292 The Irish Naturalist. 



PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES. 



RoYAiv Zooi^oGicAi, Society. 



Recent donations comprise a Collared Peccary and a land tortoise from 

 J. Giblan, Esq., a hawk from D. Smyth, Esq., a seal from L. Powell, 

 Esq., three Green Lizards from Sir F. Shaw, a Muscovy Duck from Miss 

 Macbeth, a Mocking-bird from Captain Rogers, sea-anemones from Dr. 

 C. B. Ball, a pair of Stock-doves from Rev. T. B. Gibson, a Leadbeater 

 Cockatoo from Mrs. McDonnell, a pair of Angora Rabbits from Master 

 Brooke, Crayfish and Sticklebacks from P. Mahony, Esq., a monkey from 

 J. Ingoldsby, Esq., a Puffin from W. L. Scott, Esq., a Sparrow-hawk from 

 R. ly. Weldon, Esq., aServal from Surgeon-Lieut. D. J. MacCarthy, three 

 Canadian Ducks from C. J. Wallace, Esq., and a parrot from C. A. James, 

 Esq. Three Puma cubs and a Llama have been born in the Gardens, 

 and a Tricoloured Porcupine, a pair of Cheetahs, a Chimpanzee, seven 

 monkeys, two squirrels, two fruit-bats, five Choughs, three Axolots, 

 twelve Rock Bass, and four Siluri have been purchased. 



Over ii,oQO persons visited the Gardens in July, and over 15,000 in 

 August. 



Dubinin Microscopicai. Ci^ub. 



JUI.Y iSth.— The Club met at Prof. T. Johnson's, who exhibited 

 specimens of Selaginella selaginoides, showing the large female spores 

 (megaspores) and the small male spores (microspores). The specimens 

 were gathered in Connemara during the recent Field Club Union excur- 

 sion. The species is not uncommon in the west though rare in the east 

 of Ireland. It is the only representative in Britain of the several 

 hundred species of the genus Selaginella, the highest of the vascular 

 cryptogams. 



Mr. "M'Ardt^e: exhibited the rare Pihdaria glohidifcra., the Irish repre- 

 sentative of the order Rhizocarpse, which he recently gathered in the lake 

 at Recess, Co. Galway, which is one of the few known localities- It was 

 detected by Mr. Lloyd Praegar, a short time previously, who kindly 

 gave all the information necessary for its rediscovery. Ballynahinch 

 (near the Salmon Leap), a few miles further west, is an old habitat for the 

 plant ( Wade, Rar. ) The specimens bore copious sporocarps which contain 

 the macrospores and microspores in four cavities in the interior ; the 

 contents of one was exhibited under the microscope. On account of its 

 grassy or sedgy appearance, the plant may be readily passed over for a 

 species belonging to either. In the absence of the fruit, it may be 

 easily known by the vernation of the young leaves, which is circinatc 

 like Marsilea, or the young frond of a fern. 



Mr. G. H. Carpenter showed Tanystyhun {Clotenia) conirosire, Dohrn, a 

 pycnogon collected in rock pools, at Bundoran, in September, 1894, by 

 Mr. J.'E. Duerden. Not only the species (which was first found in the 

 Gulf of Naples), but the genus is new to the British marine fauna. The 

 occurrence of this southern form so far to the north along our western 

 coast is of very considerable interest. A paper with figures will be 

 published in the next number of the Irish Naturalist. 



Mr. H. J. Seymour showed the section of an Epidote rock from 

 Portrane. The rock, which is of a bright yellowish-green colour, occurs 

 in patches in the vesicular ash near the southern Martello tower. 

 Epidote, some quartz, and numerous calcite crystals are present in the 

 rock. 



INlR. R. J. M1TCHEI.1. exhibited preparations of an utricle of the 

 Bladderwort {Utriailaria intermedia). The specimen had been collected 

 near Recess, Co. Galway, on the recent excursion of the Field Club 

 Union to that district. The bladder enclosed some small water animals, 

 showing that the plant captures and digests these creatures; which 

 gain an entrance as to an eel trap, but find it impossible to get out. 



