i6o 



The Irish Naturalist. 



[July, 



Callitriche verna is particularly haunted by water mites, also 

 the large water sedges. Elodea canadensis yields man3^ species. 

 I have found Potamogeton quite unproductive. 



For the purpose of noting the colouring of water mites, they 

 should be examined alive. For preservation they must be 

 scalded, in order to retain the limbs in an extended position. 

 Unfortunately, this treatment utterly spoils the colour of 

 many kinds. A tax crassipes and Cochlcophorus vernalis will 

 turn quite black in an hour or so. 



I keep the mites in tubes containing spirit and water — about 

 one-fifth spirit. Many kinds have retained colour fairly for 

 fifteen years. Most species of red colour, however, bleach 

 rapidly. 



Hydrachnids can be kept alive a long time in an aquarium 

 containing suitable aquatic plants, and Entomostraca 

 (e.g. Dapknia, Cypris) for food. According to Piersig they 

 also feed on gnat-larvae and Infusoria. 



Dublin- 



NOTES. 



BOTANY. 



Rev. E. S. Marshall on " Cybele HIbernlca." 



To the Journal of Botany for June, Rev. E. S. Marshall, M.A., F.Iv.S., 

 contributes some " Remarks on Cybele Hibernica, ed. II." Apart from 

 Mr. Marshall's high position as a British field botanist, his claim to 

 speak on the Irish flora rests on several thorough and successful 

 explorations carried out in recent years in little known parts of our 

 island, and his remarks are therefore deserving of careful attention, and 

 we trust that the paper will be read and noted by Irish botanists. Mr. 

 Marshall is distinctly of opinion that a too rigid severity has been applied 

 to the claims of certain species to rank as natives in Ireland — such as 

 Ranunculus parvijlorus, Teesdalia nudicaulis, Helianthemum Chamcrcistus, 

 Geranium pusillum, Medicago sylvestris, 7 ri folium glomeratutn, Epilobium 

 Lamyi, GSnantke pimpinelloides, Sisyrinchium calif ornicum, Leucojum astivum, 

 Brachypodium pinnatum. We fancy that many of our readers will agree 

 that the severe treatment applied to some of these in "Cybele" was 

 hardly warranted by the facts. 



