76 The Irish Naturalist. 



(4) The lake referred to is obviously L,ough Neagh, on the 

 shores of which partially silicified wood of Eocene age is found. 

 This subject has recently been discussed by Mr. Wm. 

 Swanston {Irish Nat, vol. ii., (1893) pp. 63 and 104). As is 

 so often the case with myths, this one has derived new features 

 with repetition. Bartholomew has, apparently, improved 

 upon his predecessors. 



(5) These statements are from Giraldus Cambrensis' 

 Topographia Hibernia, and I am indebted to the Rev. D. 

 Murphy, S.J., for the following rendering of the original 

 passages : — 



Cap. VI. — "There is an island situated on the western part of 

 Connaught, named Aran, which St. Brendan blessed. Dead bodies are 

 not buried there, nor do they grow corrupt ; but placed in the open air, 

 they remain incorruptible." 



Cap. IV. — "There is a lake in North Munster, containing two islands, 

 one larger and a smaller. The larger has a church of an old religious 

 order ; the smaller, a chapel which Culdees serve. In the smaller no one 

 ever died or could die a natural death ; hence it is called the island of the 

 living. Sometimes the inhabitants are afflicted by mortal diseases, and 

 much affected, even to the drawing of the last breath. And when there 

 is no longer any hope, or vital power remaining, and they are so worn 

 out by the strength of the illness that they had rather die than live, they 

 have themselves taken in a boat to the larger island ; and as soon as they 

 touch land, they give up the ghost." 



N.B. — The name of the island is Inis-na-mbeo, i.e., island of the living ; 

 now Mona-hincha, i.e., bog of the island. It is no longer an island, the 

 waters that surrounded it having been drained off. It is about two miles 

 S.E. of Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. There are remains of a very beautiful 

 Irish church of the 8th or 9th century on the island. — d.m. 



(6) These remarks about serpents and venomous beasts 

 appear likewise to be derived from Giraldus, whose observa- 

 tions at large on such subjects are, perhaps, deserving of more 

 special and direct criticism and investigation than they have 

 hitherto received. 



(7) I make no comment on this account of our ancestors 

 and predecessors, though it affords a subject for reflection 

 which would, however, scarcely be legitimate for treatment 

 in this Journal. 



