.Mar. 24. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



219' 



contain little more than the names of the parties, 

 do not commence prior to the reign of Charles II. 

 Calendars to the Inquisitions of the provinces of 

 Leinster and Ulster have been printed and pub- 

 lished, but to the other two provinces there are 

 no printed references. To the Records of the 

 Palatinate of Tipperary, there are no printed 

 books of reference. 



The more ancient of the Exchequer Records 

 are deposited in the Exchequer Record Office at 

 the Four Courts. They principally consist of 

 jVIemoranda Rolls, commencing in Edward I.'s 

 time. Inquisitions commencing temp. Henry VI., 

 and of the Decrees of the Court of Claims of 

 Charles II.'s time. Catalogues or Lists of these 

 Records are to be found in the Reports which 

 have been published by the Irish Record Com- 

 missioners, but their contents have not been made 

 known to the public by means of printed Calen- 

 dars. The Communia Rolls, which are also de- 

 posited in this office, commence in the time of 

 James I. ; and to these no printed references have 

 been made, neither is there any printed list of 

 them. The Bills and Answers of the Exchequer 

 commence in Cromwell's time, and the Bill-books 

 in MS. about the year 1670. 



There are deposited in the Record Tower at 

 Dublin Castle, a considerable number of the Com- 

 mon Pleas Rolls, commencing in Henry III.'s 

 time ; of Pipe Rolls, which commence in the same 

 jeign ; of Summonisters Rolls, commencing temp. 

 James I. ; of sheriiFs' accounts, and various other 

 most valuable records to which there are no 

 printed books of reference. Lists of these docu- 

 ments will be found in the Repoi'ts printed by the 

 Irish Commissioners of Records. In the same 

 repository may be found the Irish State Papers, 

 which commence in Cromwell's time, and their 

 contents are also unknown to the public. 



The Records of the Auditor-generals', Sur- 

 veyor-generals', and of other offices of minor im- 

 portance, are deposited in the Custom House, 

 Dublin. These documents commence, I believe, 

 in Henry VIII.'s time. Lists of them are to be 

 /ound in the Irish Record Reports, but we have 

 no printed references to their contents. The 

 Maps of the Down and Civil Surveys, descriptive 

 of the estates which were forfeited in consequence 

 of the rebellion of 1641, are also preserved in this 

 department. Full particulars of the grants which 

 were subsequently made by the crown of these 

 estates to the adventurers, soldiers, and others, 

 "will be found in the Irish Record Reports. 



The above-mentioned are the principal Record 

 repositories in Dublin. Original wills are de- 

 posited in the Prerogative and Consistorial Offices 

 in Henrietta Street, Dublin, as well as in the 

 registry offices of each diocese in Ireland. Me- 

 morials of deeds, and many original wills also, as 

 it is supposed, are deposited in the Registry Office 



for Deeds, which is in the same building. The 

 wills, I believe, commence temp. Henry VIII. ; 

 but the Memorials of Deeds not until the time of 

 Queen Anne. 



My remarks have been confined to the four 

 principal record repositories in Dublin ; and I 

 have put out of the question altogether the State 

 Records, whether they be ancient or modern, 

 which are to be found in other offices upon the 

 floor of the dome of the Four Courts, in cellars, 

 vaults, or other places. 



The frequent research which is made amongst 

 the most accessible of the Irish Records for his- 

 torical and other literary purposes, and indeed the 

 desire for information to be gathered from these 

 records, which is sometimes manifested by several 

 of the contributors to " N. & Q.," aiford con- 

 vincing proofs that there are many who feel anxiou* 

 to avail themselves of the literary treasures which 

 unfortunately still lie hidden in the dark recesses 

 of Record repositories ; and it seems to be tliere- 

 fore very desirable, that something should be 

 done to afford to the public the benefit and use of 

 what, by statute passed in Edward I.'s time, have 

 been declared, and which are I believe still con- 

 sidered to be, the " people's evidences." 



James F. Feegusoit, 



Dublin. 



SUPERSTITION RESPECTIICG THE XBEMELLA NOSTOC. 



Those of your readers who have devoted some 

 attention to the investigation of the simplest and 

 most minute forms of vegetable life, must have 

 often noticed in their walks in the country a 

 strange gelatinous substance, of no precise form f 

 not unlike calf- foot-jelly, only of a greenish hue; 

 creeping over gravelly soils, and occurring mixed 

 up with wet mosses on rocks beside waterfalls. 

 When moist, it is soft and pulpy to the touch ; but 

 in dry weather it becomes thin, membranaceous, 

 and brittle, and of a black fuscous colour. This- 

 strange substance was placed by Linnteus among 

 the Alg£e, or sea- weeds, and called Tremella Nostoc 

 — a name adopted by Michelis, Dillenius, and 

 Mr. James E. Smith, who has given an excellent 

 figure of it in his English Botany, t. 461. By 

 Vaucher and Agardh, however, it was removed 

 from the Tremella-s, which now constitute a genus 

 of gelatinous fungi, and ranked under the AlgCB 

 GloiocladecB, under the name of Nostoc commune^ 

 or Common Nostoc : a name first used by the 

 celebrated alchemist and father of chemistry 

 Paracelsus, the derivation and meaning of which 

 is unknown. Many individuals are familiar with 

 it under the ordinary English name of Rain Tre- 

 mella, or Star Jelly. 



During the Middle Ages, extraordinary super- 

 stitious notions were entertained of this plant. 



