HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



dealt with. Eortunately for the space at our dis- 

 posal, we have only two genera to allude to — 

 Lipura and Anura— and these I must quickly 

 dismiss, as my acquaintance with them is very 

 imperfect. Both genera are destitute of the 

 springer. 



Lipura is represented by that blue podura which 

 inhabits the wet sea-weed and the rock-pools at the 

 seaside. It is L. maritima. I have seen no other 

 species than this. Otliers are recorded as having 

 been found on garden-walks, &c. The genus has 

 ten eyes — five on each side of the head. 



Aimra I may have seen, but have not paid much 

 attention to it. Its head is said to be more trian- 

 gular than that of Li]3ura ; and also, if I recollect 

 rightly, the eyes are more numerous than in that 

 genus. It is liable to be confused with Achorutes 

 and Lipura. 



Many points have necessarily been omitted in 

 this rapid sketch on which readers would doubtless 

 desire me to have dwelt ; but I have been compelled 

 to pass them by, chiefly because my own informa- 

 tion is so very imperfect, but also, to a great ex- 

 tent, because Sir John Lubbock's "Monograph" is 

 on the point of issue. Possibly, however, enough 

 has been said to assist some intelligent workers in 

 their inquiries ; and if this should be the case, my 

 object will have been attained.', 



I have often, when turning over brickbats for 

 intellectual entertainment, been struck with the 

 interest which the above creatures might afford to 

 many, and the ignorance respecting them which 

 neglect has caused. Podurce seem to be the small 

 game on which the rapacious Arachnida feed. Now 

 one sees a tiny spider running off with one in his 

 fangs, and, perhaps, a few inches off, an Obisium is 

 seen chasing a small company of them out of a 

 cranny. His proceedings, and the dodges of the 

 Poduroe in their efforts to escape, afford five minutes' 

 exciting occupation. One does not see these sights, 

 however, till the eyes have become accustomed to 

 the close scrutiny which is requisite. At first on 

 the lifting up of a stone, nothing but cobwebs, it 

 may be, are seen ; but after a minute or so of 

 careful watching, some of the various creatures 

 are discovered, and the longer one looks the more 

 one sees. 



Por the present, then, we take leave of the 

 Thysanura, S. J. M'Intike. 



SKETCHES IN THE WEST OP IRELAND. 



By G. H. KiNAHAN. 



Chapter II. 



A LITTLE west of Gort are the round tower 

 ■^-^ and seven churches of Kilmacduagh. The 

 tower was the second highest in Ireland, but last 

 winter a large portion of the upper part fell, it 

 naving been split about twenty years ago by light- 



ning. The compact mortar used by the ancient 

 builders iu Ireland is well exemplified in this 

 structure, as for generations the tower leant con- 

 siderably to one side, nearly as much as the famaus 

 tower of Pisa. In some of the old churches, good 

 examples of the sloping cyclopean doorway exist, 

 also some of the characteristic windows of the sixth 

 century churches. 



Leaving Kilmacduagh, we go westward for the 

 Burren, and on the rise of ground a few miles out 

 of Gort, the peculiar aspect of the view that sud- 

 denly opens on the traveller cannot but impress 

 itself on all beholders. North and south, nearly as 

 far as the eye can reach, is an undulating plain of 

 bare grey rock, backed on the west by rugged hills 

 of huge massive masonry, gigantic steps after 

 steps surmounting one another, and extending for 

 miles to the northward and southward, a natural 

 cyclopean structure. These steps or terraces 

 ought to convince all Subaerialists that meteoric 

 abrasion cannot accomplish the work they would 

 make people believe, and any one standing on this 

 rise of ground, must be convinced that atmospheric 

 influences can only have done a small part of the 

 work assigned to them. Opposite him to the 

 west will be the hills of Burren, with their regular 

 systems of terraces, never varying but a few feet in 

 altitude ; to the south he will catch a glimpse of the 

 Cork, Limerick, and Kerry hills, in which terraces 

 at similar height occur, although not so regular, 

 continuous, or conspicuous, as those of the Burren. 

 On the south-east are the mountain-groups called 

 Slieve Bernard and Slieve Aughta, and on the 

 north the hills of West Galway and Mayo, none 

 being without these terraces, and some in the 

 valleys of the latter hills being somewhat similar to 

 the parallel roads of Glenroy. 



Such terraces in the mountains, some a hundred 

 miles apart, could not have been formed but by a 

 universal denudant like marine action ; it therefore 

 appears that if meteoric abrasion had the power 

 some give it, of excavating deep valleys in S'olid 

 rock, all traces of these ancient sea-beaches ought 

 long since to have disappeared, especially as many 

 of them are formed of gravel and sand. 



The steps and terraces of the Burren are not 

 to be matched in the United Kingdom, being more 

 like Arabian scenery than anything else ; but what 

 formed them and denuded ihe country of drift 

 is not quite apparent. On the west coast the 

 Atlantic at the present day is forming terraces 

 similar to those that margin the Burren on the 

 east ; therefore we may suppose that such terraces 

 can be cut on an open sea-board ; but when we find 

 nearly land-locked valleys similarly circumstanced, 

 the power of the sea to do tlie work is not so 

 apparent. Nevertheless, as all are on similar levels, 

 we are constrained to believe they must have been 

 formed by similar agency. 



