50 Ihe Irish NaUiralist. [Februarj-, 



tiny, to owe their abuormal form to an injury to the shell or some other 

 external cause. The specimen under consideration affords no such evi- 

 dence. The curvature and the lines of growth are quite regular, and 

 everything seems to indicate that the shell is an example of a group of 

 departures from the normal form which are perhaps best called indi- 

 vidual abnormalities as I have elsewhere previously suggested. Varieties, 

 rightly so called, they are not : monstrosity is a term correctly applicable 

 only to such abnormalities as originate during embryonic life. True, 

 the term monstrosity is used in a deplorably loose way by conchologists, 

 who apply it not only to true teratological specimens, but to abnormali- 

 ties resulting from disease and injury as well as to such individual pecu- 

 liarities as we are considering. These "sports," as a gardener might 

 call them, are always interesting and worthy of record, inasmuch as they 

 may sometimes throw a side light upon important biological problems. 

 The occasional transmission and perpetuation of such sport-characters 

 would seem a strong argument against the germ theory of Weiss- 

 manu. 



Geo. w. Chaster. 

 Southport. 



BIRDS. 



Montagu's Harrier breeding in Ireland— Correction. 



I am sorry to have to correct the statement I made in the Irish Naturalist 

 for October last. The specimen of the supposed Circus cineraceus shot in 

 Co. Kerry has again been examined by Dr. Sharpe ; and he and Mr. 

 Howard Saunders, who has also kindly inspected the skin, have after 

 all pronounced it to be only a young cock Hen Harrier. 



John H. Tee.sdat.e. 

 St Margaret's, W. Dulwich, London, S.K. 



Black Redstart in King's County. 



As the Black Redstart {Rutidlla kiiys') is not a very frequent visitor to 

 Ireland, it may be of interest to report that I obtained a specimen (a 

 female) on November 6th, 1897, at I^eap Castle, Roscrea, King's County. 

 The bird flew into the house, and was captured by Mr. J. C. Darby, with 

 whom I was staying. 



Heathfield, Blackheath, London, S.B. Harry F. WiTherby. 



lYIealy Redpoll off Coast of Kerry, 



In the Zoologist for November, Mr. R. M. Harrington, writes : — Between 

 1889 and 1893, I received seven specimens of the Mealy Redpoll from the 

 Tearaght Rock, a small but precipitous rock out in the Atlantic, nine 

 miles west of Kerry. These Redpolls are very large, and I have always 

 regarded them as Cxreenland Redpolls, lAnota Horncuianui, Holb. In this 

 I hope to be confirmed by Mr. Howard Saunders, to whom two stuffed 

 specimens have just been forwarded. Five were obtained in September, 

 one in October, and one ijj November. 



