36 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



investigations. He considered that the strongest spirits of wine was the 

 best calculated to preserve perfectly the characters of the more delicate marine 

 animals. 



After some conversation on the subject of Dr. Farran's specimens, the meeting 

 was adjourned to the second Friday in February. 



FEBRUARY 9, 1855. 

 EGBERT CALLWELL, Esq., M.R.I. A., in the Chair. 



The minutes and the usual business being confirmed and disposed of, 



Mr. Williams requested permission to notice a fine specimen of the Iceland gull, 

 (Larus islandicus), in immature plumage, which had been presented to the Society, 

 through Joseph Todhunter, Esq., from Doctor Harvey, of Cork. Mr. Williams 

 said, that he was in expectation of the particulars of the capture of this rare bird, 

 which he would submit at the next meeting. 



Mr. Andrews presented to the Society a well-preserved specimen of the Por- 

 beagle shark (Lamna cornubica). This was the second specimen that Mr. Andrews 

 had obtained in Dingle Bay. These sharks generally appear in the bay in the 

 autumn months, during the time that the hake and herrings are plentiful in the bay. 

 They are of less frequent occurrence than the blue shark (Carcharias glaucus), 

 which appears at the same season, and is sometimes troublesome to the fishermen's 

 lines. Mr. Andrews noticed, that the Fox shark, or Thresher (Carcharias vulpes), 

 had been met with in Dingle Bay. 



The Chairman mentioned, that in one of the tours of inspection in the Ballast 

 Office steam vessel, he had visited Carlingford Lough, in the month of August. 

 Herrings, at the time, were plentiful in the lough, and he had noticed a species of 

 shark frequently springing several feet out of the water, which the crew pointed out 

 to him as the Thresher shark, from the peculiarity of the action of its tail fin. 



Mr. Hopkins presented to the Society very fine specimens of lanthina communis, 

 which he found abundantly thrown ashore at Kilkee, county of Clare, after a gale 

 of westerly wind. He had noticed several other rare species, which he would 

 submit a list of at the next meeting. 



The thanks of the Society having been passed to the donors, 



Mr. Andrews said, he would read a communication from Mr. Trouton, of 

 Drogheda, with reference to the skull and very fine antlers of the red deer, which 

 were before the meeting. " I beg to say, that they were discovered in August last 

 by some fishermen, whilst drawing their salmon net across the river the River 

 Boyne ; the net having become fast in one of the horns, it was with some difficulty 

 they raised them from where they were embedded in the centre of the river ; but 

 using great care they were enabled to take them up in the very perfect state in 

 which they appear. Although they have been taken from the now present bed of 

 the river, I have to remark, that within the last few years, the river has been 

 deepened by excavation, about four feet ; so that, until lately, the horns were depo- 

 sited in a stratum four or five feet below the water. This, I think, will fix a very 

 early date for their original deposit. The dark colour of the skull and horns will, 

 I think, bear out this idea." 



The horns were those of the red deer, and were perfect and of full growth. 



Several of the members said, that such specimens were by no means uncommon 

 in the country, and that they were frequently met with in parts of the Boyne. 



The Chairman also remarked, that he had seen and obtained very fine horns of 

 the red deer, and in a perfect state, found between Moate and Athlone. 



The thanks of the Society were given to Mr. Trouton, for his kindness in for- 

 warding the horns to be exhibited at the meeting. 



Mr. Andrews was then called on for his paper, entitled 



REMARKS ON THE PERCIDJE AND SERRANI, AND ON AN ADDITION TO THE ICH- 

 THYOLOGY OF IRELAND. (WITH A PLATE.) 



It is always a subject of extreme interest to the naturalist the record made of 

 any addition to the zoology or to the botany of a country. On the one hand, it 



