ii6 The Irish Naturalist. November, 1923. 



NOTES. 



Foxes in Co. Tyrone. 



Mr. N. H. Foster's notes in the September number of the Irish 

 Naturalist prompts me to state, that Foxes are now common in the 

 mountains in the neighbourhood of Lough Fea. They made their first 

 appearance here some eight years ago, and have increased, despite the 

 large numbers destroyed by shooting and trapping. 



Stewartstown. Thomas Greer. 



A Tunny Stranded at Castlerock. 



While at Castlerock, Co. Londonderry, in September, I found after 

 some gales in the early part of the month, a large fish thrown ashore 

 on the strand, and one which is very rarely recorded from our shores. In 

 fresh condition it had lost the front portion of its head, up to and including 

 its eyes ; it had probably been in contact with the revolving propeller 

 of a small steamer, for it had two deep gashes in its under side. It was 

 a very conspicuous object on the clean sand between tide marks for a 

 few days, as it measured 8 feet 3 inches in length. It was probably 

 almost 9 feet long when alive. The mackerel-like tail measured 27 

 inches from point to point. From a rough sketch made of it it was easy, 

 on comparing it with the plate in Couch's " Fishes of the British Isles," 

 to identify it as a full-sized Tunny [Orcynus thynnus Liitken) which that 

 author gives as a Mediterranean fish, seldom captured outside the 

 Gibraltar Straits. In vol. iv. of " The Natural History of Ireland," by 

 Wm. Thompson, it is recorded that in November, 1841, a large Tunny 

 was obtained in Ballyholme Bay, near Bangor, County Down, which 

 measured 8 feet 3 inches in length, and was computed to weigh 300 lbs. 

 It was impossible to ascertain the weight of the Castlerock example, 

 but on a rough estimate it may have been put down at between three 

 or four cwt. 



W. SWANSTON. • 



Dunmurry, Belfast. 

 26/9/23. 



Galium sylvestre in Co. Derry. 



On the 29th July I gathered Galium sylvestre Poll., on Benevenagh, 

 Co. Derry. The plant occurs sparingly but is quite typical. I can find 

 no trace of a previous Co. Derry record. 



W. R. Megaw. 

 Belfast. 



