178 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OSS IF. 



being the best external guide. The general colour of 

 the adult is greyish, tinged with yellow, and spotted 

 and blotched with darker grey ; the under parts lighter. 

 The length of the adult varies from 7 to 10 feet. 

 By the form of its skull and teeth it is readily dis- 

 tinguished, as well as by the great size of the animal. 

 In the skull the brain-case is small, the nasal opening 

 very large, and the grinders conical, only the two 

 hinder pair in the upper, andthe last pair in the lower 

 jaw, double-rooted, the rest simple. Professor Bell, 

 in his history of ' ' British Quadrupeds, " gives excellent 

 figures of the skulls of the various British seals, which 

 will be found most useful in determining the species 

 of any doubtful individuals ; other carefully executed 

 figures will be found in Dr. Gray's " Catalogue of the 

 Seals and Whales in the British Museum," as v/ell as 

 the generic and specific characters in both authors. 



The family Trkhechidic, restricted to a single 

 genus and species, Trickechics rosinartis of Linnaeus, 

 the Morse or Walrus, is the only remaining repre- 

 sentative of the Pimiepcdia found on our shores ; the 

 third family, Otaiiidiv, not being represented in our 

 Fauna. Although it has occurred in several instances, 

 here the Walrus can only be regarded as a rare and 

 accidental straggler, far from its native habitat, the 

 icy seas of the Arctic regions, from which it rarely 

 strays. Wallace ("Geo. Dist. of Ani.," vol. ii. p. 203) 

 gives as its trae home the shores of Asia, between 

 80° and 160° E., or on the N. shores of America, from 

 100° to 150° W., but occasionally reaching as far 

 south as lat.. 60°. In the Kara Sea, the German 

 Arctic expedition in the Proven found it abundant, 

 but the object of "exterminating pursuit" on the 

 part of the Norwegians. In the better-known 

 regions of the Arctic Seas it has gradually become 

 exterminated by the hands of man ; from the northern 

 coasts of Scandinavia it has receded to the coasts of 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen, which now form its 

 stronghold for a time ; but the fate which awaits it 

 cannot long be deferred. Its fossil remains, Wallace 

 says, have been found in Europe as far south as 

 France, and in America probably as far as Virginia : 

 a skull in the Cambridge Anatomical Museum was 

 found in the peat near Ely. Recently it has been 

 met with on our shores, according to Bell, on the 

 coast of Harris in 1817 ; in the Orkneys in 1825 ; 

 one was seen in 1827 in Hoy Sound, but not 

 captured ; and in 1841 one was killed near Harris. 

 Dr. Brown also states that two were seen, one in 

 Orkney and the other in Shetland, in 1857. More 

 than one successful attempt has been made to bring 

 the Walrus alive to this country ; but although they 

 show considerable docility, and readily recognize the 

 voice and person of their keeper, in no instance have 

 they long survived in confinement. 



In a paper in SciENCE-Gossir for January, 1877, 

 I have given a more particular account of the habits 

 of the Walrus, with illustrations. 



( To be continued. ) 



ANOTHER SKETCH IN THE WEST OF 

 IRELAND. 



{Iliar, or JVest, Gahvay.) 



By G. II. KiNAHAN, M.R.LA., &c. 



THE county of Gal way has been called by a 

 recently deceased popular novelist, ' ' the land 

 of Nimrod, Ramrod, and Fishingrod." This seems 

 to be rather a happy thought, its champaign country 

 being famed for the Foxhunters it has produced, its 

 mountains being the abode of the Kirkenafree [aiigiice. 

 Heather-hen or Grouse), while its lakes teem with 

 Salmon and Trout. The siglit in summer from the 

 West bridge in Galway will never be forgotten by 

 those who have seen it, the bottom of the river 

 being literally paved with salmon. 



Before the advent of the English under de Burgo, 

 the major portion of the co. Galway belonged to the 

 powerful sept of the O'Fflaherties, or some of their 

 dependents, their territoiy being known as Hiar 

 (pronounced Yar) Connaught. This extended from 

 the Shannon on the east to the Atlantic on the west. 

 Afterwards the O'Connors, with the aid of their 

 English allies under de Burgo, drove the O'Fflaherties 

 west of lochs Corrib and Mask ; the name of the 

 territory retreating with them. Hiar-Connaught 

 of the present day, the subject of this sketch, is 

 bounded on the east by these lakes, west by the 

 Atlantic, south by Galway Bay, and north by the 

 fiord of Killary Harbour and the Formnamore 

 mountains. It comprises the barony of Moycullen, 

 Connemara, and the Joyce country. Moycullen, 

 or Magli-Ullin, the field of Ullin, was so called from 

 Ullin having slain the famous navigator Mananan- 

 mac-Sir (Mananan, tlie son of the Sea), in a battle in 

 the district. This place was marked by a long 

 standing stone : according to Wilde, the stone is now 

 lying prostrate in a furze field in the townland of 

 Leagaun {anglicc, standing stone), not far from the old 

 road between Oughterard and Galway, and about six 

 miles distant from the latter place. Connemara, 

 or Coumhaicnemara, that is, Sea-Coumacney, was 

 called after Coumac or Coumhaicne, to distinguish it 

 from two other territories also called after him, 

 namely Conmacny-rein, in the cos. Longford and 

 Leitrim, and Conmacny-dunmore, in the N.E. of tlie 

 CO. Galway. This name was changed to Ballyna- 

 hinch [toivn of the Island), after the O'Fflaherties' 

 castle in Loch Ballynahinch, but of late years the old 

 name has been much in use. Joyce country, so called 

 from a Welsh family of Jjoyce or Shoye who settled 

 in the district of Partly, west of Loch Mask, under 

 the O'Fflaherties, about the middle of the thirteenth 

 centuiy. 



Hiar-Connaught is most interesting to the anti- 

 quarian, botanist, and geologist, especially to the 

 latter, as in it the solution of many geological problems 

 is manifest. Ilere we can study the different phases 

 of the Drift, also what ice can do to rocks; the 



