64 The h'ish Naluralist. Apri^ 



A HOLIDAY IN SOUTH-WESTERN IRELAND. 



NOTES ON SOME FALSE-SCORPIONS AND OTHER ANIMALS 

 OBSERVED IN THE COUNTIES OF KERRY AND CORK. 



BY H. WAELIS KEW. 



The counties of Kerr}' and Cork, with their remarkable 

 fauna and flora, had long exercised on me a sort of magnetic 

 influence ; and it ^va.s thus with indescribable delight that I 

 found nn'self, on August i6th last, already at Kenmare ; 

 comfortably settled at the Southern Hotel — the headquarters 

 of the Irish Field Clubs during their excursions of 1898 — and 

 face to face at once with such a plant as Saxifraga umbyosa 

 on its native rocks. I had read, of course, of the advantages 

 of this place from a naturalist's point of view, of the grandeur 

 of the bay and of the mountains, of Geomalacus-inhabited 

 rocks, and of the woods of Oak and Arbutus that were within 

 easy reach ;^ and it seemed that here, if anj^where in these 

 Islands, one might expect to make discoveries in the much 

 neglected xA.rachnida-Pseudoscorpiones which were — and still 

 are — the principal objects of my care. 



The first two days were spent in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Kenmare, where it was good to see Bartsia viscosa 

 enlivening the road-sides, and delightful to behold Cetcracli 

 officinaruni and all its more numerous kindred in the natural 

 ferneries by the bay ; while in all directions, more in the open, 

 the grand luxuriance of Osinitnda rcgalis surpassed ever}' 

 expectation. Oi wioWw^cs^ Piipa anglica, which I had never 

 seen alive before, was in great abundance ; but of false- 

 scorpions it was somewhat disappointing to find onlv two, 

 Obisium viuscoruDi and ChtJionius Rayi, both common and 

 widely distributed species. It seemed likely, however, that 

 Obisium maritivnim — unrecorded for Ireland — might be await- 

 ing discovery on the shores of the bay. If so, it would be 

 living between tide-marks, and to find it one would have to 

 split open narrow old-standing rock-fissures or overturn large 

 stones lying more or less embedded in permanent resting- 

 places ; and much time was, in fact, devoted to this rather 

 laborious pursuit. The first attempts were made at no great 

 distance from the suspension bridge ; but the fissures opened 

 here were not quite of the required character, being wet and 



"^ Irish y\^rt'/., yii. (1898), 201-206. 



