52 DUBLIN UNIVEESITT 



land is ransacked, by day and by night, as is the case, with the most 

 surprising results, in England, year after year. 



I wish to draw attention especially to the south-western district, 

 which is almost entirely unexplored by the lepidopterist. "Who will go 

 up and possess its treasures ? 



When the late Professor Edward Forbes suggested the grand idea of 

 the former connexion of Ireland and Spain by means of an ancient con- 

 tinent stretching far out into the Atlantic, his theory was based mainly 

 on botanical grounds ; for, after stating that the west and south-west of 

 Ireland is characterized by botanical peculiarities, dependent on the 

 presence of about twelve species of plants, and that the nearest point 

 of Europe where these plants are native is the north of Spain, he adds, 

 "there is no evidence of any local assemblage of animals correspond- 

 ing to this Flora." 



The recent discovery of Anthroeera minos in the district, and appa- 

 rently confined to it, proves that there are also traces of a peculiar Fauna, 

 and leads me to anticipate that a diligent collector in the south-west 

 would reap a rich harvest of novelties among the Lepidoptera. 



When in Galway this summer, Minos was, as usual, in great profu- 

 sion. It differs materially in its habits from the other native species of 

 the genus, concealing its oval, earth-coloured cocoon (of which I have the 

 pleasure of exhibiting specimens) among the roots of the herbage, or at- 

 tached to a stone at the surface of the ground ; but from the nature of 

 the localities in which alone the insect is found in abundance, — viz., 

 fields in which rock was the rule, grass the exception, — the cocoon is ex- 

 tremely difficult to find. 



Mr.E. Burchall exhibited a box of specimens illustrative of his paper. 



Professor J. Reay Gbeene, Honorary Secretary, then read a resume 

 of the present state of our knowledge of the Ccclenterata. 



He commenced by alluding to the different changes which had taken 

 place in the arrangement of the numerous forms included in the sub- 

 kingdom, Radiata, of Cuvier. These changes might briefly be summed 

 up as follows: — 



1st. The withdrawal of the Infusoria (Polygastrica), and their asso- 

 ciation with the Iihizopods and Sponges into a distinct sub-kingdom, 

 — Protozoa. 



