152 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE -G OS SI P. 



fisherman to take me across the bay next morning to 

 Ballyvaughan, in the famous Burren of Clare, which 

 yields more rare plants than can be found in the 

 same area anywhere else in Ireland. Ballyvaughan 

 is the headquarters of the botanist who would do the 

 Burren, and the very comfortable hotel there is kept 

 by a gentleman who is one of the " ould stock " of 

 CO. Clare, and who understands the use of the vascii- 

 liivi, and takes an interest in directing the visitor to 

 spots where he is likely to meet with rarities to fill 

 it. The I'ocks here are of carboniferous limestone, 

 and not only very singular, but especially adapted for 

 the growth of many of the species that abound in 

 this region. The limestone is split up by numerous 

 fissures, varying from a few inches to two or three 

 feet in width. These fissures are not filled up to the 

 surface with soil, and plants that cannot endure the 

 full blaze of the sun find needful shade between 

 the vertical walls. The Scaly Hart's-tongue grows 

 in these clefts with a luxuriance beyond anything 

 that I had anticipated, and in enormous profusion. 

 On the afternoon of my arrival I visited Blackhead, 

 on the southern shore of Galway Bay, a singularly 

 terraced hill of 650 feet. On the rocks here Dryas 

 octopetala grows in immense quantity ; the large 

 cream-coloured flowers are very fine, resembling 

 closely those of Rosa spinosissiina. The Bear-berry 

 {A . 7iva-7irsi) grows here also, and was just in flower 

 at this time. On my second and last day in the 

 Burren I passed again over Blackhead, and proceeded 

 a good distance to the south of it. I found Hclian- 

 themum canum — three small specimens only ; its 

 bright yellow flowers are hard to distinguish from 

 those of P. toriiientilla as one passes along. After a 

 long and patient search I came upon Adiantiim 

 Capilhis- Veneris, and brought away a few of the roots, 

 the fronds being not yet up. I was almost ashamed 

 of taking the plants, as the Maiden-hair is rapidly 

 becoming more rare. My scruples were, however, 

 allayed on my return to Ballyvaughan. Here I met 

 with a collector, or rather an extirpator, who had 

 come over to gather rare ferns for the English market. 

 Armed with a sledge-hammer, and assisted by a 

 native with a donkey-cart, the coast was scoured and 

 ferns were being lifted by the hundred. The few 

 select specimens which the botanist takes away can 

 have little effect on the life of the species ; but such 

 wholesale uprooting for commercial purposes as I 

 witnessed must, in a brief period, doom to extinction 

 any plant which has the misfortune to become fashion- 

 able. Why do not fern-cultivators endeavour to 

 raise their plants from spores, instead of banishing the 

 ancient denizens of the country from their native 

 rocks ? Gentiana verna deserves a passing notice 

 before concluding this narrative : the short pastures 

 and the hillsides were everywhere spangled with the 

 brilliant blue flowers of this lovely plant : on this side 

 of Galway Bay it is one of the commonest species 

 met with. S. A. Stewart, Belfast. 



CHAPTERS ON 



CARBONIFEROUS POLYZOA. 



No. II. 



By G. R. Vine. 



IN writing these Papers it will, I hope, be under- 

 stood that they are to be taken in a popular, rather 

 than in a strictly scientific sense. In the present state 

 of our knowledge of these fossil Polyzoa, we can do 

 no more than classify provisionally. Before long the 

 whole class will have to undergo complete revision. 

 Even now, with the material already in the hands of 

 specialists, it is a great difficulty to completely identify 

 species, either by the figures or the written descrip- 

 tions of Phillips or M"^Coy. In my first paper I felt 

 that the whole weight of responsibility would have 

 rested upon me had I committed myself to original 

 figures or descriptions. I therefore gave figures from 

 Phillips and Nicholson as the most accessible to me 

 at the time. Since then I have received the kindly 



^^..^5 



Fig. 138. Cdk of Fe/iesM/a, in section. 



^ FenestcUa tcnnijila (Phillips). 



Fig. 139. Non-poriferous side, 

 slightly rubbed down, to show 

 base of cells. 



Fig. 140. Poriferous side. 

 Nat. size 4 of an inch. 



advice of Mr. John Young, of the Hunterian Museum, 

 Glasgow, also two papers by him on Carboniferous 

 Polyzoa ; and rather than alter what I had previously 

 written, I give this introductory paragraph as a guard, 

 both to myself and to the readers of this journal, 

 that specific distinctions can only be at present pro- 

 visional. A vast field of inquiry is open for intending 

 students, and if I can influence some few of the many 

 microscopists to turn their attention to this much 

 neglected branch of study, these articles will not have 

 been written in vain. 



At the base of that division of the animal kingdom 

 termed MOLLUSCA, the Polyzoa are now, by universal 

 consent, most judiciously placed. They thus enjoy with 

 the Tiiuicata a subdivision which is called the MOL- 

 LUSCOIDA. "The class ol Polyzoa is composed of 

 small animals, which always grow together upon a 

 common stock, in the same manner as the compound 

 Polypes, with which they were formerly arranged. 

 Each animal resides in a separate cell, within which it 

 can usually retract itself entirely. The cells are some- 

 times soft and flexible, sometimes horny, and some- 



