16 NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 



crease of the shell ; and he finds proof of it in the supposed 

 fact that the animal adheres to its shell only by these organs : 

 an assertion also of this same naturalist, that the animal 

 sees through his shell both his enemies and his prey; a cir- 

 cumstance, which we confess appears to us difficult to credit, 

 on account of the covering over of this shell by the mem- 

 brane of the great arms, which must considerably diminish 

 its already small degree of transparency ; and, finally, a 

 description in which the same naturalist proclaims the fact, 

 that when the poulp of the argonaut wishes to change its 

 place, it overturns its shell, spreads out at the surface of the 

 water its two membraniferous arms, as well as its pointed 

 tentacula, so that there remains only its body in the shell, 

 adhering to it only by means of some of the suckers nearest 

 the base. It is now evident, that the palmated arms an- 

 swer a purpose quite different to that of floaters. 



( To he continued.) 



Art. III. — Notes on Irish Natural History, more especially Ferns. 

 By Edward Newman, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 

 ( Continued from Vol. 3, page 577.) 

 Ascending the rising ground to the south of Ballinahinch, I 

 found the \dew amply repay me for the trouble. Immediate- 

 ly beyond the palace — the Martin is a king in Cunnemara, 

 and his house a palace — rose that strange assemblage of hills 

 called the Twelve Pins. In my endeavours to count these 

 Pins, I was quite unsuccessful ; and the number appears to 

 be optional on the part of the counter. Immediately around 

 the palace, — a modem and by no means an elegant building, 

 — water and wood are very prettily interspersed. It would 

 add some fraction of interest, could I name the bold head- 

 lands that jutted out into the more level bog, — the lakes that 

 even there, mountain-locked though they Avere, reflected a 

 bright blue sky, and fleeting clouds of surpassing white- 

 ness, — and those lovely islands, covered with the richest, 

 thickest, wood. How is it that throughout Cunnemara the 

 lake-islands alone bear trees ; and that here they abound, of- 

 ten to crowding } I here observed the hen-harrier (Cercus 

 cyaneus), hunting over the bog, as owls fly along our fallows 

 in quest of mice. -The face was turned downwards, often 

 however being moved in every direction. I fancied that these 

 marauders were looking after the young curlews, which I am 

 sure must be abundant, for the old ones would run before me 



