30 The Irish Naturalist. Match. 



NOTES. 



The Greenland Halibut in Irish Waters. 



At a recent meeting of the Linneau Society in London I\Ir. J. R. 

 Xorman, F.L.S., exhibited a specimen of the Greenland Halibut [Rein- 

 havdtius hippoglossoides) , a fish apparently ne^v to the Irish fauna. The 

 specimen was caught off the south coast of Ireland, latitude ^z^ 30' N., 

 at 170 fathoms, and Avas sent to the British Museum by Professor W. M. 

 Tattersall, of Cardiff. Normally an arctic and sub-arctic species, it 

 extends southwards on the western side of the Atlantic to the Grand 

 Banks off Newfoundland (latitude 42^-50') ; but on the eastern side it 

 dees not extend nearly as far southwards, and, according to Dr. Smitt, 

 " perhaps not much south of the 70th degree of latitude." From its 

 nearest relative, the Common Halibut, it differs especially in the plumper 

 body, larger m.outh and stronger teeth, in the left eye being on the upper 

 surface of the head and the dorsal fin commencing behind it, and in being 

 coloured on both sides. In the young, however, the blind side is colourless. 

 It appears to be a species which is in process of discarding the habits 

 characteristic of the order, and has regained to a certain extent its original 

 symmetry. 



Spoonbill and Great Spotted Cuckoo in Co. Kerry. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. James Shuel, of Kinscraigie, Cahercivcen, 

 our museum will be enriched shortly by the addition of a specimen of 

 the Spoonbill, shot on September 29 on the Valencia Estuary. Through 

 the same gentleman I have received the remains of a Great Spotted Cuckoo 

 from Mr. Charles O'Driscoll, who found it dead during February, 191 8, 

 near Caherciveen. It was originally accompanied by another with 

 which it passed about a week, after which it was found dead, and its 

 companion vanished. At the same time a Hoopoe was in a neighbouring 

 field for a week, after which it was shot, and a flock of about seven 

 frequented another field about two miles distant. I am not yet 

 sufficiently acquainted with the Irish fauna to be able to comment on 

 these occurrences, which seem to me to be vrorthy of publication. 



L. P. W. Renouf. 

 University College, Cork. 



The occurrence of so extremely rare a visitor as the Grear ^poTTed 

 Cuckoo [Claniator glandarius) is an event of such interest that we thought 

 it advisable to await the result of some inquiries before publishing 

 Prof. Renouf's note. The " remains " in question are undoubtedly 

 those of a Great Spotted Cuckoo, in a ver}'' v^retched and almost 

 fragmentary state ; and from Mr. Shuel's letters on the subject (kindly 

 sent to us by Mr. Renouf) it appears that the dead bird remained in Mr. 

 O'Driscoll's possession from the timer he found it in the spring of 191 S 

 until the 9th or loth of October, 1923, when Mr. Shuel suggested to liiirL 



