120 Observations made during a Visit 



British natural history, but have despaired of ever being able 

 to obtain a share in the rich harvest which awaits the traveller 

 in those distant parts of the sister island. The false notion, 

 so generally current in England, that it is difficult, nay 

 almost impossible, to travel in the wilder or more distant 

 parts of Ireland, without personal danger, or, at least, very 

 great inconvenience, from the religious and political feelings 

 of the people, and the almost total want of accommodation in 

 the smaller towns, has, I doubt not, prevented many an 

 enterprising naturalist from leaving his fireside to pursue his 

 researches in the counties Mayo, Galway, or even in Kerry, 

 with the single exception of Killarney. 



Such being the case, I shall proceed at once to give a short, 

 but very imperfect, account of those parts of the county of 

 Galway which are mentioned at the head of this paper. 

 After attending the meeting of the British Association at 

 Dublin, I proceeded, in company with two friends (Messrs. 

 R. M. Lingwood B. A. and J. Ball, both of Christ's College, 

 Cambridge, the first a botanist and entomologist, the other a 

 geologist), to the town of Galway. This is a large and inter- 

 esting place ; but, as an excellent account of it is contained in 

 Mr. Inglis's Tour in Ireland, I shall not describe it here. 

 From the bridge, in Galway, we were much interested 

 by noticing great numbers of salmon on their way to the 

 large expanse of Lough Corrib, or the mountain streams 

 communicating with it. The river which they were ascend- 

 ing is wide, with a swift stream running over a rocky bottom, 

 and therefore giving to the current a very turbulent cha- 

 racter. The salmon were lying in such dense masses in the 

 hollows formed by its rocky bed, that I consider myself fully 

 justified in stating that many hundreds must have been pre- 

 sent within fifty yards of the bridge. 



From Galway we proceeded nearly due north-west through 

 a rather flat, and far from interesting, country, which, how- 

 ever, became gradually more and more hilly as we approached 

 Oughterard ; and, although for the most part totally devoid 

 of trees, it was plain, from the excellence of their growth near 

 to several gentlemen's seats, that the climate and soil were not 

 the causes of their deficiency. On both sides of the road the 

 country consists almost wholly of low rocky hills and bog; 

 but several views are obtained of that extensive sheet of water 

 denominated Lough Corrib. This lake is more than thirty 

 miles in length, extending from the centre of the Ma'am Turk 

 Mountains to within a few miles of Galway; and is about 

 eight miles in width between Oughterard and Cong. The gil- 

 Iaroo trout is found in it; a fish celebrated for having a 



