Notes. i6c^ 



MARSILIACE^. 



Pilularia in Conneinara. — The Y\\\\\or\.{PUHlaria globuUfera)h€\r).^ 

 one of our rarest Irish plants, and recent notes of its occurrence being 

 apparently exceedingly rare, it may be worth stating that I dredged 

 it in abundance at the western end of Glendalough Lake, Connemara, in 

 May, 1894. Usually this curious little plant grows in water only a few 

 inches deep, or out of the water on marshy ground, but here it flourishes 

 in water from about four to six or eight feet in depth, while the leaves, 

 v\^hich are usuall}- two to four inches long, in my specimens attain a 

 length of six to twelve inches. The Pillwort has been recorded from this 

 neighbourhood long ago (Wade, Planta Rariores, 1804), but it has not 

 apparently been found in Connemara in recent years. 



R. L1.OYD Praeger. 



PHANEROGAMS. 



The Buckthorn in King's Co.— A correction.— On p. 173 of 



the f.N. for 1894, in my account of the Seagull Bog near Tullamore, I find 

 that by inadvertence I wrote Alder Buckthorn (R/iaffinus fraugtila) for 

 Common Buckthorn (A'. catJiarticus). The latter is the species that occurs 

 in that district. 



R. L1.0YD Praeger. 



ZOOLOGY. 



WORMS. 



Bipalium Kewense, lYIosel. — A specimen of this rare Planarian 

 worm was captured last month by Mr. Moore in one of the greenhouses 

 of the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens near Dublin. It has only recently 

 been discovered that this remarkable worm is a native of Madeira. 

 There is some possibility therefore of its being also indigenous to 

 Western Europe, though the fact of its having hitherto only been found 

 in greenhouses on that continent appears to be in favour of the generally 

 held belief that it is an introduced species. 



R. F. SCHARFF, Dublin. 



Some Notes on Irish Leeches. — In collecting Newts for me in 

 the ponds near Cashel (Co. Tipperary), Miss Kelsall discovered two 

 species of leeches. If we look into the nomenclature of the Irish land 

 and freshwater leeches in Thompson's "Nat. Hist, of Ireland," vol. iv., 

 p. 424, we find that some revision is needed. He records sixteen Irish 

 leeches, six of which are marine and need not concern us at present. 

 His Erpobdella tessulata should I think be referred to Hemidepsis tcssellata 

 (O. F. Muller). Dr. R. Blanchard of Paris is of opinion that to this 

 species should also be referred Thompson's Glossiphonia Eachana. Then 

 Erpobdella vtilgaris should be known by the name of Herpobdella ocloculata, L. 

 This is one of the species collected by Miss Kelsall in Co. Tipperary. 

 It is a very active leech and according to Thompson " as merry as a 

 grig." The next species Glossipora tuberadata should be called Glossiphonia 

 cotnplanata, L., being an older name, and for the same reason G. hyalina 

 should be changed to G. hcleroclisfa, L. and G. bioailata to G. slagnalis, L. 

 Thompson next refers to two species oi Piscicola, viz. : — P.geomdra, L., and 

 P. perccB, Tempi. Lastly we come to the true leeches. The Irish horse 

 leech was considered a distinct species from the continental by R. 

 Templeton, and described by the name oi Aiilosioma heluo. Thompson on 

 the other hand identified it as Hamopsis vorax, Johnst. It is probable 

 that we have two species, but Tcmpleton's is, as was pointed out to me 

 by Dr. Blanchard, nothing but the well-known continental Humopsis 

 sangiiisuga, L. I hardly think that the record of the Medicinal Leech in 

 Ireland {/limdo tnedicuialis, L.) rests on sufficient evidence, and I have 

 not seen an Irish specimen, but it is quite probable that it does occur in 

 this country. 



