10 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



"Wolstnns, and those of Mr. Doherty, at Bushmills. He also alluded to his own ex- 

 periments at the Custom-house, and described the progressive growth and develop- 

 ment of the young salmon fry, which had been of such attraction in the Exhibition, 

 and which were still thriving well. At the meeting in February, Mr. Andrews 

 again brought forward some notices with regard to the membranaceous duck, as he 

 hud received reliable statements fully confirmatory of the fortunate circumstance of 

 its capture in Castlemaine Harbour. He entered more fully into its character and 

 affinities ; and, through the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Blackburne, of Valencia, he 

 had the opportunity of exhibiting the specimen of the dusky petrel (Puffinus 

 ohscurus) which had been caught off Valencia ; also the Manx petrel, and the egg 

 taken with the nest in the cliffs of the same island. Mr. Andrews also exhibited 

 the egg of a petrel, which had been brought to him from the smaller Skellig Island, 

 and which, on being compared with specimens of petrels' eggs in the British 

 Museum, bore strong resemblance to the egg of Bulwer's petrel (Thalassidroma 

 Bulweri). Dr. Kinahan, in observing on the interest of the facts of birds breeding 

 in parts of the country where they were only considered as occasional visitants, men- 

 tioned his belief that siskins breed in Rath gar and Donnybrook, in the county 

 Dublin. In Powerscourt woods and in Tipperary, he had met those birds as late 

 as the end of July. He had no doubt but that the red-wing sometimes bred here, 

 and likewise the black-cap warbler. The next paper, on the same evening, was by 

 Dr. Kinahan, " On the Reproduction and Distribution of the Smooth Newt, and 

 notices of the popular superstitions relating to it." Doctor Kinahan 's attention being 

 directed to the examination of a great number of these animals in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dublin, he had the opportunity of watching the earlier stages of develop- 

 ment of the only species met there, the smooth Newt (Lissotriton punctatus). These 

 remarks were with reference to the habits of the smooth Newt, its mode of depositing 

 its eggs, and development of the ova, and which, closely watching through the dif- 

 ferent stages, led him to dissent in many points with the conclusions arrived at by 

 Mr. Higginbotham (whose statements appeared in the u Annals of Natural History" 

 for the month of December, 1853), and in the belief of Rusconi and others; but 

 that his observations could corroborate most fully the views of Professor Bell. Dr. 

 Kinahan then entered into details of the several parts of Ireland and peculiar locali- 

 ties the smooth Newt most commonly occurred in, mentioning the provincial terms 

 and superstitions relating to it in different districts. In the month of March, Mr. 

 Gilbert Sanders gave the result of a series of microscopical examinations of the 

 genus Desmarestia (the species liirulata), being a marine alga, of common occur- 

 rence on our coasts, but in which no trace of fructification had hitherto been de- 

 tected. Mr. Sanders's observations led him to believe that he had detected the 

 spores, indicative of fructification, in the species ligulata, and he demonstrated the 

 forms of the tubercles on the pinnse, which he regarded as conceptacles and super- 

 ficial. If further investigations enabled him to maintain the views he had formed, 

 there could be no hesitation in removing that genus from the order Sporachnaceae 

 to Dictyotacea3, or probably the constitution of a new genus. He had not been 

 able to detect any appearance of fruit in either of the other species D. aculeata or 

 D. viridis. Mr. Sanders exhibited and made some remarks on D. pinnitinervia, 

 which had been added to the marine botany of the country by his friend, Mr. 

 Sawers, of Londonderry. Dr. Kinahan followed, by a paper u On the Injury done 

 to fry in fish-ponds and vivaria, by the smooth-tailed stickleback (Gasteros- 

 teus leiurus)." In this paper, Dr. Kinahan noticed the extreme voracity of the 

 stickleback, or pinkeen, and gave the observations of C. Brunetti on its destructive 

 habits in destroying the fry or young of the goldfish, by greedily attacking 

 and biting away the pectoral and tail- fins of the young fish, and eventually 

 causing their death. In the review of the habits of the sticklebacks and 

 their distribution, Doctor Kinahan exhibited much power of observation, so 

 essential to a naturalist, and an untiring energy in following out the most 

 minute details of interest on the subject. Common as its distribution would 

 appear to be, there was a district in the north of Clare, around Feakle, 

 where it was utterly unknown, even by name, its place being taken by the 

 smooth loach (Cohitis barbalula) ; and the gudgeon, which, in general, is a local 

 fish, swarmed there in abundance. The minnow was also unknown there. In the 



