6 The Irish Naturalist. 



a persevering use of traps. In the economy of nature, 

 however, they seem to be serviceable by eating decaying 

 substances. 



The late Prof. Kinahan, of Dublin, was one of the highest 

 authorities on wood-lice, and has published a number of 

 valuable papers on these and other groups of crustaceans, to 

 which I shall have occasion to refer again. Mr. Hogau, Prof. 

 K. P. Wright, and Mr. Haliday have all rendered useful 

 services in making the knowledge of Irish wood-lice more 

 complete. Much still remains to be done, however, and we 

 are still far from having obtained a thorough knowledge of the 

 exact distribution of the various species in Ireland. I have 

 now pleasure in announcing the addition of three species to 

 the Irish list. There are altogether seventeen British species of 

 wood-lice, all of which are figured in a separate plate which 

 will appear with next number. Of these twelve are common 

 to Great Britain and Ireland, two are found in Great Britain 

 and not in Ireland, and three in Ireland and not in Great 

 Britain, so that the fauna of Ireland, though poorer in 

 many respects than that of Great Britain, is richer in wood- 

 lice b} 7, one species. The Irish species may be conveniently 

 divided into three families, viz., Ligiidcz, Oniscidce, and Anna- 

 dillidce. 



In the nomenclature I have adhered almost altogether to 

 the monograph of the " Crustacea Isopoda Terrestria/' by 

 Prof. G. Budde-IyUnd, of Copenhagen, who has kindly deter- 

 mined some of the species for me, and confirmed the identifi- 

 cation of those not hitherto recorded for Ireland. I have also 

 to acknowledge the kind assistance I received from Mr. A. 

 Dollfus, of Paris, whose valuable papers on terrestrial isopods 

 I have had frequent occasion to refer to. 



In drawing up this list of the Irish wood-lice, I have been 

 assisted with specimens by the Committee appointed by the 

 Royal Irish Academy to investigate the Irish Fauna and Flora, 

 and by Messrs. G. H. Carpenter, H. L,. Jameson, J. N. Halbert, 

 W. F. de V. Kane, A. R. Nichols, Dr. M'Weeney, and Mr. R. 

 Welch. 



The following is a list of some of the more important papers 

 and works which have been published on the subject, and of 

 works bearing on the geographical distribution of the species 

 in the British Isles : — 



