGY. 

Caves  in  Co.  Leitrim. — I  have  received  from  Mr.  O.  B.  MafFett 
a  description  of  a  cave  recently  explored  in  Co.  Leitrim.  The  cave  is 
known  as  Phoula-Dingdong,  and  is  situated  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  "  con- 
siderably above  the  level  of  Lough  Gill,  which  is  about  half  a  mile 
away."  The  entrance,  a  passage  thirty  feet  long,  leads  to  a  drop  of 
forty  feet,  at  the  bottom  of  which  is  a  talus  of  boulders  and  a  small 
pool ;  from  this  chamber  another  passage  runs  for  300  feet.  No  inver- 
tebrates of  any  kind  were  observed  by  Mr.  Maffett,  but  numerous  bones 
of  sheep  and  dogs,  and  the  skeletons  of  a  cow  and  a  horse  were  found, 
and  also  part  of  a  human  skeleton  which  was  supposed  to  be  that  of  a 
woman  who  disappeared  about  70  years  ago. 

Mr.  Maffett  informs  me  that  there  are  unexplored  caves  at  GlenanifF 
near  Lough  Melvin,  and  also  at  Ballinturbeck,  near  Bundoran. 

H.  LYvSTEr  Jameson,  Killencoole. 

The  alleg^ed  Eurite  of  Lisnamandra,  Co.  Cavan. — Inthe/m/^; 
Naturalist  for  August,  1896,  pp.  195  and  197,  I  am  responsible  for  the 
statement  that  a  grey  eurite  occurs  in  juxtaposition  to  the  Carboniferous 
series  at  Lisnamandra.  My  notes  were  sent  to  Mr.  Praeger  from  the 
country,  in  the  absence  of  the  specimens  which  had  been  collected.  On 
unpacking  the  latter,  the  "  eurite  "  at  once  proves  to  be  merely  a  com- 
pact grey  limestone,  perhaps  baked  by  the  igneous  intrusion  in  the 
neighbourhood.  So  little  of  the  rock,  however,  was  exposed  in  the  field, 
that  it  may  be  questioned  if  the  mass  is  truly  in  place.  Its  relation  to 
the  sandstones  certainly  suggests  a  fault.  I  much  regret  the  erroneous 
statement  to  which  our  hurried  work  in  the  field  gave  rise. 

Gre;nvii,i,E  a.  J.  Coi<E,  Dublin. 

The  Longest 'Cave  in  the  British  Isles.— John  Naughton,  of 
Harrogate,  writes  as  follows ; — "  At  a  village  within  three  and  a-half  miles 
of  Westport,  called  Aglemore,  there  is  a  Cave  which  is  said  to  exceed  two 
miles.'  This  surpasses  Mitchelstown  cave.  The  Aglemore  cave  is  well 
known  in  that  part  of  Ireland.  I  cannot  personally  vouch  for  the 
accuracy  of  the  length,  but  this  I  can  at  least  say,  that  it  is  a  most 
wonderful  cave  and  well  worth  a  visit." — The  Friend,  24th  July,  1896. 

[Can  any  reader  of  the  I.N.  favour  us  with  information  ? — Eds.] 


Nov.,  1896.]  277 


THE  BOTANY  OF  A  SCHOOI.    PI,AYGROUND  IN 
THE  HEART  OF  DUBININ. 

BY  RKV.   THOMAS  B.   GIBSON,   A.M. 


Perhaps  no  spot  of  earth  could  be  considered  less  likely  to 
interest  the  botanist  than  the  playground  of  a  boys'  school  in 
the  heart  of  a  city.  And  yet  I  have  there  found  material  for 
study  in  my  leisure  moments ;  so  that,  after  eighteen  years 
observations,  I  am  disposed  to  show  that  even  the  most  un- 
likely hunting-grounds  may  afford  pleasure  to  the  enthusiastic 
lover  of  nature's  own  process  of  carpeting.  The  school  I  speak 
of  is  that  of  the  King's  Hospital,  more  commonly  known  as  the 
Bluecoat ;  and  when  I  say  that  the  playground  lies  midway 
betw^een  Guinness's  brewery  and  Jameson's  distillery,  and  is 
adjacent  to  the  Royal  Barracks,  besides  being  bounded  on  all 
sides  by  high  walls,  I  think  I  have  said  enough  to  show  that, 
at  any  rate,  this  plot  of  ground  has  no  unusual  capabilities  for 
the  reception,  or  perfection,  of  floral  treasures.  It  may  be 
that  some  few  of  the  plants  I  shall  mention  have  been 
introduced  through  my  own  agency  ;  for  it  has  been  my 
custom,  whilst  enjoying  my  summer  holidays  in  the  country, 
to  gather  the  seeds  of  such  wild  flowers  as  pleased  me,  and  to 
scatter  these  seeds  in  the  playground,  on  my  return.  No 
attempt  has  ever  been  made,  however,  to  assist  any  growth 
by  cultivation  or  protection ;  and,  therefore,  though  every- 
thing there  may  not  be  indigenous,  everything  is  in  a  sense 
natural,  or  at  any  rate  uncultivated.  Of  course,  under  the 
circumstances,  there  have  been  in  these  eighteen  years 
changes  of  flora,  and  fluctuations  of  prosperity  even  in  the 
plants  that  are  permanent,  but,  all  things  considered,  there  is 
not  much  appreciable  difference  in  the  ge7ieral  character  of 
the  flora  now  to  what  it  was  in  1878.  Therefore,  I  think  I  am 
justified  in  assuming  that  the  careful  observer  will  find  it 
worth  while  to  scrutinize  even  the  waste  spaces  of  the 
city,  when  he  has  no  opportunity  of  going  out  into  the 
country. 

A 


278  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Nov., 

I  miglit  of  course  begin  by  an  enumeration  of  the  most 
plentiful  species,  and  from  that  descend  to  notice  the  less 
numerous  and  robust  inhabitants  ;  but,  for  purposes  of  classifi- 
cation, if  not,  indeed,  as  an  aid  to  memory — writing  as  I  do 
now,  at  a  distance — it  is,  I  think,  well  to  follow  the  regular 
order  of  arrangement. 

First  then,  of  the  Buttercup  family  there  are' to  be  found  in 
more  or  less  ^'3iW\\\,y  Raminculiis  bulbosus,  R.  repens,  audi?,  acris^ 
that  is  the  Bulbous,  Creeping,  and  Meadow  Buttercups.  I 
have  also  found  R.  hirsiitus,  but  for  the  past  two  years  it  has 
not  flowered,  to  my  knowledge ;  though,  of  course,  it  may 
have  done  so  in  my  absence.  The  Green  Hellebore  {H.  viridis) 
and  H.fcetidus  are  to  be  found  there  too  ;  but  these  I  believe 
to  have  sprung  from  seed  scattered  there  by  myself.  The 
Winter  Aconite  {Eranthis  hyemalis)  I  planted  ;  but  after  two 
or  three  years  it  was  crowded  out,  as  I  gave  it  no  assistance. 
Columbine  {Aquilegia  znilgaris),  of  course,  grows  here  and 
there ;  but  the  garden  being  near,  it  may  be  recruited  from 
that  source  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is,  I  think,  doubtful  if  this  be 
ever,  in  truth,  a  ivild  flower.  The  Common  Poppy  {Papaver 
Rhccas),  is  also  to  be  found  there  ;  and,  for  a  couple  of  years, 
the  Horned  Poppy  {Glauciiim  flavuvi),  seeds  of  which  I 
brought  from  Wicklow,  maintained  a  precarious  existence, 
without  flowering.  The  Greater  Celandine  {Chdidoni^cm  majus) 
too,  I  introduced  from  the  Zoological  Gardens  ;  but  its 
properties  were  too  soon  discovered  by  my  pupils,  who 
managed  to  get  new  boys  to  rub  their  eyes,  after  having 
besmeared  their  fingers  with  its  juice,  and  thus  brought  about 
its  banishment.  The  Fumitory,  with  its  beautiful  flowers, 
rose-coloured  and  tipped  with  purple,  occasionally  shows  its 
head,  especially  if  there  be  any  waste  top-dressing  thrown 
out  of  the  garden.  Of  Cruciferce  it  is  always  hard  to  say 
what  is  stray  and  what  is  indigenous  ;  but  there  is  certainly 
no  room  for  doubt  that  Shepherd's  Purse  {Capsella  Bursa- 
pastoris)  is  of  the  latter  character ;  for  it  is  here,  there,  and 
everywhere,  encroaching  even  upon  the  cricket  crease  to  the 
despair  of  those  who  nurse  that  spot  carefully.  The  I^adies' 
Smock  or  Cuckoo  Flower  {Cardtwiine  prateiisis)  is  but  an 
occasional  visitor  in  plenty,  and  yet  there  have  been  few  years 
that  one  flower  stalk,  at  least,  is  not  to  be  found  ;  but  the 


1S96.]    Gibson. — Botany  of  a  School  Play groimd  in  Dublin.    279 

Hairy  Bitter  Cress  {C.  hirsuta)  is  more  common,  and  less 
welcomed.  The  Common  Hedge  Mustard  {Sisymbrium 
offimialc)  is  there  in  force  ;  and  there,  too,  is  the  Garlic 
Mustard  (5.  Alliaria) ;  though,  on  account  of  the  dry  nature 
of  the  soil,  its  leaves  are  seldom  luxuriant.  The  White 
Mustard  {Si7iapis  alba)  and  the  Wild  Mustard  or  Cherlock  {S- 
ai'vensis)  are  always  in  evidence,  as  well  as  Rape  {Brassica 
Rapa) ;  but  this  may  be  from  the  refuse  thrown  out  of  my 
aviaries  rather  than  that  the  plants  are  regular  inhabitants. 
Of  the  Rocket  family,  Reseda  lutca  was  introduced  by  me 
and  still  maintains  an  existence ;  though,  unfortunately  for 
its  dispersal,  it  flowers  before  the  summer  holidays  commence. 
The  Dog-violet  ( Viola  sylvatica)  may  now  and  then  be  seen 
to  rear  its  head,  though  not  for  long  ;  and  three  times  have  I 
found  V.  arvensis  or  Field  Pansy  ;  but  alas,  that  I  did  show  it. 
The  Common  Milkwort  {Folygala  vulgaris),  too,  is  not 
unknown  ;  and  Soapwort  {Saponaria  officinalis),,  which  I 
brought  from  the  Dargle  Road,  has  found  a  home  in  one  of 
the  corners,  where  it  not  only  lives  but  also  thrives.  The 
Bladder  Campion  {Silene  inflata)  and  the  Sea  Campion  (S. 
maritima),  though  sometimes  to  be  seen  are,  alas,  only  to  be 
botanically  denominated  "common";  but  the  tiny  Procumbent 
Pearl-wort  {Sagijia  procumbejis)  is  to  be  found  on  every  wall, 
as  well  as  infesting  every  path.  Chickweed  {Stellaria  media) 
is  to  be  found  in  every  shady  corner,  I  am  thankful  to  say  ; 
for  my  birds  never  tire  of  it ;  and,  though  I  have  once,  only, 
noticed  a  plant  of  Cathartic  Flax  {Linum  catharticum),  it  then 
appeared  at  home  and  not  a  visitor.  With  regard  to  this  I  may 
say  that  I  have  never  been  in  the  place  from  the  middle  of 
June  till  the  middle  of  August ;  and,  so,  many  plants  may 
have  escaped  my  notice.  I  introduced  the  Common,  Dwarf 
and  Musk  Mallows  {Malva  sylvestris,  M.  rotujidifolia^  M.  mos- 
chata) ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  last,  they  have  indeed 
increased  and  multiplied  exceedingly ;  so  much  so  that  were 
it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  seeds  are  eaten  by  the 
pupils  under  the  name  of  cheeses,  nothing  else  would 
have  room  to  grow  at  one  side  of  the  playground. 
Two  species  of  St.  John's-wort  grow  and  flower ;  but  the 
Tutsan  {Hyperictwt  Androscemum)  has  not  succeeded  there, 

though   I  have  sowed   it   more  than   once,  and  even  intro- 

A  2 


28o  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Nov., 

duced  a  plant.  Geranium,  sanguineum  and  the  Erodium, 
or  Stork's-bill,  bloom  profusely,  having  been  introduced ; 
but  Herb  Robert  {G.  Robertiaiiurn)  and  the  Dove's  Foot 
(G.  molle)  are  older  inhabitants  than  myself,  while  every- 
where, even  on  the  paths,  the  Common  Balsam  finds  a 
home,  till  flowering  time.  The  Wood-Sorrel  {Oxalis  Aceto- 
sella)  grows,  but  only  where  I  planted  it.  Trefoils  and 
Medick  {Medicago  lupiUina)^  however,  abound  on  the  sloping 
banks,  with  which  the  playground  is  surrounded ;  and  Rest- 
Harrow  {Ono7iis  arvensis)  has  lately  obtained  a  footing,  through 
planting  a  root  which  had  chanced  to  come  up  in  gathering  a 
spray  on  one  of  our  Field  Naturalists'  excursions.  I  brought 
seeds  of  the  Spotted  Medick  {M.  maculata)  from  Bray,  and  of 
the  White  Melilot  {Melilotus  alba)  from  Wicklow ;  and  these 
have  at  once  located  themselves  and  spread.  The  Purple  and 
White  Clovers  {Trifolium prate7ise2M^  T.  repe7is),  but  especially 
the  latter,  grow  luxuriantly  ;  and  the  fact  that  we  always  have 
one  or  more  nests  of  Wild  Bees  in  the  playground  may  have 
something  to  do  with  this  luxuriance.  Lotus  corniculatus,  too, 
spreads  along  the  slopes,  and  one  or  two  of  the  vetches,  but, 
except  during  the  holidays,  no  legumes  ever  show.  The 
Silver- weed,  or  Goose-grass  {Poteutilla  A7iscri7ia)  is  every- 
where, though  its  fleshy  roots  are  eaten  with  relish  ;  and  the 
Creeping  Cinque-foil  {F.  repta7is),  as  well  as  the  Strawberry- 
leaved  Cinque-foil  {F.  Jragariastru77i),  can  be  discovered. 
Here  also  you  can  see  the  Common  Tormentil  {P.  Tori}ie7itilla), 
and  in  a  corner  the  Blackberry  sometimes  preserves  its  fruit 
till  it  is  quite  gree7i.  The  Agrimony  {Agrii}i07iia  Eupatoria) 
I  have  only  once  seen  ;  though  it  grows  quite  freely  on 
the  esplanade  ground  of  the  Royal  Barracks  adjacent.  Of 
Willow-herbs  there  are  no  less  than  three  kinds ;  and  the 
Evening  Primrose  {Qi7iothera  bie7i7iis),  though,  of  course,  a 
garden  escape,  is  quite  a  weed  ;  while  Enchanter's  Nightshade 
{Circcea  lutetia7ia)  is  a  terrible  nuisance,  though  not  so  much 
so  as  Knot-grass,  which  ousts  even  the  grass  from  the  middle 
of  the  playground,  especially  where  an  old  fly-pole  once 
stood.  The  Cotyledo7i  Uiiibilicus  has  lately  located  itself  in  a 
corner,  though  how,  or  why,  I  know  not,  for  I  did  not  bring  it 
there  ;  but  stone-crop  has  been  near  that  same  corner  for  many 
years.     I   planted  some   I^ondon  Pride   {Saxifraga   u77tbrosa) 


1895.]  Gibson. — Boia7iy  of  a  School  Playgrotmd  in  Dublin.  281 

around  the  tennis  pavilion  some  years  ago,  and,  though  the 
pavilion  is  gone,  the  Saxifraga  remains,  endeavouring  to  push 
its  head  between  the  Alexanders  {S7ny?'?iium),  which  love  to 
congregate  about  a  ruin.      Here,   too,  a  plant  of  Hemlock 
(Co7iiu?n  macidatuvi)  grew  this  year,  plainly  distinguishable 
(though  young)  by  its  smooth  and  spotted  stem  ;  while  Wild 
Parsley   {Anthriscus  sylvestris)   and   Gout- weed   {Aigopoditmi 
Podagraria),    known    as  Bishop-weed,  from  the  difficulty  of 
uprooting  it,    are   more  plentiful  than  is  desirable.     Fool's 
Parsley   {^tJmsa  Cy7iapi2wi\  too,   with   its  peculiar  bracts 
abounds ;    and    the   Common   Fennel  {Fceniadiwi  officinale), 
grown  from  seed,  is  now  domesticated.  A  few  plants  of  the  Cow- 
Parsnip   {Heracli2i7n  Spho7idylium)  and  Wild  Carrot  {Dauciis 
Ccirota) — remarkable   for  the  sheathing-base  of  the  leaves  in 
the  one,  and  for  the  central  purple  flower  in  the  other — have 
been  allowed,  by  me,  to  grow,  though  I  have  no  desire  that  the 
stock  should  increase.    The  Golden  Elder  grows  luxuriantly  ; 
but  it,  of  course,  I  have  planted,  as  an  ornament  to  the  play- 
ground, and  I  only  refer  to  it  as  being  a  specimen  of  an  order 
which  could  not  otherwise  have  been  represented.     lyadies* 
Bed-straw  {Galiiun  veriwi)  survives,  because  of  its  flowering- 
time,  and  Galiu77i  Apari7te  has  an  attachment  to  the  place 
quite   distinct  from    that   with    which   it    favours    a    pedes- 
trian's   trousers ;    but    Sweet    Woodruff    {Aspertda    odorata) 
can  scarcely  be  said  to  thrive,  although  there  are,  at  least, 
two   plants.      Field   Madder   {Sherardia    arvensis)   I  planted 
some  years  ago ;    and,    though    scarcely    spreading,    it    is, 
at    least,    not    declining.      The   Red   Valerian   {Ce7itra7ithus 
ruber)  grows  upon  a  wall.     Corn  Salad  (  Valeria7iella  olitoria) 
'is  certainly  indigenous,  for,  in  my  garden,  it  is  by  no  means 
encouraged,  and  yet  it  spreads  amazingly.     Both  the  Field 
and  Small  Scabious  {Scabiosa  arve7isis  and  S.  sziccisa)  some- 
times show  ;    and  a  plant  of  Jasio7ie  tno7ita7ia  has  not  only 
established  itself  but  started  a  colony.     Of  the  Chicory  group 
I  introduced  the  Yellow  Goat's-beard  {Tragopogo7i  prate7isis\ 
^2Xs2S.y  {T.porrifolitis)y  and  Wild  Succory  {Cichorimn  hitybus)  ; 
and  these  have  propagated  themselves,  unaided,  for  several 
years.     But  this  Composites  group  is  so  involved,  with  Hawk- 
bits,  Hawk's-beards  and  Hawk-weeds,  that  I   shall  not  even 
attempt  an  enumeration,  except  to  say  that  we  have  many 


282  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Nov., 

different  species  and  all  of  them  in  a  flourishing  condition. 
The  Dandelion  {Leontodon   Taraxacuni)  and  Knapweed  {Cen- 
taiiria   nigra)  are,    of  course,  ubiquitous ;    and  the  Bur-dock 
{Arctium\  with  the  hooked  scales   of  its  involucre,   affords 
infinite    amusement  when  a  boy  with  back-hair  sufficiently 
long  can   be   pounced   upon   unobserved.      There   are   four 
species  of  Thistle,  besides  the    Sow-thistle ;  but  I   have  not 
studied  the  class  very  closely,  and  shall  not  specify.     The 
Tansy  {Ta^iacetum  officinale),  the  Common  Wormwood  {Arte- 
misia Absinthium)  and  Mugwort  {A.  vulgaris)  are  all  to  be 
found,  especially  the  last,  while  even  of  the  Common  Cudweed 
{Filago  germanica)  I  found  a  plant  growing  on  the  foot-paths. 
Petasites  fragra7is   I  introduced  ;  and  it  has  so  grown  that  it 
is  now  nearly  as  plentiful  as  the  Tussilago,  which  needed  no 
introduction.     The  Groundsel  (Senecio  vulgaris)  is  naturally 
common  ;  and  we  have  four  plants  of  Ragwort  {S.  JacobcBo), 
which  seem  to  supply  food  for  numerous  broods  of   cater- 
pillars of  the  Cinnabar  Moth,    as   we    are   never  without   a 
swarm  of  these  during  the  summer.     Indeed  with  regard  to 
I/epidoptera,  I  may  mention  in  passing  that  the  Ghost  Moth, 
the  Yellow   Underwing,   the    Herald    Moth,    and  the   Grey 
Arches   are  very  plentiful,    while   I   have  even   caught  the 
Humming-bird  Hawk  and  Convolvulus  Hawk  Moths :  and, 
on   one   occasion,   viz.,    nth   February,    1885,   I  found   such 
myriads  of  the  Caterpillar  of  Aplecta  nebulosa,  that  the}^  had 
to  be  swept  out  of  the  yards  and  thrown  on  the  ash-heap. 
Of  Daisies  we  have,  in  plenty,   not  only  the  Common  Daisy 
{Bellis perennis),  but  the  White  and  Yellow  Ox-eye  {Chrysan- 
themuniLeucanthe^nuni  and  C.  segettwi),  and  a  few  plants  of  the 
Common  Feverfew  {Matricaria  inodora),  while  Yarrow  {Achil- 
Icea  Millefolium)  is  rampant  throughout,  and  the  Sneezewort 
{Pulicaria  dysenterica)  effecting  an  entrance.     Both  species  of 
Periwinkle  (  Vinca  major  and  V.  minor)  grow,  having  probably 
been  planted  or  thrown  out  of  the  garden  ;  and  there  are  two 
species    of    Convolvulus,    viz.,   C.    arvensis   and    C.   septum, 
growing   plentifully,    besides   another  which   has   dark   rose 
stripes  down  the  petal.     There  is  a  plant  of  Comfrey  {Sym- 
phytum offici7iale),  a  few  of  Borage  {Borago  officinalis),  and  two 
of  Hound' s-tongue    {Cynoglossum   offici7iale)  ;    but   all     these 
have  grown  from  seed  which  I  scattered,  and  may  no  more  be 


1896.]  Gibson. — Botany  of  a  School  Playg7'0U7id  in  Diiblvi,  283 

counted  natives  than  the  small  Bugloss  {Lycopsis  arvensis), 
which  sprung  up  on  a  heap  of  waste  earth  and  died  off  in  a 
year  or  so.  A  plant  of  the  Common  Bittersweet  {Solanum 
Dulca7na7'a)  has  found  a  home  against  one  of  the  walls  ;  and, 
for  several  years  back,  in  one  corner,  the  Black  Nightshade 
{S.  7iigru77i)  has  grown  up,  seeded,  and  died.  Henbane 
{Hyoscya77ius  7iige7-)  I  tried  to  introduce,  but  it  never  survived 
the  winter,  though  why  I  know  not,  as  I  have  found  it 
growing  in  an  old  stable-yard  near  Kilkenny. 

The  Ivy-leaved  Toad- flax   {Liyiaria  CytTibalaria)  grows  on 
every  wall,  and  the   Knotted  Figwort  {Scrophtdaria  7iodosa) 
perfumes  every  corner ;  but  Yellow- rattle  {Rhi7ia7ithis  Crista- 
gain),  P^ye-bright  {Euphrasia  officinalis),  and  Bartsia  OdoTitites 
barely    survive,    though   long    ago    naturalized.     The    little 
Wall  Speedwell  ( Vero7iica  arve7isis)  and  the  Germander  Speed- 
well {V.  Cha77tcedrys)  are,  however,  plentiful,   as  is  also  the 
Great  Mullein  ( Verbascu77i  Thapst(s),  which  springs  up  every- 
where, though  seldom   allowed  to  flower,  as  boys  love  the 
flannel-like  feel  of  the  leaves.     The  Hemp  Nettle  {Galeopsis 
Tet7'ahit)  and  Self-Heal  {Pru7iella  vulgaris^d^r^  scattered  all  over 
the  place,  and  Ground  Ivy  {Glecho77ia  hederaced)  grows  in  one 
corner.     I  brought  a  plant  of  Vervain  (  Verbe7ia  offici7ialis)  from 
Bective  Abbey  some  years  ago  ;  but  it  has  never  flowered  and 
is  growing  smaller  every  day,  though,  as  it  grows  plentifully 
at  Old  Connaught  cross-roads,  I  don't  see  why  it  fails  to  grow. 
The  Primrose  {Pri77iula  vulgaris)  is  an  introduction,  but  the 
tiny  Scarlet  Pimpernel  {A7iagallis  arve7isis)  seems  to  flourish  in 
being  trampled  on,  for  its  petals  expand,  every  fine  day,  along 
the  very  paths  and  walls.     Of  Plantains  we  have  the  Greater 
and  Ribwort  species  (Pla7itago  77tajor  and  P.  la7iceolata),  and 
each  too  abundantly  ;  for,  always  and  ever,  they  come  up  before 
the  grass,  after  our  winter  games,  and  spoil  the  appearance  of 
the   cricket    creases.     The    Goose-foot  {Che7iopoditi77i  albu7?t) 
and  the  A  triplex  (Orache)  have  found  a  footing  in  the  un- 
trodden corners,  while  Docks,  and  Sorrel  {Ru77iex  Acetosa)  and 
Knot-Grass    {Polygo7i2i7n  avictdare)   abound,   as   well   as   the 
Spotted  Persicaria  {P.  Persicaria),  and  P.  Co7ivolvohis  is  only 
too  plentiful.     Of  the  genus  Etcpho7^bia,  the  Caper  Spurge  {E. 
Lathyris),  having  been  sown  in  the  garden,  has  spread  to  the 


284  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [.No v., 

playground,  but  the  Sun-Spurge  {E.  Helioscopid)  is  every- 
where, despite  of  its  being  so  often  crushed  to  show  the  *'  milk." 
As  for  Dog's  Mercury  {Mercurialis  a7inud)  it  springs  up  in  every 
shady  corner,  and  the  Nettle  is  not  unknown.  The  Wall 
Pellitory  {Parietaria  officinalis)  too,  with  its  curiously  elastic 
filaments,  causes  great  amusement ;  and  one  or  two  Orchids, 
now  and  then,  appear  spontaneously  ;  though  of  those  I  have 
transplanted  there  scarcely  one  has  ever  flowered,  whilst 
preserving  life  enough  to  throw  up  leaves.  A  few  Wild 
Hyacinths  {Endymion  mita7is)  and  Cuckoo  Pints  {Arum 
maculatiini)  have  survived,  out  of  many  which  I  planted ; 
but  the  flowers  of  the  former  grow  less  every  year,  and  the 
latter  have  never  flowered  at  all.  Thus  after  many  years 
observation  I  find  that  some  specimens  of  nearly  all  the 
great  Natural  Orders  spring  up  spontaneously,  in  most 
unlikely  places,  while  others  can  be  domiciled  without  any 
trouble  ;  and  even  of  those  that  require  care  to  make  them 
bloom  profusely,  it  is  possible  to  preserve  the  life,  without 
unduly  interfering  to  assist ;  for  to  do  this  would,  I  contend, 
remove  them  from  the  category  of  wild  flowers  altogether. 
If  these  remarks,  from  which  all  mention  of  grasses  is 
excluded,  induce  anyone  to  take  more  interest  in  the  plant- 
life — though  it  be  but  of  the  commonest — around  him,  I 
shall  be  satisfied. 


1896.]  285 


NEW  BOOKS  ON  BRITISH  ZOOI^OGY. 


The  Collector's  Manual  of  British  Land  and  Freshwater 
Shells.  By  IviONEi.  K.  Adams.  2nd  Edition;  pp.  214;  pis.  x.  ; 
8vo.    Leeds  :  Taylor  Bros.,  1891.    Price,  8^.  (with  coloured  plates,  10s.) 

The  aim  of  Mr.  Adams'  little  book  is  to  give  a  critical  treatise  on  the 
British  Land  and  Freshwater  Mollusca,  with  concise  descriptions  and 
with  an  account  of  their  habits.  It  contains  also  hints  on  the  preserva- 
tion and  arrangement  of  shells,  and,  as  stated  on  the  title-page,  it 
purports  to  furnish  us  with  the  names  and  descriptions  of  all  the  varieties 
and  with  synoptical  tables  showing  the  differences  of  species  difl5cult  of 
identification. 

The  only  work  with  which  this  can  at  all  be  compared  is  that  by 
Lovell  Reeve  published  in  1863,  and  now  out  of  print,  and  though  it 
shows  a  very  considerable  advance  on  it  in  some  respects,  it  falls  short 
of  it  in  others.  For  instance,  there  is  hardly  any  synonym}'  given  by 
Mr.  Adams,  nor  is  there  any  mention  of  the  distribution  of  the  British 
land  and  freshwater  mollusca  outside  the  British  Islands.  Then  why 
should  Pahuiestrina  jilvcr,  Otina  otis,  and  the  genera  Melampus  and  Alexia 
be  omitted,  whilst  Pahukstrina  similis  and  P.  ventrosa  are  described 
in  the  work  ?  They  are  all  more  or  less  brackish  forms,  and  all  their 
nearest  relations  are  t3'pical  freshwater  species. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Adams  should  have  adopted  the  absurd 
custom  of  attaching  Latin  names  to  mere  normal  variations,  whilst  the 
system  of  bestowing  varietal  names  should  be  carried  out  strictly  in 
accordance  to  the  law  of  priority.  The  variety  roseolabiata  of  Helix 
netnoralis  was  described  and  named  by  Dr.  Kobelt  long  before  Mr. 
Taylor  attached  his  name  to  it. 

In  many  other  cases  foreign  authorities  have  not  been  sufficiently 
consulted.  Dr.  Bottger,  the  highest  authority  on  Clausilia,  has  pointed 
out  that  the  so-called  varieties  Everetti  (Miller)  and  tumidula  ( Jeffr.)  of 
Clausilia  bidentata  are  type  forms  of  that  species,  whilst  all  British  forms 
of  the  latter  may  be  grouped  under  the  three  varieties,  gracilior,  septern- 
trionalis,  and  exigtia,  only  one  of  which  is  referred  to  by  our  author. 
Helix  costata  and  Hyalinia  contracta  are  now  almost  universally  looked 
upon  as  distinct  species,  and  not  as  varieties  of  H.  pukhella  and  H. 
crystallina.  Of  Helix  sericea,  which  was  identified  as  such  from  Yorkshire 
specimens  sent  by  us  to  Drs.  Bottger  and  Westerlund,  there  is  no 
mention  at  all.  The  latter,  moreover,  thinks  it  very  doubtful  if  the 
Helix  itala  of  Linne  (p.  83)  can  really  be  referred  to  H.  ericetortim,  and 
before  making  such  a  sweeping  change  in  a  well-known  old  name,  the 

A3 


286  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Nov,, 

opinion  of  the  great  modern  Swedish  conchological  authority  should  be 
carefully  considered.  Even  if  we  should  not  all  agree  with  the  propriety 
of  Dr.  Westerlund's  applying  the  name  of  a  distinct  species  {^H.  lampra) 
to  the  Aran  Island  form  of  H.  ericetorum,  some  reference  to  it  might 
have  been  made. 

Although  some  of  the  figures,  such  as  that  of  Linnuva  invohita,  are 
poor,  they  are  on  the  whole  satisfactory,  and  no  one  can  help  admiring 
the  beautiful  plate  X.  containing  the  Pisidia,  a  genus  which  is  a  sore 
trouble  to  the  conchologist.  It  would  have  been  well  to  place  the 
figures  of  the  shells  of  Testacella  haliotidea  and  T.  Matigei  on  plate  II., 
instead  of  moving  them  to  plate  VII.,  where  they  are  apt  to  be 
overlooked. 

In  speaking  of  the  size  of  slugs  (p.  2)  it  is  misleading  in  the  highest 
degree  to  say  that  they  measure  so  many  millimetres  '■^ from  the  nose  to  the 
extremity  of  the  keel,""  since  if  slugs  have  an  organ  of  smell  at  all,  it  certainly 
is  not  at  the  extreme  anterior  end  of  their  body,  whilst  only  few  possess 
what  may  be  called  a  keel. 

Mr.  Adams  has  in  many  ways  made  it  easier  for  students  to  identify 
the  British  species  of  slugs,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  one  could  dis- 
tinguish Arioji  ater  from  A.  miniums,  after  reading  the  description  on 
page  27.  The  latter  cannot  be  at  once  identified,  as  Mr.  Adams  says  it 
can,  by  its  lateral  bands,  since  it  is  more  often  without  than  with  such  ; 
and  Arion  ater  is  certainly  not  without  bands  ;  during  its  youth,  banded 
forms  are  the  rule  and  bandless  ones  exceedingly  rare. 

Before  we  conclude  our  criticism  of  Mr.  Adams'  work,  we  should  like 

to  say  a  few  words  on  the  list  of  the  "authenticated"  records  of  the 

distribution  of  British  land  and  freshwater  mollusca  given  at  the  end. 

It  appears  that  records  are  "authenticated  "  if  the  specimens  have  been 

seen  by  one  out  of  the  three  following  conchologists,  viz.,  Mr.  Taylor, 

Mr.  Roebuck,   and  the  late  Mr.  Ashford.     Apparently  such  records  as 

even  those  of  the  late  Dr.  Jeffreys  would  be  rejected  as  not  authenticated. 

The  great  merit  of  this   system  of  authentication  is  supposed  to  lie  in 

the  uniformity  of  value  which  it  gives  to  the  records,  but  it  is  certain 

that  there  are  many  conchologists  in  the  British  Islands  who  are  just  as 

capable  of  identifying  most  of  the  British  species  as  the  gentlemen  above 

mentioned.     Would  it  not  be  a  better  plan  in  order  to  quickly  arrive 

at  the  distribution   of  land    and  freshw^ater  mollusca  throughout  the 

British  Islands  to  enlarge  the  body  of  referees,  and  ask  them  to  select  a 

few  of  the  critical  species  which  should  always  be  submitted  to  specialists 

before  entering  them  as  authenticated  records  ? 

A  few  defects  and  deficiencies  in  special  parts  of  this  work  cannot, 
however,  seriously  detract  from  its  value  and  importance.  The  print  is 
excellent,  and  the  book  may  be  confidently  recommended  as  the  best 
existing  collector's  manual  on  the  British  land  and  freshwater  mollusca. 

R.  F.  S. 


1896.]  New  Books  071  British  Zoology.  287 


British  Butterflies,  beingr  a  popular  Handbook  for  young 
Students  and  Collectors.  By  J.  W.  Tutt,  f.e.s.  London: 
George  Gill  and  Sons,  1896.  Pp.  469,  plates  ir,  and  45  figures  in  text. 
Price  5J-. 

This  work  is  an  attempt  to  supply  beginners  in  the  study  of  our  native 
butterflies  with  an  introduction  to  the  subject,  which  shall  give  due 
regard  to  recent  work  in  morphology  and  classification.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  books  on  British  lepidoptera  which  issue  in  rapid 
succession  from  the  press  are,  as  a  rule,  too  stereotyped  in  treatment,  and 
too  conservative  in  arrangement.  Entomologists  who  wish  to  see  the 
advance  of  their  favourite  science  in  these  countries  will  be  grateful  to 
Mr,  Tutt  for  having  produced  the  present  volume. 

The  author  confesses  in  the  preface  that  the  book  is  "  utterly  inadequate 
as  a  finished  manual."     Nevertheless  the  beginner  will  find  in  it  enough 
information  to  serve  as  a  foundation  for  his  studies.     It  is  a  pity  that 
there  is  nothing  of  the  nature  of  a  bibliography  to  direct  the  student  to 
original  sources  for  more  advanced  study.     There  are  chapters  on  eo-o-- 
laying  and  eggs,  caterpillars  and  how  to  obtain  them,   and  chrysalids, 
which  give  a  good  general  idea  of  lepidopterous  development.     We  are 
glad  to  see  that  in  writing  of  caterpillars,  Mr.  Tutt  abandons  the  old 
incorrect  method  of  reckoning  the   head   as    a    single    segment    and 
numbering  the  body-segments  two,  three,  &c. ;  he  adopts  a  nomencla- 
ture that  shows  the  correspondence  of  the  segments  in  the  larval  and 
perfect  stages.     It  is  a  pity  however  that  he  should  write  "  the  horny 
biting  jaws  of  the  caterpillar  give  place  to  the  spiral  sucking  tongue  of 
the  butterfly,"  in  a  connection  which  might  lead  the  student  to  regard 
the  two  sets  of  organs  as  homologous ;  especially  as  he  elsewhere  states 
the  correct  homology  of  the  sucking-tube   of  the  imagine  with  the 
rudimentary  maxillae  of  the  larva.     In  describing  the  pupa,  Mr.  Tutt 
naturally   draws  largely   on   the   recent   important   researches    of   Dr. 
Chapman,  pointing  out    that,  as    development  proceeds    from    lower 
lepidopterous  families  to  higher,  a  greater  number  of  pupal  segments 
tend  to  become  fused.    We  are  surprised  however  that  no  acknowledo-- 
ment  to  Dr.  Chapman  is  to  be  found  either  in  the  text  or  in  the  preface. 
The  paragraph  on  p.  47,    in  which  the   temperature-experiments,  pre- 
sumably of  such  investigators  asWeismann,  Merrifieldand  Standfuss,  are 
referred  to,  seems  to  show  that*Mr.  Tutt  is  apt  to  state  too  positively  his 
opinions  on  points  still  under  discussion. 

There  are  short  chapters  on  hybernation  and  aestivation,  and  on 
variation,  but  in  the  systematic  part  of  the  work  much  space  is  devoted 
to  the  description  and  naming  of  varieties  and  aberrations.  There  are 
the  usual  chapters  on  catching,  setting,  and  preserving  insects  ;  we  wish 
that  Mr.  Tutt  had  seen  his  way  to  recommend  the  abandonment  of 
curved  setting-boards.  Very  valuable  is  the  chapter  inculcating  the 
careful  labelling  and  recording  of  insects,  and  we  hope  Mr.  Tutt's  readers 
will  take  it  to  heart. 


288 


The  Irish  Naturalist. 


[Nov., 


In  the  chapter  on  names  and  classification,  Mr.  Tutt  makes  the 
astonishing  statement  that  "  butterflies  in  common  with  all  other  insects 
have  two  names  by  which  they  are  known  all  over  the  world."  How 
devoutly  soever  we  may  wish  this  were  true,  it  w^ould  perhaps  be  as 
correct  to  say  that  no  two  entomologists  use  the  same  two  names  for 
any  species !  Mr.  Tutt,  doubtless  quite  correctly,  has  followed  Con- 
tinental and  American  writers  in  breaking  up  several  of  our  old  genera, 
such  as  Vajiessa,  Lyccena,  and  I'heda  ;  as  he  points  out,  it  is  wrong  to 
continue  to  "  lump "  species — however  few — under  the  same  generic 
name  when  they  really  deserve  separation.  But  alas  for  uniformity  in 
nomenclature  I  Mr.  W.  F.  Kirby^  has  recently  published  a  popular  book 
dealing  with  the  same  question,  and  here  is  a  comparison  of  the  nomen- 
clatures of  the  British  Lyc^nidse  as  given  by  these  two  authorities  : — 


Tutt. 

Chiysophaniis. 

dispar. 

phheas. 
Lycana. 

avion . 
Noniiades. 

seviiargus 
Cupido. 

niiniDia. 
Polyonimattis. 

corydon. 

bellargus. 

icartis. 

astrarche. 
Plebeitis. 

agon. 
Everes. 

argiades. 
Cyaniris, 

afgiolus. 
Lamp  ides, 

bivtica . 
CallopJuys. 

rlibi. 
Zephyrtis. 

quejxus. 

betulic. 
Tkecla, 

tv -album. 

pruni. 


KiRBY. 

Lycicna. 

dispar. 

phlivas. 
Nomiades. 


scuiiargus. 
Zizera. 

minima. 
Polyommatus. 

coy  don. 

thetis. 

icarus. 

alexis 
Plebeius. 

argus. 
Ctipido. 

argiades. 
Cyaniris- 

argiolus. 
La})ipides. 

b(€ticus. 
Callophrys^ 

rubi. 
Zephyj'tis. 

quercus. 

betidic. 
TJiecla. 

w-album. 

prtini. 


^  A  Handbook  to  the  Order  Lepidoptera  (Allen's  Naturalists'  Library.) 


1896.]  Mew  Books  on  British  Zoology.  289 

It  will  be  seen  that  out  of  the  eighteen  British  species  in  this  family 
Messrs.  Kirby  and  Tutt  are  in  agreement  only  as  to  the  names  of  ten. 
Whether  Lyacna  belongs  to  the  "  Large  Copper"  or  the  "  Large  Blue"  is 
a  matter  of  perfect  indifference  ;  but  this  uncertainty  in  nomenclature 
will  be  used  as  an  excuse  by  many  conservatively-disposed  naturalists  for 
holding  to  the  old  familiar  names.  It  is  the  more  deplorable  since,  ex- 
cept in  one  instance,  the  two  authorities  are  in  entire  agreement  as  to  the 
generic  divisions. 

In  the  systematic  part  of  the  work,  Mr.  Tutt  arranges  the  families  in  a 
somewhat  new  sequence.  The  Hesperiidce — undoubtedly  the  lowest 
group— naturally  come  first,  and  the  Satyridcv  are  placed  at  the  top.  The 
LyccTiiidcc  which,  in  Bates'  scheme,  come  between  the  Pieridcz  and  Lemonidct 
on  account  of  the  normal  development  of  all  three  pairs  of  legs,  are 
inserted  by  Mr.  Tutt  immediately  after  the  Hesperiidcv,  so  that  the  Nym- 
phalidic  may  follow  the  Pierida,  these  two  last  families  showing  much 
similarity  in  pupal  structure.  It  is  doubtful  if  Mr,  Tutt's  removal  of 
Apafura  iris  from  the  NyDiphalidiC  to  the  Satyridiv  will  meet  with  general 
acceptance.  He  points  out  that  the  caterpillar  shows  satyrid  affinities, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  larval  stage  in  all  lepidoptera  must 
have  undergone  much  adaptive  modification. 

In  spite  of  a  tirade  against  the  use  of  English  names  for  species,  Mr. 
Tutt  heads  his  chapters  with  such  titles  as  "  Coppers,  Blues,  and  Hair- 
streaks,"  '  Swallow-tails,  Whites,  and  Clouded  Yellows."  A  decided  flaw 
in  these  descriptive  chapters  is  the  want  in  several  instances  of  definite 
diagnoses  of  the  genera;  the  fact  that  many  of  the  genera  used  are  new 
to  most  British  lepidopterists  should  have  made  their  justification 
specially  desirable.  We  could  better  have  spared  the  long  lists  of  named 
aberrations  and  varieties ;  and  with  respect  to  these,  nothing  but  con- 
fusion to  the  student  can  result  from  Mr.  Tutt's  frequent  plan  of  giving 
a  list  of  several  varietal  forms,  and  then,  after  a  paragraph  of  general 
remarks,  another  list  with  a  new  series  of  numbers.  The  treatment  of 
Colias  ediisa  on  p.  259  is  a  case  in  point. 

The  ^^%.,  larva,  and  pupa  of  each  species  are  described  in  detail,  Irish 
naturalists  will  be  glad  to  know  that  one  of  their  most  isolated  brethren, 
Mr.  J.  J.  Wolfe,  of  Skibbereen,  has  been  able  to  supply  Mr.  Tutt  with 
valuable  information  on  the  transformation  of  several  species  of  butterfly. 
The  time  of  appearance  of  each  insect  is,  of  course,  given,  and  a  set  of 
valuable  tables  indicate  the  months  occupied  by  the  various  stages  of 
the  life-cycle  of  each  species,  together  with  the  food-plants  and  method 
of  pupation.  The  distributional  notes  are  in  many  cases  imperfect. 
We  miss  such  recent  Irish  records  as  Mr.  Dillon's  captures  oi  Argvnnis 
adippe  and  Polyojuinatus  astrarche  var.  artaxerxes  at  Clonbrock.  And  the 
statement  that  Vanessa  polychloros  haunts  the  "  outskirts  of  woods  "  will 
not  help  the  student  who  wdshes  to  trace  its  British  range. 

We  can  heartily  endorse  the  author's  praise  of  the  plates  drawn  by 
Mr.  W,  A.  Pearce,  and  excellently  reproduced.  The  figures  are  far  more 
life-like  than  many  coloured  representations  of  insects.     It  is  irritating 


±g6  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Nov., 

to  find  eight  pages  of  press-uotices  of  Mr.  Tutt's  other  works  on  natural 

history  inserted  between  the  explanation  of  the  plates  and  the  plates 

themselves.     We  hope  that  a  new  edition  of  the  book  will  speedily  be 

called  for,  when  these  advertisements  may  be  relegated  to  their  proper 

place  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  volume. 

G.  H.  C. 


A  Handbook  of  British  Lepidoptera.     By  Edward  Meyrick, 

B.A.,  F.z.s.,  F.E-S.     Pp.  843.     London :  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1895.    Price 

\os.  nett. 

Pressure  on  our  space  has  prevented  earlier  notice  of  this  book,  which, 
like  Mr.  Tutt's,  presents  the  British  lepidoptera  to  the  student  in  a  new 
light.  But,  instead  of  being  confined  to  the  butterflies  only,  it  deals  with 
all  the  British  species  of  the  order,  and  consequently  comes  before  us  as 
a  claimant  to  the  place  on  our  bookshelves  long  occupied  by  Stainton's 
time-honoured  "Manual." 

That  the  arrangement  adopted  by  Mr.  Meyrick  is  revolutionary  will 
be  inferred  when  we  state  that  he  places  the  Arctiida,  or  Tiger-moths,  at 
the  head  of  the  series,  and  inserts  the  butterflies  in  the  middle  of  his 
system,  between  the  Lasiocampidce,  or  Bggar-moths,  and  the  Pyralids 
The  families  of  the  old  "  Bombyces  "—such  as  the  cossids,  hepialids, 
sesiids,  &c.,  which  are  now  well  known  to  be  closely  related  to  the  so- 
called  "  Microlepidoptera  " — are,  as  might  be  expected,  to  be  found  in  the 
place  required  by  their  true  affinities.  It  seems  to  us,  however,  that  the 
removal  of  the  butterflies  from  the  headship  of  the  lepidoptera  is  not 
warranted,  when  we  consider  the  very  great  specialisation  of  their  most 
elaborated  members  ;  while  other  eminent  students  of  the  order  do  not 
consider  the  ArctiidcE  an  extremely  highly  developed  family. 

The  families,  genera,  and  species  are  differentiated  by  the  help  of 
tables,  and  there  are  phylogenies  of  the  tribes,  genera,  and  families. 
Though  quite  in  sympathy  with  Mr.  Meyrick's  desire  to  present  the 
subject  in  the  light  of  the  doctrine  of  descent,  we  question  the  wisdom 
of  genealogies  which  seem  to  indicate  that  existing  genera  of  insects  are 
the  direct  descendants  of  other  existing  genera. 

In  his  definition  of  genera  Mr.  Meyrick  is  inclined  to  rely  too  exclu- 
sively on  isolated  characters,  especially  those  drawn  from  wing-neuration, 
and  the  result  is  often  a  cumbersome  assembly  of  species.  We  believe, 
however,  that  wing-neuration,  being  probably  little  affected  by  adaptive 
modification,  is  a  safe  guide  to  family  relationships.  The  separation  of  the 
Coppers  and  Blues  by  Mr.  Meyrick  into  only  two  genera,  on  the  character 
of  the  eyes  being  hairy  or  glabrous,  results  in  a  most  curious  division  of 
the  insects,  and  we  should  not  envy  the  naturalist  who  endeavoured  to 
apply  this  method  to  the  classification  of  the  Lycccnida:  of  the  world.  We 
much  regret  to  see  that  in  the  nomenclature  of  his  genera,  Mr.  Meyrick 


1896.]  New  Books  on  British  Zoology.  291 

has  disinterred  a  number  of  Hubner's  names  published  without  descrip- 
tions, and  substituted  them  for  names  familiar  to  entomologists  for  the 
last  half  century.  And  the  superseded  names  are  not  even  given  as 
synonyms ;  the  student,  for  instance,  will  not  find  Cidaria  or  Eupithecia 
in  the  index. 

The  descriptions  of  the  species  are  naturally  very  condensed,  but  most 
of  them  give  the  salient  points  of  the  insect.  The  references  to  cater- 
pillars and  pupae  are,  as  a  rule,  meagre.  The  range  of  each  insect  is 
briefly  indicated,  but,  so  far  as  regards  Irish  localities,  we  can  only 
marvel  exceedingly  whence  Mr.  Meyrick  derived  his  information.  In 
the  preface  he  tells  us  that  the  records  were  tabulated  for  him  by  a  lady 
from  "  various  entomological  periodicals  "  and  "  reliable  private  corres- 
pondents." A  few  instances  will  suffice.  Hylophila  bicolorana  is  said  to  be 
found  "  B.  and  W.  Ireland — not  uncommon  " ;  according  to  the  recent 
list  of  Mr.  Kane,  who  certainly  knows  the  Irish  moths  better  than  any 
other  living  naturalist,  the  species  is  unknown  in  Ireland.  Halias prasi- 
««;/«  is  given  as  "  N.  and  E.  Ireland — common";  it  ranges  into  the  ex- 
treme south-western  county  of  Kerry.  Gnophria  ruhricoUis  appears  as 
"  N.  and  W.  Ireland— common " ;  it  has  not  been  found  north  of 
counties  Dublin  and  Galway,  and,  though  widespread,  is  certainly  not 
common.  Lithosia  complana — "  N.  and  E.  Ireland — local  ";  ranges  round 
the  coast  from  Derry  to  Cork.  Mr.  R.  E.  Dillon's  Clonbrock  records  are 
omitted,  but  Mr.  Meyrick  tells  us  in  the  preface  that  all  omissions  are 
intentional,  and  imply  disbelief.  We  cannot  think  that  such  misstate- 
ments as  we  have  instanced  are  also  intentional,  but  errors  in  matters  of 
fact,  so  easily  verifiable,  tend  to  shake  confidence  in  Mr.  Meyrick's 
opinions  on  other  matters  in  which  the  difficulty  in  arriving  at  correct 
conclusions  is  much  greater. 

The  only  illustrations  are  good  figures  of  the  wing-neuration,  more 
rarely  of  other  structural  characters,  in  the  various  genera.  It  is  satis- 
factory that  the  attention  of  the  student  should  be  so  largely  directed  to 
the  structure  of  moths,  for  collectors  of  the  lepidoptera  are  too  prone  to 
think  only  of  comparing  wing-patterns  when  identifying  their  insects. 
In  spite  of  its  defects,  Mr.  Meyrick's  work  will  be  welcomed  as  a  real 
attempt  to  describe,  in  brief  compass,  the  whole  of  our  native  lepidoptera 
in  the  light  of  modern  knowledge. 

G.  H.  C. 


292  The  Irish  Naturalist  [Nov., 

THE  ISI.AND-FI.ORA  OF  THK  CONNEMARA  LAKES. 

BY    R.   1,1,0yd    PRAKGKR,    B.K- 


Many  of  the  Connemara  lakes  have  in  them  rocky  islets,  and 
most  of  these  are  thickly  covered  with  shrubs  and  stunted  trees, 
in  one  or  two  spots  undoubtedly  planted,  but  usually  indi- 
genous— the  only  native  arboreal  vegetation,  excepting  an  odd 
bush  on  the  mountain-cliffs,  that  I  have  observed  in  Conne- 
mara. Lying  between  Roundstone  and  Clifden  is  an  enormous 
stretch  of  bog  and  rock,  so  intersected  with  winding  lakelets 
that  without  a  map  one  might  spend  a  day  in  trying  to  find  one's 
way  out  of  the  labyrinth.  Here,  miles  from  any  road,  house,  or 
field,  the  islands  contain  a  strictly  indigenous  flora,  not  easy  to 
investigate,  as  there  are  no  boats.  Wishing  to  see  what  plants 
grew  on  these  islets,  my  friend  Frank  M'Cormick  and  I  left 
Roundstone  one  grey,  chilly  August  day,  and  drove  to  Craigga 
More  Lough,  long  famous  as  the  head-quarters  of  that  very 
rare  heath,  Erica  Mackaiana,  Bab.  Here  it  grows  in  great 
abundance.  Last  year  it  was  in  full  flower  when  I  visited 
the  place  on  July  17  ;  this  year,  a  remarkably  early  season, 
it  was  still  blossoming  in  great  profusion  on  August  22, 
so  that  its  flowering  period  does  not  appear  to  be  very 
restricted.  In  Craigga  More  there  are  several  islets,  thickly 
covered  with  low,  tangled  scrub.  The  intervening  water  is 
not  more  than  waist-deep,  so  in  discarding  our  clothes  we 
were  able  to  retain  our  jackets,  for  the  sake  of  warmth,  while 
boots  and  stockings  were  also  retained,  to  ward  off  brambles. 
These,  with  the  addition  of  vasculum  and  stick,  made  a  cool 
and  business-like  costume.  We  waded  the  lake,  through  reefs 
of  rock,  great  boulders,  and  muddy  patches,  green  with  a 
luxuriant  growth  of  Eriocaiiloji  and  Lobelia,  and  visited  the 
islets.  The  vegetation  was  limited  in  variety,  but  interesting. 
The  Yew  was  the  prevailing  species.  With  it  grew  the  Moun- 
tain A'sh,  not  more  than  three  or  four  feet  high,  but  spreading 
widely,  and  gloriously  covered  with  scarlet  berries.  The 
Juniper  was  also  present,  and  the  Dwarf  Gorse  {U I  ex  gal  Hi)  in 
full  bloom.  Stunted  Hollies  grew  here  and  there,  and  bushes 
of  Bog   Myrtle.     The   Bear-Berry   {Arctostaphylos   Uva-2irsi) 


1896.]  Praeger. —  The  Island-Flora  of  the  Coiinemara  Lakes.  293 

spread  luxuriantly  among  the  Heather  and  lying,  as  did  also 
the  Ivy.  In  a  sheltered  nook  Erica  Mackaiana  was  gathered 
with  stems  three  feet  in  length  and  abundance  of  flower.  The 
Cow- wheat  {Mclampyrum  pratense)  grew  among  the  tangle,  and 
one  bramble,  its  fruit  already  ripe.  The  Royal  Fern,  Broad 
Buckler  Fern,  and  Common  Polypody  represented  the  order 
Filices. 

From  Craigga  More  we  pushed  southward  several  miles 
across  the  bog  to  lyOUgh  Bollard,  following  a  very  devious 
course,  on  account  of  the  network  of  lakelets  that  intervene. 
Lough  Bollard  is  a  comparatively  large  lake — perhaps  a  mile 
across — and  is  very  deep,  with  a  number  of  high,  rocky  islets. 
This  was  a  plain  case  of  swimming,  so,  with  a  costume  con- 
sisting of  one  vasculum  between  us,  we  explored  island  after 
island,  with  plenty  of  swimming  between-times.  The  wind 
had  risen,  covering  the  surface  of  the  lake  with  a  nasty  jabble, 
and  it  was  raining  heavily,  so  that  we  found  the  deep  water  to 
the  lee  of  the  islands  the  warmest  and  most  comfortable  place. 
The  rocky  sides,  thoroughly  glaciated,  rose  out  of  deep  water 
so  steeply  and  smoothly  that  landing  was  often  impracticable. 
We  found  that  the  flora  of  these  islands  was  almost  exactly 
similar  to  that  of  the  ones  previously  explored,  with  the 
addition  of  a  few  very  common  plants,  including  the  Nettle, 
which  does  not  often  grow  in  a  spot  so  thoroughly  wild.  The 
trees  along  the  eastern  margin  rise  to  a  height  of  20  feet  or 
more,  and  slope  down  almost  to  water-level  on  the  exposed 
western  side.  A  visit  to  an  adjoining  habitat  of  the  Maiden- 
hair, a  tramp  up  a  valley  filled  with  the  rare  Erica  mediterra^ieai 
now  completely  out  of  flower,  and  a  climb  over  the  mountain 
of  Urrisbeg  in  thick,  driving  mist,  brought  us  back  to  Round- 
stone,  and  concluded  an  interesting  and  particularly  aqueous 
day. 


294  The  Irish  Naturalist,  [Nov., 

ADDITIONS   TO   THE    UST    OF    IRISH    ACUI^KATK 

HYMKNOPTERA. 
BY  pi:rcy  e.  frkke. 


The  collecting  season  for  Aculeate  Hymenoptera  being  now 
practically  over  for  this  year,  it  may  be  well  to  sum  up  the 
results  in  a  list  supplementary  to  mine  published  last  year. 
I  regret  that  the  records  which  have  come  to  my  knowledge 
are  very  few  indeed. 

Hal  Ictus  punctatlsslmus,  Schenck.— Borris,  co.  Carlow.     Freke. 
Andrena    rosae,     Panz.   (not  var.  trimmerana). — Borris,  co.   Carlow. 

Freke. 
Megrachlle  marltlma,  Kirby— Lambay    and  Killiney,   co.    Dublin. 

Cuthbert. 
CoBlIoxys  acuminata,  Nyl.— Armagh.     Rev.  W.  F.  Johnson. 
Psithyrus  quadrlcolor,  Lep.— Borris,  co.  Carlow.    Freke. 
Bombus  smlthlanuSy  White— Poyntzpass,  co.  Armagh.     Rev.  W.  F. 

Johnson. 
Bombus  soroensISf   Fabr. — Mullinure,    co.   Armagh.     Rev.   W.    F. 

Johnson. 

I  have  also  taken  here  at  Borris  a  female  of  Boinbus  hortorum 
agreeing  in  coloration  with  var.  siibterraneics,  Auct.,  the  only 
variation  from  the  hortorum  type  that  I  have  yet  met  with  in 
Ireland, 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  IRISH  SOCIETIES. 


I 


RoYAi,  ZodvOGiCAi,  Society. 

Recent  donations  include  three  Bleeding-heart  Pigeons  from  J.  F. 
D'Arcy,  Bsq. ;  a  Badger  from  J.  F.  Shackleton,  Ksq.  ;  three  Japanese 
longtailed  fowl,  a  goat,  and  three  Spinning  Mice  from  J.  B.  O'Callaghan, 
Esq. ;  a  Parrot  from  D.  P.  C.  Smyly  ;  two  Otters  and  a  Gannet  from  W.  R. 
Joynt,  Esq. ;  four  Guinea-pigs  from  Col.  Plunkett ;  ten  Guinea-pigs 
from  Messrs.  J.  and  W.  Robertson.  Four  Lemurs,  two  Squirrel- 
monkeys,  and  a  Gapuchin  have  been  purchased. 

12,330  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  September. 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies. 


295 


BEI^FAST    NATURAI.ISTS'   FlEl<D   Cl,UB. 

September  12.— The  Geoi^ogicai,  Section  on  their  last  formal  ex- 
cursion for  this  season  went  to  Kilroot,  studying  the  sections  of  Trias  with 
abundant  veins  of  gypsum,  relics  of  the  great  lakes  whose  rock-salt  is  so 
invaluable  in  the  present  day.  A  walk  along  the  coast  gave  plenty  of 
time  to  ransack  the  Cretaceous  rocks  about  Whitehead,  where  abundant 
sponges  and  other  characteristic  fossils  were  obtained.  An  informal 
meeting  was  held  after  tea,  during  which  it  was  suggested  that  at  the 
monthly  meetings  in  the  museum  small  field  excursions  should  from 
time  to  time  be  organised. 

September  30.— The  Gkoi^ogicai,  Section  met.  Mr.  F.  W.  Lockwood 
in  the  chair.  A  small  collection  of  fossils,  recently  gathered  in  a  chalk-pit 
in  Kent,  were  shown  by  the  secretary.  Boulder  clay  deposits  at  Dromore 
and  on  Black  Mountain,  recently  visited  by  members  of  the  section,  were 
described,  in  each  of  which  two  clays,  differing  in  colour  and  texture,  as 
well  as  in  the  nature  of  their  stony  contents,  were  observed.  At  Dromore 
the  usual  red  boulder  clay  overlies  a  very  tough  blue  clay,  which  rests 
upon  beautifully  smoothed  Ordovician  rocks.  At  Black  Mountain  the 
lower  stratum  is  brown,  similarly  overlaid  with  red  clay.  In  both  places 
the  lower  deposit  is  tough,  and  well  filled  with  beautifully  glaciated 
stones.  A  letter  from  Mr.  Kilroe,  of  the  Geological  Survey,  having  been 
read,  arrangements  for  the  expedition  to  Marino  on  the  loth  inst. 
terminated  the  meeting. 

October  10.— In  spite  of  somewhat  inclement  weather,  a  small  geo- 
logical party  visited  the  Triassic  and  Carboniferous  beds  at  Cultra. 
After  inspecting  the  well-known  fault  on  the  shore  which  has  brought 
up  the  Carboniferous  rocks  on  a  level  with  Triassic  beds,  the  ardour  of 
the  geologists  was  rewarded  by  the  acquisition  of  some  good  specimens 
of  Modiola  Macadami  and  scales  of  Holoptychius  Portlockii, 


Dubinin  Naturai^ists'  Fiei.d  Ci^ub. 

September  26.— Woodi^ands.— The  Club  held  the  last  excursion  of 
the  season.  The  i.o  o'clock  tram  was  taken  to  Lucan,  and  some  hours 
were  busily  spent  in  collecting  fungi.  The  larger  sorts,  such  as  agarics 
and  Boleti,  were  almost  over,  but  a  good  harvest  was  obtained  amono-  the 
smaller  forms.  Tea  at  Lucan  was  followed  by  an  hour's  exhibition  of 
the  specimens  collected,  and  a  demonstration  by  Mr.  Greenwood  Pim 
and  Dr.  E.  J.  M'Weeney,  who  will  report  in  due  course  on  the  rarer 
species  gathered. 


296  2 he  Irish  Naturalist,  [Nov., 

NOTES. 


BOTANY. 


MUSCINE^, 
Moss  Exchange  Club. — A  proposal  was  made  in  Science  Gossip  for 
December,  1895,  and  in  the  Irish  Naturalist  and  Journal  of  Botany  for 
February,  1896,  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell  to  organise  a  Club  on  the  lines  of 
the  Botanical  and  Watson  Exchange  Clubs,  for  the  exchange  of  Mosses 
and  Hepaticae.  The  response  proved  that  the  want  of  such  a  Society  was 
widely  felt,  and  it  has  now  been  got  into  working  order.  Twenty-two 
members  have  joined,  and  the  parcels  sent  in  for  the  first  distribution 
will  soon  be  distributed.  It  has  not  been  possible  this  term  to  do  more 
than  exchange  the  plants  sent  in.  In  future  it  is  hoped  to  obtain  the 
assistance  of  referees  to  name  doubtful  and  difficult  plants,  also  to  pub- 
lish lists  and  an  annual  Report.  Its  object  is  to  help  beginners  in  the 
study  of  these  lowly  but  interesting  forms  of  vegetation,  as  well  as  to 
prove  a  means  of  communication  and  help  to  more  advanced  students. 
In  this  way  it  may  prove  instrumental  in  preparing  the  way  for  the 
publication  of  a  new  edition  of  the  I^ondon  Catalogue  of  British  Mosses 
and  Hepaticae,  the  want  of  which  is  a  serious  hindrance  to  the  advance 
of  Bryology  in  this  country. 

PHANEROGAMS. 
Alchemllla  vulgaris  L.  and  Its  segregates.— Very  little 
progress  has  been  made  as  yet  in  our  knowledge  of  the  distribution  of 
the  Alchemilla  vulgaris  group  in  Ireland.  The  restricted  form  which  is 
regarded  as  the  type  of  this  aggregate  species  extends  in  Great  Britain 
from  the  south  coast  to  the  Orkneys,  occurring  in  numerous  counties ; 
in  Ireland  the  counties  from  which  I  have  seen  specimens  are  three, 
Westmeath,  Clare,  and  Antrim.  It  appears  to  be  very  scarce  in  the 
latter  county,  where  Mr.  S.  A.  Stewart  informs  me  the  other  two  forms 
are  frequent.  The  subglabrous  plant  A.  alpestris,  Schmidt,  occurs  in 
Antrim,  and  near  L.  Salt,  Donegal ;  I  have  several  notes  of  its  occurrence 
in  the  former  county ;  and  it  must  be  found  in  many  others,  since  it 
ranges  in  Great  Britain  from  Cardigan  and  Derby  (not  to  mention 
Sussex,  for  fear  of  some  mistake  in  the  label  of  the  specimen  which 
professedly  comes  from  that  county)  northwards  to  Inverness  and  Mull, 
The  other  British  form,  A.  filicaulis,  Buser,  is  known  to  me  from  Co. 
Waterford,  Co.  Cork  (twice  seen  from  Fermoy),  Kerry,  and  Antrim.  In 
Great  Britain  this  has  been  noted  for  many  counties  from  the  south  coast 
northwards  to  Perthshire.  The  distribution  of  A.  vulgaris  forms,  it  will 
be  seen,  is  very  imperfectly  known  as  yet  for  Ireland ;  and  I  shall  be 
pleased  to  have  specimens  sent  me,  on  loan  or  otherwise,  which  may 
aid  in  extending  the  range  of  any  of  the  segregates. 

Edward  F,  I^inTon,  Crymlyn,  Bournemouth. 


tSgS.'l  Notes,  297 

Crlthmum  marltlmum  In  County  Down. — Until  this  year  no 
station  in  the  north-east  of  Ireland  could  be  certainly  assigned  to  the 
Samphire,  though  there  have  been  several  verbal  reportsof  its  occurrence. 
Most  of  these  referred  to  Salicornia,  which  is  often  called  Samphire,  and 
none  were  based  on  actual  specimens  or  other  sufiicient  authority. 
Tate,  in  preface  to  "  Flora  Belfastiensis,"  referred  to  such  reports  and 
rejected  them  as  unreliable,  and  Dr.  Dickie,  in  "Flora  of  Ulster,"  could 
only  cite  Donegal  localities.  The  authors  of  "  Cybele  Hibernica,"  in 
i866,  included  this  species  amongst  the  plants  of  district  12,  but  inasmuch 
as  no  specific  locality  in  Down,  Antrim,  or  Derry  was  given,  their 
reference  was  too  vague  to  be  accepted.  It  is  a  plant  to  be  expected  on 
the  rocky  coasts  of  Down  and  Antrim,  but  though  these  shores  have 
been  closely  scrutinised  from  the  time  of  Templeton  until  now,  a 
period  of  over  a  century,  it  seems  to  have  escaped  d  etection.  I 
have,  therefore,  much  pleasure  in  recording  its  occurrence  in  Co. 
Down,  having  seen  a  specimen  freshly  gathered  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Moore,  a  member  of  the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club.  The  locality 
is  Kearney  Point,  in  the  Ards,  the  most  easterly  point  in  Ireland. 
Mr.  Moore  informs  me  that  he  saw  only  one  clump  of  the  Samphire. 
It  was  situated  so  low  that  at  high  water  it  must  be  almost  submerged. 
Since  writing  the  foregoing,  Mr.  P.  F.  Gulbransen,  another  member  of 
the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  has  informed  me  of  a  second  station 
for  the  Samphire  in  County  Down.  This  has  come  still  more  as  a 
surprise,  the  locality  being  not  far  from  Bangor,  on  a  shore  which  for 
botanical  purposes  was  thought  to  be  exhausted  long  since.  Mr.  Gul- 
bransen stated  that  a  few  plants  occur  clustered  together  in  one  spot, 
and  availing  myself  of  his  directions  I  have  seen  them  in  the  place 
indicated.  There  is  one  little  clump  of  about  five  roots  growing  with 
other  maritime  species  in  a  crevice  of  the  uptilted  I^ower  Silurian  Slates? 
and  just  about  the  high  water  mark  of  spring  tides  A  careful  and 
protracted,  but  fruitless  search  proved  that  the  plant  has  not  spread 
beyond  this  one  spot.  S.  A.  Stewart,  Belfast. 

Stachys  Bctonica  In  Co.  Antrim.— Rev.  S.  A.  Brenan  has 
sent  me  a  specimen  of  this  plant,  gathered  in  July  near  Whitehall, 
Broughshane,  Co.  Antrim.  He  writes  that  the  plant  was  growing  on  a 
roadside,  no  house  near  it,  and  had  all  the  appearance  of  being  native. 
The  Betony  is  very  rare  in  Ireland,  and  though  previously  recorded  from 
Go.  Antrim  it  has  not  been  seen  in  the  county  for  half  a  century,  so  that 
Mr.  Brenan's  find  is  important.  R.  LIvOYD  Praeger. 

LImosella  aquatica  In  Clare— A  few  weeks  ago,  while  searching 
for  Adiantnm  Capilhis-  Veneris  on  the  limestone  pavements  about  four  miles 
from  Lisdoonvarna,  I  found  this  interesting  plant  growing  in  hollows  in 
the  rock  in  which  mud  had  deposited.  The  only  other  note  of  its  occur- 
rence in  Ireland  is  that  of  Mr.  I^evinge,  who  records  it  as  found  by  Mr. 
O'Kelly  in  Inchiquin  I^ough,  Co.  Clare,  and  near  Gort,  Co.  Galway  {Journ. 
Bot.,  xxxi.  (1893),  p.  309).  The  specimens,  which  were  in  full  fruit,  were 
kindly  identified  for  me  by  Mr.  Praeger. 

Greenwood  Pim,  Monkstown,  Dublin. 


29^  "The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Nov., 

Donegral  Plants.— In  ih^  /otimal  of  Botany  for  September,  Mr.  H.  C 
Hart  records  Cusaita  Epithytjmm,  Galium  J\Tollugo,  and  Reseda  suffruticulosa 
from  the  vicinity  of  Rosapenna  Hotel,  and  Cochlearia  granlandica  from 
several  headlands  of  north-west  RossguU. 

Medlcagro  sylvestrls  In  Scotland.— With  reference  to  my  paper 
in  last  number  on  the  occurrence  of  this  plant  in  Ireland,  it  is  worth 
giving  prominence  to  the  fact  that  at  a  meeting  of  the  Natural  History 
Society  of  Glasgow,  held  on  Sept.  30,  specimens  of  M.  sylvestris  from  Heads 
of  Ayr,  Maybole  parish,  were  exhibited  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Andrew  Gil- 
christ and  Rev.  D.  Landsborough,  who  found  the  plant  growing  there 
abundantly  in  August  last.  I  have  to  thank  Mr.  A.  Somerville,  B.SC,  for 
a  copy  of  a  local  paper  containing  a  report  of  the  meeting. 

R.  Ll,OYD  Praeger. 

Matricaria  dlscoldea  DC.  at  Howth.— This  curious  rayless 
Matricaria^  whose  occurrence  in  several  stations  in  Co.  Dublin  has  lately 
been  recorded  by  Mr.  Colgan  (/.  A^.,  III.,  215,  1894),  has  now  made  its 
appearance  at  Howth,  where  I  observed  it  on  Sept.  18  growing  on  waste 
ground  by  the  new  road  between  the  police  station  and  the  chapel.  M, 
discoidea  has  not  yet  been  observed  in  any  other  Irish  county :  it  is  a 
native  of  North  America,  now  naturalized  in  several  countries  of  Northern 
Europe,  though  as  yet  very  rare  in  Britain. 

R.  lyi^OYD  Praeger. 


ZOOLOGY. 


HYDROZOA. 

British  Hydrolds  and  IVIcdusae.— Readers  of  Mr.  E.  T. 
Browne's  list  of  the  Medusas  ofValentia  harbour  in  the  July  number 
oi 'C^Q.  Irish  Naturalist  will  turn  with  interest  to  his  paper  "On  British 
Hydroids  and  Medusae  "in  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  Land.  (pp.  459-500,  pis.  xvi,, 
xvii.),  in  which  several  of  the  Irish  forms  are  described  in  detail  and 
figured. 


CRUSTACEA. 

Frcc-swlmmlng  Copepoda  from  the  West  Coast  of  Ire- 
land.— Under  this  title,  Mr.  J.  C.  Thompson  contributes  to  the  Trans. 
Biol.  Soc.  Liverpool  (vol.  x,,  pp.  92-102)  an  account  of  the  copepods 
collected  at  Valentia  Island  by  Mr.  E.  T.  Browne  by  tow-netting. 
Twenty-two  species  are  recorded,  of  which  the  most  noteworthy  are 
Metridia  armata,  Candacc  pecdnata,  Pscudocalamcs  arviatiis,  Monstrilla  rigida, 
Corycdus  speciosus,  and  Oncixa  mediterranea.  The  two  last  are  of  special 
interest  as  distinctly  southern  forms.  The  Oncaa  has  occurred  at  Ply- 
mouth, but  the  Coryacus  appear  new  to  British  waters.  Mr.  Thompson 
also  gives  a  list  of  the  copepods  taken  on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland  by 
Prof.  Herdman  in  the  "  Argo  "  in  1890. 


1896.]  JVofesp  29^ 

SPIDERS. 
Spider  carrying  Snall-shcII.— On  the  warren  near  the  sea  here, 
one  day  several  3'ears  ago,  an  object  attracted  my  attention :  some- 
thing white  moving  along  rather  quickly.  I^ooking  closely  I  found  that 
the  object  was  a  small  bleached  snail-shell  (^Helix  virgaid)  which  a  large 
spider  was  carrying  along  underneath  its  body  ;  supporting  it  by  means 
of  some  of  its  fore-legs  at  one  side,  and  hind  legs  at  the  other  as  it 
went.  For  the  purpose  of  closer  examination  I  deprived  it  of  its  burden, 
and  found  that  the  shell  was  packed  with  what  appeared  to  be  spiders' 
eggs.  On  placing  the  shell  on  the  ground  again  near  the  spider,  it  took 
it  up  and  walked  off  as  before ;  going  at  good  speed  considering  the 
weight  of  its  burden  and  the  limited  number  of  legs  at  its  disposal  for 
walking  purposes.  That  some  kinds  of  spiders  carry  their  eggs  about 
enclosed  in  soft  silky  cocoons  is  a  well-known  fact,  but  I  have  never 
heard  of  a  shell  being  so  used  before. 

Frances  Sarah  O'Connor,  Ballycastle,  Antrim. 


BIRDS. 

Birds  of  Conncmara.— As  I  do  not  see  the  Irish  Naturalist  regularly, 
Mr.  Palmer's  note  in  the  March  number  referring  to  my  article  on  the 
Birds  of  Connemara  in  the  January  number  was  not  read  by  me  until 
a  little  while  ago,  when  my  attention  was  drawn  to  it.  I  must  therefore 
apologise  to  Mr.  Palmer  for  not  having  answered  his  questions  before. 
With  regard  to  Mr.  Palmer's  first  point,  viz.  : — whether  it  was  the 
Dunlin  or  the  Ringed  Plover  which  I  saw  on  the  islands  of  Lough 
Corrib,  I  may  say  that  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  birds  were  Dunlin 
{Tringa  alpina),  I  quote  my  diary :—"  May  20,  1895.  Saw  a  number  of 
Dunlin  and  noticed  that  they  sang  really  nicely.  Very  short,  but  some- 
what like  a  lark."  I  don't  remember  seeing  the  Ringed  Plover,  and  have 
no  note  of  it,  but  I  certainly  could  not  have  confounded  the  two  birds 
as  I  know  both  of  them  perfectly ;  moreover  they  are  not  easily  con- 
founded. 

With  regard  to  the  Black  Guillemots  nesting  amongst  the  boulders,  I 
felt  sure  at  the  time  that  this  was  the  case,  and  I  now  find  that  several 
authorities  mention  it  as  a  fact. 

Mr.  Palmer's  third  point  refers  to  the  nesting  habits  of  the  Oyster- 
catcher.  Of  course  it  is  well  known  that  Oyster-catchers  will  nest  on 
turf  and  rock  where  no  shingle  can  be  found,  but  I  have  never  before 
seen  the  eggs  in  such  a  position  when  there  was  plenty  of  shingle  avail- 
able. Mr.  Palmer's  suggestion  as  to  the  cause  of  this  peculiar  habit  is 
interesting,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  correct  solution.  He  says  that  "  West 
of  Ireland  Oyster-catchers  may  have  found  that  it  is  not  always  safe  to 
nest  on  the  shingle  within  possible  reach  of  an  unusually  high  Atlantic 
wave." 

Harry  F.  WiTherby,  Blackheath,  Kent. 

Quail  In  Co.  Down.— A  correspondent  of  the  i^j!V/a?(Sept.  8th)  records 
he  nesting  of  the  Quail  at  Seaford,  co.  Down. 


300  The  Iri&h  Naturalist,  [Nov.,  1896. 

FIEIvD  CI.UB  NEWS. 


We  have  to  congratulate  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddell,  Vice-President  of  the 
Belfast  Club,  on  his  successful  establishment  of  an  Bxchauge  Club  for 
British  mosses  and  hepatics,  some  particulars  respecting  which  will  be 
found  in  our  Botanical  Notes. 

The  Belfast  Club  was  recently  honoured  with  a  visit  from  its  founder 
in  1863,  Ralph  Tate,  then  a  science  teacher  under  the  South  Kensington 
Department,  now  Professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  University  of  Ade- 
laide, Director  of  the  Museum  there,  and  the  foremost  naturalist  in  Aus- 
tralasia. He  received  a  cordial  welcome  from  the  veteran  members  of  the 
Club— S.  A.  Stewart,  William  Gray,  William  Swauston,  W.  H.  Phillips, 
and  others — and  delighted  them  with  the  freshness  of  his  recollections 
ofthe  old  days  when  they  laid  the  foundation  of  the  first  Irish  Field 
Club. 

It  is  pleasant  to  note  the  interchange  of  courtesies  by  which  members 
of  the  Metropolitan  Field  Club  were  invited  to  take  part  in  the  Belfast 
Club  Conversazione  on  27th  October,  and  members  of  the  northern  and 
southern  Clubs  to  take  part  in  the  conversazione  of  the  Dublin  Club  on 
loth  November.  A  goodly  party  of  members  from  Dublin  attended  the 
Belfast  meeting,  and  no  doubt  the  compliment  will  be  returned  at  the 
forthcoming  meeting  in  Dublin.  Both  will  be  reported  in  our  next 
issue. 

It  is  a  good  sign  to  find  our  younger  Field  Club  members  appreciating 
the  value  of  a  scientific  training  in  natural  history  work.  H.  Lyster 
Jameson,  ofthe  Dublin  Club,  having  gained  a  studentship  in  the  Royal 
College  of  Science,  has  gone  to  London  for  a  six  months  course  of  bio- 
logical study.  Miss  Knowles,  of  the  Belfast  Club,  has  come  to  Dublin  for 
a  special  course  on  Algse  under  Prof.  Johnson.  H.  J.  Seymour,  ofthe 
Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  who  goes  to  Belfast  to  study  engineering 
at  Queen's  College  under  Prof  Fitzgerald,  will  be  an  acquisition  to  the 
Geological  Section  ofthe  Belfast  Field  Club. 

We  much  regret  to  learn  that  the  expedition  organized  by  the  Royal 
Society,  under  the  leadership  of  Prof.  Sollas,  to  make  a  deep  boring 
into  a  coral  atoll,  has  failed  to  fulfil  its  main  object.  The  island  of 
Funafuti  was  selected  as  the  scene  of  work,  and  it  was  found  that  at 
about  70  feet  below  the  surface  further  boring  became  impossible,  as  a 
material  like  quicksand,  which  choked  the  borehole,  containing  great 
boulders  of  coral-rock,  was  reached.  So  far  as  the  reef  was  pierced 
it  appeared  to  be  "a  vast  coarse  sponge  of  coral,  with  wide  inter- 
stices either  empty  or  sand-filled."  Prof  Sollas  and  his  companions 
however  made  numerous  highly  interesting  and  valuable  hydrographi- 
cal,  ethnological,  and  biological  observations,  and  though  the  failure  to 
solve  one  of  the  most  burning  scientific  problems  ofthe  day  will  cause 
general  disappointment,  it  is  satisfactory  to  know  that  our  knowledge  of 
man  and  nature  has  been  largely  increased  by  the  labours  of  our  Dublin 
professor  and  his  colleagues. 


Dec,  1896.]  201 

ON  THK  FI,ORA  OF  THE  OX  MOUNTAINS, 

CO.  SI.IGO. 

BY   NATHANIEL  COI^GAN,    M.R.I.A. 


Towards  the  middle  of  July  last,  after  a  few  days  spent  in 
botanizing  along  the  cliffs  of  Ben  Bulben,  it  occurred  to  my 
friend  the  Rev.  C.  F.  d'Arcy  and  myself  that  the  remainder  of 
our  holiday  in  Sligo  might  be  most  profitably  given  up  to  a 
survey  of  the  Ox  Mountains.  Whether  viewed  across  the  bay 
from  the  plateau  of  Ben  Bulben  or  studied  in  its  representation 
on  the  one-inch  Ordnance  maps,  this  line  of  mountains 
appeared  to  us  anything  but  promising.  Its  elevation  was 
too  small  and  its  contours  too  gentle  to  warrant  any  strong 
hopes  that  it  would  prove  rich  in  alpine  species.  But  we 
knew  that  it  w^as  almost  virgin  soil  to  the  botanist,  and 
that  however  poor  the  flora  might  appear  on  close  examina- 
tion, it  could  hardly  fail  to  afford  materials  for  an  interesting 
comparison  with  the  exceptionally  rich  district  we  were  about 
to  leave  behind  us. 

We  broke  up  from  our  very  pleasant  quarters  in  a  farm- 
house by  the  waterfall  in  Glencar,  on  Monday,  the  13th  July 
en  route  for  the  Ox  Mountains.     Sending  on  our  baggage  by 
road  we  took  boat  across  Glencar  lake,    climbed  the  range 
forming  the  southern  boundary  of  the  glen,  and  descended 
to  Sligo  early  the  same  evening.      On  our  way  we  made  a 
rather  careful  examination  of  this  southern  mountain  flank 
of  Glencar,  as  it  appeared  to  us  to  lie  outside  the  limits  of  the 
Ben  Bulben  district  proper  so  thoroughly  explored  by  Messrs. 
Barrington  and  Vowell  in  1884  (^).      Nameless  on  the  Ord- 
nance map,  three  of  the  prominent  points  in  this  range,  with 
heights  varying  from    1,450  to    1,500  feet,  we  found  to  be 
locally  known  as  Lug-na-Gall,  Meenaphuill   and  Faughrey, 
the  last  being  the  most   eastern   and  highest  of  the  three. 
Along  this  line  there  is  a  considerable  extent  of  limestone 
cliff  with  a  due  north  exposure  and  reaching  in  some  places 
to  over  1,400  feet.      The  result  of  our  examination  of  these 
cliffs  was  not  altogether  disappointing.    We  could  find,  indeed, 
no  trace  of  what  we  most  of  all  hoped  to  find,  Areyiaria  citiata 

(1)  Report  on  the  Flora  of  Ben  Bulben,  by  R.  M.  Barrington  and  R.  P. 
Vowell— /'ri?^.  R.LA,,  1885. 

A 


302  The  Irish  Naturalist  [.Dec, 

in  a  new  station  ;  but  we  found  the  following  alpines  in  pro- 
fusion : — Draba  i7ica7ia,  Silene  acaulis,  Saxifraga  oppositifolia, 
S.  aizoideSy  Sedtim  Rhodiola,  Oxyria  reniformis^  Asplenium 
viride,  and  Selaginella  selaginoides.  Specially  interesting  was 
Silene  acaulis,  which  in  the  Ben  Bulben  district  north  of  Glen- 
car  is  apparently  restricted  to  the  western  extremity  or  Ben 
Bulben  proper.  On  the  summit  of  lyUg-na-Gall,  where  the 
limestone  rises  into  peculiar  rounded  knobs,  unusual  in  this 
formation,  the  Silene  studded  the  rocks  with  countless  bright 
green  cushions.  Further  eastward  towards  Faughrey  it 
ceased  abruptly,  and,  indeed,  a  vigorous  stone-thrower  could 
span  its  whole  area  here  with  a  single  cast.  On  the  way  up 
from  Glencar  lake  Lotus  pilosus  and  Carex  pendula  were 
gathered,  and  near  the  head  of  the  lake  Carex  paludosa,  all 
three  in  Leitrim  and  additions  to  District  IX.  of  Cybele 
Hibernica.  And  finally  before  taking  leave  of  the  Ben  Bulben 
district  it  may  be  mentioned  that  we  discovered  a  single  plant 
of  the  rare  Hypopithys  Monotropa  in  a  new  station  on  Lough 
Gill,  a  hazel  copse  at  Dooney  Rock  at  the  opposite  side  of  the 
lake  to  Hazelwood,  where  the  plant  was  found  by  Miss  Wynne 
some  twenty-five  years  ago. 

Four  days  in  all  were  spent  in  our  survey  of  the  Ox 
Mountains.  The  first  day,  July  14th,  was  given  up  to  the 
ascent  of  Knockacree,  which  is  easily  accessible  from  Sligo 
by  the  Ballina  mail-car.  On  Wednesday,  the  15th,  we  moved 
our  quarters  some  twenty  miles  westward  from  Sligo  to  Dro- 
more  West  on  the  Ballina  mail-car  route,  where  we  found  an 
excellent  little  hotel ;  and  here  the  day  was  spent  examining 
the  limestone  tracts  along  the  shore.  On  Thursday,  the  i6th, 
we  drove  from  Dromore  to  Lough  Eask}^  and  tramped  over 
the  mountains  north-eastward  to  the  head-waters  of  the 
Owenduff,  in  the  glen  known  as  Lugdoon,  examining  several 
of  the  high-lying  loughs  on  the  way.  On  Friday,  the  17th, 
we  drove  via  Lough  Basky  and  the  Mass  Valley  to  Lough 
Talt,  explored  the  shores  of  the  latter  lake  and  part  of  the 
surrounding  mountain-slopes,  and  driving  on  to  Tubbercurry 
station  returned  by  rail  to  Sligo  the  same  evening.  The 
southern  or  inland  slopes  of  the  range  and  its  western 
extremity  where  it  crosses  the  Mayo  border  we  left  almost 
altogether  untouched ;  and  it  need  hardly  be  said  that  our 
four  days  of  steady  work  were  very  far  from  exhausting  the 


1896.1      COI.GAN. — Flora  of  the  Ox  Motmtains^  Co,  Sligo.      303 

flora  of  the  district.  It  enabled  us,  however,  to  safely  draw 
some  conclusions  as  to  its  general  character  and  to  add  some- 
thing  to  the  existing  knowledge  of  the  county  Sligo  flora. 

Before  proceeding  to  sum  up  the  results  of  our  hasty  survey 
a  few  words  may  be  said  on  the  physical  features  of  the 
district.  The  Ox  Mountains  stretch  in  a  roughly  north-east 
and  south-west  direction  for  twenty-five  miles,  from  Ballyso- 
dare  in  the  north-east  to  Aclare  in  the  extreme  south-west  of 
Sligo,  and  have  an  average  breadth  of  about  eight  miles.  From 
their  culminating  point,  Knockacree,  which  reaches  to  a  height 
of  1,778  feet,  six  miles  due  south  of  the  coast  of  Aughris  Head, 
a  wide  and  featureless  table-land,  covered  with  very  wet  bog, 
stretches  N.E.  and  S.W.  for  a  distance  of  some  five  miles, 
maintaining  a  general  elevation  of  1,600  feet.  Towards  the 
extremities  the  elevation  becomes  lower,  averaging  hardly 
1,000  feet  for  the  five  miles  west  from  Ballysodare,  and  about 
1,200  feet  for  the  eight  miles  N.W.  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Aclare.  At  either  end  the  range  is  more  broken  than  near  the 
middle,  and  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  central  table  land,  as 
under  Knockacree,  where  the  drainage  of  the  upper  bogs 
rushing  down  to  Though  Achree  has  ploughed  a  deep  gully  in 
the  mountain  flank,  and,  again,  farther  w^est,  near  lyUgdoon, 
some  bold  rock  faces  appear  which,  however,  nowhere  deserve 
the  name  of  cliffs.  In  the  south-west,  where  the  Owenaher, 
one  of  the  chief  aflluents  of  the  Moy,  passes  through  the  deep 
depression  known  as  the  Mass  Valley,  and  at  Lough  Talt,  where 
the  hills  rise  rapidly  from  the  water's  edge,  the  scenery 
becomes  picturesque.     Elsewhere  the  range  is  monotonous. 

The  great  mass  of  the  Ox  Mountains  is  of  non-calcareous 
rock,  mica-schist,  quartzite,  and  granite,  which  latter,  in  some 
places,  as  round  the  Cloonacool  lakes,  S.K-  of  I^ough  Kasky, 
and  in  the  hills  above  Eough  Talt,  exhibits  the  characteristic 
wavy  foliations  of  gneiss.  The  limestone  is  confined  to  the  lower 
levels  from  about  400  feet  downwards.  I^akes  are  numerous, 
especially  towards  the  south-west ;  but  with  two  exceptions, 
I^ough  Talt  and  Lough  Kasky,  which  somewhat  exceed  a  mile 
in  length,  they  are  of  small  size.  The  bog  which  caps  the 
central  plateau  as  with  a  vast  saturated  sponge  sends  down 
innumerable  small  streams  10  ihe  north  and  south,  those  to  the 
north  reaching  Sligo  Bay  after  a  short  course,  those  to  the 

A  2 


304  The  Irish  Nahiralist.  [Dec, 

south  uniting  at  one  end  to  form  the  Moy  river,  which  reaches 
the  sea  at  Ballina,  and  at  the  other  to  form  the  Owenboy, 
which  discharges  at  Ballysodare.  Save  for  some  thin  native 
scrub  of  Oak  and  Hazel  along  the  rocky  flanks  of  the  Mass 
Valley  the  range  may  be  said  to  be  bare  of  wood. 

It  is  hard  to  define  precisely  the  limits  of  the  Ox  Mountains, 
and  we  made  no  attempt  to  do  so  in  our  four  days'  survey. 
Our  observations  were  carried  on  within  the  following 
boundaries  :  the  sea-coast  from  Balh^sodare  to  Dromore  West, 
a  line  from  that  point  south  to  Lough  Talt,  the  high  road 
thence  to  Tubbercurry,  and  the  railway  back  to  Ballysodare. 
Inside  of  these  limits  we  gathered  366  species  of  flowering 
plants  and  higher  cryptogams.  Had  our  areabeen  more  strictly 
defined  by  taking  for  its  northern  boundary  the  high  road  from 
Ballysodare  to  Dromore  West,  and  for  the  southern  the  high 
road  from  Lough  Talt  through  Coolaney  back  to  Ballysodare, 
the  total  of  species  would  have  sunk  to  about  350. 

The  flora  of  the  district  is  undoubtedly  a  poor  one.  Out  of 
the  total  of  366  species  observed  by  us  no  less  than  307,  or  fully 
84 i-  per  cent,  belong  to  Watson's  British  type  plants,  common 
and  wide-spread  in  Ireland  no  less  than  in  Great  Britain  ;  22, 
or  say  6  per  cent,  to  the  English  type ;  15,  or  4  per  cent.,  to  the 
Scottish  and  Highland  t3^pes  taken  together ;  and  7,  or 
less  than  2  per  cent.,  to  the  Atlantic  type.  The  neighbourhood 
of  the  Ben  Bulben  district  lying  not  more  than  fifteen  miles 
to  the  northward,  and  the  fact  that  it  has  been  so  thoroughly 
explored  by  Messrs.  Barrington  and  Vowell,  at  once  invites 
comparison  of  its  flora  with  that  of  the  Ox  Mountains. 

This  comparison  brings  out  in  the  most  glaring  way 
the  relative  poverty  of  the  latter  district.  But  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  as  5^et  the  Ox  Mountains  have  been 
very  imperfectly  examined,  and  that  the  peculiar  structure 
of  Ben  Bulben,  with  its  miles  of  lofty  flanking  clifis,  make 
it,  perhaps,  unique  in  Ireland  as  a  congenial  home  for  a  whole 
group  of  alpine  species.  No  less  than  twenty-two  of  Watson's 
Highland  type  plants  were  observed  in  the  Ben  Bulben  district 
by  Messrs.  Barrington  and  Vowell  in  1884,  and  to  this  total  my 
friend,  Mr.  D'Arcy,  was  fortunate  enough  to  add  Vaccinium  Vitis- 
Ida;a,  which  he  discovered  at  about  1,950  feet  on  the  north-west 
slope  of  Truskmor^  during  our  few  days'  ramble  in  the  district 


i 


1896.]      CoivGAK. — Flora  of  the  Ox  Moiintahis,  Co.  Sligo.       305 


Against  this  array  of  twenty-three  alpines  the  Ox  Mountains, 
so  far  as  at  present  known,  can  only  set  the  following  five 
species  of  the  same  type  :  Saxifraga  aizoides,  Hieracium  iricic7n, 
Vacci7iumi  Vitis-Idcsa,  Salix  herbacea,  Selaghiella  selaoi7i- 
oides ;  and  inadequate  as  our  survey  was,  we  have  no  reason 
to  expect  that  further  search  would  add  anything  to  this 
meagre  total. 

In  the  Scottish  type  plants,  which  may  be  ranked  next 
to  the  Highland  type  as  imprinting 'a  northern  character 
on  a  flora,  the  contrast  between  the  two  districts  is 
less  glaring.  Against  a  total  of  eighteen  for  Ben  Bulben  our 
lists  show  ten  for  the  Ox  Mountains,  and  in  the  latter  total 
are  included  two  species  absent  fron  Ben  Bulben,  Pi^unns 
Padus  and  Lobelia  Dortmanna,  to  which  may  be  added  a  third, 
Equisetuvi  variegahun,  if  we  hold  this  to  be  distinct  from  E, 
Mackaii.  In  tj^pes  other  than  those  indicating  a  northern  or 
alpine  character,  the  divergencies  between  the  tw^o  floras  are 
much  less  marked.  The  number  of  species  observed  by 
Messrs.  Barrington  and  Vowell  in  the  Ben  Bulben  district  in 
1884,  is  set  down  in  their  Report  at  430.  Adding  to  this  some 
fifteen  species,  since  observed,  we  have  a  total  of  445,  or  an 
excess  of  80  over  our  list  for  the  Ox  Mountains.  But  with 
this  decided  preponderance  in  favour  of  the  limestone  district, 
a  large  proportion  of  the  Ox  Mountains  species,  no  less  than 
41,  or  fully  9  per  cent.,  are  apparently  absent  from  Ben 
Bulben.  These  species  are  set  forth  at  length  in  the  follow- 
ing list : — 
Ox  Mountains  spkciks  not  rkcordkd  for  Ben  Bui^bkn. 

Piilicaria  dysenterica>  Epipactis  pahistris. 

Lobelia  Dortinanna.  Jtcncus  obtusiflorus. 

Jasione  montana.  J.  lamprocarpits. 

Gentiana  campestris. 
G.  Amarella. 
Convolvulus  arvensis. 
Veronica  Buxbaiimii. 
Anagallis  arvensis. 
Utricula7'ia  minor. 
Nepeta  Glechoma. 
Teucriurn  Scorodonia. 
Plantago  Coronopus. 
Polygomcni  Convolvulus. 
Populus  tremula. 


Fuiiiaria  confusa. 
Viola  arvensis. 
V.  tricolor. 

Lepigonum  neglectum. 
Trifolium  medium. 
T.  procumbens. 
Lathyrus  macrorrkizus. 
Ale  he  mil  la  arvensis. 
Potetitilla  rfptans. 
Prunus  Padus. 
Scandix  Pecten-  Veneris. 
Sambucus  Ebulus. 
Sherardia  arvensis. 
Gnaphalium  sylvaticum 


Sparganium  affine. 
Typha  latifolia. 
Lenina  minor. 
Triglochi?i  viaritinium. 
Eleocharis  multicatilis. 
Scirpus  Savii. 
Carex  arenaria. 
Asplenium  mariuum. 
Lycopodiuni  clavatum. 
Equisetum  variegatum. 


3o6 


The  Irish  Naturalist, 


[Dec, 


Rurnex  Acetosella. 
Empetnim  nigriun. 
Alyrica  Gale. 
Narthecium  ossifragnm. 
Junciis  siipimis. 
J.  squarrosus. 
Scirpus  ccespitosus. 


Carex  pilidifera, 
C.  binervis. 
Airajlexiiosa. 
Nardil  s  strict  a. 
Lomaria  Spicant. 
Lastnea  dilatata. 
Athyrhun  Filix-famina. 


A  scrutiny  of  this  list  might  fairly  be  expected  to  show  that 
the  majority  of  the  Ox  Mountains  plants  absent  from  Ben 
Bulben  are  calcifuge  species,  that  is  to  say,  species  which  shun 
the  limestone,  while  they  appear  in  full  development  on  non- 
calcareous  soils.  But  we  find  that  this  is  by  no  means  the 
fact ;  for  out  of  the  forty-one  species  just  mentioned  only  two 
— Lathyrus  macrorrhizus  and  Jasione  7no7ita7ia — can  be  classed 
as  decidedly  calcifuge.  When  on  the  other  hand  we  examine 
the  catalogue  of  Ben  Bulben  plants  we  find  the  following 
twenty-two  calcifuge  species  recorded  for  this  eminently 
calcareous  district : — 

Cai^cifugk  speciks  found  in  Bkn  Bulben  District. 

Galium  saxatile. 
Vaccinitim  Myrtillus. 
Calluna  vulgaris. 
Erica  cinerea. 
E.  Tetralix. 
Digitalis  purpurea. 
Pedicularis  sylvatica. 
Polygonum  Hydropiper. 

This  full  representation  of  the  calcifuge  group  in  a  district 
where  the  formation  is  almost  purely  limestone,  would  appear 
at  first  sight  to  utterly  discredit  the  classification  of  plants  by 
their  apparent  affection  for,  or  aversion  to  limestone  soils.  In 
reality,  the  constitution  of  the  Ben  Bulben  flora  furnishes  no 
argument  against  the  validity  of  this  classification,  which  is  the 
expression  of  a  very  well-grounded  induction.  The  explanation 
of  the  apparent  anomaly  is  not  far  to  seek.  Ben  Bulben,  in 
fact,  even  if  we  restrict  the  name  to  the  great  steep-scarped 
rock-mass  lying  between  Glencar  on  the  south,  and  Glenade 
and  Gleniff  on  the  north,  so  as  to  cut  off  all  but  the  purely 
calcareous  formations,  is  capped  for  some  eight  miles  with  a 
deep  bed  of  peat ;  and  in  this  peat-cap  the  calcifuge  species 
find  that  neutral  or  non-calcareous  soil  which  appears  to  be  a 
necessary  condition  of  their  healthy  development. 

Having  thus  sketched  the  general  features  of  the  Ox 
Mountains  flora  a  few  details  may  be  given  as  to  the  more 
interesting  plants  observed  by  us  in  our  hasty  survey. 

Trifollum  medium,  Iriiiii. — Frequent  amongst  Gorse,  and  in  field 
borders  and  on  banks  near  Skreen  and  Dromore  West. 

Prunus  Padus,  L<inn. — A  single  tree,  apparently  native,  on  the 
rocky  shores  of  Ivough  Achree. 


1896.]     COLGAN. — Flora  of  the  Ox  Motmtams,  Co.  Sligo.        307 

Rubus  saxatllis,  Linn. — Sparingly  on  the  northern  slope  ofKnock- 

acree  and  at  the  head  of  Lugdoon. 
Potcntllla    reptans,    Linn.  — Roadside   banks   near   the  sea  below 

Dromore  West.     A  rare  species  in  many  parts  of  West  Ireland. 
Saxffragra   alzoldes,    Linn. — Abundant  on  Knockacree  from  about 

300  to  900  feet,  but  confined  to  the  gully  above  Lough  Acree  and  to 

the  neighbouring  rocks.     First  observed  here  by  Miss  Kinahan,  in 

1S93. 
Gnaphallum  sylvatlcum,  Linn.— Gravelly  places  by  the  shore  of 

Lough  Basky,  and  luxuriant  on  dry  banks  in  the  Mass  Valley. 
Hleraclum  Irlcum,  Fries. — Sparingly  in  rocky  places  above  Lough 
Acree,   at  about  450  feet.      The   only  Hawkweed   observed  in  the 
district  except  the  ubiquitous  H.  Pilosella. 

Vaccinlum  Vltls-Idaea,  Linn. — On  Knockacree  at  1,400  feet,  and 
abundant  round  Cloonacool  lough  to  1,350  feet. 

Salfx  herbacea,  Linn. — At  Lugdoon,  at  Cloonacool  lough,  and  on  the 
mountain  east  of  Lough  Easky,  descending  to  1,200  feet.  Very 
stunted  where  it  clings  to  the  wavy  foliations  of  the  gneiss,  but  well- 
developed  when  growing  in  the  grass}^  or  mossy  capping  of  the 
rocks. 

Epipactis  palustrls,  Crantz. — Abundant  in  one  spot  on  the  northern 
shore  of  Lough  Talt. 

Juncus  obtusif  lorus,  Ehrli. — In  a  marsh  below  Dromore  West,  and 
sparingly  near  the  margin  of  Lough  Acree.  Apparently  a  new 
record  for  District  IX. 

J.  suplnus  var.  fluitans^  Lamk. — A  characteristic  plant  of  the  lakes 
in  this  district,  occurring  in  Lough  Acree,  Lough  Easky,  Lough 
Glendarragh,  and  Cloonacool  lough,  and  also  in  many  of  the 
loughauns  in  the  central  plateau.  The  young  shoots  developed  by 
this  viviparous  form  in  the  deep  water  of  these  lakes  are  exquisite 
examples  of  extreme  tenuity  of  leaf,  and  exhibit  perhaps  the  nearest 
approach  amongst  the  Irish  phanerogams  to  truly  capillary  foliage. 
When  detached  from  the  parent  and  stranded  on  the  lake  shores 
the  young  plants  are  very  puzzling,  and  easily  mistaken  for  forms  of 
Scij'pus  acicularis. 

Sparg^anlum  alTine,  Schnzl.— In  Lough  Ramduff  near  Lough  Easky, 
and  again  in  Lough  Glendarragh,  where  it  covers  a  large  surface  and 
flowers  and  fruits  freely  at  a  height  of  1,332  feet- 

Osmunda  reg^alls,  Linn. — Appears  to  be  very  rare  in  the  district. 
Only  one  large  patch  observed,  by  a  stream  near  Croagh,  north  of 
Lough  Easky. 

Botrychlum  Lunaria,  Sw. — In  pastures  near  the  old  tower  below 
Dromore  West. 

Adlantum^  CaplIIus-Vencrls,  Linn. — Specimens  of  this  species 
gathered  on  limestone  rocks  by  the  river  below  Dromore  West  were 
sent  me  near  the  end  of  July  last,  by  Mr.  John  Quirk,  who  informs 
me  that  it  grows  in  this  station  in  considerable  quantity.  The  plant 
was  reported  from  this  locality  by  Mr.  R.  Warren,  in  1891. 


3o8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [t)ec., 

Equisetum  varlegratum  var.  majus,  Syme.— Abundant  on  the 
stony  shores  of  I^ough  Talt. 

Lycopodium  Selagro,  Linn.— This  species,  rarely  met  with  in  abund- 
ance in  east  Ireland,  occurs  in  profusion  in  the  high-lying  wet  bogs 
N.B.  of  Easky  lough. 

L.  clavatum,  Linn. — Sparingly  on  the  grassy  hill-slopes  west  of 
Lough  Talt,  at  600  feet. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Arthur  Bennett  for  assistance  in 
determining  some  of  the  critical  species  observed,  and  to 
Messrs.  H.  and  J.  Groves  for  naming  a  few  specimens  of 
Chara  gathered.  These  latter  all  belong  to  the  common 
species  C.fragilis  and  C.  'vulgaris  which  occur  in  all  twelve  of 
the  Irish  botanical  districts. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Prof.  R.  Tate's  Visit  to  Belfast. 

Allow  me  to  correct  an  erroneous  impression  which  is  conveyed  by  the 
note  in  November  number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist  respecting  Prof.  Ralph 
Tate's  recent  visit  to  Belfast.  Prof.  Tate  did  not  honour  Belfast  Natural- 
ists' Field  Club  by  a  visit,  or,  to  put  it  plainly,  the  Club  did  not  seize 
the  opportunity  to  honour  itself  by  receiving  its  distinguished  founder 
when  he  revisited  Belfast.  Prof.  Tate  was  invited  by  a  former  President  of 
the  Club,  Mr.  John  Anderson,  j.p.,  F.G.S.,  one  of  the  original  members; 
but  he  had  accepted  the  prior  invitation  of  Mr.  Joseph  Wright,  F.G.S., 
and  was  the  guest  of  the  latter  gentleman  during  his  stay  here.  To 
quote  the  words  of  the  Professor,  the  visit  was  intended  for  *  *  *  "those 
who  helped  to  make  my  sojourn  at  Belfast  the  most  pleasant  episode  of 
my  life."  P'or  the  benefit  of  the  younger  members  of  the  Belfast  Club  it 
may  be  well  to  mention  that  Prof.  Tate's  work  in  the  Secondary  rocks  of 
Ireland,  done  over  thirty  years  ago,  gave  us  the  most  complete  exposition 
of  those  rocks  which  has  yet  appeared.  Subsequently  appointed 
Professor  of  Geology  and  Natural  History  in  Adelaide  University,  he  has 
done  an  immense  amount  of  work  in  South  Australia,  not  only  as  a 
palseontologist,  but  also  as  a  conchologist  and  a  botanist,  and  has  risen 
to  the  foremost  place  amongst  Australasian  naturalists.  He  has  occupied 
the  position  of  President  of  the  Royal  Society  of  South  Australia,  and  of 
the  Adelaide  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  of  which  he  also  was  founder. 
There-  has  been  much  said  of  late  as  to  inter-communication  of 
naturalists,  land  it  is  not  creditable  to  the  Belfast  Club  that  no  advantage 
was  taken  of  this,  the  final  visit  of  its  foremost  member. 

S.  A.  vStkwarT,  Belfast. 


1896.]  309 

NOTES  ON  SOME  CASUALS  IN  COUNTY  ANTRIM. 

BY   J.  H.    DAVIKS. 


Galium  Moi,i.ugo,  Linn. — The  usual  English  habitat  for  this 
plant  is  **  hedges  and  thickets,"  whereas  in  Ireland  it  is 
principally  *'  grassy  lawns,"  which  is  exceedingly  suggestive 
of  the  species  having  been  introduced  here  with  seed.  It 
occurs  in  a  large  field  at  Glenmore,  where  there  are  several 
conspicuous  patches  of  it,  and  where  it  is  thoroughly  well 
established,  but  although  the  field  has  not  been  disturbed  for 
a  long  period  of  j^ears,  there  would  appear  to  be  a  possibility 
of  its  being  an  introduction.  Mr.  Stewart  informs  me  that  he 
has  this  year  found  it  at  Whitewell,  Glengormley,  in  County 
Antrim.  In  this  country  it  is  decidedly  rare,  being  absent 
from  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  island,  and  in  the  north, 
though  it  occurs  in  Down,  Antrim,  Derry  and  Armagh,  it  has 
not  been  observed  in  any  of  the  other  counties.  There  seems, 
however,  to  be  some  ground  for  regarding  this  Bedstraw  as  a 
casual,  but  it  may  be  indigenous.  At  Glenarm  it  has  certainly 
held  its^place  for  about  half  a  century. 

SoLANUM  NIGRUM,  Linn.— The  Black  Nightshade,  which  is 
of  rare  occurrence  in  Ireland,  having  been  found  in  only  four 
of  the  twelve  districts  of  Cybele  Hiber7iica,  has  this  year 
appeared  as  a  weed  in  cultivated  ground  at  Glenmore,  near 
Lisburn.  It  seems  to  be  a  very  capricious  plant  and  without 
permanence  in  any  of  its  Irish  localities.  Like  Hyoscyamus 
niger,  which  has  also  been  seen  at  Glenmore,  and  is  now  lost, 
it  springs  up  for  one  season,  or  it  may  be  for  two  or  three 
seasons  in  succession,  and  is  not  afterwards  seen  in  the  same 
place.  In  the  Copeland  Islands,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Donaghadee,  where  it  is  recorded  to  have  been  noticed  by 
Campbell,  it  has  since  been  sought  for  by  several  observers, 
but  cannot  now  be  found.  Rev.  S.  A.  Brenan,  who  noticed  it 
for  five  consecutive  years,  1867  to  1871,  near  Cushendun, 
informs  me  that  it  has  not  subsequently  been  observed  there. 
Mr.  Richard  Hanna  met  with  it  together  w^th  a  goodly  number 
of  other  out-of-the-way  casuals  on  rubbish  heaps  near  some  of 
the  Belfast  distilleries  and  flour-mills,  as  noted  in  the  remark- 
able list  of  plants  supplied  by  him  to  the  Supplement  to  the 

A  3 


310 


The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Dec, 


"Flora  N.  E-  of  Ireland"  (p.  141),  but  all  these  casuals  were 
known  to  have  been  introduced  with  imported  grain,  and  it 
is  not  to  be  seen  there  now. 

In  the  Glenmore  locality  the  plant  did  not  appear  until  late  J 
in  June,  and  its  pretty  white  flowers,  w^hich  close  in  the  I 
afternoon,  were  first  seen  in  the  latter  part  of  July.  The  fruit  " 
of  the  earliest  flowers  attains  its  full  growth  by  the  end  of 
August,  but  does  not  begin  to  assume  the  blackness  character- 
istic of  its  maturity  until  about  the  first  week  in  October.  Of 
the  enormous  number  of  berries  produced,  only  comparatively 
few  have  time  to  ripen  before  the  plant  dies  ;  but  when  it  is 
considered  that  a  single  berry  contains  upwards  of  sixty  seeds 
(more  than  three  times  as  many  as  there  are  in  a  berry  of  its 
congener  5.  Dulcamara),  it  seems  remarkable  that,  with  this 
possibility  of  reproduction,  the  Black  Nightshade  should  be  so 
fitful  and  inconstant  in  all  its  localities.  The  lower  branches 
are  procumbent  (rooting  at  many  of  the  joints),  and  those  of 
one  plant  cover  a  space  of  about  three  square  yards.  A  branch 
bearing  the  first  flowers,  that  was  cut  ofl'in  July,  and  placed  in  a 
jar  of  water  kept  in  the  open  air  very  soon  threw  out  numerous 
strong  roots,  produced  fully  formed  fruit,  continued  to  grow 
and  flourish,  and  to  put  forth  its  flowers  until  the  end  of 
September.  Notwithstanding  this,  it  is  rather  a  tender  annual, 
and  its  leaves,  which  begin  to  fade  early  in  October,  are  killed 
by  the  first  frost. 

P01.YGONUM  SACHAi^iNENSE,  Schmidt. — This  plant,  an  her- 
baceous perennial,  native  only  in  the  Sachalin  Islands,^  and 
not  previously  recorded  as  occurring  in  Ireland,  grows  at 
Lisburn,  in  waste  ground  in  an  extensive  enclosure  between 
the  old  mill-race  and  the  Lagan,  where  the  river  and  canal 
are  joined,  and  where  there  is  an  old  dry  dock  which  is  used 
for  the  repairing  of  lighters  that  ply  on  the  Lagan  canal. 
The  dock  is  mentioned,  because,  as  will  afterwards  be  seen, 
it  seems  not  unlikely  that  it  may  have  some  bearing  on  the 
introduction  of  the  plant  to  this  place,  vv^here  it  is  in  some 
abundance,  and  though  with  every  appearance  of  having  been 
there  for  a  long  time,  it  was  only  first  recognised  at  the  end  of 
September  of  the  present  year.  It  was  found  amongst  a  mass 
of  tall-growing  nettles  ( Urtica  dioica)  from  which  at  a  short 

■  '  "  Polygonum   sachalmense,  F.   Schmidt,  ex  Maxim.      Prim.  Fl.  Amur. 
233. — Ins.  Sachalin."     Index  Kewensis. 


1896.]     DaviES. — Notes  on  some  Casuals  in  County  Antrim.    311 

distance  it  was  hardly  distinguishable,  but  from  its  over- 
topping the  surrounding  growth  my  attention  was  specially 
attracted.  A  gentleman,  one  of  the  owners  of  the  land,  who 
was  present  on  the  occasion,  when  asked  how  it  came  to  be 
planted  there  replied,  "  Planted  ?  Oh,  no  !  it  was  not  planted  ; 
it  grows  wild  here."  A  Yorkshire  botanist,  Mr.  William 
Foggitt,  an  old  and  valued  friend,  and  one  of  my  most 
frequent  companions  on  botanical  excursions  so  far  back  as 
the  early  fifties,  in  sending  me  a  short  time  ago  a  collection 
of  British  casuals,  sent  also  some  dried  specimens  of  this 
Polygonimi  as  a  plant,  which,  on  account  of  its  alleged 
economic  value,  w^as  claiming  the  attention  of  North  of 
England  agriculturists.  It  would  appear  that  the  species  was 
first  brought  into  England,  under  the  name  of  Sachalin,  in 
1869,  as  a  forage  plant.  It  was  said  that  it  3delds  from  eighty 
to  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  of  green  fodder  to  the  acre, 
and  that  horses  are  especially  fond  of  it.  Mr.  Foggitt  informs 
me  also  that  it  was  stated  in  the  newspapers  that  the  farmers 
of  Wensleydale,  in  Yorkshire,  were  planting  it  on  the  bare 
oozy  hillsides  where  no  serviceable  herbage  will  grow,  but  so 
far  he  is  without  information  as  to  the  result  of  the  experiment. 
Its  beauty  seems  to  have  recommended  it  to  horticulturists, 
and  it  is  now  to  be  seen  in  many  gardens  in  Yorkshire. 
A  magnificent  bushy  plant,  attaining  a  height  of  from  eight 
to  ten  feet,  with  long  branched  racemes  of  delicate  greenish- 
yellcw  flowers,  springing  from  the  axil  of  nearly  every  leaf,  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  that  it  should  be  prized  as  an  additional 
ornament  for  borders  and  shubberies.  On  noticing  the  plaat 
at  lyisburn,  the  dried  specimens  received  from  my  friend  were 
at  once  brought  to  mind,  and  on  comparison  they  were  found 
to  be  identical.  The  most  probable  explanation  of  the  occur- 
rence of  the  Sachalin  here,  seems  to  be  that  the  seeds  may 
have  been  brought  by  the  lighters  w^hich  carry,  from  Belfast 
to  Lisburn,  coal  that  has  been  shipped  in  the  North  of 
England ;  and  that  they  have  thus  found  their  way  to  the 
ground  near  the  canal  dock  which  has  been  mentioned. 

PivANTAGO  MEDIA,  lyiuu. — Several  plants  in  a  lawn  near 
Lisburn.  The  grass  of  the  lawn  being  usually  kept  closely 
shorn,  there  is  little  chance  of  the  plant  spreading  from  seed, 
and  indeed  I  have  only  once  seen  it  in  flower  at  this  place, 
but  the  leaves,  lying  flat  on  the  ground,  as  is  their  habit,  for 


312  The  Irish  Natn7'alist.  [Dec, 

the  most  part  escape  uninjured  the  knives  of  the  lawn-mower, 
so  that  this  fragrant  and  most  beautiful  of  British  Plantains 
may  survive.  Mr.  Praeger  some  years  ago  met  with  it  on  the 
Curran  of  Larne,  where  it  has  since  been  sought  for,  but  it 
seems  entirely  to  have  disappeared  from  that  locality. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   IRISH   SOCIETIES. 


ROYAI,  ZoOIvOGICAI^  SOCIE'TY. 

Recent  donatioUvS  include  five  crocodiles,  a  lizard,  and  a  tortoise  from 
Dr.  E.  G.  Fenton  ;  a  hawk  from  R.  H.  M.  Orpen,  Esq.  ;  a  pair  of  Japanese 
Doves  from  J.  B.  O'Callaghan,  Esq.  ;  a  Muscov}^  Duck  from  Mrs.  Harford  ; 
three  lylamas  from  J.  Nelson,  Esq. ;  a  Hedgehog  from  W.  C,  Pim-Evans, 
Esq. ;  an  Otter  from  J.  Clibborn,  Esq.  ;  and  a  pair  of  Fantail  Pigeons 
from  Miss  O'Farrell. 

7,623  persons  visited  the  Gardens  in  October, 


DUBI,IN   MlCROSCOPIC.\I.Cl.UB. 

October  15.— The  Club  met  at  the  house  of  Dr.  R.  F.  Scharff. 

Prof  G.  A.  J.  C01.F  exhibited  sections,  accompanied  by  specimens,  of 
the  junctions  of  diverse  igneous  rocks  at  Oritor  Quarry,  Co.  Tyrone. 
Considerable  mingling  of  highly  silicated  and  basic  rocks  seems  to  have 
occurred,  but  it  is  difficult  to  determine  what  the  original  types  were.  The 
highly  silicated  rock  consists,  when  found  in  clean  veins,  almost  entirely 
of  a  felspar,  sometimes  showing  microcline-twinning,  and  these  veins 
graduate  into  a  true  granite. 

Prof  T.  Johnson  exhibited  preparations  oi  Prasiola  stipitata,  Suhr.,  a 
green  alga  which  is  of  interest  in  that  it  is  generally  regarded  as  a 
connecting  link  between  the  green  algse  (  ^^/■t/ac^^,  &c.)  and  the  Bangiacece, 
a  group  of  red  algae.  Reference  to  the  tetraspores,  oospheres  and 
spermatia  of  various  authors  was  made.  The  material  was  gathered  in 
March  last,  by  a  sea- weed  party  of  the  Dublin  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  at 
half-tide  on  the  coast  north  of  Skerries-  The  only  previous  record  of 
the  species  as  Irish  is  in  Jessen's  monograph  of  Pi-asiula  : — '  Specimina 
Hibernica  nominis  Ulvae  furfuraceae  inscripta  in  collectione  Binderi 
asservantur.'  The  preparations  and  illustrations  shown  were  due  to 
Miss  Knowles. 

Mr.  C  H.  Carpenter  showed  Onesinda  viimitissima,  Cb.,  a  spider  of  the 
family  TheridiidcE,  discovered  at  Ardara,  Co.  Donegal,  by  Rev.  W.  J. 
Johnson,  and  new  to  the  Irish  fauna.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  yet  been 
observed  out  of  the  British  Islands,  but  has  occurred  both  in  England 
(Dorset),  and  in  Scotland  (Balmoral).     It  is  perhaps  the  smallest  spider 


1896.  Pro ccedmgs  of  Irish  Societies,  313 

known,  measuring  only  one  mm.  in  length.  In  structure  it  is  remark- 
able by  the  great  convexity  of  the  sternum.  The  palp  of  the  female 
bears  a  claw ;  this  character  separates  it  from  the  Erigonincc,  according  to 
Rev.  O.  P.  Cambridge  its  true  position  is  near  Phokomma. 

Dr.  McWeEnEY  showed  the  germinated  sclerotia  oi  Peziza  sderotiorum, 
also  known  as  P.  postuma  (Berk.).  This  lives  parasitically  on  potatoes  in 
Ireland,  especially  along  the  Western  seaboard,  and  causes  a  dangerous 
disease.  The  sclerotia  were  gathered  in  full  germination  in  Co.  Donegal 
last  July.  He  also  showed  sclerotia  artificially  produced  from  the 
ascospores  of  the  Peziza  by  planting  them  on  sterilised  half  cylinders 
of  potato  in  test-tubes.  Reference  was  also  made  to  a  smaller,  more 
adherent  form  of  sclerotium,  resembling  mouse's  excrement,  also  found 
on  the  plants  affected  by  P.  sclerotiorum.  This  smaller  form  did  not 
produce  a  Peziza — only  a  conidial  fruitification  known  as  Bot>ytis. 
The  potatoes  suffering  from  Peziza  disease  were  generally  affected 
w^ith  Botrytis  disease  also;  but  there  appeared  to  be  no  essential  con- 
nection between  the  two  maladies. 

Mr.  A.  Vaughan  Jennings  showed  preparations  of  the  peach-coloured 
Bacterium,  Chromatiiun  Okenii.  This  form  is  specially  interestino-  on 
account  of  its  large  size,  its  distinctive  colouring,  and  its  habit  of  living 
in  water  containing  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  Sulphur  is  liberated  by  the 
organism,  and  deposited  in  granules  in  the  protoplasm,  and  the  sulphur- 
etted hydrogen  is  regarded  as  due  to  its  power  of  breaking  up  the  sul- 
phates of  lime  and  soda  in  solution  .  Apart  from  this  physiological 
interest,  the  form  is  of  value  as  illustrating  the  pleomorphism  of  the 
Schizomycetes.  The  motile  flagellate  type  which,  nearly  half  a  century 
ago  was  named  by  Ehrenberg  Monas  Okenii^  is  only  a  stage  in  a  varied 
life-history.  Other  stages  are  the  '  sperillum '  form  known  as  Oj>hido??ionas 
sanguineum,  the  filamentous  form  Beggiatoa  roseo-persiciiia,  and  the  aggre- 
gations of  'cocci'  constituting  the  Clathrocystis  roseo-persicimis  of  Cohn. 
The  'coccus'  condition  has  been  described  as  arising  from  the  fila- 
mentous form ;  but  the  specimens  exhibited  indicate  that  after  the 
motile  forms  have  passed  into  the  'zooglaea'  stage,  they  too  may  break  up 
into  aggregates  of  cocci  like  simple  forms  of  "  Clathorcysiisy 

Dr.  C.  Herbert  Hurst  showed  a  section  of  the  cochlea  of  a  Rabbit. 
Prof.  A.  C.  Haddon  showed  the  Phyllosoma  larva    of  the  crustacean 
Scyllartis  arctus. 


Bei^fast  Naturai^ists'  FieivD  Ci,ub. 
October  27. — The  winter  session  was  inaugurated  by  a  social  meeting 
in  the  Exhibition  Hall.  The  company  was  a  large  one,  filling  the  available 
space  in  the  main  hall,  and  comprising  a  good  representation  of  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Club,  with  many  friends.  There  was  an  mteresting  exhibition 
arranged  in  the  hall,  comprising  botanical,  conchological,  geological,  and 
entomological  collections ;  photographs^  seals,  and  microscopic  specimens. 
In  the  minor  hall  displays  of  the  X-rays  were  given  by  \V.  J.  Walker.  The 
side  hall  was  devoted  to  the  lantern  exhibition  of  a  series  of  slides  depicting 


314  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Dec, 

botanical,  geological,  and  archaeological  subjects,  the  photographs 
shown  being  the  work  of  F.  C.  Bigger,  Professor  Cole,  W.  J.  Fennell, 
W.  Gray,  A.  R.  Hogg,  Dr.  MacWeeuey,  J.  St.  J.  Phillips,  and  R.  J.  Welch. 
A  collection  of  photos  of  wild  flowers  in  their  natural  habitat  by  that 
capable  artist,  R.  J.  Welch,  was  much  admired.  The  exhibits  of  the 
botanical  section  comprised  British  and  exotic  ferns,  illustrated  by  fresh- 
cut  fronds  and  growing  plants,  supplied  by  W.  H.  Phillips  (honorary 
treasurer)  and  Charles  M'Kimm  (curator  of  Botanic  Gardens  Park); 
and  recent  additions  to  the  Irish  flora  by  R.  Lloyd  Praeger.  Professor 
MacWeeney,  of  Dublin,  exhibited  some  bacterial  cultures  and  slides,  and 
a  select  series  of  Irish  fungi,  including  some  that  cause  disease  of  the 
potato  plant.  A  compact  collection  under  the  departmental  title  of 
"Marine  Life  "  comprised  a  number  of  books  illustrative  of  marine  life, 
lent  by  the  Free  Library,  and  some  models  of  marine  life,  lent  by  the 
Queen's  College.  Henry  Hanna,  a.m.,  showed  a  collection  of  inverte- 
brates and  a  series  of  slides,  for  which  the  Club's  prize  had  been  awarded, 
while  seaweeds  collected  on  last  season's  dredging  excursions  were 
exhibited  by  Prof  Johnston  and  Miss  Hensman.  Prof  A.  C.  Haddon 
contributed  some  examples  of  commensalism  and  symbiosis  from  the 
marine  fauna  of  Ireland  and  other  countries ;  and  Mrs.  J.  T.  Tatlow  had 
a  collection  of  seaweeds  from  Roundstone,  Connemara,  and  a  series  of 
shells  collected  on  Magilligan  Strand,  County  Derry.  The  conchological 
section  comprised  the  above,  and  a  collection  of  land  shells  by  R.  J. 
Welch.  A.  G.  Wilson,  Hon.  Sec,  displayed  rocks  and  miscellaneous 
objects  of  interest,  including  specimens  of  Irish  fresh- water  pearls  and 
the  pearl  mussel  {Unio  margaritifera),  and  some  primitive  forms  of  lamps. 
The  geological  exhibits  comprised  photographs  of  features  of  the  high 
Alps,  by  the  late  W.  F.  Donkin,  from  the  geological  department  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin  (Prof.  Granville  A.  J.  Cole,  President 
of  the  Dublin  Field  Club) ;  crush  conglomerates  (with  microscopic 
section)  from  the  Isle  of  Man,  Tertiary  dykes  from  County  Down  (Miss 
M.  K.  Andrews)  ;  opal  and  chalcedony  from  the  rhyolitic  area  of  County 
Antrim,  rhyolites  from  Kirkinriola  and  Cloughwater  (Mr.  Robert  Bell) ; 
fossil  wood  perforated  by  insects,  from  the  Gault  of  Ventnor,  Isle  of 
Wight  (Mr.  J.  O.  Campbell)  ;  microscopic  sections  of  rocks  and  fossils 
(Mr.  William  Gray) ;  rocks  collected  on  Field  Club  excursion  to  County 
Cavau,  rocks  of  Slieve  Gallion,  County  Derry  (Alec  G.  Wilson) ;  junction 
of  granite  and  Ordovician  from  the  new  waterworks  tunnel  at  Newcastle 
(Leo  M.  Bell) ;  microscopic  section  of  riebeckite  granophyre  from  Isle  of 
Skye  (J.  St.  J.  Phillips) ;  Lias  and  Greensand  fossils  (George  M'Clean)  ; 
banded  and  altered  shale  from  waterworks,  Newcastle  (Robert  Young)  ; 
fossils  from  Cretaceous  rocks  of  Kent,  Rhsetic  fossils  from  Bath  ;  speci- 
mens from  lead  mines,  Foxdale,  Isle  of  Man  (MissS.  M.  Thompson).  To 
the  microscopic  section  the  following  contributed : — Rev.  John  Andrew 
(President  of  section),  Henry  Hanna,  A.  R.  Hogg,  W.  S.  M'Kee,  Joseph 
Wright,  Dr.  Lorrain  Smith,  Dr.  Cecil  Shaw. 

In  the  entomological  department  J.  T.  Tatlow  showed  a  collection  of 
butterflies  from  the  Austrian  Tyrol.    Among  the  miscellaneous  attrac- 


1896.]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  315 

tions,  the  great  seals  of  Bugland,  exhibited  by  John  Vinycomb,  formed 
a  distinctive  feature. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  President,  Lavens  W.  Ewart,  took  the  chair.  The 
President,  who  was  received  with  applause,  said — I  have  to  offer  a 
welcome  on'^belialf  of  the  Club  to  our  visitors,  and  hope  they  may  have 
an  enjoyable  and  profitable  evening,  and  I  have  especially  to  express 
our  thanks  to  those  who  have  come  to  help  us  in  the  business  of  the 
present  meeting.  Many  of  them  have  come  from  afar,  and  we  are 
grateful  to  all  from  far  and  near.  I  should  like  to  say  a  few  words  on  a 
subject  of  much  importance  at  the  present  time,  that  of  the  Giant's 
Causeway,  and  it  is  surely  a  subject  which  concerns  the  Club.  As  most 
of  those  present  must  be  aware,  a  few  speculators  have  banded  them- 
selves together  to  endeavour  to  exclude  the  public  from  free  access  to 
this  truly  gigantic  creation  in  order  to  make  money  out  of  it  for  them- 
selves, and  they  have  invoked  the  Court  of  Chancery  to  establish  them 
in  this  undertaking.  Three  gentlemen,  of  whom,  unfortunately,  I  am 
one,  have  been  served  with  writs  in  respect  of  so-called  trespass,  and  the 
battle  has  begun.  A  committee  had  already  been  formed  to  protect  the 
rights  of  the  public,  and  they  are  defending  the  action.  Owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  Causeway  Syndicate  is  a  public  company  they  cannot  be 
required  to  give  security  for  costs,  and  as  their  capital  consists  of,  I  am 
informed,  but  £'],  whether  we  win  or  lose  we — that  is  to  sa}^,  the  Causewav 
defence  committee — will  have  to  pay  our  own  costs.  Our  solicitors, 
Messrs.  Greer  and  Hamilton,  of  Ballymoney,  estimate  that  the  costs  may 
amount  to  ;^4oo,  and  this  sum  at  least  we  must  raise.  We  ask  for  help 
in  the  matter  of  collecting  subscriptipns,  and  collecting  lists  will  be 
supplied  to  all  who  will  take  them.  We  earnestly  ask  all  those  who 
value  liberty  to  take  lists,  and  get  their  friends  to  take  them,  so  that 
practical  interest  may  be  aroused  on  all  sides  in  asserting  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  public.  Large  subscriptions,  as  a  rule,  are  not  asked  for, 
but  small  sums  given  by  the  many,  for  it  is  a  matter  which  concerns  the 
many.  Evidence  is  also  wanted  from  those  who  have  known  of  the 
Causeway  as  a  public  resort  for  forty  or  fifty  years  or  more.  I  shall  not 
occupy  your  time  longer,  but  direct  your  attention  to  the  different 
exhibits  mentioned  in  the  programme. 

The  remainder  of  the  evening  passed  quickly  over. 

October  31. — Botanicai,  Section.  A  pleasing  and  interesting  feature 
was  the  presentation  of  a  set  of  mounted  Hieracia  to  Mr.  S.  A.  Stewart. 
This  collection  is  being  issued  in  four  fascicles  of  twenty-five  specimens 
each,  by  Messrs.  E.  F.  and  W.  .R.  Linton.  Rev.  C.  H.  Waddei<i.,  in 
presenting  the  first  fascicle  to  Mr.  Stewart  on  behalf  of  the  subscribers, 
read  the  following  inscription: — "Set  of  British.  Hieracia  presented  to 
Samuel  Alexander  Stewart,  F.B.S.E.,  in  recognition  of  his  valuable  ser- 
vices to  Irish  Botany,  and  especially  in  this  genus,  and  as  a  mark  of 
their  affection  and  esteem  by  Members  of  the  Botanical  Section  of  the 
Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club  and  other  friends."  Messrs.  C.  H. 
Waddell,  J.  H.  Davies,  and  others,  spoke  of  Mr.  Stewart's  great  services 
to  Irish  Botany,  and  of  the  value  of  his  "  Flora  of  N.E.  Ireland,"  and 


3i6  The  Irish  Nattiralist.  [Dec, 

testified  how  willing  he  always  was  to  place  his  wide  experience  and 
accurate  know-ledge  at  the  service  of  any  who  were  really  interested  in 
the  science.  Mr.  Stewart  replied,  and  said  it  would  ajBford  him  much 
pleasure  to  help  any  of  the  members  in  their  study  of  the  Hieracia  or  in 
any  way  he  could.  Some  recent  additions  to  the  local  flora  were  then 
discussed,  including  Solanum  nigrum  which  has  been  found  near  Lambeg, 
probably  only  as  a  casual.  The  rest  of  the  time  was  given  to  the  exam- 
ination and  description  of  Composita;,  and  especially  the  genus  Hieracium. 


\ 


Dubinin  Naturai^ists'  Fiei.d  Ci.ub. 
Novp:mber  iq.— The  Winter  Session  was  opened  by  a  Conversazione 
at  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  which  was  largely  attended.  The  President 
(Prof.  G.  A.  J.  C01.E)  opened  the  meeting  at  8  o'clock.  In  the  name  of 
the  Club,  he  welcomed  the  representatives  of  the  Belfast  and  Cork  Field 
Clubs  who  were  present,  and  also  the  many  local  visitors.  At  8.15  and 
at  9.15  lantern  displays  were  given  in  the  lecture  hall.  The  subjects 
illustrated  included  Prehistoric  Remains  of  Co.  Antrim,  by  Prof  Haddon 
and  G.  Coffey ;  rare  Fungi,  by  Greenwood  Pim  ;  Sea-birds  and  their 
nests  on  Lambay  Island,  by  R.  Welch  and  Greenwood  Pim  ;  the  Field 
Club  Union  Excursion  to  Cavan,  by  R.  Welch;  and  Wild  Flowers  in 
their  homes,  by  R.  Welch.  The  scientific  exhibits  which  covered  the 
tables  were  as  follows  : — 

Prof  G.  A.  J.  Cole  (President) — Forms  of  Silica  in  Rocks,  illustrated 
by  specimens  and  microscopic  sections;  G.  H.  Carpenter — i.  Some 
Curious  Insect  Larvae  ;  2.  New  Irish  Spiders  ;  Hon.  R.  B.  Dillon— Irish 
Lepidoptera,  illustrating  protective  coloration,  &c. ;  A.  H.  Foord — 
Specimens  of  Rocks  from  the  Lava-flows  and  Geysers  of  Iceland;  W. 
Gray  (b.n.f.c.) — A  fine  Zeolite  from  Co.  Antrim;  Mrs.  W.  S.  Green — 
Sea-weeds  collected  in  Co.  Kerry,  1896;  Prof.  A.  C.  Haddon — Animal 
Partnerships  :  Examples  of  Commensalism  and  Symbiosis ;  J.  N.  Halbert 

Water  Insects ;    Dr.   C.    Herbert    Hurst — Microscopic    Preparations, 

illustrating  the  structure  of  the  Heads  of  Insects  ;  A.  Vaughan  Jennings- 
Flowering  Plants  and  Fungi  from  the  Eastern  Alps  ;  Prof  T.  Johnson — 
Irish  Marine  Algae  collected  with  the  collaboration  of  Miss  Knowles  and 
Miss  Hensman  in  1896 ;  Miss  M.  C.  Knowles — Flowering  Plants  from  Co. 
Tyrone,    1896;    D.    M'Ardle— Some   rare   Mosses   and    Hepatics ;   A.    R^ 
Nichols— Marine  Shells  collected  on  the  Waterford  Coast,  1896;  Green- 
wood Pim — Restrepia  striata  and   Ceropegia  elegans  in  flower;  W.  H^ 
Phillips  (b.n.f.c.) — Varieties  of  British  Ferns,  illustrated  by  fresh  and 
dried  fronds  ;  R.  Lloyd  Praeger— Additions  to  the  List  of  Irish  Flowering 
Plants,  1S94-96 ;  Dr.  R.  F,  Scharfi"- New  Crustacea  from  the  West  Coast 
of  Ireland;    Mrs.  J.  T.  Tatlow — i.   Sea-weeds  collected  at  Roundstone, 
1896;  2.  Dried  Specimens  of  alpine  and  other  Plants  grown  at  Dundrum, 
1896  ;  J.  T.  Tatlow— Butterflies  from  the  Austrian  Tyrol,  1896;  Miss  S.  M. 
Thompson  (b.n.f.c.) — i.  Scotch  Erratics  from  Boulder-claj^s  of  Belfast 
District;  2.  Microscopic  Sections  of  Riebeckite  Eurite  from  Ailsa  Craig 
and  Skye;  R.  Welch  (b.n.f.c.) — i.  Irish  Land  and  Fresh-water  Mollusca; 
2.  Photographs  of  Wild  Flowers,  etc 


1896-]  Proceedings  of  Irish  Societies.  317 

Cork  Naturai^ists'  Fiei<d  Ci.ub. 

August  22. — The  month's  excursion  took  place,  a  good  party  going  to 
the  Waterfall  station  and  walking  thence  to  Ballinhassig  Glen,  taking 
on  the  way  some  bogs,  which  yielded  amongst  other  plants  the  Lesser 
Skull-cap  {Saitellaria  minor),  Sneeze-wort  {Achillea  Ptanuica)^  Branched 
Bur-reed  {Sparganiiim  ramosufn),  Bog  Pimpernel  {Anagallis  ienelld),  Bog 
Asphodel  {Narthecium  ossifragum),  Pale  Butterwort  {Pinguictila  lusitanicd), 
in  flower,  and  Finguicula  grandijlora. 

lyarge  tracts  of  moor  were  crossed  which  were  a  magnificent  sight, 
with  the  gorse  and  heather  in  full  bloom. 

Mr.  J.  Porter,  B.E.,  Bandon,  w^ho  acted  as  guide,  explained  the  geology 
of  the  district.  Waterfall  and  Ballinhassig  stations,  on  the  Cork,  Bandon, 
and  South  Coast  Railway,  are  on  the  northern  and  southern  sides 
respectively  of  one  of  the  main  east  and  west  anticlinal  hill-ranges.  The 
core  of  the  arching  fold  is  formed  of  the  Dingle  Beds,  which  have  been 
laid  bare  on  the  broad  summit  of  the  range,  while  the  Carboniferous 
rocks  cover  the  flanks. 

September  5. — The  last  excursion  of  the  season  came  off,  when  the 
Club  visited  Rock  Close,  Blarney,  by  kind  permission  of  Sir  George 
Colthurst,  and  after  exploring  the  curious  rocks,  &:c.,  walked  to  St. 
Ann's  Hydropathic,  where  tea  was  provided. 


NOTES. 


ZOOLOGY. 


INSECTS, 
Abundance  of  Acherontia  atropos. — From  the  British  entomo- 
logical magazines  it  appears  that  caterpillars  of  the  Death's-head  moth 
have  been  more  common  than  usual  in  England  and  Scotland  this  year. 
A  similar  visitation  appears  to  have  prevailed  in  Ireland,  as  during  the 
summer  months  I  received  a  number  of  specimens  from  different  parts 
of  the  country — Cos.  Dublin,  Meath,  and  Wexford. 

Geo.  H.  Carpenter. 

Astcroscopus  sphinx  In  Co.  Dublin.— As  Mr.  W.  F.  de  V.  Kane 
in  his  recent  list  of  Irish  Moths,  gives  but  two  localities,  Galwa}'  and 
Westmeath,  for  Asteroscopus  sphinx,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  my 
brother  and  I  took  a  few  specimens  of  this  moth  here  in  Co.  Dublin,  at 
light,  early  in  November,  1893  and  1894 ;  and  this  year,  on  November 
2nd,  two  specimens,  one  flying  round  ivy  and  the  other  at  light.  In 
every  instance  they  were  males. 

G.  P.  Far  ran,  Templeogue. 

[We  have  recently  heard  of  the  capture  of  this  moth  at  Dundrum,  also 
in  Co.  Dublin,  by  Mr.  George  Low,  and  in  Co.  Water  ford  by  Rev.  W.  W. 
Flemyng.— KdS.] 


3i8  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Dec, 

lYIixodia  palustrana  in  Co.  WlckIow«— On  Whit  Monday,  May 
25tli  (this  year)  while  ascending  Lugnaquilla,  Co.  Wicklow,  I  took  a  few 
specimens  of  a  tortrix,  which  turns  out  to  be  Mixodia  palustrana.  I  can- 
not find  any  previous  report  of  its  occurrence  in  Ireland.  M.  schulziana 
was  on  the  wing  at  the  same  time  and  place. 

George  V.  Hart,  Howth. 

Clifton  Nonpareil  (Catocala  fraxini)  at  Londonderry.— A 

specimen  of  this  very  rare  moth  came  into  Mr.  R.  B.  Thompson's  house, 

Marlborough  Street,  Derry,  by  an  open  window  during  the  night.    The 

date  was  about  loth  September  last.     Mr.  Thompson  brought  the  insect 

to  me  for  examination, 

D.  C.  Campbei<i<,  Londonderry. 


MOLLUSCS. 
Helix  arbustorum  in  Co.  Derry.— It  is  interesting  to  find  this 
shell  turning  up  again  so  soon  in  another  new  locality.  Mr.  Robert  Bell, 
a  member  of  the  B.N.F.C,  while  fossil-hunting  in  an  old  qiiarry  at 
Tamlaght,  on  the  borders  of  the  county  (near  Coagh,  Co.  T3Tone),  found 
it  fairly  plentiful,  and  brought  me  a  few  specimens. 

R.  \Vei.CH,  Belfast. 

Helix  fusca. — I  have  searched  carefully  for  this  rare  shell  for  year, 
in  likely  places — mountain  glens  and  damp  woods — but  without  success 
till  lately,  when  I  got  one  specimen  on  river-bank  at  Newcastle,  Co. 
Down,  on  rejectamenta  after  flood,  and  four  specimens  this  month  in 
the  ravine  of  Glenariff,  Co.  Antrim.  Professor  R,  Tate  found  it  many 
years  ago  common  in  winter  in  certain  damp  woods  near  Belfast,  usually 
on  the  Wood-rush  [Lttzttla  sylvaticd),  and  it  has  also  been  recorded  from 
several  mountain  glens  in  the  same  district.  Dr.  Scharff  noted  it  on 
Beech  trees  this  summer  at  Clonbrock,  Co.  Galway. 

R.  WEI.CH,  Belfast. 

Slug's  of  Ireland. — Wanted  living  examples  of  the  following 
species:— /^2wa^"  inarginatus,  Agriolimax  IcEvis,  Amalia  gagateSy  Arion 
intermedins,  and  Geomalacus  viaculosus. 

WaIvTER  E.  Coiyi^iNGE,  E.Z.S.,  Mason  College,  Birmingham. 


BLKDS. 
Kingfisher  in  Co.  Dublin.— When  travelling  on  the  D.W.  and 
W.  Railway  last  September  I  noticed  a  Kingfisher  flying  over  the  water 
between  Williamstown  and  Booterstown.  Some  years  ago  I  have  seen 
them  where  the  Blackrock  People's  Park  is  now,  but  till  the  occasion 
mentioned,  I  have  not  seen  one  for  a  long  time. 

Greenwood  Pim,  Monkstown,  Dublin. 


1S96.]  Notes. 


319 


A  White  Swallow.— Having  shot  a  perfectly  white  Swallow  or 
Swift  on  my  lands  at  Camass  near  BrufF,  Co.  I/imerick,  on  the  25th  inst. 
I  should  be  glad  if  any  of  your  readers  could  inform  me  if  they  ever  have 
seen  one.  The  common  Swallows  were  hunting  this  bird  as  if  they  did 
not  like  it. 

J.  V.  Bevan.     [Iu  Limerick  Chronicle,  August  28.J 

[Mr.  Williams  reports  that  this  specimen  is  a  Swallow  {Hirundo  rustica) 
and  a  genuine  albino,  having  pink  eyes.  He  has  received  this  year  two 
other  white  Swallows,  which,  however,  had  eyes  of  the  normal  colour, 
and  also  an  albino  Sand  martin  {Cotyle  riparia)  from  other  Irish  localities. 
—Eds.] 

Birds  of  Con nemara.— Referring  to  Mr.  Witherby's  statement 
that  he  has  met  with  the  Dunlin,  as  Mr.  Palmer  has  the  Ringed  Plover, 
in  the  breeding  season  on  Lough  Corrib,  I  beg  to  say  that  no  one  need  be 
suprised  at  either,  for  both  species  have  a  wide  breeding-range  on  the 
Irish  inland  lakes. 

I  have  a  list  of  eighteen  counties  in  which  the  Dunlin  has  either  been 
found  breeding  or  met  with  in  June  under  circumstances  denoting  that 
it  bred  there.  I  have  taken  Dunlins'  eggs  in  Londonderry,  Donegal 
and  Westmeath,  and  seen  it  on  many  a  lake  in  June,  including  the 
Shannon  lakes  and  callows  of  the  Shannon  down  to  the  Clare  shores  of 
Lough  Derg. 

I  have  found  a  Ringed  Plover's  nest  on  Lough  Sheelin  under  a  willow. 
That  Oyster-catchers  should  prefer  the  tops  of  islands  to  the  shingl}'^ 
beach  is  nothing  unusual.  On  the  Donegal  coast  last  June  I  saw  many 
nests,  usually  in  crannies  or  hollows  of  the  rocks,  far  up  above  the  tide. 
On  the  Saltees  they  breed  more  frequently  in  hollows  of  the  turfy  sod  on 
the  top  of  the  great  hill,  2qo  feet  high,  than  on  the  shingly  beach.  I  saw 
one  Oyster-catcher's  nest  there  among  the  beans  in  a  bean-field.  They 
usually  select  spots  on  the  hill  where  knobs  of  rock  surround  the 
nesting-hollow,  but  sometimes  breed  on  the  flat  turf  among  vshort 
bracken. 

In  parts  of  Connemara,  where  there  are  no  sea-cliffs,  I  should  expect 
Black  Guillemots  to  breed  under  the  huge  boulders,  to  be  found  in  so 
many  places,  forming  a  chaos  of  rock.  I  have  seen  the  birds  there.  At 
the  Cliffs  of  Moher  I  saw  none,  but  Black  Guillemots  were  seen  evidently 
breeding  about  a  low  limestone  island  off  the  little  port  of  Fisherstreet, 
in  the  horizontal  fissures  of  which  they  must  have  had  their  breeding 
nook.     Fisherstreet  is  over  a  mile  from  the  cliffs. 

R.  J.  USSHER,  Cappagh. 

Carrion  Crow  (Corvus  Coronc)  In  Co.  Antrim.— Whilst 
conchologising  in  the  woods  round  Murlough  Bay,  during  the  early 
part  of  September  last,  my  friend  Mr.  J.  Ray  Hardy  picked  up  a  recently 
dead  specimen  of  this  bird.  It  was  a  fully  plumaged  bird  of  the  year  and 
quite  fresh.  The  incident  would  have  passed  without  comment  on  our 
part,  if  a  remark  made  by  Mr.  R.  Welch  (who  was  with  us)  to  the  effect 


320  The  Irish  Naturalist.  [Dec,  1896. 

that  "the  Crow  is  a  rare  bird  in  Ireland,"  had  not  led  me  to  think  that 
a  record  of  the  fact  might  interest  Irish  ornithologists.  During  the  day 
we  more  than  once  heard  the  (to  us)  familiar  cry  of  the  Crow,  and  saw 
the  birds  themselves,  either  flying  singly  or  associated  with  parties  of 
Rooks  and  Jackdaws  ;  and  en  a  subsequent  day  we  saw  and  recognised  the 
cry  of  three  individuals  flying  over  the  bog  on  the  road  between  Bally- 
castle  and  Ballintoy.  We  have  both  been  familiar  with  the  Crow  in 
England  since  boyhood,  and  Mr.  Hardy  has  observed  it  frequently  in 
various  parts  of  Co.  Kerry,  and  has  now  in  his  collection  skins  and  eggs 
taken  by  himself  in  the  woods  in  Gap  of  Dunloe— so  there  is  no  pos- 
sibility of  mistake. 

R.  Standen,  Manchester  Museum. 

Fork-tailed  Petrel  (Occanodroma  leucorrhoa)  near  Lon- 
donderry.—About  2oth  October  Mr.  Buckle,  of  Culmore,  near 
Londonderry,  shot  a  specimen  of  this  species  on  the  shores  of  Ivough 
Foyle. 

D.  C.  CAMPBEiyiv,  Londonderry. 

Bird  Notes  from  Co.  Cork. — A  good  specimen  of  the  Squacco 
Heron  {Ardea  ralloides)  was  shot  near  Ballinacourty,  County  Waterford,  on 
the  12th  September,  1895  (no  doubt  the  one  referred  to  by  Mr.  E. 
Williams  as  having  been  shot  in  County  Cork,  see  Vol.  v..  No.  2,  Irish 
Naturalist),  and  a  Ruflf  {Machetes  fugnax)  near  Blarney,  on  the  20th 
February,  i8g6.  The  reports  which  I  have  received  of  Quail,  Coticrnix 
communis,  from  Co.  Cork  this  year,  show  that  the  distribution  has  been 
pretty  general  over  the  county ;  in  the  locality  of  Midleton  they  appear 
to  have  been  more  numerous  than  elsewhere. 

W.  Bennett  Barrington,  Cork. 


GEOLOGY. 
Cave  at  Westport. — Referring  to  the  note  in  the  Irish  Naturalist  for 
October  (page  276)  as  to  the  cave  near  Westport  **  called  Aglemore,"  I 
believe  that  the  place  specified  is  evidently  Ailemore,  and  the  cave  is 
nothing  more  than  the  underground  passage  of  a  mountain-stream.  As 
far  as  I  can  understand,  it  has  never  been  explored,  and  I  doubt  very 
much  if  a  man  could  push  his  way  through.  I  have  thought  of  trying 
it,  but  the  idea  quite  escaped  my  memory  when  the  season  was  most 
favourable.  All  the  same,  the  place  is  well  worth  a  visit ;  and,  though 
tourists  will  be  disappointed  of  a  three  and  a  half  miles  walk  underground, 
and  though  the  Aile  caves  do  not  surpass  those  of  Mitchelstown,  a  very 
pleasant  day  can  be  spent  in  the  vicinity.  The  entrance  to  the  under- 
ground passage  is  at  the  base  of  a  limestone  cliff  of  about  thirty  feet  high, 
and  concave  in  shape,  formed  of  stratified  limestone,  which  falls  occa- 
sionally from  the  roof  in  huge  square  blocks. 

Joseph  M.  M 'Bride,  Westport. 


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