20 The Irish Naturalist. [ January 



BIRDS. 



Fulmar and IVIanx Shearwater at Londonderry. 



About I lib September last a Fulmar {Fitlman's glacialis) was cauglit in 

 the Foyle close to the City Quay. It was swimming in the river and was 

 captured by a young man from a boat. It had no signs of being wounded. 

 About the same time two INIanx Shearwaters (^Puffiniis angiicus) were found 

 in the city, one in a yard, and the other in a small reservoir which 

 supplies the distillery. Both species were stuffed bj- Mr. Edward 

 M'Court and examined by me. 



Londonderry. D. C. Campbei,!.. 



MAMMALS. 

 The Wild Horse (Equus caballus) in Ireland. 



Major Moore, of Killashee, near Naas (Co. Kildare), recentl}' sent me 

 for identification the occipital portion of a skull and the posterior part 

 (as far as the postorbital process of the frontal bone) of another. 



Both of these evidently belonged to horses, but to specimens of very 

 small dimensions — certainly not larger than an ass. The skulls were 

 discovered, when making a drain in Major Moore's property, resting on 

 the gravel beneath the bog. The remains therefore probably belong to 

 wild horses, which are known to have inhabited Ireland as contemporaries 

 of the Irish Elk. 



In the more complete skull the height of the occipital crest measured 

 2-3 inches, and the distances between the two zygomatic arches in a 

 straight line 7'5 inches. It should be noted that all the remains of the 

 feral horse hitherto discovered in Ireland, viz., in Shandon Cave and 

 many Pleistocene deposits, point to the fact that it was of small stature. 

 I may mention that these remains have been kindly presented to the 

 Dublin Science and Art Museum by Major Moore. 



Dublin. R. F. Scharff. 



BOTANY. 



PHANEROGAMS. 



** Open-Air Studies In Botany." 



In the November number of the Irish Naturalist Prof. Hartog censures me 

 for preferring ' calices ' to * calyxes ' as the plural of cal5'x (which I admit 

 should be spelt ' calix '), but even if the former spelling were etymologi- 

 cally incorrect, which it is not, it would be justified by long and universal 

 use, and by analogy with such plurals as indices, vortices, appendices 

 and the like. How would Mr. Hartog spell calycine, Calyciflor(£, and other 

 allied words derived from calyx } 



