1917- Southern — The State of Ireland, 7 



for its elucidation merely a label and a map. The result- 

 ing labours have imparted to the recent literature of 

 Natural History in Ireland, as revealed in the pages of 

 the Irish Natitralist and the Proceedings of the Royal Irish 

 Academy, an arid and monotonous aspect, well adapted 

 to chill the enthusiasm of the veteran and to quench the 

 budding aspirations of the tyro. 



Of recent years it has become the custom to enlarge a 

 systematic paper by a long discussion on Geographical 

 Distribution. The procedure is after this fashion. The 

 writer has obtained possession, let us say, of a collection 

 of sponges from Kerguelen. He compiles a list of the 

 species, with appropriate notes. Then with his list of 

 species, a good atlas, and a complete set of works dealing 

 with sponges, he retires to his lair, and prepares lists of 

 " Sponges found only in Kerguelen and Spitzbergen," 

 " Sponges found only in Kerguelen and Kamtchatka," 

 " Sponges found only in Kerguelen and the Solomon Islands," 

 " Sponges found only in Kerguelen and Clew Bay," and 

 so on. Then he varies the proceedings with lists of 

 " Sponges found in Kerguelen hut not found in Spitzbergen," 

 etc., etc. Then follow lists of sponges found in Kerguelen 

 and two other localities, sponges found in Kerguelen and 

 three other localities, etc., then sponges found in Kerguelen 

 and one other place, but not found in a third place, etc., 

 etc. And so the dismal narration proceeds, page after 

 page, until somebody sends him another collection from 

 some other distant isle, or an impatient editor gives him 

 a week longer to finish the paper. Of course, nobody 

 ever reads this part of the paper, and one wonders why it 

 was ever written. But it is the fashion nowadays, it is 

 easv, and it exerts the same kind of fascination on the 

 author that some people find in playing patience. More- 

 ever it imparts a fallacious air of broadmindedness, showing 

 that the author has a soul above that of the mere recording 

 fiend. The only solid fact that emerges from such 

 effusions as this is that our knowledge of distribution 

 at present is very imperfect, and will be increased, not 

 by burning the midnight oil, but by collecting more 

 material. 



