132 The h'ish Naturalist [May, 



On pp. 45 and 46, there is a valualDle table for the comparison of the 

 faunas from successive horizons, viz. : the Glacial beds, the Estuarine 

 Clays, the Raised Beaches, and the present sea. From this it is shown 

 that the Ballyrudder gravels and the boulder-clays, forming the base of 

 the series under consideration, have a northern character, the Bally- 

 rudder deposit being practically Arctic. The fauna of the Estuarine 

 Clay and of the Raised Beaches is, on the other hand, " distinctly 

 southern " ; while the existing sea contains a mixture in which northern 

 forms slightly preponderate. As an example of the care with which this 

 portion of the subject is followed out, we may quote the statement that 

 the recent change of fauna has been brought about "by the extinction of 

 southern forms rather than by the immigration of northern ones. . . . 

 Some of the shells which have now forsaken the north- 

 eastern shores, or show a striking diminution in numbers, still flourish 

 in the milder climate of Donegal, which is actually further to the north- 

 ward ; while, on the other side, their line of retreat has been down the 

 east coast towards Dublin." 



Among these emigrants at the close of the Estuarine Clay epoch, we 

 may note Scrobicularia piperata and Tapes decussatus, which are common 

 generally round Ireland, but absent from Lough Swilly to Carlingford 

 Lough ; Gastrana fragilis, mainly a southern and western form ; and 

 Rissoa albdla, which is very abundant in the estuarine clays, but is now 

 found in Ireland only at Bantry Bay. The Raised Beaches similarly 

 contain shells that are now confined to the south and west. 



This important pai)er concludes with a summary of the local climatic 

 changes of Post-Pliocene times, and with a bibliography of the papers 

 utilised. 



On p. 61 of this number of the Proceedings, Mr. Henry H. Dixon 

 writes " On the Osmotic Pressure in the cells of leaves," in continuation 

 of his well-known work on the mode of elevation of the sap ; but this 

 paper belongs to general botany, and we can only call attention to it 

 here. 



On pp. 74 — III., Dr. C. R. Browne describes "The Ethnography of 

 Ballycroy, County Mayo," a district selected for the field-work of the 

 Anthropological Laboratory of Trinity College during 1896. This district 

 is peopled by tribes which left Tirconnell more than two centuries ago, 

 and O'Donovan has recorded that the inhabitants were in his time still 

 spoken of by their neighbours as "the Ulstermen." Dr. Browne refers 

 the immigration to 1640 a.d., and shows that the physical differences 

 separating the folk of Ballycroy from those of the rest of Erris are 

 mainly " noticeable in the casts of features and darker nigrescence 

 than in their physical proportions." He finds no justification whatever 

 for the statement, often repeated, that the immigrants from Ulster, dis- 

 possessed by the English, have become reduced in stature and altogether 

 physically degraded by their struggle with the "bad lands" of Mayo 

 (p. 80). The present study will gain in value when a number of similar 

 patient observations have been published, and when Prof Haddon and 



