128 The I) ish Naturalist. Ma)% 



•collectiug carried out in a number of 3^et unworked districts 

 enabled A. R. Nicliols to publish the marine MoUusca, and a 

 list of Irish Echinodennata b}^ the same writer has now been 

 issued. H. L- Jameson has published the Nemertines. In the 

 Algae, a large amount of material has been amassed, and the 

 Brown Seaweeds and Corallines have been published by 

 Professor Johnson. 



The interesting results obtained from the working out by 

 •G. H. Carpenter of the animals captured in the Mitchelstown 

 Cave on the joint Field Club excursion in 1893 drew the 

 attention of the Committee to the subject of cave faunas, and 

 grants were made to enable J. N. Halbert and H. Lyster 

 Jameson to explore caverns about Enniskillen, and at 

 Dunmore, Co. Kilkenny, as w^ell as to make further collections 

 at Mitchelstown. In consequence, further papers on the 

 subject b}^ G. H. Carpenter have appeared, and he is still 

 engaged on this research. 



It will be seen that the Invertebrates and the Cryptogams 



have mainly occupied the attention of the Committee. All 



the groups of the higher animals and plants are tolerablj^ well 



known — except perhaps the fishes, and the}' cannot be studied 



-or collected b}' itinerant naturalists, or during brief sojourns. 



It was from the beginning understood that the Committee was 



to direct its attention to the less known groups. As a matter 



of fact, just two grants have been made for the study of the 



higher organisms above mentioned — one to More, Ussher, 



and Warren to assist in completing the materials for their 



book on the Birds of Ireland, and one to R. LI. Praeger in aid 



of the fifth and final year's field-work of '* Irish Topographical 



Botany." Both w^orks have now appeared, and place our 



knowledge of the distribution of these two large groups on a 



secure basis. 



In palseoutolog}^ important work has been latel}^ carried out 

 by a Committee working under grants from the Fauna and 

 Flora Committee and from the British Association, and 

 engaged in investigating the cave deposits of Ireland. The 

 Fauna and Flora Committee has provided half of the com- 

 paratively large sum — for this is expensive work — expended 

 on cave-digging during 1901 and 1902, and the full results will 

 be communicated by them to the Academy for publication. 



