DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL ASSOCIATION. 207 



land ; and partly to the nature of the bottom, which in many places is 

 muddy, the soil being very deep, and filled with much animal and ve- 

 getable matter. I believe the Akerae in question were obtained on this 

 rich feeding-ground, where they had opportunities of leading an indo- 

 lent life in the midst of plenty. Hence, possibly, their peculiar cha- 

 racter. But on this question it is premature to decide without more 

 information than we possess at present ; and I wish some of our mem- 

 bers who have leisure, in the coming season, may visit Birterbui and 

 Round stone Bays, which were once so well known to us by the labours 

 of the late Mr. M'Calla ; and which, no doubt, will yet yield much 

 more to the naturalist than has yet been got from them. I never re- 

 member to have visited any locality, in this or any other country, 

 where dredging could be so profitably, so easily, and so pleasantly pur- 

 sued. The bays are so much sheltered that boating in one or other may 

 almost always be enjoyed ; and there is much variety in the nature of 

 the bottom. The water is as clear as crystal in Roundstone Bay, and 

 objects at the bottom may be seen, in calm weather, at a great depth ; 

 so that the naturalist may often judge, by personal inspection, where to 

 drop his dredge with the certainty of bringing up the objects he is 

 looking for. 



(Speaking of clear water and quiet bays reminds me that I ought 

 more particularly to direct the attention of our marine zoologists to the 

 exquisitely beautiful and curious, but evanescent creatures, which have 

 furnished us with this evening's paper. Mr. Greene has shown us, by the 

 living specimens on the table, and by those which he has described in 

 his essay, what a single hour's work in Kingstown Harbour on a calm 

 summer's morning may furnish. The naked-eyed Medusae lead a most 

 luxurious life, basking in the upper strata of sunny waters, or quietly 

 swimming near the surface, to which they rise chiefly when all is calm 

 and pleasant ; retiring to greater depths in rough weather. They are 

 so much the colour of the water that they can scarcely be detected, save 

 by their movements, or by the rainbow tints reflected from their crystal- 

 line bodies as they catch a ray of light in varying positions. Their 

 forms are endlessly varied, yet within definite limits ; and Professor 

 Forbes, in his admirable memoir on the subject, has shown us how they 

 may be scientifically studied, and also what kinds the British naturalist 

 may encounter in his researches. But Forbes' s memoir must be taken 

 merely as a commencement from which researches are to proceed. The 

 species described in it were chiefly procured in summer yachting ex- 

 cursions to the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Very many favourable 

 localities are either nearly or altogether unsearched, and Dublin Bay is 

 probably one of these. But Roundstone Bay, of which I have already 

 spoken, Cork Harbour, and Bantry Bay, would probably still more 

 richly repay an exploration. The only hindrance to the study of these 

 creatures is their perishable nature. It is difficult to preserve them for 

 the museum ; they must be studied on the spot where they are collected, 

 and within a few hours after capture, for they soon melt away into 

 colourless jelly. But, to a naturalist who has leisure to devote a few 



